(GASP)

I'm writing my last blog entry for Lit and Civ II. This has been such a fun class. My only regret is not going biking with Dr. Dan. This class has taught me a lot. I've learned a bit about transcendentalism, a little about water, and a little about someone elses way of life. I'm very happy to take this class. My favorite part of this class was reading the errors in grammar/spelling. I personally enjoy laughing. I wish I could laugh all the time. I recommend this class to anyone that is willing to learn and read. The readings were not even that bad especially if we paced themselves. If I could do anything different I would definitely try to read ahead of time instead of waiting till sunday nights. I could have done a lot of other things with that time...like study O-chem.

Speaking of o-chem, I'm almost done with my first semester of it (huzzah). it's been a bumpy ride. I can say that I learned a lot in that class as well. The sad thing is that my professor told the class on the first day that we will forget 99% of what we learn in that class. I think he is right too. I can feel some of the knowledge leak out of my head. I look forward to doing second semester though. People always talk about 2nd semester lab. Upper class men say "it's sucks". Professors say "it's a blast."

The two organic professor's I've had this year have been awesome. They have great personalities. They learned my name very quickly. The teacher for lab is apparently a great raquetball player. I wanna get on the court with him. The teacher for lecture was very cynical. I learned so much from the both of them and I will miss the laughs. yes the laughs were good.

The are two people that I've known for 5 years that go to TCU currently. I can always laugh with them. They are probably my closests friends here. Sadly we do not get to hang too often, but when we do, sides are split. I make time for them.

This year I've learned that we make time for what we want to do. There is not enough time in the day to do everything we want. We have to take time from somewhere. Sadly that comes from sleep. I wish the government, or world powers would just extend the day by a couple of hours. It would be so helpful. But I've learned this year that we do not get many things that are helpful that we do not get.

I'm sorry that this post is kind of all over the place. It's almost 1:00 AM and I still have studying to do. I am just grabbing thoughts as they figuratively jump across my mind.

The most important lesson that I am learning this year is time management. It is extremely important for any successful adult. I've got to be able to learn how to plan activities, homework time, meals, and sleep. This would make me a much better student.

All in All it's been a good a good year. I learned that I'm capable of things I never thought I could do. Like function running of 4 hours of sleep after driving 5 hours. Maybe I'm a superhuman. Or maybe I am  not  a human being. (GASP)


again please excuse the fact that this blog is all over the place. I promise I thought about what I was gonna say before I wrote it.

TATA for now

So today is the last time mohammed and I meet. Since he does not have a final tomorrow we can talk for longer than we have for the last couple of times. To make this seem complete, we met at the same place we did the first time. It was kind of bitter sweet to meet him at star bucks for the last time. There is a chance we'll meet at some other time. Like if he's back in Texas or if I'm in michigan. Sadly this is tata for now. We talked about what mohammed will be doing for the break. He explained that he will spend some time with his family. I asked him about his nephew, whois multilingual. Mohammed explained that he is doing great. I asked if he learned any new languages lately and mohammed said no with a chuckle.
Mohammed and I talk TCU football for a bit. I explained to him how upset I was when I learned that we were not going to the playoffs. I told him that I was so upset, that I did not want to do any school work at all. Mohammed told me that he did her about the news, but he definately did not take it the same way I did. I was in the mind set that all is lost, and I would rather be just sitting in my room than hanging with my friends and getting the bad news.
I asked Mohammed if people in Saudi Arabia get as excited about soccer as I do about sports. He said yes. He refereed to a picture that he showed me at our second meeting and he also explained that the fans are crazy. People paint them selves, pain their houses, and get into fights over some teams. This was good to know because I would have been slightly embarrassed if Americans were the only people that commit those types of acts of team spirit. Now it's okay because everyone does it.
I asked mohammed if he's started buying clothes for michigan yet. He told me that he has some, but not enough for a person that will be living their.
Since the holiday is coming up that means one thing for me. TELEVISION. I told Mohammed that my favorite TV show is definitely "game of thrones." He said that he had heard of it but had never actually watched it. He told me that his favorite American show is probably Ellen. I'm happy to hear that. I love ellen!!!! She's soooo funny.

After talking about television, mohammed and I wrapped up our last meeting. We did the hand shake/hug thing. I was very sad.

Union

Today Mohammed and I got to meet at Union grounds. This is actually the first time that we met on TCU campus because he does not live on campus. Usually I meet him somewhere that is close but off campus. It's easier to find parking that way.
Today was probably the first time that we talked about myself most of the time. We essentially talked about what my family does during the holiday. I explained how it's a bit of a toss up whether we go to my grandmother's or grandfather's house. They are no longer married so it's hard to split the time during the holidays. Often, grandfather will have a small gathering before christmas day and my grandma has a gathering on christmas day. I explained to mohammed that it usually works for the best when my family does it that way.
Me being me, I brought up sports in our conversation. (SURPRISE!!!) We talked about basketball. I explained to him that the mavericks are the home team in this area. We also talked about the unfortunate situation that is occuring with our men's basketball team. They play at an off campus site. Because of that, the number of games that I attend will be very small compared to last year. I may have missed one big 12 home game last year. This year I will be lucky to go to one.
I kind of wish that mohammed stayed next semester so that we can go watch a game together. Or even so he could watch me play rugby. But he's moving on to bigger and better things. And I cannot be angry at him for that. Tomorrow Mohammed and I meet for the last time before the semester ends and he's off to michigan. i will definatelhy miss him.

We dem boyz

So today Mohammed and I had another brief meeting . He told me that he is very exhausted from dead days. We got to watch the cowboys for a little bit. It was good to see that he retained some of the information that he learned when we ate at fuzzy’s. He remembered how much a touchdown is. It may have been because the cowboys had only scored one touchdown. But I was just excited for him to remember. I explained to him that this game is a must win for the cowboys. I told him that the eagles are our arch rivals. I’m not sure if we will win as I write this blog entry.

I tried to explain the phrase “we dem boyz” to mohammed. I think he started to get it at the end. I essentially told him that it is a common saying among cowboys fans.

All in all, it was a good meeting with mohammed. He’s been pretty pressed for time. Same for me. But I look forward to meeting with him tomorrow so we can get these meetings done. 

Starbucks with Mohammed

Mohammed and I talked about rugby today. I was explaining that it is in a way a mix of soccer and football. But it was difficult. He is not very familiar with football. But it is easier to equate rugby to football than it is to soccer. But sadly I am not very familiar with soccer. So it took an extremely long time. Since I am just learning the game it was difficult to answer some questions for me.

Talking to him I learned just how little I know about the game. I started about  2 months ago, but I wish I knew more.

We spent almost 30 minutes talking about rugby. Eventually we started talking about Michigan. He says that he is ready for this semester to be over so that he can move on to the next chapter of his life. I asked mohammed. Mohammed has been very busy with finals and being in Michigan often so he had to leave kind of early. I hope I am able to talk to him a few more times before the semester ends.

                                                                                                                                                 

2nd Conversation With Mohammed

Mohammed and I met at Fuzzy’s today, Sunday. It had been a while because of our conflicting schedules. He travels often and I’m pretty busy with school and other activities, but we make it work. I arrived at Fuzzy’s and got my food first because I knew that Fuzzy’s takes a long time to make their food. I thought I had the perfect plan. But it did not work out.

Mohammed had a hard time finding a parking spot, which I did not anticipate. So he was about 10 minutes late. He did not even want anything to eat. I even offered to buy something for him if money was an issue. But he told me that he had eaten at Fuzzy’s before and did not enjoy it. He told me that his favorite Mexican restaurant is the one that is next to BJs on Hulen. (Sounds like I have an idea for our next place to meet.

So I quickly ate my food because I did not want it sitting in front of him while we spoke.

I asked Mohammed what his favorite sport was and he told me, with no hesitation, soccer. He was very excited as he showed me pictures of the stadium on his phone. He told me that people go crazy during those games. He told the name of his favorite team but I cannot remember the name of it. I asked him if he ever watched any F.C. Dallas games, but he does not usually watch MLS (major league soccer).

Mohammed spent Saturday in Dallas. He explained that the Arab restaurants in Dallas are a lot better than the ones in Fort Worth. He also told me that he spent some time in Michigan over fall break. When I asked about his business up there, he told me that he was visiting the University of Michigan because he plans to transfer there next semester. I was kind of sad when I heard of this, even though I’ve only spoken to him twice in person. I asked him why, and he told me that his Saudi friends have told him their experiences were not very good at TCU. Mohammed told me that his experience at TCU has been difficult, and he feels that it will better and easier for him at Michigan. I’m glad that he will be finishing the semester but I am bummed that he did not enjoy it. Mohammed also explained that the Saudi population at Michigan was a larger percentage than at TCU. I told Mohammed that I am sad that he hasn’t had a great experience at TCU but happy that he is moving on to better things.

After this Mohammed and I caught the end of the Cowboys game. While we were watching the game he told me about his first experience at a TCU game. Since he did not know the rules, he told me that he simply would cheer when everyone would cheer and “boo” when others booed.

I am very glad that he was able to be there to watch the Cowboys win. I explained some of the general rules of the game. I explained why the Cowboys kept running the ball at the end of the game.

Hopefully Mohammed and I can meet each other this coming Friday or Sunday. Maybe I can convince him to remain a horned frog. 

BALL IS LIFE

So I’m in a fantasy basketball league. I was roped into it last year buy some of my coworkers. It is a pretty time consuming activity especially since it is one of the longer fantasy seasons. But I enjoy it. I think of it as something that keeps me plugged into the outside world. It gives me a reason to watch one of my favorite sports. I watch basketball all the time. I know a bit about the game, but fantasy is another beast. It takes into account a lot of things that most people do not get to think of. Like minutes played, missed shots, and missed free throws. All of these combined goes into a total amount of points that a player receives.  

I would be a liar if I said that I was very good at starting off. I made many mistakes. Like drafting players that seemed good in real life, but they were 3 star players in fantasy. I made trades that were not very conducive to the success of my team. At one point I was at the point as to which I did not care. Other people in the league new that as well.

Luckily my former boss took me under his wing and gave me pointers on how to make decent trades that would end up in my favor. BTW I say former boss because he resigned from his position. I don’t want readers thinking that I was fired or quit. But eventually I got the hang off fantasy. Sadly, I was a bit too late. I was already in second to last place in the league. There was a “loser’s tournament” that I did well in. I was making moves like a champ. I would send trades just to spark people’s interest and pull it before they got to accept or decline it. When they would send the same trade and I would deny. I’m such a tease J .

One time there was a slight schism in the league and the current league manager was essentially voted off the island. Since I was the new guy in the league and had no biases, I became the league manager. That is not necessarily a position I can put on a resume but that is still a lot of responsibility. But I feel that I handled it like a champ.

Then it came time for this season’s draft. I had a no B.S. mindset. This is not a game. BALL IS LIFE. My draft order did not allow me to have a great position but I still got a solid balanced team compared to some other players. Now people send me trades and I carefully think about them. I consider the quality and the name value of the players that I could potentially receive in a trade. I used to look at their points for previous games. Then I learned that players have ups and downs, even the all-stars.

All in all I learned a lot while going through the whole fantasy cycle. I think that this year will be a much better experience compared to last year. I’ve already started off better compared to this time last year. I may not be first, but I will definitely give them a run for their money.

Duck Duck Turtle

Hello everyone. It’s Terrul, sitting at the trinity again. I would be talking about my conversation partner right now, but I procrastinated. I tried to setup a time to meet with my partner today (Tuesday 10/7) or yesterday; however, my partner only likes to meet on Friday/Saturday. So let that be yet another lesson to those of you that enjoy procrastinating.

If I knew how to actually blog, I would have some type of cool screen name. With that screen name I would say “[cool screen name] here” when I started typing. I would use “T_RAT95”, but I use that screen name for at least 4 different sites. I want something that appeals to my talents like “lyrically gifted” or “dream weaver.” But I’ll stick with T_RAT95 as a default for most things. I’ve noticed as I’ve gotten older that I use “terrul.ratcliff” or “TerrulR” for most things. I wonder if Dr. Williams would let that sentence qualify this as a learning experience and a river reflection (jk).

But anyways, back to the river shall we? What prompted me to get back on topic is that as I was typing out the paragraph above then I heard something dive into the water and as I looked up I only saw ripples. I thought I was going to be 2 for 2 on seeing nutria at the Trinity [sad day]. 

What I see right now is pretty similar to my second visit to the trinity. What is different this time is that I see a family with dogs and a yellow billed bird (possible a duck but probably not) when I tried to get closer to the duck it flew away. I was not even that close to it. But he/she just flew away as soon as I walked in its direction.

The family and the dogs are having a grand time. The family consists of a guy and a girl, probably a couple, and they have three dogs with them. The dogs seem to enjoy jumping into the river because their masters continue to throw sticks into the river and the dogs do not hesitate to go get them. Now, the water where they are at is pretty shallow; but I can’t help but thinking would my dog, Rocky, do that? Rocky loves to fetch. Sometimes when Rocky is over zealous he will play his version of fetch when he wants me to chase him while he has the stick. Sometimes I do, it’s good exercise. I think I will take rocky out here one day during a break and just let him explore.

Right now I see many small ripples forming. I try to rationalize how this is occurring. But the best  can come up with is that the ripples that I currently see are created because substituents of other ripples are colliding. But what causes that first ripple. If I knew about the presence of fish there  in the trinity I would say that it is because fish are coming up and trying to catch bugs. Or maybe the ripples that I currently see are all a result of two ripples that collided long ago and it has just been a cascade of effects that cause the new ripples to appear and multiply.

Now I see concentrated bubbles.  I cannot figure out why they are there. But they are consistently appearing. I’ve stared at the area and every now and then, the bubbles will subside and then they will comeback in full force.

The last thing I will talk about is the insects I see and the smell. As for the insects, I see a large number of dragon flys. Did you all know that dragon flys are some of the few, if not the only insects that can individually move their wings. It has to do with their anatomy and the location of their muscles that control the wings.

Now about that smell. It smells straight up like a skunk out here. I’m not sure what happen but someone scared a skunk and it made them pay. Now I am slightly paying for it as well.

Last thing I want to point out. I SAW A TURTLE!!! Maybe that’s where the bubles were coming from, a turtle that had dived. The pictures I got are not high quality but I will post them as well as pictures that I snapped of the bird that I think is a duck. 

Trinity @ 6:00 PM

Possible Duck (Probably not though)

Turtle

Sitting on the Dock of the Bay (Not Really)

Today, I am recovering from one of the best football experiences of my life. As a part of my recovery I decide to do my river reflection (YAAAAAY). I’m sitting at a small complex right along the trinity, right next to “Woodshed.” There are people outside on the patio eating but low music is playing. I only hear light conversation, snare/bass, and insects.

One group of kids ran by and they were trying to see who can run faster. There were two boys and one girl. They all acted the same, but the girl was the tallest. I still think that they are all the same age because at certain points during child hood girls are taller. This is just a fact of life. Seeing this got me thinking about what girls think when they happen to be taller than boys during child hood. Do girls see the boys as inferior for being shorter? Do they boys see the girls as superior? What happens when a boy hits his growth spurt and he comes back from summer vacation towering over a girl that was previously taller in May?

This train of thought got me thinking about what does a grown woman (atleast 18) think of a shorter man? From my experience with female friends a taller female will usually not give a shorter male the time of day. Let alone let him “spit game” at the girl. So women, what do you think of a shorter man, and how short is too short?  I would be fine with an 0.5 to 1 inch margin if the girl was taller than me, but would she give me a chance?

Anyways, now a bunch of people are riding by on their bicycles. This makes me think about my bike, propped up on the bench behind me.

I recently got this bike. I seriously contemplated buying one over the summer, but I could not make up my mind as to whether I should actually go and buy one. Then I attended Lit and Civ II for the first time and I saw “ride bikes along the Trinity River” on the syllabus and that was the last domino to fall. A few weeks into the semester I went to “performance bikes” off of Hulen and purchased a Diamond Back bike. I’ve enjoyed it so far. It save’s a lot of time as well. There is only one bad thing with having a bike and going to TCU. For my morning classes, I cannot ride it. There is just too many people and too little space. If I do ride it in the morning there is a lot of stop and go as well as swerving. This campus does not seem like it was designed to have many bikes riding around it. So I just enjoy the benefits of my bike in the PM.

As I thought about this I see something moving in the water. It was a Nutria. I recognized it because Mary Lauren and I saw one during our canoe field trip. It slowly paddled by and my iphone 4s died as soon as I tried to take a picture. (NOOOOOOOOO) But luckily I felt like my iphone would die and brought my usb cord and laptop. So I give it enough charge to power on. Then I go searching. I find it along the bank and I snap the lowest quality picture known to man. I’ll attach it to this entry. Hopefully when you see it, you believe me.

It’s pretty dark now and some musicians begin to start playing at woodshed. After they play a few songs the person playing the string bass looks at me and says “hey man this one’s for you.”

He begins to play “Sittin’ On the Dock of the bay” by Otis Redding. I really enjoyed listening to this song but now it is time for me to go because mosquitoes are attacking me and my computer.

Nutria?

River Photo                                        

 

Family Guy

What are some things that people value in this world? Money, fame, women?  Most people value the family. That’s a pretty good thing to value usually. A lot of people have good experiences with their family. I have as well. But sadly when people have asked me to write down my values in the past, I do not usually say family first or second. Sometimes I put it third.

I know family is important and all that good stuff but I was never the person that would say things like “where would I be without my family.” For most of my teenage years, I was more of a lone wolf than a family man. I still had really close friends.

But for some reason I would be just fine hanging out by myself. If I wanted to hang out with someone I would just call a friend, I would almost never be with my family unless I had to.

But that all started to change during the spring semester freshman year. I had gone from 13 hours in the fall to a whopping 16 hours in the spring. That additional class made a huge difference. I was always exhausted and always working on something. I’m not proud to say this but one Saturday, I woke up at 8:30 and went to Sid Rich for a 9:00 class. Some people I knew saw me and asked what I was doing I told them I went to the book store and forgot it opened late.  I was just in such a habit of waking up and going to work on something.

I had a good break the weekend before my birthday though. My family came from Dallas to Fort Worth and we ate out at Macaroni Grill. It was a nice thing to do. My twin sister had come down from New York and we had a grand time.

After my family and I had parted it was then when I started to get home sick. It was a weird feeling that I had never felt before. Luckily spring break was the following week and I could recuperate. Then after spring break, finals week was there before we knew it and I was back home. The home sickness was gone. Then today I started to get homesick again. It was because I called my grandma and told her happy birthday. She was extremely happy that I called and told her and opened with 3 words “happy birthday granny.”

I started to miss home. So maybe I’m growing up right now. But who would have thought that growing up could consist of missing your family MORE?

I will try to be more intentional with spending time with the family.

I’m not sure if I’m a full-fledged family guy right now, but I definitely have begun to miss my family more. I guess distance really does make the heart grow fonder. I definitely do appreciate them more than ever. 

In Charlie Sheen's voice... "Learning"

There are many issues that trouble people today. There is poverty, gender inequalities, racial inequalities, just to name a few. What I find interesting is the differing viewpoints on the different issues. Luckily in my social work class we get to hear anyone’s perspective.

At first, I used to brush off the tough issues with some type of light hearted joke that would just barely scrape the surface. But then I started to get into the topics we were discussing. But this is not because they were necessarily interesting.

With that being a core class, we get a very wide arrange of views. For the past 3 class periods we have pretty much just heard people explain why they believe abortion is wrong, why affirmative action is outdated, or why gay marriage should not be allowed. All of these issues can and have caused really heated debates. I personally lean on the “liberal” side for most issues, but there are some topics I am conservative about. I try to not choose a side on an issue before I hear the background of it.

My favorite part of social work is listening to this one super conservative young man speak. I most definitely do not agree with him on the majority of issues, but for some reason I enjoy listening. I also enjoy watching other people’s reaction when he speaks. I have a lot of respect for the guy( let’s call him Stern Man). The weird thing is that there are people in my Social Work class that are also in this class and I know they know exactly who I’m writing about. But anyways I enjoy talking about controversial topics in that class.

The reason I enjoy it is because I enjoy learning about other people’s reasoning behind why they choose a certain side on the issue. Their reasoning could be based on faith, morals, or even past experiences. Nevertheless most people will deliver it in a way that is very unique.

But back to Stern Man, during one in class activity, Stern Man was only on that leaned a certain on one issue.  The teacher asked why he felt that way and he said that he didn’t want to talk about it because he knows other people wouldn’t like what he says.

This saddened me a bit because I really wanted to hear what he had to say. Now I want to go and introduce myself and talk to Stern Man because I want to know how he thinks. Some of my neighbors in the class do not take me serious when I tell them that I want to talk to Stern Man because they know that I do not agree with him on many issues. However, I really wanna talk to this guy.

But enough about Stern Man. Now I know that I want to learn why other people feel a certain way about certain issues. But sometimes I feel that it is weird to walk up to someone, even someone I know, and say “hey, what do you think about abortion” and “oh, why?” Maybe since I’m an RA I can make that some type of even in which people just come and talk about their perspectives. When people explain their perspective, I believe that there is more reception with the listeners. By explain I don’t mean someone simply saying, “That’s the way it’s always been.”

Being in social work did definitely teach me something about myself. I enjoy listening to others. But don’t get the wrong idea, I’m not always actively listening. Sometimes my mind will wonder off, and the person speaking will sound like an adult in a “Peanuts Cartoon.” You know “wah wah…wah wah… wah wah wah wah.” Hopefully that makes sense my  readers.

So if you learn anything from this, I enjoy listening to others. But don’t always count on me to repeat exactly what you’ve said. You may end up disappointed.

First conversation with Mohammed

On Friday September 26 I met with Mohammed Altarouty for the first time. The hardest part was finding a good time to meet up for the first time. At times I feel like I was, for lack of a better word, ethnocentric when trying to meet up with Mohammed. I assumed that he lived on campus. There was no reasoning behind this. When we were corresponding a few days before, I tried to get us to meet at the BLUU, but he said he prefers Starbucks. So then I suggested Union grounds. He then made it clear, he requested that we meet somewhere “outside the TCU area.” So I found the closest Starbucks which is off university.

Then finally Friday came, it was evening time, and it was time to I arrived at Starbucks approcimately at 5:25 and Mohammed called and said that he would be about 15 minutes late. I was kind of sad when I heard this news. This is surprising to me because I’m usually indifferent about meeting new people. But he finally arrived and we sat down and started chatting. The first question I asked him was about his family. He revealed that he was the youngest of 7 and he also informed me that his father had passed away about 3.5 years ago.

Some how, the topic of the countries that Mohammed has lived came up. He told me that he has lived in New Zealand, the Netherlands, and of course his home country of Saudi Arabia before coming to America. He also speaks 3 languages Arabic, Dutch, and English. His English is very good. I believe that he has been here for a year already.  He explained to me that his Dutch is getting worse because he does not have anyone to practice with though. Mohammed also explained how he was very proud of his nephew, who is 13 and can speak 4 languages as well. It made me very happy to see Mohammed so happy about his nephew.

Mohammed asked me where the best restaurant in the area was because he was tired of eating American fast food because they had most of it in Saudi Arabia. I don’t go out much so I told him Macaroni Grill. But he had Italian real food Italian food and he did not like Macaroni Grill very much. Then I went with a classic and told him “Ol’ South” and he agreed and said it was a very good restaurant

The last thing Mohammed and I talked about was sports. We both agreed that one of the best international sports is rugby.  

He explained why he thought that sports were very popular in the US. He claimed that it was because of British influence. He gave examples of America, India, and New Zealand. He explained that there is essentially a positive relationship between British influence and popularity of sports. I found this very interesting.

I pretty much found everything that Mohammed spoke about very interesting. I enjoyed talking to him. I look forward to doing it again.

What is Literature? What is Civilization?

What is Literature?

• ·         Literature is the study of books. Literature is a field that can be used to study an era
• ·         Literature is any group of written words that can inform, entertain, and/or persuade
• ·         Literature is what you read in English class
•  

What is Civilization?

• ·         Civilization is a group of people interacting with each other
• ·         Civilization is different cultures coming together
• ·         Civilization is a group of people with a distinct culture (norms and values) that is recognized by people outside of said group