LAST DAY

Wow. As I write this, I get closer and closer to being finished with my last day of classes of freshman year of college.

I still have finals, but hey–this still feels weird, and somehow, finals seem less of a milestone than last day of classes.

Bizarre. It’s been a heck of a year, guys.

So what’s everyone’s summer plans? I’m going to try to apply for a job at Home Depot–I’m finally over 18, so they can actually hire me (I’ve been hoping to get a job there for at least a year or two now). I’ve also got a few projects lined up–a prop blade a la Assassin’s Creed, a foam-sculpted latex mask (new technique–I’m pretty eager to try it out), and a laser harp using Arduino. Oh, and I might dye my hair again. Depends on how quickly the current color grows out. I’m also going to try doing some exercise more regularly–I might even see about buying a bike to bring back to Lehigh.

It’s pretty odd looking back on this whole year, but it’s been fun, and next year should be even better. I’m already excited for some of my classes and I haven’t even finished this year yet.

I hope everyone’s finals go as smoothly as possible. The end is in sight! Congrats to all graduating, good luck on finals, and have a great summer!

Finals. And Dancefest. And POREOTICS

Finals are looming. Let’s all take a moment of silence for the hours of sleep we’re going to lose come the next few weeks. Come on, guys–we’re almost done!

All righty. So there was this little thing called DanceFest last weekend, and let me tell you, it was pretty awesome. A whole bunch of groups ranging from the swing dancing team to fraternity groups to step teams to rhythmic gymnasts got up on stage in Baker Hall at Zoellner to show off skills and routines. My favorite was probably the swing dance group–what can I say? I like the music. Oh, and I keep meaning to go to the club meetings, but… there’s what, two weeks of school left? I’ll try next semester though. I did go to one event the swing team had, and I had a lot of fun.

Anyway, Dancefest ended with the professional group Poreotics–you know Bruno Mars’ Lazy Song? Those monkeys dancing in the back? Yeah, that’s Poreotics. And, I mean, they’ve done a lot besides Bruno Mars music videos. They won the fifth season of America’s Best Dance Crew and have been in (if not won) multiple other competitions.

So, if you’re interested, you should definitely check this out:

And, of course, come to DanceFest 6 next year!! You won’t regret it, trust me.

SPECTRUM + Reflections

Big news! As of last Wednesday, I am officially the president-elect of Spectrum. I will be president of Spectrum next year. Oh boy.

I mean, I am REALLY excited, but I’m also kind of nervous. I’ve helped out in clubs before and stuff like that, but this seems a bit bigger than freshman-year GSA (gay-straight alliance).

Anyway. Yeah. That happened. And it seems like everyone has been talking about registration lately, soo… hmph. I was waitlisted on one of my classes, but I also have an entire color-coded list of other possible schedule configurations, so I’m not really worried if I can’t get into that one. (You fancy people and your MyEDU’s… well, I have a spreadsheet.)

There’s less than a month of classes left now. It’s really bizarre, looking back on this year. When you’re little, you just sort of hear that you’ll go to college when you’re this age, and you look up at all your cousins or siblings or friends’ siblings or whoever else who’s in college when you’re little and you think to yourself, wow, these people are so cool! And then you’re here and it’s a lot different than you thought, and whenever you’re not in class you’re either working or fumbling around trying to figure out where the free food is. (To all those who think it’s an exaggeration about college kids and free food–it is not.)

So, soon ends my first-year experience, and soon will start my second year. After summer. AFTER SUMMER. I need a break.

Good luck to everyone!

D-Life Weekend

Each year, Lehigh hosts what they call Diversity Life Weekend–a celebration of different cultures, heritages, and unity despite differences and each year, a group of newly-admitted soon-to-be-freshmen students are invited. There’s all sorts of crazy events like Breakfast Bingo (which I won a sweatshirt at! Oh yeah!!!) as well as plenty of opportunities for the visiting students to see the campus and learn more about Lehigh. Oh, and there’s Spectacular! Spectacular!, Lehigh’s talent show. Which was awesome. Dance teams, step teams, musicians, skill performers, and more–all Lehigh students–competed on stage in the gymnasium. I’m not sure if there are any pictures up yet, but here’s the Facebook page for D-Life.

Last year, I got to go–Lehigh even paid for my flights since I live in Kentucky–so I thought it’d be pretty cool to host a student this year. Actually, both me and my roommate did–our little dorm room was pretty packed! Our visiting students seemed to have a lot of fun, though. Oh, and we even played a few rounds of Xbox! (I was totally rockin’ the Rock Band drum set, by the way.)

On a parting note, if you don’t know what a laser harp is, I suggest you check it out. I know, totally off-topic, but I got the idea of building one while we were working with photoresistors in Engineering 10 class. Looks like I have another project for the summer.

And finally, the Star Wars theme played on Arduino: (I even got extra credit for programming it!)

Fashion Show + HOLI CELEBRATION

All right! So, my speech went okay. I haven’t seen the video yet–those’ll likely be up within the month. (The official event people want to edit in intros and credits.)

And this Thursday, there’s a fashion show. Open to all people regardless of gender identity (or lack of, I’m assuming). The theme is health and loving your body, which is pretty cool. Oh, and I’ll be in it! (Cross your fingers and hope there’s no pronoun messups…) Thursday at 7pm in Lamberton, everyone!

And the Holi celebration! On Sunday afternoon, a bunch of students gathered on the front lawn to celebrate the traditionally Hindu holiday–the Festival of Colors. It’s lately become a cultural as well as religious holiday, popular in much of Southeast Asia regardless of religious affiliation.

And since it’s the festival of colors, one tradition is to throw colors in the air, at each other, on clothes, on people’s hair… anything’s fair game, frankly.

So, uh, yeah. It was pretty fun. And I think I still have powder in my hair. I know it’s still on one of my shirts–it got into the hem, otherwise it’s fairly easy to shake out.

This Sunday was an awesome, fun, spontaneous way to celebrate different cultures here on campus. Oh, and if you’re feeling up to it, read up on the holiday!

SPEECH!

Okay! My speech is TODAY. Now. It’s going to be livestreamed on Facebook here. I can’t make this post too long, but oh man, I am so excited and nervous and kind of tense all wrapped up into one big ball of anxiousness. Anyway, wish me luck! (Oh, and I hope your exam week is going well! Be sure to get a good amount of sleep!)

LGBTQIA update, less of a “news” post…

The drag show was last night.

Wow. Next year, I am SO doing my own act. The whole thing was hilarious and fun and totally wacky. The Notorious OMG–who you can find on Facebook, just search the name–was the MC for the night, and we had a whole nightful of acts including Teen Titans, Beyoncé, the Joker, and Doctor Who and more! We’ll have pictures up sooner or later–the event only just happened, so the photographer will likely be uploading them soon. You can bet I’ll be posting plenty of links! I even took part in an act–the Teen Titans one. I was Beast Boy. (I’m still cleaning green face paint out of my ears, by the way. It almost didn’t come out of my hair.)

So, other things. Remember, the LGBTQIA mixer is today at 5PM in Lamberton. And no, you do not have to be gay or involved in the LGBTQIA groups to come. It’s a chance to get out of your social bubble and meet real people and put a face to that ginormous acronym. (Did you know? Some people are starting to use “GSRM” intead of the LGBTQIA+ alphabet-soup acronym. GSRM stands for Gender, Sexual, and Romantic Minorities.) Oh, and also, there’s going to be a lot of food. So come get free food, people.

So! What other interesting stuff do you have planned for this weekend, apart from, of course, going to the Lehigh Valley LGBTQIA Conference in the UC on Saturday? And studying, let’s not forget that. Exams are coming up. Or, for some people, already here.

Good luck to everyone on those. May the academic Force be with you.

And as a bonus, me dressed up yesterday while promoting the drag show:

LGBTQIA news! + Activism + Drag show + Mixer

If you’ve read any of my earlier blog posts, you’ve probably seen me mention the LGBTQIA conference–the third annual Lehigh Valley Intercollegiate LGBTQIA conference, actually–coming up this weekend. Kye Allums, the first openly transgender Division 1 NCAA athlete, is the keynote speaker, and there’s going to be all sorts of workshops and sessions, including ones on how to be an ally, how to find your voice in the bedroom, trans allyship, marriage equality, and workplace conditions. For a full list of sessions, see here. People are also asking attendees to register, which is here. It’ll be in the UC this Saturday; the first sessions start at 10AM. I’m planning on attending a whole bunch of them.

Here at Lehigh and elsewhere, being a member of any sexual, romantic, or gender minority can be (and in most cases, is) extremely difficult. Or, no, scratch that–being a part of any minority is difficult. I suggest everyone go to at least one session at the conference this weekend. If you don’t know what to go to, I’d suggest the Intersex to Interaction one at 11:15–intersex isn’t a topic that gets discussed too often.

And activism. Has anyone heard of #itooamharvard? “A photo campaign highlighting the faces and voices of black students at Harvard College. Our voices often go unheard on this campus, our experiences are devalued, our presence is questioned– this project is our way of speaking back, of claiming this campus, of standing up to say: We are here. This place is ours. We, TOO, are Harvard,” as says the description on a webpage dedicated to the campaign. You can take a look at that here. Now, a couple of Lehigh’s students have made an #itooamlehigh campaign inspired by Harvard’s movement aiming to get more visibility for minorities and more awareness of the bias and micro-aggressions that occur on campus. Lehigh’s page for that is here. For more information on it, and to get involved (it’s really easy–think of a quote or message to say, and you’ll write it on a whiteboard and have your picture taken to be featured in the campaign!) I’d suggest talking to Eryne Boyle or Elizabeth Pines; look them up on Facebook or something, or if you have the Lehigh LIVE app, you can search their names to find their emails. They’ll likely have more information than I do, considering I only heard about it yesterday. I’ve already done a photo for it, though.

And, the drag show! Spectrum is holding their annual drag show this Thursday. And it’s going to be pretty awesome. Music, professional performances, etcetera, plus, there’ll be some student (and maybe even faculty) performances–I’ll upload photos after the event! There also might be a prize for best drag costume in the audience, so don’t feel like you can’t dress up if you aren’t performing! It’s in Lamberton this Thursday at 9PM. COME FORTH AND HAVE FUN WITH US!

One more thing, too: There’s a social mixer this Friday in Lamberton at 5PM, specifically open to all LGBTQIA people as well as allies. There’ll be plenty of snacks and drinks, too, so if you’re looking for something to do this Friday, head over!

All right, I think that’s about all the news I have. See ya!

One of the many mental hurdles of college…

Despite what the ubiquitous and unspecified “they” might have you believe… there isn’t really a “right” or “wrong” way to “do” college.

For example. You don’t HAVE to graduate in four years. Despite that, everyone assumes that’s what you’re aiming for.

Now, if you have to spend an extra year catching up because you’re failing your classes, there might be some personal re-evaluation to be done, but even if you’re completely on track with your classes, you still don’t HAVE to finish in four years’ time. I have a heck of a lot of classes I want to take–about twelve to fifteen extra classes, depending on how I arrange my electives, I think–which manage to comprise a whopping three minors: electrical engineering, aerospace engineering, and technical theater. Now, if I tried doing that in four years, I’d likely lose my head from sleep deprivation, considering the mechanical engineering major I just declared requires a nice 17-credit course load pretty frequently. However, who said I had to do it in four years?

I’ve talked with both my parents, and we’ve all come to the consensus that, through various attack methods–a couple summer courses and an extra semester or two, maybe?–why not do all three minors? It’s not like I’ll have another shot at this, unless I win the lottery and decide to go back to school with all my new spare time. Not very likely.

You just can’t get caught up in the rush of classes, the idea that you “have” to get this all done exactly how everyone else does. No. Stop it. This is your college experience, not theirs. Taking the path less traveled can often stand out as not only a personal achievement but an academic one, too. Doing something you’re interested in, and that not a lot of people bother to do, means that tomorrow, you’ll be able to go even further. Personalize your experience. Make it something you enjoy! You’re here to learn, and have fun, and get ready for the rest of your life. Don’t just blindly follow every other person in front of you if you don’t want to.

Design Class and Survey Winner

First things first. The survey that I conducted a while ago has finally drawn to a close! Thanks to all who participated! Aaaand… The winner has been chosen! I’ll be sending an email to the winner (M*r*h*l*1*5@g*a*l.com) and the survey results and verification are available if you click on the image below.

Now that’s out of the way! So. If you’ve been following my posts, you’ll know I’m taking a design for theater class along with my more engineering-oriented classes. Despite it being pretty different than I originally thought, I decided to stick with it–it’s not my favorite class, but it’s not bad. (I’ve never really been much of one to paint and draw stuff like this.) Our current assignment is to create costume sketches/watercolor renderings of costumes for the characters in a play we read called Dead Man’s Cell Phone. The play is… odd, very surreal, and there are some things I don’t like about it, but it’s for the class, so ah well. Anyway. Look, I drew people!

Lot of blue, I’m now noticing in retrospect. Well, I like blue. (Also, don’t look at their hands. Their fingers look like play-doh noodles. Poor little hands. Hands are hard to draw.) Anyway, I know I’m not the best artist out there, but I actually liked this assignment. It was kind of fun.