MyStar Blog

Dear Reader,

I had a quick week. It is better when my schedule is well planned, such as it is this quarter. I scheduled my classes earlier in the day. This is the smartest change I’ve made school related, since I started. I’m glad I’m nearly a third through the work for my major. I have about 6 more quarters to go. I’ll have taken 3 at the end of the current quarter.

I don’t remember did I tell you much about my choices when I started school. I started the first quarter undeclared, but I knew before I started it what I was going to take. I had to declare a major this quarter, as I had attempted 51 of 50 credit hours allowed without a major. I sent the paperwork right back in for the major of Engineering Design. On a side note I’m really glad I finally learned to spell engineering without spell check.

I’m enjoying all my classes much more this quarter than I did last quarter. I think the teachers are better this quarter. I have the best English teacher I’ve had so far. I’m also enjoying intro to engineering class as it’s stuff I already know, making it the easiest class I’ve ever taken. History is still giving me some trouble, but not as much as it was.

I spent the weekend trying to get ahead in my reading again. I also mowed my lawn and put the gate latch on for like the 3rd time. The wind keeps breaking off the gate latch. I didn’t work Saturday either so that made for a much longer weekend too.

Well, I still have schoolwork to do, so I’d better go.

Your blogger,
Nathaniel Starlin

I’m going to make this short tonight as I’m trying to get ahead a week on homework, and I don’t really have a lot of time to do that. I have finished all the work assigned to me for the past week, but in order not to fall behind when it gets busier I’m working ahead. I think it would be better to get ahead as I’m reading a lot between history class and English which is like a lit. class. I have very few assignments due during the week that are more than read from here to there. I think all the reading is outlined in the syllabuses so I shouldn’t have a problem getting ahead.

I’m finding history as interesting as I remembered, but also requires more note taking than I’ve ever done before. I’m not really a great note taker, as my hand writing skills are extremely laking. I’m going to ask tomorrow if she would mind if I took notes on my laptop, because I think I could keep up easier then and make more sense of it. I really like the teacher. She’s a retired Colonel. I think her perspective on the wars might be quite interesting.

English is boring as I don’t like studying lit. nearly as much as I like just reading it. I don’t really care for breaking down things that are enjoyable in their natural state. I’m finding that there is a lot to modern literature that I never cared to find out.

I haven’t had enough class time in my Intro To Engineering class to form an opinion on it yet. I was in class the first night for all of 45 minutes of the scheduled 2 hours. I think that looks like it might be the norm too.

Molly seems to be adapting back to my long days well. I wish I could say the same for me. I’ve had a real problem with feeling sleep deprived even though I should have much more time to sleep this quarter. I think most of that feeling comes from worrying about classes. I hope most of my fears go away as I finish this week. I have a essay due in history tomorrow that I have to write in class and as I stated earlier my handwriting is lacking, so that’s my concern tonight. I’m hoping she will let me use my computer for that too. I bought this computer last quarter when I had all my classes in computer labs and didn’t need it. Now that I can use it I’m too timid to ask to use it.

Well, I suppose I’d better get back to reading history as I have about 15 more pages in one book and 30 or so in another. I also have about 20 pages I need to read and breakdown for Tuesday night’s English class.

Your blogger,

Nathaniel Starlin

Dear Readers,

I know it has been a very long time since I’ve written to you all. I haven’t forgotten you. I tried to write a blog many times last quarter, but I couldn’t seem to come up with very good content.

I had a long and very rough quarter. I made good grades in English and Machining classes. I did fail out of math, as I was unable to keep up with the course load. I voluntary failed the math class as I wasn’t going to get the grade I needed to get into my next math course. I’ve never been very good at math and had only marginally managed to pass the class before this one.

Tomorrow, I start spring quarter. I hope this quarter will go smoother. I have another three classes scheduled. I’ll be taking the next English class I think 114 is the class number. I’m also taking into to engineering class and a history class. I have to take three electives so I picked history has one of them. I don’t know what other two electives I’m going to take.

My fall quarter was quite hard on my life at home as well. I didn’t have much time at home or to myself. I had late classes, so I didn’t have any time at home until the weekend and then I just wanted to sleep. I told you I took Thor for Aunt Mary and Uncle Steve. I was feeling really bad as I wasn’t able to walk him or have him out of the cage much. Let me say here that Molly is not bothered by being in the cage for long periods of time. She is quite content to sleep in her cage with the door closed instead of sleeping in her cage with the door open as she does when I’m home. “Grandma” White kindly looked for someone with land and a love for animals for Thor. She was able to find someone a week ago. They are a very nice family in the country who love having him there. I bet he’s happier there as I’m gone almost 18 hours a day.

I spent my spring break trying to get caught up on some things I had let slide during my winter quarter. I washed my bed clothes, washed some dishes, and got some sleep. I also installed a “on demand” hot water heater at the church. I don’t know if the church ever had hot water. I’m guessing not since they made it a church if it even did before that. It’s very nice to finally have hot water there as the water temperature of the water at entry is quite cold in the winter.

Well, I guess I’d better go I still have things to do before I start back to school tomorrow.

Your blogger,

Nathaniel Starlin

Dear Reader,

I’m sorry if you couldn’t reach my blog this evening. I was preforming some much needed reworking on the blog. I don’t know if you had noticed but you couldn’t view specific posts or the archives. I’ve fixed both of those problems. I also update the theme while I was doing work on it. I shouldn’t have to do any more work on it for a while now. I guess I messed the address up when I moved from lostthem.net to mystarblog.com.

Your blogger,
Nathaniel Starlin

Dear Readers,

I have written a few posted that never got published during the downtime you’ve seen. I was on winter break and didn’t fee like publishing or editing. I hope to get back into the habit of posting regularly real soon. I wrote the following during a recent class. Yes, this was an open time when I was aloud to write anything.

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I haven’t written you in a while I might as well write now as I don’t have much else to write about during this exercise at school. We are doing an exercise where you turn off your screen and begin working and see how much you can come up with in five minutes. I find the hardest thing about this processes is that I can’t spell check while working although it does speed up my work. I’m able to let my thoughts go as I think them, unlike sometimes when I spend ages trying to make certain words work or sound right on the page. I’ve been very busy with school. I haven’t really returned though the routines that I had before. I have more time to rest now this quarter as I’m taking later classes. I sleep between work and my first class. Ugh! This typing without seeing is bothering me because I can see the keyboard. I’ m a proper typist usually and now I don’t have anything to look at besides the keys or a blank screen.  I bought a book on Amazon for my math course which doesn’t match the ISBN exactly right but I was assured by the math teacher wouldn’t hurt. I get to take my math from the same teacher this quarter as I did last. I’m really excited about that.

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Written once I was aloud to turn my monitor back on.

I also am enrolled in a Mechanical Engineering 111 class and a English 101 class. I’m enjoying all my classes and the return to routine so far.

Well, as I’m sacraficing sleep time to finish this up I’ll stop now.

Your blogger,
Nathaniel Starlin

I’ve been thinking about names this past week. I have many names in the form of nicknames. The name I prefer is Nathaniel. I don’t mind it when people call me Nathan even. I even can stand people calling me Nate. I have developed more nicknames during my short time at work than most people pick up during their entire career.
I’m called Patrick (The character off Sponge Bob.) by the people working the engine table. I got this nickname because I’m always happy at work. (I don’t think this is true as much now that I’m always tired)
I’m called Moses (The leader in the Bible) by the people who met me at the warehouse. I got this nickname from being very religious and answering lots of Biblical questions and questions about my personal faith.
One of the guys in the quality room (White House) has called my Frankie and Pedro. I don’t know why.
The same guy called me Little Beaver. I got this nickname because I was doing Beaver’s job.
The team leader for zone 4 on line 3 calls me Mighty Mouse. He calls me that because I can do many of the jobs on the line and I am sometimes needed at many key positions on the line at the same time.

At one of my other jobs I worked. I was called Antonio by one of the guys who worked there because he just didn’t know my name.

Dear Readers,

The biggest change I made this last week, was I decided to adopt Thor from Aunt Mary and Uncle Steve. They were moving into a smaller apartment and need people to take their big dogs and the cats. I couldn’t take the cats as I’m quite allergic to them and generally just dislike them. I also couldn’t take their smaller big dog because she has a really long coat. I volunteered to take Thor their biggest dog and one of the biggest dogs I’ve ever been near. I’m enjoying having a second dog and I think Molly is too. Molly plays with him, which might be the funniest thing I’ve ever seen, since she only comes to his knees.

I’ve been sitting watching my dogs play. I was thinking it must be nice to not have a care in the world. My dogs get up everyday and I left them out. I make sure they’re clean and fed at all times. I play with them and exercise them. I then realized that maybe I worry too much about what I need. I wonder if why I shouldn’t just let God take care of me. I know he loves me more than I love my dogs. He also has many more resources than I have to give my dogs. I guess, maybe I’ll put more in his hands and see if it doesn’t lead to less stress in my life.

Pictures of both dogs after the break.

Read the rest of this entry

If you can stay calm, while all around you is chaos…
Then you probably haven’t completely understood the seriousness of the situation.
Author Unknown

Dear Readers,
I’ve been working on this post for awhile, but this is the first time I’ve written it down.
You might be tired when:
• You decide how strong to make your coffee by how many times your alarm went off before you got up.
• You no longer feel guilty about taking a nap even if you should be doing homework.
• You set an alarm clock on your 1,600 watt stereo because your other alarms aren’t loud enough.
• You can drink caffeine up until the moment you get into bed and still fall right to sleep.
• You think unfunny things are funny.
• You decide to sleep instead of eating.
• You sleep 10 or 12 hours straight on each day you have off.
• When no amount of caffeine can or will keep you focused.
• You debate sleeping on campus instead of driving home after your late class.
• When you are asked a question it takes you 10 seconds to respond.
• That’s just some of the ways you know you might be tired.
Your blogger,
Nathaniel Starlin

Dear Readers,
I realize that I haven’t written anything in awhile. That’s mostly on account of school or me being lazy.
Some things don’t get done as often as once they once were done. I don’t check my email as regular. I might check my email every other day now instead of 2 or 3 times a day. I don’t sleep eight hours very often anymore most of the time just five hours.
Some things get done more often than before. I call some of the people closest to me more often or at least text them. I walk more than ever before both on campus and off. I also eat out more even if it’s just Subway. I nap whenever possible, but I don’t consider this sleep. I also read more than I have since school, but that might be because school requires reading.
My days go about like this; when I get up in the morning I might do a choir or two instead of just getting a slow start. For example, I folded clothes and move laundry along, just this morning. I then go to work put in my eight hours sometime working a few minutes at break on homework. After work, I go directly to the college campus on Tuesdays and Thursday. On Mondays and Wednesdays I might eat first. I usually spend all the time I have before class getting my assignment done for class. No, I don’t procrastinate till that point. I just don’t have much extra time. I then have a short break between classes on Monday and Wednesday. but not more than 15 minutes usually. I go on to class most Mon. and Wed because of this short break time. On Tuesday and Thursday I have a longer break. I don’t usually have as much to do before the second class on these days so I might nap or go to the student union. I then go home and go to bed almost directly, since I have to get up early.
I spend my Fridays at work then I go to the Van Buren’s to visit Crystal. I sometimes am more social but most of the time I’m too tired to do more than eat and run (Completely figurative as I’m too tired to run at this point.).
On the weekends I attend church, play video games, watch movies, do homework, and hang out with any friends who aren’t busy.
Well, I’m afraid I don’t know much else to write so I’ll close this post with this very compelling verse.
Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.
1 John 3:18

Your blogger,
Nathaniel Starlin

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.