The Q Center

Programming is hard. If I had become a Computer Science major in school I most likely would have flunked out. Every day in class I find myself staring at lines of gibberish with a blank look on my face. For the past week, this has pretty much been the routine each time we get a different activity to code.
1) Open program and stare for a long time. Click around Power Points and sample coding in hopes of finding answer.
2) Twirl hair for a bit and look around to see what everyone else is doing. (They all seem to be busy at work.) Try to google the answer (rarely find it).
3) Ping friend and ask for code. If not available, get up and go find snack. Sometimes coffee too. This part is going to cause me to gain an exponential amount of weight.
4) Play around on phone, check email, look at work stuff. Basically neglect the activity at hand. If I'm feeling brave that day, try to input some code. If not, use Office Communicator and Gchat until instructor looks over my shoulder.
5) Ask instructor tons of stupid questions. They start doing some of the coding and answering said stupid questions.
6) Instructor shows class the solution. I feel a little better for understanding some of it, but immediately feel like an idiot again when we move on to the next activity.

Other than that Chicago's been fun. I'm adapting to the cold weather better than I thought I would (this is probably also due to the fact that I haven't been outdoors in days). The atmosphere is friendly and cordial, but I think everyone also is anxious about getting adjusted into their roles and finding their first project. I know I am. I want to go out and have fun, but in the back of my mind I know right now is not supposed to be playtime. I need to take advantage of this time before work really starts to get acquainted with the organization and its internal workings.

I'm a little sad I didn't bring my camera USB cord to upload the pictures I've been taking. They would have been nice to post, but I guess I'll just do that when I get back. After 3.5 weeks here, I'm sure I'll be pretty happy to go back to LA. I miss my family, including my dog. I was just looking at pictures of her and my brother told me she got fatter. I believe it. Our family is very bad at keeping pets healthy. Nina gained so much weight when she was with us, thanks to my dad's incessant feeding. Oy.

Brandon: k i know

  can u guess how many friends iu have on facebook?

10:59 PM me: you or me

 Brandon: whoops

  me

 me: 14

11:00 PM i see it on your profile

 Brandon: yea

  thats a lot right

 me: yah

  guess how many i have

 Brandon: 830 i saw on your profile

  oh wait

11:01 PM are you mocking me?

I also miss friends back at home. Sometimes I'll see something cool here and wish they were here so we could laugh/talk/make fun of it together. Soon enough!

System.out.println("2 weeks to go");