Greetings from the beyond! How are ye all doing? Hope the past fortnight has been good to y’all, as it has been to meeee……
But before I begin this edition of Junior’s Jiving Journals, I’d like to remember herein Vinay’s dad, who died a few weeks ago of cancer. May his soul rest in peace. Vinay was a classmate of mine back in India, and let’s all hope he’s on his way to recovering from that loss.
Right. So what have I been doing this last week? Hmmm…well, let’s begin with the military. Unfortunately, I fell ill because of something I ate – fever, cramps, puking – the whole gross nine yards. It figures that the next day I would have to take the PFD for AFROTC – that’s the Physical Fitness Diagnostic, in prep for the very important PFT – Phy Fit Test. You have to do a minimum of 33 pushups, 40 situps and run a mile and a half in about 12.5 minutes at the crack of dawn.
Okay. Got up at 5 AM and puked. On an empty stomach. Ever tried that? Jogged over to the PT field and felt the sensation of Deja Fu (The feeling that somehow, somewhere, you’ve been kicked in the nuts like this before). As you can probably guess, I didn’t do my best. But considering how I felt, I did alright – I passed everything except the pushups – and missed the cutoff by just two. Just recently I took the PFT, and got a score of 90.5 out of a 100.
Which is not bad at all.
As for studies, things are settling down now. the trick is to stay ahead of your homework, then there’s plenty of time left for study and ROTC…and if you procrastinate, a bit of fun. But dates on the calendar are still closer than they appear!
I’m working on a design project for one of my classes – we design a payload of photography equipment and a rocket to take it into space. And when I say design, I mean design. Right from the CCD material to the rocket pad and fuel ejection systems, we design every nitty gritty detail and chalk our rocket together. It’s not easy – there’s a sh**load of calculations, parameters, integrations and factors that have to be taken into consideration.
Last weekend I saw a coupla movies, including BATMAN BEGINS in the Student Center and FLIGHTPLAN, which was not bad. I’d recommend it. Dan Ahdoot, a comedian, performed in the Student Center this Friday. I went to the beach a few times and chilled. Also my Air Force instructor has arranged visits to two Air Force Bases in November – Shaw and Charleston. We get to fly in Air Force planes on the way, so that promises to be a lot of fun.
I also went to DJ training this week but I wasn’t able to follow it up with the required three hours of training with another DJ while he’s doing a show – my schedule always conflicts…oh well, I’ll manage it sometime soon.
BiketoberFest is coming up soon, next weekend. People who were here last year say that if you can get out of Daytona, do – or buy yourself very expensive earphones to drown out the bikes! Gas prices will shoot up, Main Street will be snarled in traffic jams, motorbikes will be stolen…Homecoming is on October 28th, so there should be something fun to report there!
Also, as an Honors student, I have priority registration, which begins next Monday, so I ‘ll get first dibs on whichever class I want to take…no standing in line, no finding that a class I really want is full, no having to settle for classes at inconvenient times…I’m really bummed about my schedule this semester, so I intend to have all my classes in blocks that’ll allow me to sleep the hot afternoon away. Dont ask me what made them schedule a class from 4:45 to 5:45 PM – all I can say is that while some people drink at the fountain of knowledge – others only gargle.
Well, I think I have to study now (on a Saturday night!), so I’m gonna sign off with my motto and say goodnight. Keep those questions coming, and I’ll help out best I can… nayak48c@erau.edu, vedajr@gmail.com or AIM me at vedanayakjr. Goodnight, everyone…peace out!
VJ
MOTTO FOR THE FORTNIGHT: Show me a man with both feet planted firmly on the ground and I’ll show you a man who can’t get his pants off.
