"Do you know that 'if' is the middle word in 'life'?"

(Quote from 'Apocalypse Now')

-

11/4/2011
Brodhead House
Room 514
Common Room


-Housing
-Summer
-Apocalypse
-2 Months

Finally settled my housing...well, about to. Basically what happened was that we finally had 5 people and the day we were about to sign...two of them decided that they didn't like the lease and dropped out. Since realistically it was unlikely that Pooja, Jose, and I would find at least another person to live with us at such a late notice (it is usually recommended that the lease be signed by Pacing Break), we decided to find a three-person apartment. We recently found one with a decent lease ($425 per person per month for three people, compared to $380 per person per month for five people) and we'll sign next week Wednesday. Location-wise, it's actually pretty close to the other house we were looking at. Which means it's fairly close to campus.

This is good considering the lease comes into effect the 1st of May, meaning we can store our stuff there whenever. This also means that over the summer, I'll have somewhere to live. :) Yeah, I'm not coming home this summer: I'm going to stay at Lehigh and take summer classes.

-

Not sure if anyone's heard, but there was snow this past Saturday...apparently about 6" of it. This caused a lot of trouble - downed trees, downed power lines, and lack of power. At first everyone thought it'd come back the next day...when it didn't, everyone had to evacuate Lehigh's campus and dorms and school was closed for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. It was dubbed 'The Apocalypse' because Brodhead, being one of the few buildings on campus with power (we're on the city's grid, not Lehigh's, so we were spared the fate of having no power) basically became a refugee camp for friends of people in the building. Room after room was filled with people, and I think some people were actually sleeping in the downstairs lounge. People actually introduced themselves like that: 'Hi, I'm ______, refugee from _______." It was kind of funny.
I never would have thought, but school keeps us sane. Eventually we all were going crazy - while talking about sandwiches from the Goosey Gander (a deli place just behind Brodhead), my friend suggested we put martensite (a phase formed from a quick cooling rate, such as a water-quenched metal) on a sandwich. It took me and the other MatSci students a little while to figure out why that didn't sound too appetizing, we were that out of it.
We all watched movies and Dr Who episodes, most of which were intended to be scary since it was around Halloween. I still can't look at statues, especially of angels, the same way ever again. There is actually a list of things I am now moderately afraid of after The Apocalypse and where this fear comes from:
Angels (Dr. Who)
Statues  (Dr. Who)
Angel Statues  (Dr. Who)
Mirrors  (Dr. Who)
Scarecrows  (Dr. Who)
Children   (Dr. Who/Insidious)
Children in Comas   (Insidious)
Children in Gas Masks   (Dr. Who)
Darth Maul    (Insidious)
Sleeping    (Insidious)
"Are you my mummy?"   (Dr. Who)

-

Yesterday was two months. :) I got him cat toys (the little plastic balls with jingles in them). Originally I didn't really mean to get anything, but I was running errands and happened to pass through the pet aisle. It's an inside joke between us, in case you were wondering. :P He found it hilarious and I've actually caught him playing with them a few times when he wasn't studying.

-

Well, I think that's mostly it...pretty sure there's nothing more to say for now...

E

Skydiving

Monday 17 October 2011
Lehigh University, Brodhead House, Room 308:


So mom visited during Pacing Break. We went to Philly, saw a bunch of stuff, then we met up with a bunch of my friends in NJ and we all went skydiving. :)

Yup. We're crazy.

The cool thing was that mom got to meet most of my friends that had gone home for the break, which was nice. :)

They didn't let us take cameras (for obvious reasons) but for about $100 extra, we could get pictures and video courtesy of another jumper tailing us. I didn't get it, but Josh did and his camera guy got a few pictures of me/us, so he gave them to me.

Me and Josh harnessed up and ready to skydive...just waiting for our tandems and the plane...and where did Charlie go??

In the plane with my tandem. He looks totally insane...he kind of is. Nice guy, though. Had a fun time jumping with him. :)

Those are pretty much the only two pictures where neither of us look ridiculous. Also, our matching shirts were totally unintentional. We swear.

Well, I think that's it, for the most part. Nothing more to say, other than I should get back to studying. :P

Kbai~

E

Quick Update...

4 October 2011, 1:19p Eastern Standard Time;
Brodhead House, Room 514, Common Room:


Not much to update on, really. I'm taking 18 credits this year, two MatSci classes, German class, two standard core classes, and marching band (for one credit). One of my MatSci classes requires 10-20 page minimum professional-grade reports for our labs. Class-wise, everything's great (except those reports are killer!! :(  ).

In band I'm still in Rank 10, alto sax. I'm also still the shortest, not that this really surprises me. I made about four friends among the froshies and kind of made a friend of the creeper froshie...yeah, one party he asked me for my points...small kine creepy. Now that most of the guys in my year know of that, they keep an eye on him and on the girls (mostly our year, since they're closest to us), which is nice.

It's not much but my boyfriend and I just celebrated (as in yesterday or maybe the day before) our one month. We both decided to do something special...after 4 o'clocks, which are this week. He comes with me sometimes to swing dance which is a lot of fun and he enjoys it, too, which is awesome. :)  We bond over "funny" things (as in not generally "expected" or stereotypical boyfriend-girlfriend bonding activities) like paintball, homework/studying, complaining about Chem and our majors (he's Bio/Pre-Med, at least for now, according to him), playing Connect-the-Dots on freckles (mostly me playing Connect-the-Freckles on him, since I don't really have any), and discussing movie quotes and Robot Chicken.

Um...Momcat is coming to visit me over Pacing Break! So excited. :3 Also, a bunch of the 97 c/o '14 is going skydiving on Tuesday.

Tomorrow I sign the lease for the off-campus apartment for next year. It's just off campus near Whitacker Labs, which according to my older MatSci friends, will be my home next year. It's near the bookstore and near Campus Square, which is nice, and I saw the house - I think it looks both nice and in good condition. The landlord is pretty cool too. He's really nice.

This year most of my friends live in the same building, which is pretty awesome - that means that I can visit them whenever I want and without leaving the building. I study more on their floor than I do on my own. :) We also have a dining hall downstairs, which is nice b/c we can just walk downstairs in our PJ's and not have to walk outside. It's also near a sandwich shop called the Goosey Gander. You have no idea how awesome the Goose is. So. Good.

We did two shows for marching band this year:
-Lehigh vs New Hampshire ("Gimme Some Touchin'"): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT0QZJx_E5s
-Lehigh vs Liberty ("The Joy of Cotton"): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O15fGoIFiQ(part 1), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wbaeuUAuyA&feature=related(part 2)
-Lehigh vs Yale ("You Really Got Me Jumpin'"): http://www.youtube.com/user/SOHUPLOADS#p/a/u/1/FNRlvQ064ek

Also, the trombones like to do something called "Underbone" ("Underdog" theme + played by trombones = "Underbone"): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfzqkFDI2Bs

I think that's it for now...I may not update this as often as I did last year, considering I'm a lot busier than I was last year but...I'll try?

Kthanxbai~

E

Things Erin Learned Today...

10 February 2011
Emery Room E315:


Had a sax lesson today with Alex. It was a lot of fun. Before that I had two classes which we incredibly uneventful. Except for the second one because the vents in the room tend to make a weird whistling-hissing noise that sounds like aliens are in the room. And he always shows us the weirdest videos - today it was what not to do on an exam (how to fail a test with dignity) because our programming exam is on Monday (Valentine's Day, joy).

So, here are some of the funny things I've learned today:

-Playing a B to a D is like blowing air into a balloon

-"You need to blow more. More air! More air!" ~Alex

-"I have no idea where you got this habit, but you need to stop biting!" ~Alex

-"I have no idea why, but whenever I sing you the part you can play it like five times better than before." ~Alex

-"Did you hear that?! Did you hear that?!" "Uh...yeah..." "You heard the difference, right?" *nod* "That was me doing it on purpose. I played a little flat and shitty and you adjusted to it! I mean, that's a good thing - it's great! You need to be able to do that while playing in the group." ~Alex

-according to Chuck Smith, our programming professor, the C++ compiler has bowels ("...in the bowels of the C++ compiler...")

-(funny quote) "If Marching Band was easy, they'd call it your mom."

-I need to breathe more

-My mouthpiece is like a Tootsie-pop. No one likes the center and biting it would just hurt my teeth. I can only lick the reed with my tongue but if I bite it then I'll get the icky inside part that no one likes.

-I bit my mouthpiece hard enough to leave indentations and little dents in it.

-I consistently confuse the notes for E and F (whether high or low)

-I don't have the attention span to keep count - I play by listening to whoever is playing around me

-I need to breathe and blow more air into the sax

-I need to wear a scarf

-Candy-grams from Kappa Kappa Psi are a dollar each (I bought one for each of my friends and decided to be creepy, leave them a message of " :) " and signed by "E10" for those in my rank and "E" for the rest of my friends)

Well, that's all I can remember.

Jya!

~E

1.1.1.3.2011

*Copied directly from my Shanghai Journal*
Journal 1
Day 1
January 3, 2011
1.1.1.3.2011
Shanghai, China


It's hard to believe I'm actually in China right now. I mean, it seems to me like it's just another city. But the sights, the sounds...it's obvious it's not.

We flew in. The airport was uneventful until we got through customs and immigration. Dragging our bags, we walked down to the bus, loaded our bags, and then went back to the maglev train station. Jessica, our guide, told us that it could reach speeds of up to about 400 km/hr. No one really believed her until the lighted display showed our velocity at 430 km/hr only a few minutes later.

Jessica, our guide, told us that it could reach speeds of up to about 400 km/hr. No one really believed her until the lighted display showed our velocity at 430 km/hr only a few minutes later.

The sun hung like a fat orange ball in the sky, its harsh stare dulled by the heavy layer of smog on the horizon. It hung precariously and lurked behind buildings as we raced through Shanghai. The buildings...riding the maglev, I saw houses torn apart as if by some cruel beast. Bricks and trash were strewn in narrow alleys and empty windows stared at the train with blank, accusing eyes.

The sun hung like a fat orange ball in the sky, its harsh stare dulled by the heavy layer of smog on the horizon. 

The maglev train stopped. The station was like an open tunnel, a tube of steel. To us on the maglev train, the cars and buses in the parking lot seemed like ants or caterpillars. We walked down and boarded our bus which would take us the rest of the way to our hotel.

Compared to the maglev train, the bus was slow and cumbersome, humming and shaking like a creature in itself. We drove past apartments and parks and buildings under construction. We passed skyscrapers and narrowly avoiding the many people riding scooters. I saw a man walking his heavily-laden bike casually across a street with cars that had a green light. They beeped at him but otherwise drove around him casually.

When we got to the hotel, we unloaded and filed in. We got our room assignments and moved out. My room is 1813. There are 22 floors in the hotel. Looking out the window, we can see the smoggy sky and tall, skinny buildings. There is a loft in our rooms with a bed in addition to the two on the "lower level". The bathroom is small, the area not taken up by the shower little more than the size of a normal bathroom stall. You had to climb over the toilet to get into the shower.

When we got to the hotel, we unloaded and filed in. We got our room assignments and moved out.

There is a loft in our rooms with a bed in addition to the two on the "lower level".

After we showered we quickly went downstairs to dinner at a nearby restaurant. The food we were served was traditional for a certain province or ethnic group, I was told. There I learned my first Chinese words in China. "Ha la!" my table-mate cried. "Ha la! Ha la!" she exclaimed, pointing at all the dishes on the table. Ha la means "too spicy". But for the painful burn in our mouths at the heavy spice, the food was delicious. We had frog, fish, shrimp, and beef from my memory and understanding.

It was amazing. Welcome to China.

Jya~
~E

Harry Potter Party

Emery 
Room E315
2.3.2011


Well...yeah. So the Harry Potter Party. I don't have a picture of me in my "House" colors but I do have a picture of Rank 10 from the Band Banquet. :D

Left to right: Laura (rank leader), Alex (my mentor and 2010 student conductor), Matt, Hope, Dan (2011 student conductor), Eamonn

Anyway, I was in Hufflepuff, ergo I had to wear yellow and black for my House colors. Did not like, I felt like a bumblebee. I'm not going to elaborate on how hard it was for me to find a yellow shirt/blouse. It was hard. And I ended up wearing black skinny jeans because I didn't want to wear nice pants/slacks to a band party. Just saying.

Moving on, I went to the band party. It was nice because people really went all-out for the party - literally everyone there was dressed up for their house. It was awesome. We had a few House games and then a few Harry Potter-themed games in the basement which I did not participate in as I am not particularly good at Beirut, beer pong, or any game where you have to throw a ping-pong ball into a cup, even if it's a big red Solo cup.

I heard rumors that the guys living in the house the party was hosted at had woken up at 9a (on a Saturday!!) to clean out the entire house and start making preparations. Everything was decorated and they had even bought a ton of dowel rods and chopped them into wand-sized pieces then spray-paint-stained them so that they looked somewhat legit.

I really had a fun time. One of the funniest moments (in my opinion) was when we were in our House room and sitting around. Dan (see above) was wearing a Steeler's jersey (which happened to fit our house colors perfectly) and was standing near the door when someone from another House poked their head in. "Steelers?" he asked. "Seriously?" then he left and Dan lunged past me and poked his head out the door. "Yeah, you got a problem with that?" It was the funniest thing ever. Mostly because Dan is usually really quiet.

Now that I think about it, a bunch of Rank 10 ended up in Hufflepuff...Laura, Dan, Matt, and I. Hope was in Slytherin, Eamonn was in Gryffindor, and Alex was in Ravenclaw. :P

At one point the Glitter Faeries (Hope and Sara Pontician) started sparkling people. They know I like glitter so they sometimes come looking for me. Sara found me first and slapped some glitter on me. Then I convinced her to get Dan...so she did. It was hilarious because he looked so confused at first, not quite understanding why she smacked him until Laura started laughing and said he had glitter all over his face. Then he sort of ran away to wash it off. I ended up helping him and telling him it wasn't so bad and if he scrubbed with a wet wash cloth it should come out. I think it did but I didn't exactly stare at his face to look for glitter.

Then I found Hope and she sprinkled glitter all over me. So much that when I got back to my room and pulled off my blouse, glitter fell everywhere. When I woke up the next day and looked in the mirror, I found glitter in my hair. It was awesome. :P

Well, I don't have much more to say about the Harry Potter party, other than that I tried at one point to juggle wands. Miranda laughed at me but stayed around to watch me fail epically at juggling two. Then I got it into my head to try juggling three. She laughed but I did all right for a little while...then I failed and gave up.

I think that's about it. I walked back later with Charlie (Phil, who lives in the same complex as Charlie and also near me was apparently long gone, which was fairly surprising) and had a few interesting conversations with him, which usually happens when we walk back from parties. I believe we talked about roommates and dogs (mostly because I saw footprints in the snow and then a dog's prints but forgot to say 'footprints' and ended up saying 'look, dog!').

Well, Imma go back to my life and be productive. :P

Jya!

~E

P.S. Thought this was funny. Found on Facebook and thought I'd share my version of what happened. So here's the picture:

Well we took the first picture then started drifting apart. Then Brandon and Josh thought it'd be funny to take a picture with us. So they called us all back but in the process, Dan and Eamonn had switched places. Dan and I were (or at least I was) uncomfortable with each other but felt awkward not wrapping arms around each other so he somewhat wrapped his arm around my shoulder and I awkwardly wrapped my arm behind his back. And we stood there awkwardly and once they took the picture parted ways immediately. Hope laughed later when I talked to her about it. "You're strange, Erin Lau." she said. Fact, Hope Brosnan, fact.

~E

Wow. I haven't updated this recently...

/*
Erin K. Lau
ekl214
Emery E315
31 January 2011
*/

using namespace std;

#include<iostream>

//Wow. I haven't updated this recently...


/*NOTE: Not a valid code. Inputting this into a comiler will result in
        gratuitous amounts of error messages. Why is it not a valid bit
        of code? Many reasons, but you probs don't want me to get into 
        that. But don't enter this into a compiler. Just saying. ;) */

char Math021, Chemistry030, Poetic_Justice, Symphonic_Band, Engr1;
char free_time, time_for_omnoms;
char My_Schedule, Class_Schedule, Class_times;
//note: dinner not always included in schedules


//Monday Schedule:
My_Schedule=time_for_omnoms+Math021+Chemistry030+time_for_omnoms+Engr1+free_time+Symphonic_Band;
//found my breakfast buddy again for this day :D
//need to stalk him the rest of the days :/

Class_Schedule=Math021+Chemistry030+Engr1+Symphonic_Band;

Class_times=1010+1110+1310+1910;
//breakfast in Rathbone w/ breakfast buddy!! :D
cout<<"an 'all right' day"<<endl<<endl;

//Tuesday Schedule:
My_Schedule=time_for_omnoms+Chemistry030+Poetic_Justice+Engr1+time_for_omnoms;
//don't think breakfast buddy is up as early as I am

Class_Schedule=Chemistry030+Poetic_Justice+Engr1;

Class_times=0745+1045+1210;
//breakfast @ 0700 at Cort - too early for breakfast buddy :(
cout<<"a day I loathe because I have to wake up early"<<endl<<endl;


//Wednesday Schedule:
My_Schedule=time_for_omnoms+Math021+Chemistry030+break_for_omnoms+Engr1;
//need to stalk breakfast buddy :(

Class_Schedule=Math021+Chemistry030+Engr1;

Class_times=1010+1110+1310;
//breakfast in Rathbone. don't know where breakfast buddy is. sad face :(
cout<<"an 'all right' day"<<endl<<endl;


//Thursday Schedule
My_Schedule=time_for_omnoms+Poetic_Justice+Engr1;
//know when breakfast buddy has class! can stalk for breakfast
//lol...I'm a horrible person :P

Class_Schedule=Poetic_Justice+Engr1;

Class_times=1045+1210;
//breakfast in Rathbone :)
cout<<"an easy day"<<endl<<endl;


//Friday Schedule
My_Schedule=time_for_omnoms+Math021+Math021+Chemistry030+time_for_omnoms;
//don't know where breakfast buddy is :(

Class_Schedule=Math021+Math021+Chemistry030;
//first Math021 class is recitation; second is lecture

Class_times=0910+1010+1110;
cout<<"an easy day...but I still HATE Chemistry :( "<<endl<<endl;

/*
Well, that's that for now. Here and there I have more stuff, but I don't really 
feel like elaborating right now. I'm in a lazy mood today and am doing some of
my programming homework. :P This of course is not a part of that. So...
Jya!
~E
*/

system("pause");
return 0;
}