Fu Inle'

It has been surprisingly chilly these past two days; yesterday, in the morning, and today, most of the day. I suppose it's nearly 80 degrees now, but that's still colder than normal. Summer is officially over, and I am not looking forward to the coming of Winter, even though it is a season away. Eventually, the leaves will fall and it will start to rain. I mean, I hope it rains and I hope it snows, but I just wish that it didn't have to rain in order for the land to be healthier; on either spectrum, there are positives and negatives.

I am getting to like UCR a bit more now that I am getting more used to it, though I still am trying to find ways to transfer to a northern California school, preferably San Francisco State or UC Berkeley. Yesterday, I got a reply email from San Francisco informing me that, because of budget cuts, their school was no longer accepting transfers for undergrads or for students with less than 60 transferable credits; by the end of the year, with the units that I have planned to take, I will only have 53 units. That's seven short. I was thinking that I could compensate by taking at least 7 units in summer school, but at the moment, I am unsure of what to do. I will have to do some more thinking and planning and figure it out. I have not yet recieved any information from Berkeley regarding their transfer program. I don't understand why it's so hard to transfer, especially from a UC to a UC, as long as I were able to get into the school, from a UC to a CSU, which I already got into and declined to attend.

My classes are going well. My favourite class so far has got to be Cultural Anthropology; the professor, Dr. Harvey, is very lively, and makes everything seem so interesting, which it is. But he manipulates it somehow to make it even more interesting, if you can understand that. I'm not really sure how I would go about describing what he does and says to make it so fun; it's almost a "you had to be there" situation. Islam is also a very good class, although the progression is slower than I was hoping. I don't feel as though I've learned much yet, in any of my classes, really, but I know that this is just an introduction, basics before we get into the heavier information, so I am focusing and getting all my homework done when it is assigned. However, one of my books has not yet arrived, and so I have to go to the library whenever Dr. Ali posts a new reading from that book; luckily, he hasn't posted any major readings, just an introduction, and I have nothing much to worry about yet. Philosophy is good too. Not really much to say about that. We're reading Euthyphro and focusing now on the question, "Are things pious because they are loved by the gods, or are they loved by the gods because they are pious?" I finished reading the text this morning, but I have to go back and read the second half over again; there's something I'm missing.

A few days ago, I went to an LGBT meeting to learn about how I can become part of the Allies program, which is a group of students who support LGBT people and feel that they deserve the same human rights that, are, well, human rights. Yeah. You get it. Anyway, the seminar that I would have to attend to become an Ally happens to conflict with one of my classes, by an hour (it's a three hour seminar), and I would not be able to arrive late. I was told that I could talk to my RA and that if we can find ten people who are willing to go through seminar, that they would hold another seminar for any ten people who were willing to be there. I'm going to talk to Dani (our RA) soon and see what I can do. Tomorrow, I'm going to a meeting for the HOST program, which is a program where college students have a highschool student interesting in coming to UCR shadow them to classes and stay the night in their dormroom; where you talk to them about all of the opportunities available at UCR, different organizations they can join, classes they can take, etc. I think it would be a neat opportunity, so I have signed up, and in order to complete the sign-up process, I also have to go to that meeting.

I also bought a ticket to go see Maya Angelou speak on October 22nd here at UCR, which is going to be AWESOME.

I have been making new friends, and have been talking to people easier, though I still have a hard time falling asleep at night and staying asleep throughout the night. I'm not sure it will get easier; sleeping on a bed is strange, even though it is an uncomfortable bed (which I enjoy).

And now, for a story:

I had been in my friend Jason's room, discussing Islam readings and homework, and just talking about where we're from, giving one another tours of our hometowns on google maps. I decided that I should probably go do the homework that I had forgotten to do, and so I went back to my room and walked to the bed... but before I sat down, I noticed something strange. "It smells like burning in here." "It's just my hair straightener; I have to clean it," my roommate answered calmly. No more than thirty seconds later, the fire alarm went off. Everyone in the hallway began to file out of the hallway into the stairwell, where we noticed that the four floors above us as well as B-wing were also filing out. As we got outside, we noticed that the F-wing of East Lo was also leaving their building. EVERYONE was evacuating. My roommate and I were both dreading the possibility that the hair straightener had caused the alarm to go off and 12 floors of students to be evacuated from rooms. So, we're all standing outside, listening to everyone complaining (I bet B-side burned another cookie; I was doing laundry; etc...), waiting for them to announce the reason that the fire alarm went off. After ten or fifteen minutes, a woman comes out with a megaphone: "Attention. Attention! Good job guys. Just so you know, this was a drill! You all did excellently. You can go back to your rooms now." Thank goodness; just a drill. STILL. What a coincidence.

And yes; that is the most excitement that I have had in the past week. I'm sure more exciting things will happen as the week(s) progress, but for now, this is all.

ground control to major tom.

I am finally settled into UC Riverside. I know how to get to all my classes, I have found the closest grocery store and Bank of America (walking distance-- a long walk); nearly all my books are ordered, with the exception of my anthropology books and one of my Islam books. I am set.

I arrived Sunday morning. My roommate was already here and her side of the room was already all cleaned up. My side of the room is... far from organized. It will be, but here is why I have yet to complete the organization process: my bed is too low. My dresser doesn't fit under my bed. Because my dresser doesn't fit under the bed right now, it's just sitting in the middle of the room, waiting for it's turn to be put away, just like everything else in my room. I have had to start a little pile of things in my closet on top of my trunk/chest (which will be going under the bed later, for easier access). It's all quite a mess. I would adjust it myself, but I was told that there is a $500 fine for doing so, so I believe I will just wait for housing to respond to my request, no matter how long that may be.

I have made a few friends, two or three in my hallway, three or four from different dorms, and one that lives off campus. I have been taking long walks everyday. Today, Josh and James [two people that I met last night at the West Lothian (that's my dorm) ice cream social] and I all took a walk in the botanical gardens. I didn't realize how large the garden was until we reached a point where we could see the entire campus below and the valley beyond. It's really nice in the garden, and I'm thinking about doing a lot of my studying there. It's peaceful and quiet, and the people that I've talked to that work there are all very nice.

Tomorrow is my first day of class: I have Philosophy at 9 - 10:30 in the morning, and one of my Islam classes, or it could possibly be the Islam partner class, sort of like a CHASS (College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences) intro class maybe? I'm not sure what it's going to be, but I have it in the early afternoon sometime. Friday, I only have two classes: Anthropology and another of my Islam/CHASS classes-- then it's my first weekend of of studying and assignments.

So, that's a brief update. Nothing too exciting. Dancing Dave Burtch gave me 8 gigs of music, and it's ALL good, so I'm pretty stoked-- I've been listening to it a lot, and trying to write some stories. Maybe I'll try to post some when they're done. They're sort of just practice-- I'm inspired and I have ideas, but the words just won't come out the way I was hoping they would, so I'll keep drafting and forming until it's right, and even then it might not be right. We'll see what happens.

And that's it for now, I suppose. I miss everyone!

i wake up alone knock loud i'm home

I am at a loss of what to say. It's Thursday. I have two more days at home, two more days to say goodbye to everyone. Two more days to check and sort the mail. Two more days to build my nest on the living room floor and sleep with Pancho curled up on my pillow. Two more days to hang out with my best Budda. Two more days. That' s it.

I've had three and a half months to build up to this point, and what a good three and a half months it has been. I have had so many new experiences: I gave blood twice, I watched two three-d movies, I played two shows (successfully and not), I have sung and played my songs for my favourite singers and songwriters, I got a tattoo. I have seen my moma more these past nine months than I have seen her in the past three years put together, and I am most grateful for that. I have had to say goodbye to my comrades and say hello to new friends.

But I still can't believe I'm only home for two more days. It doesn't really feel like I'm going to be leaving, and I suppose I'm not really leaving. I think of it more as an expedition or an adventure, and when I come home I will have learned so many new concepts and lessons, and I will have new ideas. Family will still be Family. Friends will still be friends. I am what I love, not what loves me back. I could never really leave Home.

So, I guess will finish packing and saying my farewells, I'll check the mail, and Pancho Villa and I will go for a walk. I'll run some errands and I'll ride my bike around for a little while.

And then it will be time to migrate. I've seen gaggles of geese flying off in their v-formations, but they'll come back to hatch their goslings at CSUS and Donnelly when the weather gets better. And I'll be coming home, too. It's not forever. It never really is.