It’s fifth week, which means it’s midterm time. Usually my midterms are not that bad but this year I have a ton of stuff to do, including two written exams (which thankfully are already over), a sizable History of Ideas paper, and a ton of catch-up on homework for my computer science courses. It’s been a little bit of a mess.

Last weekend I went to go see Forbidden Kingdom on its opening night at AMC Cantera 30. If you allow me to digress a moment, I have never heard of a movie theater that large before and it still baffles me. It’s so huge that it’s sort of subdivided into smaller theaters and has multiple independent concession stands and everything. It must be a Naperville thing. Anyway, the movie was pretty good. It’s a kung fu movie, so it’s pretty much required to be campy, but the fighting scenes and general artistry was awesome. The choreography was especially good and it integrated some of that floaty Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon style in a tasteful way. I am also a HUGE Jackie Chan fan and I was not disappointed (unlike Rush Hour 3, which was an embarrassment for all parties), especially by the Jackie Chan/Jet Li fight scene. I would definitely recommend it.

More interesting stuff will hopefully be going on for me to talk about next week. COW is taking folks to see a Second City show this weekend and then next week we start my pre-study abroad course. Hopefully I will be less stressed out by then, too. Later!

This week was pretty par–not much going on. The homework load is serious as usual but I’m making it. I and my COW exec brethren have been having serious stress this week because we’re trying to buy the tickets for one of our events and we just cannot get ahold of their group ticket sales office. It’s ridiculous. We’re trying to give these people money, and we’ve been calling several times a day, but nobody is ever there and nobody ever calls back. We’ll get it done somehow, of course, but it’s been driving me up a wall.

Another more general news item is that I now have a topic for my honors thesis! For the College Scholars honors program, in order to graduate with full honors, you need to complete many hours of honors coursework (I think it’s around 40) and then complete a large research project during senior year. I’ve been struggling to come up with a topic all year, but I met with my academic adviser about it last week and she suggested that I do the Games for Girls competition by myself next year, and supplement it with outside research to round it out as a complete project. Most honors theses end up being huge papers, but it doesn’t always have to be that way–in computer science in particular it is very common for there to be a practical component.

I don’t have to look at anything too seriously yet, but I’m glad that I settled on the topic this early because now I have plenty of time to work on it. During the summer I will probably start doing research (specifically about the psychological and sociological components of gaming culture and why it is so unattractive to women). During Fall term I will be in China and Japan and I can use my time there to try to look into game development in those countries. Once I come back I can crack down more seriously on building the game before the early April competition deadline and then finish up the paper and submit it early in Spring Term. I certainly won’t be able to slide through my senior year, but it is SO worth it.

So that’s good, and COW events are coming so we’ll have more fun stuff to talk about. Happy weekend!

So it’s only week 3 and I’m already swamped with academic work. It’s bad times. The weather is just starting to get really nice, and I’m stuck inside doing computer science work.

If nothing else, balancing all facets of college life forces you to adopt serious time management skills. Right now I have to find time for classes, programming projects, readings, work, and just a tiny bit of sanity time, not to mention commuting time, and frankly I’m not doing a very good job of it. It’s been pretty crazy, but I think the worst is over for now.

Last weekend, an organization on campus sponsored a totally free trip to a local movie theater to see the movie 21. That was pretty much awesome, and being on the executive board of an event-centered organization myself I have a lot of respect for what it must have taken to make the arrangements to do all that. They rented out a theater just for North Central students (as in one single theater in the building, not the whole place) and they also gave us a small popcorn and drink for free. I mean, seriously, how cool is that? The movie was pretty good, too, and it was a fun experience all around. Everything is fun when it’s FREE!

Speaking of events, we’re working on getting all our COW events in order as well, and I’m really excited about this term. Among other things, we’re taking students to Medieval Times and a show at Second City, both for only $10 per person. I’m super excited for both of those and I hope that other people will be as well.

Overall this term looks pretty much amazing. There are no official events coming up for this weekend, though I do turn 21 on Saturday… and I’ll leave it at that. Later!