The Four C’s
Oh no, we’re not talking about grades here. I’m talking about four pre-summer goals that I want to establish and work on before summer classes start in early June. This past week hasn’t been busy, but I became occupied with a severe cold and had to spend a few days recovering from it. Now that I’m much better, I have roughly two weeks to work on these goals. I don’t expect to complete any, having them worked on is more than enough. My goals involve:
Cardio
I’m not much of a good runner. Running non-stop, I can reach 3 miles if I’m pushing it. I want to increase this to 5 miles. In addition to being kind to my heart, I also want to bulk up a bit on my legs. My upper-body strength is just fine where it’s at. My legs look like stilts in comparison.
Code
I didn’t take any Computer Science classes last semester, so my work with code is a bit rusty. I don’t plan to do anything big, but I’m going to look over C++ code from previous semesters, in addition to playing around with Android development and the Haskell programming. The bros in Computer Science tell me Haskell is somewhat of a pain, so I might as well start early.
Christ
This is a big one here. I will need to continue spending more time studying the word and improving my spiritual knowledge. I can only become better with this, I just pray that I don’t drift away in my walk with Christ.
(C)Korean
Yes, it doesn’t start with a C, but I think we get the point. I always take time during my breaks to study more Korean regardless of whether I significantly learn a lot or not. It’s good practice, but I don’t expect to be a master anytime soon.
My Musical Companion
This is a Samsung YP-T7Z. It was released in America over seven years ago in early 2005. For an MP3 player this old, it still looks pretty modern, huh? Aluminum unibody, color screen, FM radio, voice recover, and even more. This little guy was pretty feature-packed back in the day. Sadly, many more players have come and gone, and this little gem has been long forgotten. You can’t find this player anywhere anymore. Try buying one online; they’re nearly impossible to find. So why am I talking about this player? What’s so special about this piece of aged hardware? Well, it’s because it has a lot of sentimental value to me.
If you’ve been around me recently, you know that I’m always wearing a Sansa Clip Zip on my arm along with a pair of Adidas PMX 680 headphones around my neck. I use them both nearly every day when I’m at school. They’re really useful and convenient together, but unfortunately, they’re also of little sentimental value to me. The YP-T7Z is a different story though. I received this as a gift for my 16th birthday from my mom. During that time, my mom was suffering from immense pain in her lower back. Her spine was injured and she was in desperate need of surgery. The only problem was, she had no form of health insurance and thus was unable to afford for it. My birthday was coming up around this time. I was fine with skipping it because my mom’s condition was more important to me. Regardless of that, my mom, despite her bad health and financial situation, drove me to the store and bought this top-of-the-line MP3 player with her own hard-earned money for me.
I still remember that moment perfectly. My mom was so ill and it seemed like death could creep up on her at any moment, yet she was still willing to show how much she loves me. I used this player all the time and I always had it with me. Unfortunately, I lost it sometime around the end of my junior year of high school. I spent days backtracking and searching for it with no success. I was really upset that it was gone. As I said earlier, this is a rare device so finding a replacement wasn’t easy. After a five years of searching, I found one from someone living in the UK. It took a little bit of haggling, but he agreed to sell it to me, and I’m glad too. When I received it, I was immediately reminded of my early high school years and how much my mom cares about me, even if she isn’t the type to show it all the time.
I don’t plan to use this player on a normal basis, I have the Clip Zip for that. For now, I’m just going to keep it at my desk to make up for lost time. And yes, my mom did receive her surgery. I wrote about it a while back.
“Esther, We’ll Miss You!”
Esther is a Texas Fightin’ Aggie Class of 2012 graduating senior and also one of the founders for Texas A&M Epic Movement. She is like a mother to many and an excellent, shining example of what it means to be a wonderful person. I’ve come to envy and admire a few people here during my time at Texas A&M, and I admire Esther for her courteous attitude and generous personality. ”Esther, We’ll Miss You!” is a personal work of mine and graduation gift for Esther that I’ve been working on for a few days during the past week or so. The work involves attempting to express how much not only I, but the rest of her friends will miss her. The result is large 18 x 26 photo frame featuring digital art and signatures from as many people as possible. Hit the jump for a full gallery of her gift and to learn more about how it was made.
Prof. Layton = Classy Study Music
I will be starting off my final exams in roughly 12.6 hours. They will last over a period of over 26.5 hours. During this time, I’ve taken the time to grow accustomed to some new study music, specifically in the Professor Layton puzzle game series. It sets a very classy mood and just helps my mind stay adept while care-free. I’ve been playing these four songs and some others on repeat for a while now and it’s been helping. Perhaps this style is not everyone’s cup of tea, but to each their own.
Good luck to everyone with finals.