Trapped at Berkeley

This winter and New Year has been more turbulent than usual, and I’ve lost contact with a lot of friends and possibly upset some others. Work has also been keeping me on my toes, so I haven’t been able to keep up with all my contacts and volunteer work.

It seems that things are finally beginning to settle down, so I’m going to try to move forward and mend fences: check up on the people I care about, re-establish friendships, devote some time to helping others, and get back into my cycle of rock climbing and exercise.

I’ve decided to withdraw from the University of California, Berkeley, for a couple semesters. I need some time to do things other than school and to work some issues out. Check here for regular updates on my (temporary) escape from Berkeley.

My fifth semester at UC Berkeley is drawing to an end. I have finals on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Monday — two materials science courses and one each of chemistry and chemical engineering.

I’ve spent the past few days alternating between sleep and studying, but once Wednesday hits, I’m going to be able to count the hours of sleep I get until the end of this madness using my fingers.

Let’s see how this goes…

UPDATE: It seems my performance on finals has a positive derivative. I’m hoping it holds out until Monday.

I think the time gap between this post and the last post is the longest such gap this blog has ever seen.

Many things have occurred since the last post, and most of them have been keeping me very busy. Here’s some of the important stuff:

I moved back into the dorms. This will be the first year where I haven’t lived in Bowles Hall and where I’ve had a roommate. While I have nothing against my current living conditions, I still wish I was able to return to Bowles Hall — I really miss the atmosphere and short walk to classes. As an aside, I was recently quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle about the changes in policy regarding my former dormitory.

My third year at UC Berkeley started, and I’m as busy as ever. I’m taking five upper-division courses, and they leave me with very little free time. I’m feeling a lot of pressure to become more efficient with my time. We’ll see how that goes…

Along with my friends Ryan and Dima, I’m currently trying to bring back the Berkeley GNU/Linux Users Group. This week, we held a speech by Richard M. Stallman, who turned out to be pretty interesting. Pictures are posted here.

I’m acting as a co-teacher/teaching assistant for CS 198: System Administration for the Web. It’s an interesting and educational experience to teach people. I’m having fun, and I think it’s a great way to develop my skills at presenting information.

I’ve also had some computer problems, and, as I type this post, I’m attempting to recover data from a broken backup. The one lesson that I’ll never forget from this experience is to always test my backups before going ahead with a possibly destructive task. Though nothing vital was lost, the information I did lose was of considerable value.

Katherine and I broke up about 3 weeks ago, her doing. As of today, she has a new boyfriend. I know I don’t usually post very personal things to this blog, but I do think this is profound enough to merit an exception.

Truthfully, I still want to be with Katherine, and I hope I can win her back. The odds are against me, my friends tell me to move-on, and I can’t help but feel that this is in some way related to the way I treated my high school girlfriend Emily. I feel bitter and angry, for a variety of reasons, but I remain hopeful.

To those who read this blog, you’ve probably sensed that I believe in a higher power, or a fundamental law. I find this law in the Bible. I do consider myself a Catholic, but I rarely mention it here. The reason I do bring it up today, though, is that, with my understandly mixed and confused emotions, I’ve felt drawn to read the Bible for something entirely different from the law — inspiration. I feel lost, and I find guidance in the Bible.

Me. WHee., originally uploaded by kloh.

The title says it all.

It’s hard having a girlfriend who’s living in a distant time zone. While communicating over the Internet is possible, it’s not the same as talking over the phone or in person. Ironically, Katherine will be returning to California just as I depart for my 14-day whirlwind tour of France, Italy, and Germany. Once there, I’ll be totally out of contact.

For the first time ever, I can’t wait until school starts.

I just ordered the following K-Swiss cross-training sneakers from shoebuy.com:

I’ve been wearing K-Swiss shoes for about 3 years, and I find them pretty comfy. My current pair have lasted me for over a year, and I only decided to a get a new pair because I’ll be doing quite a bit of walking during my trip to Europe.

shoebuy.com offers free UPS Ground shipping and a 10% discount when you register for their site on your first order, and if you look around, you’ll find a variety of coupons you can use to make your purchase even sweeter. They’re rated well on ResellerRatings.com, and they’re affiliated with Amazon.com.

I’ll post more information when the shoes arrive.

I’m officially back home.

Unfortunately, this also means I’m back to my super-slow-stuck-in-the-middle-of-nowhere Internet. To those who’ve recently commented on my blog, I’m sorry about the delay in moderating your comments — with only one phone line, I can’t use the Internet too often to check this site. My lack of a dedicated connection also means I won’t be able to reply to comments nor post updates as frequently as I do when I’m at school (rather ironic, isn’t it?).

To those that have arrived here as a result of a search for some UC Berkeley related thing, I’m more than willing to answer your questions. Either comment on an appropriate post or, if none exists, on this post.

I just finished my last final, Engineering 45. Now, time to get packing…

Today, I selected my dorm room for next year at the Berkeley Housing and Dining Room Draw. I’ll be living in Foothill Hillside 7A30A with a (currently) freshman Chemistry major.

It’ll be interesting living in a Foothill Hillside double — I’ve lived in a Bowles Hall single for the past two years. I’ve loved Bowles Hall for its proximity to the College of Chemistry, but Foothill Hillside isn’t much further away. Furthermore, while singles offer the most privacy and personal space, they also tend to get lonely. I look forward to the new experience of living with someone else.

I’m still angry at Housing and Dining though…