Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

Hello Humans! I think I say this every month, but holy cow! November went by all too quickly. With Scuba diving certification, failing an O-Chem test (and not my usual "70% fail" but an actual hard core fail), getting my transfer accepted to the U, and learning that I don't actually want a man in my life for a long time. I've been through many changes, and more spiritual awakenings than I could have imagined. Finals, Christmas Break, and the start of my dread journey is right around the corner. Only two more weeks in paradise until I fly home for the holidays. My mind has been in a million different places the past week, and I can't seem to get it to stay in one for very long.

Now why would I choose "Sweet Dreams" for the title of this blog post? Well, because of a realization I had this month. It started after I received the score to my recent O-Chem exam, where I totally failed. 55 out of 100. That's not even a D. That's an F... minus. It hit me hard. I mean, it's Chemistry, so it should be easy to me and make perfect sense in my brain, right? Well, I realized that I was wrong. Chemistry is not for me... well, not completely. What do I mean by this? Looking back the past couple of weeks on my Freshman year of college last year at SUU, between my Chemistry and Physics courses, I realized that first of all, I liked Physics more, and got a better grade... without even trying. Everything made perfect sense to me, except water buoyancy, which the professor said that even he still doesn't understand it. All those things I loved in Gen Chem were a derivative of Physics. Orbitals, wave functions, dimensional analysis, thermodynamics, all are things that Physicists deal with. I know I'm going to fail my O-Chem course this semester, no matter how hard I try. There's way too much pointless memorization, and the professor doesn't know how to lecture and teach us properly. The book is also of no use, as it uses many terms that we haven't learned. So, I'm pretty sure I'm going to change from "Physical Chemist" to full on "Physicist." I'll still be able to research exactly what I want to, how the motion of sub-atomic particles effect the universe. And if I ever want to, I can always learn more chemistry by book, online class, or getting a second degree later in life.

The "Sweet Dreams" title comes from the school project that I am most proud of. I still have the file on my computer as a reminder. In our Physics Lab course last semester, instead of a final we were asked to make a presentation on the application of a physics principle to a movie. I easily chose "X-Men: Days of Future Past," which has a scene with Quicksilver running around a kitchen at high speeds, protecting Charles, Erik, and Logan. I used the most basic of Physics laws, kinematics and forces, to determine how fast Quicksilver was traveling, and whether he would actually survive it or not. I learned that the force on his body is too great, and his bones would crumble. So perhaps Quicksilver's mutation isn't that he is fast, but that his body can survive enormous forces. And that is the school project I am most proud of. In that particular scene, the song "Time in a Bottle" is playing, but in the movie's sequal, "X-Men: Apocalypse," Quicksilver runs around the X-Mansion saving the students from a blast. That was the original scene I wanted to do, but the calculations are impossible due to the fact that I didn't know the dimensions of the X-Mansion. But during that scene, the song "Sweet Dreams" is playing. I remember even dressing like Quicksilver, wearing my Pink Floyd t-shirt with a cool jacket, skinny jeans, and my favorite converse. I listened to "Sweet Dreams," that whole week, and then walked into Lab Friday morning, feeling like a boss. And it worked. I totally nailed the presentation, having my Physics Professor praising me for presenting on the exact scene that he had hoped someone would research.

So, I guess long story short, I am going to be a Physicist. I will still be researching the makings of the Universe, and may even become an Astrophysicist so I have a better understanding of the Universe. But who knows? I get to pick one of 4 emphasis areas. And even better, I'm excited for science again. This means that next semester, I can take it easy. Take the classes that seem really fun and exciting. Most of them are Science courses, such as Genetics and Marine Microbiology, but I think I may add Hula and French in there instead of O-Chem II.

As for my goals for November, I pretty much failed. I meditated every day I could, but some mornings, I slept in, and then didn't have time. I didn't do any yoga, and my eating has pretty much stayed the same. I hope to do better in December. I mean, I know the eating will improve as I go home, but until then, it will probably stay the same. Eating healthy food in Hawaii is very hard because food is so expensive and far away. Where I could go get a giant bottle of Naked smoothie back at home, that lasted for a week, for only $5 is now $10 here on the Island. So back to my cheaper Pretzels and Nutella I go running to. I have tried to eat healthy sandwiches for lunch, but have been falling short as my FlexDollars ran out. For now, I am just going to make it through the semester, and hope for the best.

I do want to set some goals for the Christmas Break though. My goals are to Meditate every day. That five to ten minutes of me listening to the wavelengths of the Universe is crucial for me to be happy throughout the day. It helps me align my soul with the Universe. Another goal will be to not fight with my siblings. I just want us to have so much fun this Christmas Holiday, and I hope that we can do just that. So I will let small things go and try to not make my normal snarky remarks. I am going to go to the temple at least once a week. Hopefully I can drag my parents along with me. It is also my goal to beat Hello Neighbor with my siblings on X-Box One. I only have three weeks to do it, which should be adequate time to figure out all the puzzles, while getting caught by the neighbor an innumerable amount of times. My last goal will be to do Yoga everyday. I hope that I can make a habit out of it while at home, and keep it up when I return to the University.

I've been through a lot this past month, but it's all been worth it. I can't wait to go into the future, running head-first, seeing it all unfold and bend to my will in the palm of my hand. Stay wild, flower child.