A Series of Tubes

If I’m to believe this video, then the renovations that the ISS is/was/will be undergoing are huge. Look at how they start off that video (which details the construction process of the additions), and then how they end it. The space station is gigantic by the end, more than twice as big as how it started off. And what’s with all the shifting of parts? Why don’t they add them on in the order they’re going to be in, instead of going all higgelty-piggelty (first time I’ve ever used that phrase) and end up having to move everything around before the end? Some of this stuff makes no sense to me…

Also, while we’re on the topic of the ISS, check out this picture. Be careful, it’s really, really big. That’s the sun, with the shillouette of the ISS being built on blocking a tiny, tiny bit.

(To the tune of the chorus of The Boys are Back in Town, by Thin Lizzy)

Well. Back in school. Again. New school now, though. No more kid stuff 😛 So far, the pros and cons:

Pros

• Open Campus – Definitely a good point here, after second semester we get open campus. Yeah that’s right. We can go anywhere we want in the entire world during unscheduled time. Including lunch. BOO-ya!
• Anywhere For Lunch – Before open campus, we get to eat our lunches anywhere on campus, from right next to the lunch line to the quad all the way out to the border of the furthest reaches of the campus. My favorite spot as of the first 2 days: The quad. More on the quad later.
• Awesome Math Teacher – My math teacher just plain rules. He really loves his job, and is always extremely hyper. He talks really fast and has trouble with names, and has a coffee machine on his desk. Did I mention he’s my homeroom teacher as well? Well, he is. HE RULES.
• Awesome English Teacher – My english teacher is also awesome. He’s funny and likes to make fun of himself and his odd habbits and hand movements.
• Huge Building – For a lot of people this is a downside, but I personally love running through the halls of the huge building of my new school trying to find classes. It’s just great. And a map? Who needs a map?! I’ve used one so far (to find the cafeteria) and asked for directions twice (homeroom and the Unified Arts building), but other than that I’ve avoided help so I can learn my way around better.

There are many other great features about this school, but I don’t have enough space to write about everything, so I’ll stop here.

Cons

• Boring Physics/History Teachers – Nothing’s perfect. It turns out that what I gained in the math and english departments I lost in science and history. Science dude appears to like Trig a lot, and has been assigning us homework like ‘how fast is the Moon moving?’ Not to mention keeping us 10 minutes into Study Hall…History dude is kind of strange, and a little jittery. He might turn out OK though, who knows?
• Hardly any Classes With Friends – I have Math with two friends and Physics with one (but there are assigned seats there), and various study halls with others, but all in all I’m lacking a lot of my friends all day.
• Health and Fitness – I don’t actually mind this class, I know I need to excersize more, but I wish I had it first semester instead of Study Hall in first and then Health and Fitness second. That means I get less Off-Campus time. (Because you don’t have to do Study Hall, you can trade it for other classes or just unschedule them. Of course, it’s a trade-off because you get to do your homework in them)

That’s all I can think of at the moment. If I think of more, I’ll update this post! 🙂