DarkSnow's shout trail with windmills, - Help.com

Hello, stranger. :)

That’s possible. ^^ Although make sure you don’t let your worry about the unknown keep you from getting rid of the problems that are guaranteed to be undesirable.

It is fairly entertaining, after a while.

We all waste time in our lives and regret things. =/ It’s a challenge to learn from them and try to avoid them in the future, but it’s always possible to be at least a little bit more effective. And in my experience, at some point you just have to let it go and not let such thoughts dwell so long that they keep you from looking to the future. ^^

True. I guess it could be much worse. That’s my biggest fear if I do decide to change rooms.

Perhaps I should try that just to take note of how many people seem to notice me or even bother to interact with me. It seems like it might be a neat experiment.

That’s a wonderful philosophy. :) I wish I could say I feel like none of my time has been wasted in life. But I guess it is a lesson well learned.

Depends on the degree they’re going for… *ominous thunder* Feel free to voice your dislikes with their behavior, though, and let them know they can do the same for you if desired. But, as your roommates, they ’should’ act reasonably regardless of what week it is.

I used to feel the same way ^^ But over time I’ve felt that slowly slip away until I’ve realized I’m almost invisible, if I choose to be. I find it interesting at times to sit in a loud and crowded place for some time, to get a sense of how little people will interact with you. Hundreds or thousands of people will go by before someone even asks you for directions, or a lighter, or something.

Oh dear =) Although, so long as I spend that time with people I care about and get closer to my Creator, I don’t consider the time wasted ^^

Yes. I suppose I’ll wait a few more weeks to see if anything changes and then determine if I should try to switch. I’m assuming it’s quite typical for many students to enjoy themselves during the first week or so until classes become more demanding.

For some reason or another, I have never felt invisible in public places. Contrariwise, for as long as I can remember I have felt conspicuous in the presence of many people. Perhaps I have some sort of phobia. ^_^ The funny thing about it is, even though I know nobody is paying attention to me, I cannot help but think that everyone is watching me in some form or fashion.

Enjoy the days while you’re still young. As you get older the days will seem to pass even quicker. ;-)

That’s sometimes necessary, I think. I have heard from a few friends who have lived with roommates that they’ve needed to switch around at times. /shrug/ There are limits to what we can stand.

Haha. Does it feel nice to be able to go invisible? =) It’s a feeling I like, anyways. People only pay attention to you in public places when you want them to ^^

Excellent. Keep productive, though ;)

Indeed. Halfway through already. My life passes quickly no matter where I am. ^^ I guess that means I enjoy it.

I hope so. It seems as though their disruptive habits are starting to emerge. If this is a harbinger of things to come, then I might be considering getting a room change.

So far I think the school is grand. I still feel like a very small and insignificant creature when I am strolling through the campus. ;-)

Yes. Fortunately, I was able to figure out how to configure my laptop to gain access to the wireless internet here sooner than expected. ^_^

Ah, that’s good. It’ll be over before you know it and you’ll be home. :)

Indeed. People can hide insanity for years before they snap ;) Hehe. Just kidding. They will likely be good enough, though it will take time, of course. What are your first thoughts of the school so far?

Ah, interesting. So they have to do some kind of software setup for you to use your own computer with their internet? Suspicious ^^

Pretty good still. I’m nearing the halfway mark of my trip here. I can’t wait to get home, but this is a decent enough place to be. I am interested in the upcoming changes that will take place in my life when I get back, though.

So far so good. I got settled in to my apartment and acquainted with my roommates and, as far as I can tell, they seem okay. It’s still too early to tell, though.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to access internet on my computer until Tuesday as I have to attend a workshop in order to have certain software installed on it. So in the meantime, I will be using my phone and computers on campus to check my mail and such.

How is everything on your end?

Some of them are =P It’s fun enough.

I see. Perhaps less contact from you then. I hope it goes well! When you are able, let me know how the school is going ^^

Ah, yes. I dread those umlaut letters. Well, at least you’re making the effort to communicate with them. I bet they’re partially amused by listening to someone whose native language isn’t German try to speak it. :)

Agreed.

Tomorrow is my last day at work and then it’s off to school to resume my education. :)

I try it as much as I can. But my knowledge is limited. It’s far easier to read and write than speak or understand ^^ Those umlaut letters… killers.

There’s a time and place for each. Hopefully very limited on the side of needed times to use it though =)

Are you speaking in German to the Germans?

Same here. I try to adhere to the rules for the most part, but I refuse to be pedantic. ;-)

Ah, I see. I still do not know ^^ But sometimes the Germans here give me strange looks as if I’m stupid when I mispronounce things :D

Informally, nobody follows rules ^^ Some claim that it’s incorrect, but I resist =P

Fair point. I was thinking about how accents can sometimes alter the pronunciation of certain words. For instance, certain words pronounced from someone with an American accent will sound slightly different from someone pronouncing them with a British accent.

Haha. Yes, I know exactly what you mean. I likewise prefer to use the plural pronoun when both sexes are mentioned in a sentence. I hardly ever use “he or she” or “his or her.” Is it really incorrect to replace “he or she” with the “they” or “his or her” with “their.”? I just thought it was more formal. Oh well, too many rules to remember.

There are emotional ties people have to different words as well, though.
At one point in time there was no standardized spelling or pronunciation. Now, however, there are both ^^ Depends on how a person defines incorrect. If you pronounce it ‘incorrectly’ on purpose for some reason… I have no idea =P

I ended my part in it a while back ^^

Countdowns are the worst. “___ days until doomsday” is the fastest clock in the world ;)

Indeed not. Though it puts other things in an interesting perspective =)

Makes sense. The cynicism serves its purpose, in a way. It forces a person to have to re-evaluate and come up with his or her own reason that would be able to override that dislike. (As a sidenote, I hate using the ‘correct’ but inefficient “his or her” replacement for “they” ^^ and normally never deign to do so, only once in a while…)

You’re too good. ;-) Thank you for understanding.

I don’t know. Some words can indeed have more than one meaning, depending on the context in which it is used. If there is anything subjective about words, I should think it is their pronunciation. When you seriously think about it, is there an incorrect way to pronounce a word provided it is spoken in a manner that is intelligible for the person to whom it is directed? I have this debate many a time with my friend. ^_^

I was able to understand your stance and I thought you vindicated your claims quite well. I haven’t checked the post recently, but I will see if I missed anything just to gratify my lurking impulse. :)

Indeed. Time is already flying by for me, and it doesn’t seem to be getting any slower. Oh, yes. I’m worried about the first week. It’s mostly a case of butterflies in the stomach. ^_^

Loneliness is inescapable. I don’t think anyone can live their entire life without feeling lonely at some point.

That’s an interesting way of putting it and I agree with how you explained it. My negative views and misconceptions about marriage were mostly planted in my head by seeing people getting married for the wrong reasons or seeing the negative aspects of marriage and turning a blind eye to the positive. I guess you could say I, too, was influenced by cynicism to some degree.

Still faster than me… Haha. Except, I just responded today. ^^ I’m doing slightly better managing my time. But I completely understand the constraints of school. Have at it! :D

A new word to me as well. And an interesting one. However, aren’t words merely subjective in meaning anyways? Heh. You can’t win that way. Concepts or meanings you can convey by eventually trying a word combination that makes sense, but words themselves are probably too specific, in my opinion anyways.

Ah yes, lurkers in the shadows =P I tried to keep it simple. Trying to prove homosexuality as harmful, I decided, it was not the time and place for. It’s not a topic that is terribly important to me. But I wanted to address the need of individuals and society for promoting what they consider good behavior. Because value in that has been lost over time =/

Time flies by so fast. Some day you’ll even look back and say, “Wow, I graduated already?” Happened to me ^^ It blurs together. Except the first week and the last week, those are a bit frightening =P

Interesting. That’s indeed true. I think it’s been the case for me because I finally convinced myself, “So what? Everyone is like that ;)” Because, indeed it seems we all are regardless of how much we feel it.

I understand what you are getting at, although I don’t know the specifics in your case. If I may add a thought to perhaps help your introspection, maybe it’s similar to what I view as a pattern in my life that I’ve mentioned before. You remember what I said about my decisions to become a Christian and an engineer and how they were influenced by others? I think in this case, it might be similar. But here we see people obsessively focusing on such things as having marriage and children for the wrong reasons and that ends up at times being worthless. So we grow to despise it a bit for the reason that others are so obsessive about them when they have a lot of downsides. But then we get to know them for their own merits and our thoughts change yet again. Where in the other case, it was people driving me away at first, in this case it was my own cynicism… I think…

Actually, I believe I received the email 5 days ago. Sorry for the delay in responding. I’ve been relatively busy this week and was waiting for an opportune moment, which should be fairly soon. ;-)

Indeed it is. I could honestly see how that would be true in many cases for arguments. I suppose when both sides have exhausted their arguments for a subject, the only other option is to argue about the meaning of words - this is better known as logomachy. That’s a new word for me. ^_^

Incidentally, I’ve been following the discussion in the Chic-Fil-A post. I thought you made some good points in your arguments. I thought about weighing in, but then I thought about getting enmeshed in a debate that I was not fully equipped for mentally. Besides, I was more content with being a lurker in the shadows. ;-)

True. The system definitely has some kinks that need ironing out. But at least I’m making some progress, notwithstanding the inconveniences. It’s seems almost surreal that I will be going to the campus in a week and starting classes the following week. :)

I’m not really sure why there are longer intervals between the feeling. Perhaps it’s because I’m starting to see that there is an escape for me out of this rut that was inviting depression and loneliness into my life. I feel like my life is finally beginning to move in a more positive and favorable direction.

It appears I stand corrected then. :) Yes, I think I would have to agree. My mental state feels healthier and somewhat happier. Believe it or not, I have even changed my opinion about never having children. I honestly say that I feel more comfortable with the idea of having children should I ever get married. That’s hard for me to answer. I believe my fondness for the idea changed as my exposure to the real world increased and I became more aware of the benefits of marriage, which helped to chase away all of my negative views and misconceptions about marriage. My philosophy is there is a certain point - usually around the same time - that everyone reaches in their life when their perspective on certain things undergoes a change. We begin to see things in a different light. It’s like our minds become more receptive to the ideas we used to be opposed to and we seek to experience them. I know this all sounds very vague. I wish I could explain it with perfect clarity, but I’m afraid I’d need more time to carefully think about it.

I just realized the internet I have (which is very poor here at this Germany hotel in a village ^^) did not send the email I had tried to send five days ago. I just sent it now. If, for some reason, I sent it twice, disregard this, hah.

I do as well. But it’s a losing battle, haha. Ah… I forget who said it, but they claimed every argument reduces to an argument about semantics ^^ I don’t think all of them do, but a lot of times that does seem to happen. But I rarely agree to debates. I’d rather do things than discuss things.

It’s good that you got some more information about it. Interesting. That could be a useful thing. The school is expanding and mistakes you make might be forgiven more easily since a lot is going to go wrong already ^^ There are benefits to systems undergoing change.

How come you don’t feel that way as much anymore?

We shall see =) Although, hopefully, I’d be the one sweeping her off her feet =P
In many ways, I’d consider an openness to marriage to be an indicator of the improvement of my mental state. Would you find that to be the case in your life as well? Also, why did your fondness for the idea change at some point?

I strive for clear diction, but sometimes I just feel like my delivery can be incoherent. You’re right about word meanings being open to interpretation. More often than not, when my friend and I engage in debates our focus can be easily diverted from the topic and directed toward the meaning of a particular word or phrase. My friend is what you might call a vexatious nitpicker. I must say that I do not share the same delight as him when it comes to quibbling over semantics.

True. Fortunately, I was able to find out that there has been a slight delay on assigning mentors due to the multitude of freshman students who joined the program. And as a result, more mentors than ever before had to be hired.

Yes, I know the feeling all too well. Actually, the way you put it seems to coincide with the way I once felt, and still do on occasion.

I used to think I would never get married because, at the time, I had no interest in it. Furthermore, I wasn’t too fond of the idea of living with another person until the day I die. But I can honestly say that my perspective of marriage has changed quite a bit since then. I feel more open to the idea.
I don’t think you’ll have to worry too much about it. Sooner or later, you’ll meet a very special person who will sweep you off your feet. And when the time is right, you’ll know whether or not this person is ‘the one.’ :)

Your word choice is fine. English is not =P Word meanings can often go at the very least two different ways depending on how we interpret them.

I guess so ^^

Colleges are stereotypically quite slow. So are corporations. Yet, come time to pay for college and they’re all expedited =P Nah, I’m just kidding. Normally they have a lot of things to get set up so it takes them a while. It is unfortunate, though.

Thank you. Although, interestingly enough, I often also feel alone without being lonely. Because even if there are other people I’m close to, I’ll always be alone in some regards. Each person is unique and uniquely the only one of a kind =)

Indeed. It’s not something for planning, in my opinion either. The eventuality of it will depend entirely on the path our lives take =) Haha ^^ I had considered that myself actually. For many years I had said, “No, I won’t even consider dating or getting married until I’m out of school and working.” Now I’m both >.< I should have been more careful to think of what to do next.

Sorry for the misunderstanding. Perhaps not the best choice of words on my part. ^_^

Well at least you made the decision to pursue engineering for your own reasons. Now you will be able to carry the legacy for your family. :)

Unfortunately, I am not assigned a mentor yet. I was just told that I would be contacted by whoever happens to become my assigned mentor in early August. I might be able to email the person who manages the program, though. That seems to be my only option.

As someone who has also battled loneliness in the past, I certainly understand what’s like to feel alone in the world. Loneliness can lead to depression, among other things, and once it sinks in it can be difficult to cast out.

I have considered getting married many a time. But I figure that is something I shouldn’t have to force to happen. When the time is right and it is meant to happen, then it will happen. I see nothing wrong with pondering the prospect of marriage for yourself. Perhaps your mind is contemplating matters such as marriage because it seems like that’s the next step in life for you now that you’ve graduated from college and secured a job. When you pause to think about it, the events that we experience in life (college, work, marriage) have developed a specific order in which each are supposed to occur and this order has become ingrained in society. Therefore, I think it’s natural for you to be giving the idea of marriage some thought. :)

Ohh. I see ^^ I thought you meant always, and I was like… ‘Not a good idea’ =P

It’s a funny story, actually. =) My decision to become an engineer was very similar to my decision to become a Christian. ^^ In both cases, at first I chose to become one because of my family. Then I was made fun of by others for doing so and realized I had no reason of my own, and decided I’d rather do anything *but* that. Yet, in the end, they were both so compelling I ended up having too many reasons of my own to resistant it any longer.

Do you have his contact information so that you can start it? With job applications, I’ve always heard that you should remind them. Perhaps this guy/gal is as busy as a recruiter, eh?

Thank you =) I am too. It has a tendency to snowball and it’s exceedingly dangerous when it does so. I tried for many years to fight against it on my own and always lost. I never want to go back to that. But, perhaps I will never be alone again anyways. I still don’t want to try it, though ^^

In some ways, yes. In other ways, no. For example, have you considered getting married or are you going to put it off for a decision in the future? Because I’d done the latter, but… My mind is getting far ahead of itself now ^^ Some of the plans I have are unrealistically long term without short term steps.

Yes. I meant that I will rely on your advice to seek the advice from my professors. :)

A family of engineers. No wonder you were inspired to pursue engineering. Or is my assumption misguided? :)

I’m still waiting on my mentor to contact me. I was informed it would be the beginning of August, but now I’m starting to lose hope.

Well I’m glad you’re finding ways to keep your mind occupied and keep the loneliness at bay. Once the loneliness starts it can be difficult to get rid of it.

That’s a good side effect, though, isn’t it? At least you’ll be better prepared for your future and know what you need to do when you return home. :)

I said the professors, not me =P ^^

A mentor… Interesting indeed. That could be very helpful. Enough of my family members are engineers that I don’t know what it’s like not knowing someone in my field. I probably take such knowledge for granted. I’m sure you’ll have a lot of fun with your mentor :D Just think to yourself, “I’ll end up like this person too, but even better.” ^^

Fairly well. I’m rapidly learning my career, don’t feel lonely as much despite having been here by myself for about two weeks so far, and all around grow stronger every day =) I make use of some of my time alone to alternate between thinking and talking with God. There is one side effect of being here though: I keep making plans for my future when I get back.

Thanks for the valuable information. I’ll certainly be sure to draw on your advice.

I signed up for a program that is set up for first generation students. I’m supposed to get assigned a mentor that will hopefully be helpful. I’m kind of curious what it is going to be like; it’s also free, so I figured I should take advantage of the opportunity. I have never had a mentor before. It should be rather interesting.

How have things been going with you?

While it is true that fear can be a motivator, it’s also the case at times that we’re just mistaken and we are doing better than we thought. Towards the end, it’s often a bit of both. ^^ I’m sure you will find motivation in some way. =) I also heavily advise you work with peers on schoolwork. Depending on the class and the assignment, the amount of collaboration allowed/encouraged varies. But normally you are at least allowed to discuss difficulties or tips with your approaches to solving things.

If you ever get close to considering dropping out of a class, first just ask the professor if you have a good chance of making it. Sometimes they’ll tell you not to worry. They have a better understanding of how it will go than you do. And before it gets close to that point, bother the tutors, TAs, and the professors with questions ^^ Few people fail who are annoyingly persistent in trying to learn the material =P
(That might sometimes be partially due to the professors wanting to pass and thus get rid of the students, hehe)

That’s what I have heard from others too.

I think in a situation such as contemplating whether to withdraw from a class or stick it out might be determined by our capacity to rise to the occasion and how badly we’re determined to do so. Some people are able to use fear of failure as a source of motivation. I think it’s a remarkable ability, and I hope that I possess it should I ever find myself in a situation that requires its use.

It’s good that you did not succumb to the temptation. I suppose it’s sometimes the best thing to do, however, if you know that you will inevitably fail by sticking it out.

Indeed. For example, 20 credits of all engineering credits was not quite the same as 20 credits of half engineering and half lib. ed. credits was ^^ I think you’ll similarly find the classes you take in your last two years will be harder than the ones in the first two. But you get more used to it =)

Honestly, I was tempted a few times. But I stuck through it, and my desire to graduate as quickly as possible overrode any fears. Sometimes, towards the end of classes, people think they will fail but don’t. My GPA stayed around a 3.5/4, yet even I thought a few times I’d fail. In some cases you just need to get through it. And if you do poorly, you can retake the class. Some people would take one more classes than they’d want to have during the semester, and drop the hardest. But I just kept my strategy simple ^^

I believe 15 is considered the average. I’m hoping I can find that perfect balance. But I do realize that some courses can be more demanding than others, which can certainly disrupt the consistency of credits per semester one was accustomed to taking.

Was there ever a point when you felt like you needed to remove a class from your schedule because of the difficulty of the class or the overwhelming nature of the class schedule altogether?

Yeah. Finishing fast does not help if it hurts how good your grades will be. My first semester at college I took 15, made sure I was up for it, and then chose to do at least 18 from then on. I think you’ll be able to figure out the balance pretty well after one semester =)

That does sound like an incredibly insane course load. When I worked full-time and went to school part-time, the most credits I ever took in a given semester were 9 - that was all I could manage. I don’t think I’d be able to survive taking as many credits as you did. I’m worried enough about the 16 credits (or 5 classes with 1 lab) I will be taking this semester. My goal is to finish as quickly as possible while maintaining good grades. So if I can at least take 15 credits per semester then I will be making the satisfactory progress. :)

That’s excellent news indeed ^^
There was no limit per se, although you had to use a special form to get permission to go over 20 credits here (and they’d accept you if you simply had good grades and said you knew what you were doing). I was wanting to finish school fast so I took around 18-20 credits per semester. I’m not sure how that relates to credit hours though. That was about 6 classes and 3 labs or so per semester. Everyone considered me insane =P

I hope it gets much easier. The good news is that I was able to replace the class which got cancelled with another class. So things might be looking up after all. Out of curiosity, how many credit hours did you normally take per semester? Was there a limit as to how many you could take?

Ah, school bureaucracy… I’m so glad to have left it behind. Hopefully it will get straightened out for you. Sometimes it takes even a few weeks into the semester before it’s running smoothly. But it gets easier over time.

Or verbose and rambling nature ^^

On a more happier note, I see you just reached 10,000 replies - a true testament to your helpful nature as a person. :-)

I have been conversing with a pre-law advisor who is responsible for assigning students advisors and he has been fairly helpful so far. He’s essentially just pretending to be my advisor for the time being, however. I learned later on that the advisor whom I met with at orientation was not going to be my official advisor. He was the departmental advisor who was basically just pointing us in the right direction, yet his services proved to be not as helpful as I hoped for.

I was given a book that outlines the curriculum for my major and so I have been relying on that for the most part. Most of the classes I wanted to take in order to fill the cancelled class were closed, so I had to be put on a request log. I think their system needs an overhaul.

I shall go tell the other procrastinators about it tomorrow. ^^

Uh oh. How can you be advised on what classes to take and how to deal with difficulties like cancelled classes unless you have an advisor?
Is there an online system they have to show you what classes you can take to complete your major? Also, for my school at least, when a class was cancelled they’d have an alternative. They would do anything necessary to make sure everyone graduated on time.

That should be every procrastinator’s motto.

Thanks for the advice. I’ll bear that in mind between now and the time I leave for school. :)

It seems I’m already facing a few complications with school and I haven’t even started yet. I just found out yesterday that one of my classes has been cancelled. And to make things a little more complicated, I am without an assigned advisor. Supposedly, I won’t get assigned one until midway through the semester.

*as much time as you can.

I wonder that sometimes too =P The issue I had was that it was not very linear or organized, but seemed all over the place. Perhaps I did not stick with it long enough, though.

^^ Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow. Haha. On a more serious note, try to spend as much time with the people you care about =)

Really? I have heard good reviews about Rosetta Stone. Then again, those people were probably getting paid to give a good review.

Thanks. I have decided to allow myself one entire day to get the majority of my packing done, but I am trying to get organized and prepare my things by degrees. I’m usually a last-minute packer, though. ;-)

Either way should work =) Eventually electrical things just stop working.

Ah… *hissss* German ^^ I’m brushing up on it a little bit. I’ve acquired Rosetta stone, although I’ve had bad experiences with it in the past, so… Not a fan of it.

I see. Quite soon then. Good luck with it all ^^ Will you pack the day before? It’s what I always do, haha.

I’m on my second computer as we speak. My first one suffered the “blue screen of death.” Luckily I was able to save most of my important files and transfer them to my new computer. I did try my best to fix it, but my patience finally ran dry and so I decided to resign myself to buying a new one. Hopefully you’ll have better luck repairing yours than I did, though. :)

Ah, yes, that’s indeed a bummer. Should you get too bored you could always brush up on your German. ;)

I leave on August 18th to move into my apartment. School officially begins on the 22nd.

Not sure. I’m going to look at it in more depth when I get back to the US. I can at least save the contents of it. I routinely back up my computer, and it was 4 years old, so no loss really.

^^ Useful, but no video games. I shall have to be more productive in Germany now.

When do you leave to start school?

That’s most unfortunate about your personal computer. Any chance that it can be restored to working order again? Or do you think it’s beyond repair?

Hopefully your work laptop will prove to be a useful backup. :)

Haha ^^ My memory is fairly good, although my focus is not always the best. I don’t forget things as often as they move out of my focus as other things I pay more attention to at the time.
And, just a few days ago, my personal computer died =( Now I’m in Germany with only my work laptop, unfortunately. Or perhaps fortunately… we’ll see.

That’s good. Some things are just better not revealed on the internet. There are certain things I wouldn’t feel comfortable discussing here simply because it’s personal.

I’d be afraid I’d forget about it if I waited more than a week. ;)

It is one that will eventually be resolved. I can explain more in my next email ^^ Haha. I don’t view it as prying. I like people to get to learn from what others say. But still, some things are genuine secrets =)

Well, if it only takes you 2-3 weeks you’re still ahead of me =P