Seth Kinast’s Blog

So Myst IV is coming out this week. I was really excited… and then I saw it had a Teen rating. They broke with a perfect 4x E record and made a game violent enough to be Teen? This is Myst, not Resident Evil. It should be clean and nice.

I’ll probably still get it though…

I just finished Book II in the Sword of Truth series, Stone of Tears. Terry Goodkind is one of the best fantasy authors I have EVER read. Probably top two. Highly, highly recommended. There are a ton of books in the series, though (I have the first seven), and each book gets progressively longer. The second one was pushing 600 pages. Some of the later ones are upwards of 1000.

I went to the Mozilla website to pull Firefox source and it looked funny. Refreshed, and boom, the new redesign popped into place. It must have been propagating as I clicked. Looks very nice with the emphasis on blues and whites, rather than the annoying khaki of v2.

And for your present, you get to run around campus for 3 hours trying to get into a class.

Yep, I’m 17, whee. But my whole morning has been taken up with this silly class swap. Here’s how you, too can get the college-red-tape runaround, if there some sadomasochistic reason that you desire to

1. Take CHEM 1315 departmental advanced placement exam. Pass.*
2. Pick a CHEM 1415 section. Wait. There’s only one section left. Wait. It only has one spot left.
3. Panic.*
4. Go to National Scholars Office. Get form stamped for fee waiver. Get new, longer form to take to Admissions.
5. Fill out form, which is actually a request form to TAKE the exam (I already took it?). Office says don’t worry about getting it signed, it’s just for records.
6. Take form to Admissions. Yep, it needs to be signed.
7. Back to National Scholars. They figure out who needs to sign it (Dr. Abraham) and where he is (CHEM 109) and if I can have an appointment (yes).
8. Go see Dr. Abraham. He mentions that there’s no add/drop slip necessary for his chemistry classes and that I should just go enroll.
9. Go back to Admissions and turn in form. They accept it.
10. Go to Honors Advisory Office and try to enroll. The adviser can’t do it because it’s past the add/drop deadline. I have to go to Registration.
11. Go to Registration. They say I need an add/drop slip. Dr. Abraham said I didn’t! Well no, I do.
12. Go to Dr. Abraham’s office. He calls Registration and yells at them. Refuses to sign my slip because he “wants to get the point across.”
13. Go back to Registration. Okay, I can enroll. So they punch up the class and enro… what’s this? You’re not eligible. You have to pass the exam first.
14. I DID pass. Grrr. Go back down to Admissions. It takes 7 days to get approval and grading. I explain that that is not acceptable, as there’s one spot left and I need it now. Whip out magic grading slip showing that I got PRE-GRADED, muahaha. Admissions lady admits defeat! Get another form, even bigger, to get special approval.
15. Back to Dr. Abraham’s office… hungry (haven’t eaten anything all day)… go to get the new superform signe… he’s gone. Office hours are over. When will he be back? Thursday.
16. Wallow in despair.*
17. Passerby notices said wallowing and asks what I need Dr. Abraham for. Explain. He tells me to go the the secretary upstairs.
18. Explain situation to secretary. She looks at superform, nods in understanding, and promptly forges Dr. Abraham’s signature.
19. Return triumphantly to Admissions. Form is processed and credit is applied.
20. Go back up to Registration. Speak to the fourth person there and thus have to explain myself again. She performs the add/drop.
21. Cash money.

That was horrendously long, and I think I ran about 4 miles. So hungry. Must go eat now.

To do: call TA and explain switch. Do French homework (easy). Adjust schedule on PDA and “Where’s Seth” machine. Take nap.

*Required for fully authentic reproduction of my experience

No sooner do I give away five invites that I get six more. Takers?