Happy Dance

I managed to get the WiFI/LionAir/whatever in the library to work today! Aren't I so clever? Of course, yeah, it was only after ten minutes of texting my friend- "What do I do next??!!" Still, me and technology do not always get along, so this is a marvelous accomplishment.

Today was also a banner day in that I had no problems staying awake in chemistry today. Yeah, I know, what is the world coming to. However, we started Chapter 6 today- Atomic Structure- which is something a bit more exciting than coffee cup calorimetry. Dr. Diaz was asking us when we thought the theory of atoms was first expounded- people were guessing the 1600's, the 1400's, even the 1900's, while I kept mouthing, "The Greeks. It was Greece." Dr. Diaz wrote "400's BC" on the board and told us it was two Greek guys. Somebody suggested Plato, another Socrates. Sorry, but they were more focused on philosophy than the natural sciences. Aristotle, however... Yep, he was one of them. As Dr. Bibbee, my history teacher, puts it, when Alexander the Great had Aristotle as his tutor, it was like having a group of Nobel Prize winners tutoring you now.

So they managed to come up with Aristotle, but they could not come up with the other name. Cue massive "Uhhhh" around the room. (I also note that there are a lot fewer people in the class than there were when we started out. For example, my row consisted of me and two other girls; empty seats surrounded me. The guy behind  me who always puts his feet up on the chair beside me was absent; perhaps he's dropped the class, like he's been talking about before the teacher walks in for weeks. (He said that if he changed his major to architecture he could get away with no chemistry. Perhaps he has. I don't know. Or maybe it's just the Friday Syndrome. Few people show up on Fridays. But I'll be there the Monday of Thanksgiving, Dr. Diaz. I'll show up, even if it's just me and that other guy who promised to show... I like atomic structure.)

I couldn't have told you that Aristotle thought of atoms, though it is reasonable since he did so many other things, but I sure as anything knew the name of the other guy! Democritus. Now, if you ask me why I know that name I shall have to respond that I don't really know. It may come from high school with four excellent courses of biology (the biology lab, on the other hand, was not excellent but nauseating...), chemistry, physics, and AP physics. (Which is probably the reason why when we did rectilinear motion the other week in calculus I was very happy. It was stuff I'd been doing for two years in physics and one year in calculus.) Anyway, one of my high school science textbooks told a story about Democritus and the seashore- how it looks to be smooth and uniform from far away, but how when you get close you can see that it is made up of many tiny particles. That was how Democritus thought the entire world was. Of course, he thought atoms were hard and perfectly spherical, but they hardly knew about electrons, protons, and neutrons then.

Not to mention croutons. :)

Yes, this is definitely the blog of a nerd. Now you know why I identify so strongly with Carter in the Kane Chronicles, and his, "Gee, history is fun!" attitude. His sister calls him Mr. Wikipedia and the same could probably be applied with some truth to myself...

I don't do entirely geeky things, however. I waste time spectacularly looking up random things. Me and the search bar... I do some very random stuff. And then wish for brain bleach. To make a long story short, NEVER look up Sailor Moon videos. Don't even ask. They seem a lot better when you're 5 than when you're 18.

And I play Lego games online. I can blame that on my brothers. They are Lego nuts.

To complete the randomness of this post (and to complete its slide from nerdy into complete nonsense), BROTHERBAND TRILOGY 1: THE OUTCASTS COMES OUT ON TUESDAY!!!!!

I found its website. I couldn't watch the trailer because I don't want to turn on the sound in the library (and I, of course, stupidly forgot my earphones... not that they work very well, anyway. The right one doesn't work at all.), but I will when I get home! And then bug my family about it with a countdown. Though I doubt I will be as obsessed over this book as I was over the Son of Neptune. Hey, it's Percy's fate we're talking about here... And to complete my joy, I have learned that the Heroes of Olympus series will consist not of three books, but 5!!!! YAY! PERCY SHALL NEVER GO AWAY! And if he dies, well, we'll bring him back to life. Nico will help.

In Pace Christi,

Elyse