How's it going everyone? Juliet here! :)
So... it's the end of the line. The end of the semester. It seems like it flew by so fast, compared to my pain and suffering in Financial Accounting last semester.
Some recent developments:
A few weeks ago, in my astronomy class, we were assigned to go out each night, for a little over a week, to look at the moon with binoculars, and write down which craters and maria we could see. The point was to see how much of the moon was revealed during its phases. It might seem really simple, but it actually took me over an hour to complete each night, since you have to look almost directly above where you're standing, which strains your neck, and write down minuscule details.
Anyway, each night that I went out, people were surprisingly interested in what I was doing. Every time someone passed me, they would say things like "That's so cool!" or "That's a great idea; the moon is so pretty tonight" or "Do you see any martians?" (Um, what? It's the moon, genius).
I guess to them, I must have seemed like an astronomy nerd who never leaves her dorm without binoculars around her neck. Well, sure.
So one night, as I was straining my eyes to look for seemingly non-existent craters, all of the sudden I hear:
"Hey, Juliet!"
I turned around, and there stood Creepy Charlie. Of course.
"That's cool, that you're looking at the moon."
"Oh, thanks."
He asked me if I was cold, and I said nah, I'm fine. (Okay, I was a little cold, but too stubborn to admit it).
He stood there awkwardly for another few seconds, and then said "Well, see you."
This other guy also approached me this one time. Looking at my un-jacketed torso (that sounds really weird, but I was just trying to find a creative way to say that I was only wearing a long-sleeved shirt, and no jacket), while everyone else walking around was wearing coats, he suddenly asked, "Aren't you cold?"
"Oh, no I'm fine." (I was just to lazy to grab a coat on my way out; story of my life).
"Well, good for you." He smiled and walked off.
Um, okay?
Another night when I was out moon-gazing, all of the sudden an ambulance parked right next to me, and a pair of paramedics rushed out with a stretcher. So I was just sketching the moon and totally calm as the police and paramedics kept rushing past me.
At one point, I noticed that two of the paramedics were just standing awkwardly outside of the dorm building . They asked me if I could let them in, so I did. I never found out what exactly happened, even though whatever it was occurred in my hall, but I'm guessing it was probably someone who drank too much.
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As you guys know, I had to give a presentation in my astronomy class, on gravitational waves (basically the echoing effect of two black holes merging; I won't bore you to death with the details). I didn't feel extremely nervous, which was a little surprising. I think that I'm just getting more used to public speaking, since in most classes, the professors count your public speaking in class as part of your grade. So I've had to force myself to speak up.
I think my presentation went relatively well. I was slightly nervous that a short clip that I included in my slides wouldn't play, because some other students had long videos in their presentations (to cheat and reduce the time that they actually had to talk) that wouldn't play. So they just had to stand there awkwardly and say "So, just imagine that a video is playing."
Luckily, my short clip worked just fine. I also think my slides were pretty good, since most people used minuscule font that I could barely read. Why would you do that?
Also, I included a lot of PICTURES. And Juliet's patented color-fying techniques, of course. ;)
After all the presentations were over (everybody was practically falling asleep by then), we were dismissed. Anxious to leave, people suddenly reawakened with newfound energy, packing up their things with gusto and running out the door.
As I was also preparing to leave, the astronomy professor said, "Wait. If I call your name, please stay behind." I thought to myself "Oh, those are probably the people whose presentations were too short or something. Poor souls."
So he called out a few names, and I sighed in relied when he didn't call mine. And then he added:
"And Tresgallo."
Shoot. I thought I did well! Or maybe I'm delusional.
Three other people gathered around: A shy asian girl, Jack Diamond, (awesome name, right?), and this guy that's always complaining about loosing points on tests, and always begging for "partial credit" for answers. Like, seriously, one time he argued that he should get partial credit for circling TWO answers on a multiple-choice test, since one of the answers was correct. That's not how it works, buddy.
So after seeing that guy, I got really nervous, since I always assumed that he was struggling in the class, since he was always so vocally desperate for extra points. But Jack Diamond seemed like a good student, so I was confused.
So after we had all gathered (besides the one person who was sick that day), the professor told us that all of us had A's in the course, so we were exempt from taking the final.
Um.
YAAAAAAAYYY!!!!!!! :D
What actually surprised me is that there were only five of us in the entire class (including me) who currently had an A.
I was so happy after this, singing Queen's "We are the Champions" all the way back to my dorm (subtle, right?).
It was such a relief :)
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Then today (Tuesday), I went to my astronomy professor's office to receive my presentation grade. After I took my slip of paper with my grade and was about to leave his office, I thought I should say some sort of goodbye, since it is the professor's last year of teaching, as he is going to retire next year. So even though I had mixed feelings about his teaching style (since he just read PowerPoints word-for-word, and was not good at explaining stuff), I said "Thanks for a great class!"
He smiled, and surprised me in turn by replying, "Thanks for all your smiles, and for being sweet."
D'aww, that was so nice of him to say! And here I was, thinking that he didn't like me, all semester.
Here is some background:
In astronomy, I had a cute, red-haired girl as my lab partner. She is what I like to call the "cheerleader type" since her voice and personality are so sunny and cheery that she just seems like she would make an ideal cheerleader. They are they type of girls who just seem to charm everybody. And a lot of the time, I come to find out that they actually did have a history in cheerleading. Go figure.
So anyway, I knew that my lab partner was one of these girls, because she just seemed to instantly charm everyone she talked to, including the professor (but not in a creepy way, if that's what you're thinking). After every class, she would say "Have a good day!" to the professor, and he would smile back and say "Thanks!" all cheerfully. But then when I said the same thing, he barely raised his head and just kind of grunted.
Now I can understand if this happened just once or twice- maybe he didn't hear me, or maybe he was just tired- but it happened almost all the time. He just seemed to light up whenever he talked to my lab partner, much like everyone else.
But anyway, one time during lab, we had to fill out this giant chart with mathematical calculations about the distances between different stars and planets, and their chemical components. My lab partner was in a hurry, so we rushed at the end to hand it in sooner, so she could go.
When we got our graded lab back, we saw a giant, red 80 on the front. 80??? What???
We then realized that in our haste, we had left one of the columns of the table completely blank, which had of course costed us a lot of points.
Both of us were really disappointed with our grade, and wanted to see if we could make it up (since the column we missed wasn't even difficult or time-consuming to fill out). So we thought about asking our professor if we could fill it out and receive some of the points that we had missed.
Then, I thought "A-ha! Now my lab partner can use her charms for good!" So I had her talk to the professor, hehe. And just like that, as soon as she walked over to him and started talking, he was saying "Well sure, that sounds reasonable! Of course I'll let you guys make it up."
So even though I was kind of mad at her for making us rush and thereby causing us to forget that one column, suddenly I was extremely grateful to have her as a partner. :)
So yeah, even though she seemed to be the charming one, I'm surprised that the professor actually did appreciate my presence in his class.
But anyway, this is what I got for my presentation:
YAY! :)
So after he said that nice comment as I was leaving, my whole opinion of him changed. Inside my head, I was thinking:
"Aww, he was actually nice the whole time! He was a good professor after all."
But then the other voice in my head scolded:
"Juliet, sheesh! You are so easily swayed by kindness, just like Anna from
Frozen. That could lead you into trouble one day, if you're not careful."
"Don't worry, I already know to stay away from red-heads with sideburns, so I'm good."
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In other news, classes are officially OVER for the school year! YES!!!
Today was my first class-free day, and it felt great. After going to see the astronomy professor, I went to a "stress-relief" event that my college was hosting. They had-wait for it:
A PETTING ZOO!
That's right! They had ducks, goats, chickens, guinea pigs, and puppies to hold. They even had a big alpaca, which was sooo incredibly fluffy and soft :)
I got to hold a duck, which was surprisingly ADORABLE.
Also, I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I always get tons of compliments for my Dragon Riders of Destiny shirt. Emma especially loves it; she says that she really wants to meet you guys :)
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Lastly, my job at the bookstore.
I had my last shift on Friday, which actually turned out to be pretty busy, since all of the newly accepted students were visiting for the weekend. While it makes sense for these freshies and their families to buy souvenirs, it always bothered me that touring families, who had not yet committed to a college, would buy over $100 worth of merchandise with the school logo, from every college that they visited. So, is there son still going to wear his Emory sweatshirt if he gets accepted to Penn State, or is he just going to throw it away? Such a waste of money, in my opinion. And so many families do this!
It's funny, because when all of the school tours for prospective students was still going on, I often passed by tour groups on the way to the recycling bins. As I was hearing the student tour leaders go on and on about the "fun and excitement!" and all the "great opportunities!" that this school had to offer, I just wanted to stick my head in suddenly, and yell-
"LIES!" and run away quickly. XD
Not that I don't like this school, but there is a heavy amount of exaggeration in their descriptions of our so-called "utopia" which is actually filled with a bunch of over-stressed, sleep-deprived zombies.
Anyway, last Friday was extremely busy. I was mostly working by myself, since my co-worker didn't come until much later, and my boss was absent for some reason, with my least-favorite supervisor to temporarily replace her. He's my least favorite just because he is the least friendly out of all the other supervisors, and also doesn't trust me to not steal from the storage, for some reason. So I always have to ask him to unlock the storage for me so I can restock, instead of just letting me hold onto the keys, so I can go in and out as needed.
Parents of accepted students were buying heaps of stuff, and students were coming to buy their caps and gowns for graduation, so their was an unusually long line at the register. I tried to check people out as quickly as possible, while still making sunny conversation with them.
At one point, the line got really long, to the point where usually my co-worker/supervisor would log into the second cash register, so we can split up the line. But instead, Lang (my supervisor) got up from his desk, and just stood there, facing me, watching me check everybody out with his arms crossed, not doing or saying anything.
I mean, really. Why bother to even stop your work if you are just going to stand there and do nothing, instead of making yourself useful??
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But the main achievement of the day was that I had my first annoying customer.
This family walked up: A mother, father, and their daughter, with a huge load of merchandise, including a giant tapestry that I have literarily never seen anyone else buy before.
As I went to scan the tapestry, the mother asked "How much is that?" I scanned it and replied "$64.98". I was slightly confused that she had asked that, wondering,
Didn't she read the price tag? but I just assumed that she didn't see the price tag or something.
But after I grabbed her next item, a hat, she also asked for the price. And continued to do so for each item.
What, does she not trust our price tags to report the correct prices, or is she really just too lazy to read them?
When I finally got to her last item, a tank top, this time she didn't ask for the price. So I told her the price anyway, since I had done the same for all of her other items. When I did, she rolled her eyes and said "Uh, yeah,
thanks," as if it was ridiculous that I was telling her the price. Um, hello, that's what you had me do for literally every other item; sorry for assuming that you wanted the same done for the tank top.
This was the first warning sign.
Then she handed me a 25% off coupon, which all of the students were given with their tour package, so this was no strange occurrence. The coupon discounts the most expensive item purchased. She emphasized that "We get a 25% OFF with this, okay? TWENTY-FIVE."
I just said "Got it"
since I've already done this a billion times today.
But then she said "Wait, we were also told that we get a 10% discount if we say the SECRET CODE WORD. The website said we have to say
dooley10. So we get the discount, right?"
I had never heard of using code words, or any other special discount for new students besides the original 25% off. None of the other students that day had mentioned it. So I told the mom this, and she got really annoyed.
"Ugh, but the website SAID SO! Right, Amanda??" (I can't remember the girl's exact name, so I'm using Amanda). Meanwhile, Amanda just looked really embarrassed, since they were holding up the line, and her mom was being loud. The dad was just staring blankly into space the whole time.
"We had papers that SPECIFICALLY SAID that we have to say the CODE WORD. We must have left it in the car. Don't you have the papers somewhere, Amanda?" Amanda nervously searched through her purse.
At this point, I would usually turn to my boss, Wanda, who would immediately figure out what the problem was. However, she unfortunately wasn't there, so all I had was Lane.
"Lane?"
"Hmm?" he replied, looking up from behind the computer.
"Do you know anything about secret code words for discounts, such as
dooley10?" I explained the situation.
"Nope." He turned back to the screen.
Welp, thanks for the help.
Turning back to the irritated mom, it was obvious that she wasn't going to give in any time soon. So, instead, I decided to give her second-most-expensive item a 10% discount (since we only give customer discounts on the most expensive items, rather than a discount over all the purchases) to hopefully appease her.
So I said, "All right, with the 10% discount, here is your new total."
Looking at the total, she frowned, and said "But the discount is for ALL of the items, not just one."
I calmly explained to her that we only discount by item, and only give full purchase discounts to faculty and staff.
"AHHH! This is ridiculous! We get 10% off EVERYTHING!!"
"I'm sorry, ma'am. Normally, I would ask my manager about the discount-"
"YES,
where is your MANAGER??"
"Unfortunately, she isn't here today-" at this, she threw up her hands, "but I can give you her name if you want to call her."
"YES, what is her name? This is an outrage."
I told her Wanda's full name. With a haughty sniff, she said "thanks," and walked off with two of her many bags of items, promising her imminent return. I apologized again, and the daughter sheepishly said "Don't worry about it; it's not your fault." Meanwhile, the dad seemed to wake up from his day dream, and said "Have a good day!" almost cheerily, as he collected the remaining bags, which made me assume that he somehow wasn't paying attention to the whole ordeal.
I fully expected the mom to come storming back in a few minutes later, but she never did. So I assume that she did call Wanda, and Wanda got the whole thing cleared up. What I expected that happened was that the discount was for the store on the other Emory campus, and they just incorrectly assumed it also applied here. Wanda is usually good at informing me of all the discounts, so that seems to be the most likely solution.
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Well, that's about everything. I only have about a week left before I fly to Israel! I must one of the only people on campus to actually
look forward to finals week, since it just means more time for me to eat and play video games. :) And pack, of course.
One last thing: There is one defining moment in my head, in which I clearly picture us as a unit, an exclusive group of friends. I don't know if you guys remember, but one time during lunch in YTA, the class was playing music on the computer, as usual, as we casually chatted by our desks. All of the sudden, a very familiar song came on. I started humming to it before I even realized that it was "This is War" by Thirty Seconds to Mars. What was funny is that I then realized that you guys had also started to exclaim "I love this song!" and humming to it. Soon we were all singing along to it. But the moment was cut short when Leora suddenly changed the song to some Justin Timberlake song in the middle of the chorus.
What reminds me of our friendship is not only the fact that we all coincidentally liked the same song, but that when the song was cut off, we all yelled "HEY!!!" and all continued to loudly protest over poor Timberlake.
So now whenever that song comes up on my phone while studying, I think of you guys :)
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Hope you guys are having a relaxing Pesach!
See you soon! Hurricane Juliet hits Israel in T-10 days!
~Juliet :)
