I have an update on my head?
Friday I visited Colgate.
Colgate was very nice. The weather was pleasant and the campus was beautiful (well, considering its still early spring and the grass isn't all nice and green yet). We got there early, so we picked up and read through some information. They had some cool stuff on physics, including some of the equipment they had. Two that I remember are "optical tweezers" and a fridge capable of cooling things down to only a couple millikelvin.
We ended up going on the tour first. The tour was pretty cool, but there was lots of walking uphill. The campus is pretty vertical. We saw a dorm which was better than OSU's dorm. It was actually occupied by a student instead of being a sample set up, and the room itself was better than OSU's. The dining hall was pretty nice, and we went into an art room which was cool. It had all these canvases and students were painting. after the tour we got free ice cream sandwiches.
After the tour we also had our info session. At this session I discovered that Colgate was also going to require the writing portion of the SAT. Colgate also has a core curriculum. The core curriculum doesn't sound too bad but AP credits are next to useless. basically the only use for AP credits is to survive dropping classes, and to place into higher classes.
After that we picked up a course book and went to a restaurant. When we were there a nearby person (I wasn't clear if he was a student or professor) heard us talking about astronomy and came over and talked about archeoastronomy with us. I also overheard conversations with nearby students. Colgate seems like a really friendly place.
On Saturday we went to aunt Liz's for a birthday party. Basically I ate food, hung out a little, and reread The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
On Monday I went to a Guiding Eyes for the Blind class. We reviewed a bunch, learned about teaching them about stairs, and completed puppy-preplacement. Now all we need is two puppy sittings before we get a puppy. Afterwards I bought Diablo II, so that both me and Adam could play at the same time.
Tuesday was Creative Writing club after school. Interestingly, i found out that three of the members were Wiccans. Adding to the fact that one of our members is a lesbian, I'm an Agnostic, and the fun we've had playing with the idea of Popeman, we're like the Christian conservative's worst nightmare.
Wednesday was fencing. Leslie brought the foil she was lending me so that my brother would have a weapon and we could stab each other at home. Lisa brought me one of those "H"s I mentioned in a previous entry. W00t nice fencing peoples! Open group kinda split into groups by who wanted to do what. We had a round robin and a group that wanted a lesson (but had no teacher). So lots of fun fencing. After that there was some free fencing and some sitting around socializing. And then I kinda watched the beginner and intermediate classes. And Joel showed up and started a lesson, while I got to fence Brian while the intermediate class watched. He demonstrated beats, binds, and those things. Basically it was really fun and cool.
After we got home, i noticed a celestial object brighter than Sirius (which is supposed to be the brightest star in the sky). So I got out my binoculars and was able to see it as a slightly larger bright yellowish dot. I concluded it was probably Venus, because I've heard that Venus is sometimes really bright.
Today after school was debate club. We quickly agreed that civil disobedience vs. reform within the system is a case by case thing. So we discussed various other topics. All in all it was a good time.
I have read Foundation by isaac Asimov and enjoyed it very much. I look forwsrd to reading the next book in the series. i am currently reading the Fantastic Voyage.
And, to conclude, what's up in each of my classes:
Oceanography: Basically earth science. Due to a misunderstanding, we recently took a test we had already taken. We're doing basic earth science stuff. Plate tectonics and all that crap. Now we're watching a video about the tsunami.
Physics: Waves and sound. An in-class lab with lots of freaky sounds. Mr. V told us to read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy before seeing the movie.
Chemsitry: Organic chemistry. Lots of playing with cool models.
Gym: Basketball.
Math: Now we're getting into cool stuff. Limits.
AP American: WWII.
English: the satire unit continues.
Colgate was very nice. The weather was pleasant and the campus was beautiful (well, considering its still early spring and the grass isn't all nice and green yet). We got there early, so we picked up and read through some information. They had some cool stuff on physics, including some of the equipment they had. Two that I remember are "optical tweezers" and a fridge capable of cooling things down to only a couple millikelvin.
We ended up going on the tour first. The tour was pretty cool, but there was lots of walking uphill. The campus is pretty vertical. We saw a dorm which was better than OSU's dorm. It was actually occupied by a student instead of being a sample set up, and the room itself was better than OSU's. The dining hall was pretty nice, and we went into an art room which was cool. It had all these canvases and students were painting. after the tour we got free ice cream sandwiches.
After the tour we also had our info session. At this session I discovered that Colgate was also going to require the writing portion of the SAT. Colgate also has a core curriculum. The core curriculum doesn't sound too bad but AP credits are next to useless. basically the only use for AP credits is to survive dropping classes, and to place into higher classes.
After that we picked up a course book and went to a restaurant. When we were there a nearby person (I wasn't clear if he was a student or professor) heard us talking about astronomy and came over and talked about archeoastronomy with us. I also overheard conversations with nearby students. Colgate seems like a really friendly place.
On Saturday we went to aunt Liz's for a birthday party. Basically I ate food, hung out a little, and reread The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
On Monday I went to a Guiding Eyes for the Blind class. We reviewed a bunch, learned about teaching them about stairs, and completed puppy-preplacement. Now all we need is two puppy sittings before we get a puppy. Afterwards I bought Diablo II, so that both me and Adam could play at the same time.
Tuesday was Creative Writing club after school. Interestingly, i found out that three of the members were Wiccans. Adding to the fact that one of our members is a lesbian, I'm an Agnostic, and the fun we've had playing with the idea of Popeman, we're like the Christian conservative's worst nightmare.
Wednesday was fencing. Leslie brought the foil she was lending me so that my brother would have a weapon and we could stab each other at home. Lisa brought me one of those "H"s I mentioned in a previous entry. W00t nice fencing peoples! Open group kinda split into groups by who wanted to do what. We had a round robin and a group that wanted a lesson (but had no teacher). So lots of fun fencing. After that there was some free fencing and some sitting around socializing. And then I kinda watched the beginner and intermediate classes. And Joel showed up and started a lesson, while I got to fence Brian while the intermediate class watched. He demonstrated beats, binds, and those things. Basically it was really fun and cool.
After we got home, i noticed a celestial object brighter than Sirius (which is supposed to be the brightest star in the sky). So I got out my binoculars and was able to see it as a slightly larger bright yellowish dot. I concluded it was probably Venus, because I've heard that Venus is sometimes really bright.
Today after school was debate club. We quickly agreed that civil disobedience vs. reform within the system is a case by case thing. So we discussed various other topics. All in all it was a good time.
I have read Foundation by isaac Asimov and enjoyed it very much. I look forwsrd to reading the next book in the series. i am currently reading the Fantastic Voyage.
And, to conclude, what's up in each of my classes:
Oceanography: Basically earth science. Due to a misunderstanding, we recently took a test we had already taken. We're doing basic earth science stuff. Plate tectonics and all that crap. Now we're watching a video about the tsunami.
Physics: Waves and sound. An in-class lab with lots of freaky sounds. Mr. V told us to read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy before seeing the movie.
Chemsitry: Organic chemistry. Lots of playing with cool models.
Gym: Basketball.
Math: Now we're getting into cool stuff. Limits.
AP American: WWII.
English: the satire unit continues.