Another Update

Hey guys... It's Robert reporting from sunny Pasadena. This was a good weekend, I spent a lot of time sitting around doing nothing, and I spent a good part of today on my bike. Absorbing sunlight is therapeutic in and of itself. Yesterday I went to the ME100 celebration, and listened to Mechanical Engineering alumni talk about engineering stuff. Mars, in particular.

This week wasn't so nice. I was originally signed up for 46 units, math, physics, astronomy, and biology as well as Spanish. It's unfortunate that I won't be able to take Spanish this term.

As a conservative estimate, between Monday and Thursday I worked or was in class forty five and a half hours. That's not fun. It's not like I had that much to do... I had classes to go to, a physics set due Wednesday, math set due Friday, and physics lab due Friday afternoon. I don't really understand.

I'm glad I had a chance to relax, though. The only problem is, I haven't started working on astronomy and I'm about halfway done with my biology homework that's due tomorrow. Then the whole cycle repeats again, phys set, phys lab, math set, rinse, dry, repeat.

So I come to the decision of whether or not I want to leave.

I'm interested in energy. At the end of the mechanical engineering centennial celebration lectures, the guy in charge (probably some Caltech prof I don't know) said something similar to, "we all must march behind the banner of preserving our earth." Mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, applied and theoretical physics, chemistry... they're all involved in alternative energy and fixing the situation we've gotten ourselves into. Caltech is probably either the best or one of the best in any of these areas. Naturally, I want to stay. I want to believe that I can succeed here, that I can balance sleep, work, and life.

But what's the real problem today? I might say the hypocrisy of the Bush administration, the war in Iraq that's based on false premises and that's killed thousands of kids my age. Maybe the problem is that we're funding both sides of the war; with our oil purchases and with our troops. But I'd be crazy to say that, because I have no idea what's going on. I haven't had time to read a book, let alone get all of my homework done. I need to read "The World is Flat" by Thomas Friedman, the 911 commission report.

Anyways, I guess the point is, if I get acceptance letters in a couple months when transfer app decisions get returned, it's going to be a difficult decision. Caltech's an amazing school. I love the people here, the education is amazing. But I feel like it's destroying me in ways. I hope the only thing in my way is my own incompetence, in which case I might start having more time this term and decide to stay.

/robert