Physics

So I have senioritis. If I'm at school I can do my work but if I am at home, it's rough. However, the point of this post is not that. I'm writing because I am at home and should be doing my physics homework. I will but after I tell this story. I took Physics for Scientists and Engineers way back in 06-07, along with all the other physics and science majors. I did VERY well in that class. A lot of people assumed I was a physics major cuz I hung out with some to do my homework all the time but really I never was one. This still confuses people. I guess because I did so well in the class. Anyway, back in 2010 I was informed by a good friend that I only needed 8 more credits just to be a physics minor. I totally took her on. Fall 2010 after not having done much physics at all since 2007, I took Astrophysics. Totally rocked that class. 3 credits down. Spring of 2011 my schedule conflicted with Modern Physics so I put it off until this spring. After having looked into various scheduling options and being assured that it would not conflict this year. Fall of 2011 I started to freak out because I could not schedule in a physics class again. But, the department is cool and I got into a Directed Readings course for 2 credits. We read "The Physics of the Piano" and it was the most awesome book ever. 2 more credits down, 3 to go. Spring 2012: time to register for Modern Physics. What a surprise when suddenly the week before I registered, my music history class was changed from 9:30 MWF to 8:30 MWF. Not my idea of a happy day. That's exactly when Modern Physics is taught. So long story short: I go to my music class and someone records physics for me, then I listen to it and copy her notes afterwards. So far, I haven't had any help on any of the assignments and I'm doing GREAT! Last week I had to stare at one problem for a while three different times before I whipped up some awesome trigonometry-ness to tell it who was boss. And today actually, I thought I needed help on a problem, but it wasn't to be found, so I worked on the problem for 10 or 15 more minutes and got the answer by myself! I haven't done much hard-core algebra, calculus, or trigonometry for a long time. But I can still do it.

I was made to be a physics minor.

My First Opera

I went to the Opera for the first time last night. I never went before because I knew I wouldn't appreciate it, but lately that has changed. I've taken music history classes before, so I wasn't that keen on taking it AGAIN because the history for music minors and the history for music majors are "different." I'm still not that thrilled about it, but my teacher is pretty awesome and honestly I have learned some stuff I didn't already know. Like how to appreciate opera.

So, it was back in the time of Shakespeare, when people went to see plays a lot. Plays could be comedies or tragedies, and were performed in verse (i.e. iambic pentameter). Songs were/are also in verse. There was this group of guys in Italy who decided to try an experiment and write a play that would be entirely sung. Not that weird, really. They tried it, and it was cool. So they did it again. And it caught on. And the costumes, the scenery, the drama, it's all supposed to be overdone. It's a show. I get it, I can appreciate it now for what it is. Even the recitative parts, I knew that that was more dialogue-ish parts but the way he taught us was that he handed us each the first three lines of the Gettysburg address and made us notate the rhythm of the speech. I so GET it now. Then I figured I should go to the Opera because I would be able to appreciate it. And I did. And I will again.

2 Lists

List of things that are good:

my husband
music by Franz Liszt
computers
internet
eBay and Amazon
my pink pen
graduating
Filipinos
summer
techno-cello
Steinways
the Physics department


Un-named list of things that did not make it onto the first list:

Drivers License Division
Zions Bank
my hair
Science Saturday
piano lessons on Wednesday

The 1st of December

So, the first of December was the second-to-last day of class. I had a 7:30 class that day. When I was headed out the door at 7:15 (yeah, I know...) my mom says, "are you sure you want to go outside?" And I'm thinking like, of course, I have to go to school... She tried to talk me into taking the nice car but I didn't. Apparently much of I-15 was closed because of semis blowing over. Once I started driving I did realize it was quite windy. Up on the highway there was stuff blowing around like branches and trash, and I saw shingles flying off buildings. On the other highway I hit a branch but it wasn't bad. Getting to the building from the car was fun, being as light as I am. The door was really hard to open.

I was late and had somehow left my notebook at home so I didn't actually go to class. I went out the 2nd exit (even harder to open) and to the next building. It was really loud there with the wind blowing around, you could hear it. The guys I needed to see there didn't show up so I went back to the other building through the 3rd door. When I walked back through to where the 2nd door is, some people told me how the wind just blew it shut and all the glass shattered and it was an amazing mess! I was too scared to go look at it. As more people began arriving at school, the stories got more intense. They saw trees blowing over, debris smashing car windows and cars, fast-food signs exploding, power lines coming down, etc, I was sure glad I got to school early even though I didn't go to class!

The glass ceiling in another building was getting stuff on top of it and breaking it somewhat and the college sent everyone text messages to not leave the buildings they were in around 9:15. My 9:30 class was supposed to take the final exam. We tried contacting the professor to convince him that that shouldn't be necessary anymore but to no avail. We went to class, and had our exam, but the north wall is 80% glass and it was loud and scary and distracting. At around 11 the university texted everyone again to say that classes were cancelled until the afternoon, and to stay inside until it was safe. Not a problem for me, I had a lot to do.

I finally left around 4 and had to go to a copy place, but the standard one(s) I would have gone to (and everywhere else on or around Harrison Boulevard was closed for damage/power problems, so I had to go to this other place and they made me do it all myself which wasn't cool but it got done since Dec. 1 was the deadline. The trees by the parking lot had fallen down and crews were already cutting them up. Stop lights had blown off their poles and gotten lost. Many places between Ogden and Layton had lost power and places further south where the wind had actually been worse. Many homes (especially ones close to the mountains) lost shingles, fences, and trees.

I just figured it was December saying "Hello." So, I said "Hello" back, with the quip, "We love you too!" Sarcasm! Roofs are still shingle-less in places and many fences are still down. But we are all okay and that shouldn't happen for another 50 years or so. There's your story :-) Sorry I take so long sometimes!