The Winter Luau

When you're in a philosophy class, you ought to expect to hear so many things you would have initially considered bizarre. It is a world where arguments about the fundamental questions could be presented such that they seem indisputable, yet incompatible with everyday life. On Friday, in my philosophy class, we spent such an extensive period of time talking about freewill and determinism (the idea that everything has a prior cause), and a very interesting debate ensued; I found it really exciting.

Yesterday, Ylvi Hall Council [of which I'm president] held a dance party, The Winter Luau, that went from 9:00pm to midnight. After having made arrangements for a DJ, decorations and food, our major concern was whether or not enough people would come. So, in addition to announcing the event on first-year Facebook groups, we printed numerous fliers and put them all around campus - in Ylvi, Brandt, Olson, the Cafeteria, etc. - just to make sure we could get it widely publicized. But, as events unfolded, that actually turned out to be the least of our problems.

We had decided that all the council members would come down to the social lounge at 7:50pm to set up for the party. We had also arranged for a speaker to be sent over to us at 7:30pm and it had not arrived. So, we had to start making frantic calls to find out if we could borrow speakers for the night. Fortunately, while we put up the food and decorated the place, the DJ was able to get us speakers. But that was not the last of our challenges. For, at 9:30pm, we had only about ten people in the social lounge even though everything else was set up.

By 10:30pm, however, the whole place was full of people from Ylvi, Brant, Olson, and of even upperclass students. At that point, I felt so relieved. The music was good, everyone seemed to be having fun and I met new people. The experience was especially gratifying for me because this was actually something we organized ourselves and put so much effort in. Last night, although many of the hall council members were exhausted from all the work involved in setting up the place and/or too much dancing [I was in both situations], we were all happy that everything turned out well.

So, even if I don't do anything else this weekend, I feel like I've had a fulfilled weekend. On Wednesday, I'll have my J-term exam. My professor has already given us a review sheet and it doesn't seem like it will be too scary...

Peace!

Hi, everyone! Hope you had a good weekend. For some reason, I didn't really do much this weekend. I know this sounds nerdy but I actually spent Friday night doing all my weekend homework. Although it felt a bit awkward, I think it's a very good idea, especially during Fall and Spring semesters. 

As I said earlier, my J-term philosophy class is characterized with quite a lot of reading and writing. However, unlike the fall or spring semester where everything is spread out into four months, all the work in J-term is actually compressed into three weeks. So, as you might expect, everyday comes with its own reading and essay and, not only is it somewhat monotonous, but it is also quite some work. And, in order to free myself from the burden and guilt of lingering homework during the weekend, I decided to do my homework on Friday night. Of course, I still had time that night to watch some TV and goof around.

I woke up really late on Saturday, fully aware that there wasn't that much to do. I had a really slow day that I mostly spent in my room. In the evening, however, I saw one of those crazy conspiracy theory movies with friends on my wing. Although quite weird, it was really interesting. On Sunday, the hall council held a meeting to finalize our plans for the our dance party - the Ylvi Winter Luau - this coming Friday. Initially, one of our fears was that the turn-out might be low. But after all the posters we've put all around campus, I'm thinking the Ylvi study lounge might actually be too full on Friday!

Speaking of excitement, there's so much buzz about the Presidential Inauguration tomorrow. Personally, I'm so excited about the historic event. I think it's going to be spectacular. 

Thanks for reading my blog...

Assassin

It's the second week in January term and it's so cold outside. Everyone is in their warmest clothes; you'd be amazed how many layers I wore this morning! Anyway, I'm having a good time so far and I really had a really exciting weekend. J-term has truly lived up to its name with all the fun events, games and activities going on.

On Friday night, my floor - third floor - had forth floor cook for us. They prepared beef and vegetables, which we ate with Tacos. There was enough for everyone to eat and it actually tasted really good. On Saturday, I signed up for the game assassin. Assassin It was played among members of my floor and everyone was assigned a target to 'assassinate' with a 'knife' [ruler or hanger] or a 'grenade' [ping pong ball].

Still playing the game, I had the option of going for the dance party in Americana or going to swim and watch a movie in Regents. My friends and I chose to swim and I really had a good time. We swam, played some cool games and everyone won gifts (I won M&M's and a T-shirt). After having spent about 2 hours at the pool, we set out to return to the dorm. It was on our way back that I got 'stabbed' in the back with a ruler by a close friend with whom I went to the pool! Isn't that sad? I had not even played the game for long enough to get eliminated.

This morning, I had my first shift working at the Technology Help Desk. I'm so glad I applied for the job because I've found it so exciting. Although there's plenty of work to do of different varieties, I've also learned a lot in this short time so it's certainly worth it. My J-term philosophy class is still going as well as it started. The class discussions are quite interesting and I'm convinced I chose the right class.

That's all I've got for now. Have a fun week!

'Back' to School

Hello everyone! Happy new year! I hope you had a good break. So much has happened from the break till now that I feel we have a lot to catch up on. About my last semester results, I'm glad they went quite well. I was very anxious to see my grades, though, because my finals didn't go exactly as I had predicted. So, I'm really glad things went okay.

As you may have guessed, I stayed at Luther during the Christmas break. Those staying on campus, mostly international students, were required to arrange to move their things to Miller or Dieseth hall for the break. So, that made it much less lonely than it would have been if we remained in our various halls. The bad part is that the cafeteria was closed during the break and we had to buy cooking ingredients and cook on our own. Fortunately, I got to stay in Kansas with a family friend for one week and had a really good time there before returning to Luther. And as weird as it may sound, I actually began to wish for the break to end because I wanted my friends to come back. Overall, though, I had a really good break.

Now, it's J-term and it's supposed to be the freest time possible at Luther because you're required to take only one class throughout January. But here's the problem; you'll take that class everyday and, if you're in a class like mine, you will have readings and essays to write for every class. So, after having had two classes of Philosophy: Big Question, I realize that although it's a really interesting class, things might not turn out to be so free for me afterall. Nevertheless, I'm still determined to have as much fun as I can have during this period. 

Speaking of fun, the Ylvi Hall Council is working on a series of events for J-term. We are organizing a party this Friday and an even bigger one in about two weeks, among other events. So, I'm really looking forward to that. I think things are going to turn out really well...

I guess that's it for now. I wish you a prosperous 2009! 

Peace