maggied’s blag

Looks like my last entry was shortly before term started. Oops. Things have certainly had their ups and downs in that time period. Unfortunately my grandpa died at the age of 77 earlier today, so writing about the past few months is bittersweet as I didn’t get to see him at all during that time. He was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia on Thursday, but the cancer or an infection was so aggressive that he passed away in only a few days. Because of Christmas, a wake and funeral won’t be scheduled until at least Friday, so my Dad, brother and I will be flying down to Florida on Wednesday. We’ll be meeting up with family that I haven’t had a chance to see yet and staying until Sunday. I’ll fly out to Arizona early Monday morning to spend the rest of Winter break with Dale. I think it will be nice to get out of the house for a bit and I’ve been looking forward to visiting anyway.

This IAP the plan is to take a PE and work on a short project related to MRI reconstruction. I’ll be doing a little research into the subject if I have the time over break. Other than work, I hope to have some time to relax, finish up Dr. Who (we’re on the fourth season now!), watch some anime, and play my DS/other video games. This term was very hectic, but as the grades start trickling in (3/5 so far), it has proven to be very rewarding.

I took 5 classes this term. I had never taken 5 before but ironically enough the added pressure seems to have improved my grades. The classes I took were:

• 6.007 - Applied Electromagnetics
• 6.011 - Intro. to Communication, Control and Signal Processing
• 9.01 - Intro. to Neuroscience
• 9.20 - Animal Behavior
• STS.010 - Neuroscience and Society

I liked all of the classes overall, but my favorite was definitely 6.011. I think that 6.011 is the best class I’ve ever taken here: great lectures, recitations, tutorials, helpful p-sets, and fair exams. The staff did a great job at conveying the relevance of the material, which taught from different approaches would probably seem rather abstract.

Other than work during term, I also served as Vice-Chair of the Undergraduate Association (UA) Senate, and am finishing up my responsibilities as EC Rooming Assignment Chair (RAC). A few of us also checked out a few sweet concerts and movies. The most recent concert was In Flames and I really enjoyed seeing them a second time, even though I wasn’t feeling great shortly before they came on stage. Rachel, Betsy, and I regressed to our teenage selves and went and saw Twilight on opening night. I hadn’t read the books, so I wasn’t as into it as some of the other girls there were, but there were certainly lots of hot boys in the movie. The amount of shrieking is unparalleled. I also got a crack blackberry over Thanksgiving, and it’s been really handy.

A few exciting things coming up:

• IAP - January 5th
• Andrew Bird Concert - January 30th
• EC Retreat - January 31st
• New York Comic Con - February 6-8

I’m sure there are lots of things I’m forgetting, but I figure I’ll leave it at this for now. I don’t really feel in the holiday spirit right now, but being with family and then with Dale before IAP starts should help.

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