WWU HvZ Fall 2012, Day 1

Last week, it was revealed that a number of Western students were carriers for the zombie virus. Announcements were made, posters were posted, and flyers flew to get the word out that students should be tested. Over the last seven days, we were able to identify 494 possible carriers, with 11 advanced cases.

For some reason, only this specific population of carriers can be infected. They have all been briefed on how to defend themselves, and we are currently working on a cure, or a way to at least stem the virus' advancement.

Using algorithms, we were able to determine that the virus in the advanced cases would be contagious today, Wednesday October 17. The cold weather has been shown to slow down the virus, and so active times are between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Some of our researchers have questioned the amount of light in the day may also affect the virus' behavior.

Since this morning, there have been 16 confirmed cases of zombification this morning. Including the original 11, that brings Western's total to 27 confirmed cases of the outbreak.

There have been sightings of students dressing up in costumes. This may or may not be a side-effect of the virus working in the carriers, as many of them are still Human. Only time will tell.

For more information, and to track the contagion, please check our website http://www.wwuhumansvszombies.com/. Further announcements may also be added.

I will continue to update throughout the day, as well.

---
9:05 a.m. - 38 confirmed cases. 456 Humans remaining.
11:27 a.m. - 81 confirmed cases. 413 Humans remaining.
7:52 p.m. - 172 confirmed cases. 321 Humans remaining.

Faster Than Light, Story 2

{I thought it best to host this here, instead of plugging Seattle Whispers up with game-stories like this. Plus, this blog hasn't been updated nearly enough}.

After being reinspired by playing FTL for a few hours, I decided to dramatically narrate the following game, no matter if I was shot down in my third jump, or made it all the way to the end. The following story is a little long, but I feel I wrote it in an enjoyable way. Those who have played FTL by Subset Games may find more humor and awesomeness in it, though.

I walked out into hidden, Federation hangar, escorted by a short man with worried eyes and jittery hands.

"Are you sure you can get it to the base safely?" he asked quietly.

"Don't you know, safety is no promised thing out here," I said somberly. He nodded and shook my hand one last time, and scuttled back into the depths of the base. It was hidden on a backroads planet, out of the sights of the Rebels. We were never too careful, and needed to head out.

Late night story

As I was falling asleep last night (much too late after reading more of Neil Gaiman's American Gods), I turned off my light and couldn't fall asleep. Just before I had turned off the light I had seen the small scatter of coins on my bedstand, and some prose started composing itself in my head. Not wanting to lose the stream or forget it by morning, I grabbed a pencil, and the closest paper to me, and wrote.

This is what came out of the pencil.
(Only slightly edited from its raw, late-night format)

Misplaced energies and babbling

The beginning of this summer I started using a technique to cut down on procrastination and get more stuff done. It's sort of worked: Mainly, I've been reading daily (Neil Gaiman's American Gods).

The technique has helped me open my blog and write a lot, but that doesn't always translate into more blog posts that are published. I have at least three reviews of albums almost ready to publish on Seattle Whispers, but they don't feel done.

Things I've Heard in College, QVI

"Why is it that we recognize Barack Obama as the first black President, not the President born to an anthropologist? His mother was an anthropologist, you didn't know that? I'm sure you can find it on his birth certificate."

Anthropology teacher trying to draw parallels between hijra in India and an equivalent here: "I just don't get the sense from the buskers downtown that if I don't pay them they'd mess with my reproductive future."

"You can do whatever you want! I don't want to sound like Dr. Seuss, but CSS is quite powerful!"

"I ordered crummy weather. It will be raining all weekend so you can read. That is not what I ordered!" Pointing accusingly outside at the sunshine.

Things I've Heard in College, QV

Another fairly class-segregated (and really, really, really late) installment of what I've heard while in college.

First day of school, after classes, my roommate and a friend of ours are on the bus. There's this guy and girl sitting next to each other talking, and while eavesdropping (he was talking pretty loudly, anyway) we hear him say: "Men buy drinks for women that will at least entertain the notion of sleeping with them."
The conversation goes in and out for a bit, and then the guy says: "Relationships are like hunting deer. You can shoot deer with buckshot, and you kill it, and you're eating that great meat, and you hit that bit of buckhot and spit it out--gross--and that's what love is like."
He then asked for her name. At this point, we thought they were at least friends or dating, but they were complete strangers. My friend speaks up and jokingly added, "Look out, he may buy you some alcohol."
The guy said, "For coffee at least," and the girl consented. They exchanged numbers before we all got off the bus.

Productive Summer!

So, during my sophomore year of college I started dropping the ball on doing things: One of them was updating my other blogs. Starting today I am using a productivity helper called Don't Break the Chain to make this summer productive. (The video below will explain it). My charts will have me focusing on reading, blogging, doing art in some fashion, and staying organized.

Winterness

I have been a terrible blogger: I was in the middle of headline-causing news, and am only now talking about it. A few weeks ago, the Pacific Northwest was hit with a strange bout if snowy weather. Bellingham was not exempt from this weather, and we got several inches. The campus remained open most of the time, with one two hour delay that Tuesday, and classes after five cancelled on Wednesday.

Here are some photos I took during this snow storm, as well as an image of my winter-warding gear (bottom).

First Week!

Second day (Wed.)

Found out I actually got into a class I wanted, and while looking at the AS Bookstore for textbook prices I bought some of the less-expensive. I usually wait to the end of the first week to buy all the textbooks because some textbooks aren't required or truly necessary.

Third (Thurs.)

Easy day: One of the classes doesn't start this first week, and the long class went by really quickly. Day of chilling  Went exploring campus for graffiti, which I post up on my other blog, WWU Urban Art.

First Day!

Wow, I've been procrastinating too much! Last quarter, just completely gave up on blogging for here, but no more! I'm planning on having a much better time in 2012, starting with planning and organizing better. And today, the first day of the quarter ended up really good.

Finally woke up before noon (my body was very selfish during the break, and my sleep schedule was way off), got some important emails sent off, and then had breakfast--all before my first and only class of the day. As per usual, I dressed up all nice in grey slacks, a grey button-up, and wore a maroon tie (no pics available).

College By the Numbers, QIV

You can see Spring 2011's numbers here.

Dorm life

• Finished a single bar of soap.
• ~2/3 of a bottle of shampoo.
• Gone through one toothbrush.
• A full roll of paper towels.
• Visited home four of the eleven weekends.
• Found only $0.30 in the laundry machines.
• Spent $1.75 on my Laundry Card.

Class Materials

• Finished two black, ballpoint pens taking notes between four classes.
• Filled about two notebooks' worth of pages in notes.
• Went through ~50 sticky notes.
• Spent $185.63 on five textbooks at the AS Bookstore. Two others I got from friends as gifts or really cheap. 

College / Campus

• Spent all $150 in Dining Dollars. Damn those almost-daily coffees.
• Went to the Dining Hall for 161 meals and using 8 of my 10 guest meals. This was on the Unlimited Plan. Out of pocket, the meals would've cost me a total of $1,193.75, and according to this WWU chart, I paid $1,248 for the meal plan. Oooh, so close.
• Printed about 50 pages this quarter. The per-student credit used to be $25 (~500 pages), but this quarter it was $1.25 (~25 pages)--greatly reducing what I felt needed to be printed.
• I used the Bellingham Bus system a lot. It has become almost second nature to go downtown this way.

Things I've Heard in College, Quarter IV

I wrote these down in classes mostly, and just went through them by subject, which is why they're so segregated this year.

"I don't really like meat--it's just a vessel for sauces."

"Last night, my boys took me out clubbing. I was feeling sick, but I went because I hadn't seen them for a while. I ended up chasing down shots of Jack Daniels with Pepto-Bismol."

"Yeah, that's right: I eat my banana split with just a banana and vanilla ice cream. No bowl or nothing. It's like a dessert hot dog!"

"This is an atheist room!"

Roommate in a mock-angry tone: "You didn't eat your pizza, so I ate all of yours!"
Me, in similar voice: "Well, then you must be SO full!"

Speech teacher: "Back in my day we had to do impromptu speeches. One of the topics for my friend was Reagan's trickle-down effect. My friend didn't know anything about it, so he spoke about plumbing in the White House."

"What is it that makes people want to have this guy Tommy Hillflinger's name on their clothes?"

"It's like a soft-core porn, but with all the sex scenes cut out."
"So, it's just all really bad lines and dialogue?"

"These primates lived in the trees--if you mis-gauged a jump, you literally fell out of the gene pool." Anthropology teacher

"America, you gotta love it, or change it." Journalism teacher

"I use 5 different Haggen cards. They never know who I am."

Teacher came to class with dark shades due to an eye condition: "Don't ever get old, it sucks. Also, I'm not trying to be cool--I'm not a lost cause--and I'm not stoned."

Student asked: "What's a pollotarian?"
Teacher responds: "You only eat polar bears."

Anthropology teacher brought non-alcoholic beer to class to make his lecture stand out, and upon hearing lots of students asking for it he said: "I never contribute to the delinquency of underage students."

Anthropology teacher in class, the Tuesday just before Thanksgiving break, upon seeing all the empty chairs: "They all know that Wednesday off means the whole week off. Wait! You're all freshman, you're not supposed to know those rules yet."

Anthropology teacher: "What's that sport where you're running, leaping, and spidermanning everywhere?"
Several students: "Parkour!"
A handful of students: "(Hardcore, parkour!)"

As anthropology teacher comes to class--after not being there for two weeks--a few students chant "Anthro, anthro, anthro" faster and louder until he makes it to the front.

Computer science teacher: "If you don't interact with people, you can't get in trouble. That's why I work with computers."

Computer science teacher on Oct. 11: "Only 56 shopping days left until Christmas."

Caomputer science teacher: "How many of you trick or treated last night?"
One student raises hand.
Teacher: "Only one admits it?"

"YouTube: Watching a freaky girl doing a freaky thing."

2012 - No excuses!

Last quarter hit me differently than last year, and I had a difficult time updating this particular blog, especially during the Human Versus Zombies week. After that, I had a hard time updating at all (since my last post was October 29...)

Anyway, this year I am aiming to stay on top of it a little more, but also know that I may not update this one as often as I have in the past. I will be focused on my other blogs, and still plan on writing the End of the Quarter posts and Humans Versus Zombies the next game for here.

Have a great 2012!