Justin's Life... May, 1997

May 11, 1997

3:14PM

After what has seemed like forever, the 96-97 school year is finally over at USC. This summer I plan on getting this web site back to the way it should be, but I'm jumping ahead of myself...

At the beginning of the semester, I'd learned about the Pass/No Pass option. I'd found out that if a class was taken with that option, all that was needed to pass and to get credit for the class was a grade of "C" or better. Since I still had to take a semester full of General Education classes, the idea of shooting for a "C" instead of an "A" seemed great. I optioned to take both Geology and the History of Architecture as Pass/No Pass.

So, when Tuesday, the 1st, came around, I wasn't too worried about the GEOL 105 final. In fact, I wasn't worried at all. I hadn't attended class in literally months (since the midterm) and I knew my "A" in the lab half of the class was more than enough to make up for any "less than spectacular" performance on the final.

Of course, that said, I also had my Communications 201 final on Tuesday, the 1st. I'd missed only one class for the semester, yet I continued to get "C"'s on my papers... and I'd gotten a "D" on the midterm. And so, Monday night, I was up late working on the final paper for COMM 201. It was a revision of a paper we'd turned in before, and as such, it was to be graded even harder than normal. I revised and re-revised it until I thought I could make no more improvements then went to bed at 4AM.

I was back up at 6:30AM to do some mad rush studying for the COMM 201 final. I managed to read through most of my notes, but I just couldn't get the information to stick. Concepts were there, but connecting the person responsible for the idea with the idea seemed nearly impossible.

By 9:45AM, I left for school. I went to the GEOL 105 classroom, waited for the test to begin, and filled out the scantron. Even though I hadn't been to class and hadn't even looked through the book, the test seemed relatively easy. I, by no means, got an "A" but I sure knew more than I'd expected.

Half an hour after the test had started, most of the room was gone and I was among those leaving. Before class, I'd seen Brian, the guy I'd talked to on the field trip, and thought briefly of saying something to him, but didn't. I didn't know his last name and had no way to contact him... "Oh well..." I thought. If we were meant to become friends, it would have happened during the semester.

So, after class, I began studying in the food court area near the student union. I read chapter after chapter of the COMM 201 textbook, trying to absorb the information.

When the food court area became crowded around 1PM, I packed my books then headed off. I ended up sitting beneath a tree in the grass, still reading, when all of a sudden, someone drove up on a bike. I looked up and it was Brian. I was pretty amazed. I'd really thought about not seeing him again during the GEOL final and here he was.

We talked for a few minutes and he asked me if I wanted to go camping with him for a week after school was over. I must admit, the idea of going with him sounded great. I'm sure, somehow or the other, I'd equated him and the whole idea of camping, with Chris. When he'd talked about camping during the field trip earlier in the semester and when I'd told him that if he needed someone to go along, to give me a call, I'm sure somewhere inside I'd wanted to recreate something like what Chris and I'd had. A closeness, a commaraderee, a best friendship where sexuality wasn't an issue. Chris didn't date. I didn't date. And we didn't date each other. We were happy being the other part of the half. We were referred to, and sometimes even thought of, in the singular. It wasn't sexual in the slightest, but it was a bond that was immeasurable.

Anyway, the idea of going camping with Brian, who hadn't a clue about me being gay, sounded great... but a whole week outdoors struck me as not exactly the most fun thing in the world... and what if I happened to tell him the "big secret"? Would he freak? Would the trip end early? Would we both be miserable? And even not telling him that, what if we didn't get along. I mean, we'd only hung out during the field trip. Spending a week non-stop with someone can be trying even on friends... and so, I said that I'd like to, but that a week was just too long. I did, however, find out his last name and said that I'd write him an e-mail.

May 13, 1997

9:49AM

So, after I finished talking with Brian, I continued reading my COMM 201 textbook. By the time 1:30PM came around, I'd managed to skim through the entire last half and was amazed with how much information I'd assimilated in such a short time. Nonetheless, as I walked on towards the classroom, I heard someone yell my name. It was Larissa and she was studying frantically.

When I went over to sit next to her, she was mumbling this, that, and the other about various rhetors. I didn't know 2/3rds as much as she did, but she was worried out of her mind. Of course, that probably had to do with the fact that she was hoping to get a "B" for the class and I'd already resolved myself to... err, hoped for... a "C".

Soon, it was time to take the test and I knew more than I'd hoped.

Grades still aren't available, but I'm not that worried.

10:11AM

In the time since my last exam (this past Thursday), I've been working on getting the website redesign complete. The automation of the Members Edition has been completed by a .cgi programmer and the Koool Kards script is currently being reworked to get some bugs out. Design-wise, I've gotten the redesign of the Art Gallery pages done. In addition to adding new galleries, I'm remaking the thumbnails of the current entries so that they're higher quality. The biggest change, though, will be the format of the pages. They're going from this to this.

May 21, 1997

5:38PM

This past Friday, I called the Touch-Tone Grade Reporting number once again, but instead of hearing "Fall 1996" the voice said "Spring 1997". I keyed in the required information then heard:

**Spring Term 97**
Physics 100	4.0 units attempted	A
Geological Sciences 105	4.0 units attempted	Pass
Architecture 214B	4.0 units attempted	Pass
Communication Program 201	4.0 units attempted	B-
Your grade point summary for the Spring Term 97
16.0 units attempted	16.0 units earned	3.35 grade point average

I needed a 3.0 to even qualify to the Interdisciplinary Major program, which I think I'm going to apply for this fall. The manual said it was an exception for anyone with less than a 3.3, so I'm still in the running... and at least I passed COMM.

In other news, I'm really working on improving this web site in both big and small ways (as you may have noticed by the Real Audio clip above).

May 22, 1997

4:41PM

Arghh... it seems that I get these diary entries started, but never finished...

Anyway, as I was going to write yesterday, I went to the post office to send something to my mom via priority mail. I had to fill out the address label on the box, so I was sitting in the car for a few minutes before I went inside.

When I got back, I saw a folded envelope on my car, it read:

Justin Baby,
      I think you're cute --
         Let's get together. Leave me a message
     at (213)390-XXXX --- Dennis or
                 DXXXX8@aol.com

Needless to say, I was more than little shocked. I hadn't seen anyone even looking at me, and I definitely wasn't looking the greatest. (Since school's been out, I've been avoiding shaving except when absolutely necessary.) He could have figured out that I'm gay and my name from the back of my car, but that would have meant that he'd seen the back of my car, then walked around to see my face or waited until I went inside the post office. That practically verges on stalking... not that I was scared or anything. Actually, I was a little flattered.

May 25, 1997

12:49AM Technically Monday, May 26, 1997

Well, I can honestly say that I've been working on this web site 90% of my waking hours for the past three days. I've set a self-imposed deadline of June 1st for the site redesign debut. I'm still got a lot of work, but hopefully, I'll have the majority of things in place by then.

In another little snippet of news, as I was perusing my bookmarks today to find new sites for inclusion in the "Koool Sites" page, I happened upon the one for the lovely diary parody... and waddya know... IT DOESN'T WORK! Larry'd mentioned a while back that he couldn't get to her site and it now looks like little Ms. Too Much Time On Her Hands has disappeared off the face of the world wide web. I know I'm certainly crying.

Actually, I was even thinking about sponsoring a parody contest to make her work a little harder...