Working hard or hardly working?

Well...it's been almost a solid two months since our last update. I'm not really great with blogging, but I realize that anyone stumbling across this blog through Google (like Adrian, who left a comment a few entries down) would be quickly tired of this blog seeing as how we hardly update and when we do, it's quite brief. But readers, please realize that a whole lot goes on in college, especially in two months. There's no possible way that I can talk about every single thing that's happened. It's partly because I'm only 1/25 of RHP '09.

It's kind of late, but I'm sure all the RHPers, as well as every USC student, know that college students stay up late. I don't know how they do it, but they do. I like sleeping, but I hate still feeling tired after 8 hours of sleep. I finished my CORE 102 final paper (I still have the essay we have to write in class for our final) an hour ago and emailed it to my professor. I just figured out that I can "print" my Word document to PDF. Nifty. Yay for bundled software. I'm at home right now. Thanksgiving weekend is in progress, so most people at USC went home to spend time with family. I feel for those who still haven't seen their family since August if they're feeling homesick. I probably would be a little homesick too. I live close by (35-45 minutes southeast of USC), and I visit home every week (tutoring and church commitments). People always ask me why in the world I would want to go home every weekend. I don't mind. In the beginning of the semester, I wanted more to stay on campus. Now, it seems most of the campus is deserted on the weekends and not much goes on. But it does feel weird to get back on campus Monday morning with some luggage. I've learned partly in REL 336 (Re-viewing religion in Asian America) and partly through personal experience about the strong ties of Asian American youth to their parents and having respect for the older generation. Though it could be because I grew up in a community with a large percentage of Asians. If I grew up in a community as a minority, it might be less prevalent...

Thematic Option, I know, I will appreciate in the future, looking back, especially for me since I'm pursuing a career in law. But right now, TO's kind of boring, but at least the semester is winding down. I do appreciate the greater motivation of TO students to do well in classes. A great many people simply don't care about their education (some TO students too, haha). Yeah, I might not enjoy it that much, but I still think it's valuable. And something I can't just ignore since I value my parents' hard work and mine too. I appreciate my professor (Smith) more now than I did at the beginning of the semester. He knows a lot and I can tell he puts a lot of time into his CORE 102 class, even if it's only his third year teaching at USC and his first year teaching TO (am I right Becca or Sarthi or Renee?).

I only have two finals this semester. CORE 111 the TO writing class doesn't have a final, and REL 336 just has a final project that entails making a website (a wiki, hosted at w3.usc.edu, pretty cool). I hope I don't completely slack off over winter break. I need some exercise. The weather's cooled down but it's not raining much yet. While much of the rest of the country was freezing during Thanksgiving, Southern California had sunny days in the 80s. Something's wrong.

Life in Marks Hall is great. Everyone's friendly, and though I often swing wildly between the two extremes of spending too much and too little time in my room/Marks Hall, everyone's still welcoming. Future RHPers, when you get your housing application and you have to choose between Trojan and Marks (you don't have to, though Penny will try and sneak you back to one of those two if you choose other dorms), you should choose Marks. Much cozier and homey.

I don't regret doing RHP and skipping senior year. I don't regret being so young and already in college. I don't regret coming to USC though all my high school career I was aiming higher. I love USC. Fight on! Beat UCLA! Beat Texas! I am too hooked on college football. It's detrimental to my academic health. And I need some sleep.