awesome.

today was a good day.

nothing particularly big happened, but today i felt more in control, and more comfortable than i did before. as if i'm slowly but surely breathing in the environment and finding that i won't choke on it like i did when i smoked pot yesterday. just kidding =) did i give you a heart attack? don't worry.. the most american thing i've done so far is speak up in class. HONORS class. i actually put up my hand and shared my opinion on the epic of gilgamesh (or part of it), and a pretty good opinion it was too, i think (well doh.) we talked about the concept of god(s), religion, civilization vs nature, life and death, destiny... you know, the light stuff. it was the first time i felt "hey, i can do this honors lit thing... i might even enjoy it!" awesome. thankfully my professor chose a translation of the original text (cos obviously we aren't reading the sumerian cuneiform version of it - there weren't enough clay tablets to go around) that was done in prose, so it was way more readable than i expected it to be. still not completely done tho, bout 10 thin-leafed, small-printed pages to go and then we begin on the next big adventure that is the odyssey. like i said, awesome.

okay, one of the main reasons why today was a good day was because of yesterday. lol. basically for some reason i just could NOT get anywhere on time! and i tried, i really really did. oh actually i was on time for work, but that's it. and getting out of a warm bed at 6.30 is about as fun as having to take all your clothes off in a drafty not-so-private shower cubicle. when i walked to work i had the whole mist-when-you-breathe-out thing, which was pretty cool actually except for the fact that it was there because it was so cold >.< work was good.. met 5 new kids, all of them adorable - lucy, jp, hollander, bayan, and taelor. actually i met more kids, but these are the only ones i know the names of for now cos these were the kids in my class. two of them actually took my hand without me offering, which is a major achievement! and they did loadsa cute stuff like when i had them on the see saw one of the girls went "teeter totter, teeter totter..." and it was hilarious to watch them try to throw a ball into a mini basketball hoop (tho i didn't laugh out loud of course cos otherwise they wouldn't hold my hand). so that part of the day wasn't too bad, but then classes started. first class of the day was social development, and i gave myself 15 minutes to get to class which was plenty, cos the building it was in wasn't too far from my room. halfway there i realize
that i'd forgotten to check which class it was in, but i didn't wanna go back to my room to check cos then i'd be late. so i walked a bit faster (was huffin' it, as one girl from my honors class put it), and prayed that i'd find someone from the same class (tho i didn't know anyone who did as it was the first class) so i could follow them - it wasn't just blind hope kay, i was hoping to see someone carrying the textbook for the class or something. but of course i couldn't find anyone, and everyone i asked was doing political science and i was getting desperate... so i huffed it back to my room and then huffed it back to straub (the psych building) reaching only 5/10 minutes late, which really isn't too bad considering the circumstances. thing is, here in america everyone starts on time >.<

kay so that was social dev. i met up with joon to get our cellphones (i have a cellphone! =D so i don't have to be a recluse anymore.), which ended up taking waaay longer than expected, so i had to huff it back to my room to change for a hip hop class i decided to take for fun. as i was huffin it, i realized to my horror that i'd left my keys in my room! (had to happen sooner or later, but really, did it hve to be just then?) so. i huffed it to the area desk, loaned a pair of keys (i can only get locked out twice more before they start charging me), huffed it back to my room, changed, huffed it to the dance class, and again got there 5/10 minutes late. only! but they'd already started. dance class wasn't so bad.. did pretty basic stuff but i'm stiff from having not done formal dance for so long! then. i realized that class finished at 5.50, not 4.50 as i originally thought. extra hour of dance, not a bad thing... but the problem was, i have to attend training/meetings at the children's center every tuesday at 6! lol. so after class i huffed it back to my room to change (thankfully i wasn't all sweaty), huffed it over to the children's center, and got there 5/10 minutes late. again. i blame my malaysian-ness. >.<

so. as to what that has to do with today being a good day... i was on time for EVERYTHING today! and i didn't get locked out. muahaha. so i still have my two chances. i even had time to read before class. hah! in chem class, which i was on time for, the prof started off by giving us this complicated question to solve that i think only 2 people got, and no, i wasn't one of them because i didn't cube something. but i was happy with myself for getting that close.. at the last class i was too busy catching up with what the prof was saying that i didn't get very far. so, major improvement! in addition to classes i wasn't late for an appointment i had with a phd student who's doing research on theory-of-mind, which is basically about how children learn about other's beliefs, feelings etc... and i managed to get involved in her research project! =D i won't be doing much cos i don't have the time... more calling parents to recruit them and their kids, but i'll learn how to run the experiments and maybe actually get to do some of the "real stuff" too, so it's one foot in which is, you got it, awesome. then i actually lay on the grass under the nice warm sun (which soon got too hot so i moved under the shade - think i was the only one lol. (malaysian la, what to do) reading psychology (for my next class), and that was way awesome too. i'm gonna do more of that before the infamous rain starts. then my cog dev class that i wasn't late for was really interesting... i really don't know why not people study psych. the lectures are presented so well, the stuff you learn is so applicable, the textbooks aren't boring... anyway. less men more share! then i had a short break and it was time for lit class which i've already told you guys about. and in between classes i actually managed to get work done, so i was on top of things today. a bit behind for tomorrow, thanks to this post, but i think i'll manage.

and i found out that i'll probably be able to get involved with the international student association, tho not as an intern as i originally intended cos that would require 5 hours a week which i can't afford but it's a start. and it would ensure some kinda social life for me too lol. speaking of which, it's nice to have a cellphone (they don't say handphone here) after not having one for so long... not so much because i was suffering withdrawal symptoms, but more cos i can actually contact people and they can contact me whenever they want, instead of just when i'm in my room, which thanks to work and class alone isn't very much.

so yeah, all in all, pretty awesome don't you think? =)