Well it’s here. Basically. It’s now a little past midnight, the wind blowing with a determination to find a crack in the house’s armor, and I’m taking a brain-break from studying.

Research Methods In Psychology I

Tomorrow – or later today, to be more accurate – are my last two tests for this semester. The results of these tests are definitely not set in stone.

Damn this semester has been crazy. Between the exchange thing going, then not going, then going, then not going, then… in a vicious circle that’s been repeated essentially all semester, to a failed relationship, to other general stuff, I guess it’s no surprise that I’ve got my first “F” this semester. Hopefully my last “F”.

I really wonder what this is going to do my GPA. That’s a huge concern for me because I receive scholarships based on my grades, which have been all A’s and B’s since joining the university. Now this whirlwind of a semester has put those scholarships into question.

For any normal students the results of this semester would not be a big deal. On some level even I don’t care. Money though.. it’s a bitch. I hope that I get to continue attending the university.

Yet I digress, as usual.

Sigh, the wind is making it through somewhere. This house is fairly new, so it kind of surprises me that it’s able to get in here. I do get a light breeze..

Ah well.

Research Methods In Psychology and Descriptive Astronomy are the two classes that I’ve studied for since around 2 PM today. Maybe 2:30. I haven’t done anything else since then. I keep telling myself, “THIS IS IT! ONCE THIS IS DONE, IT’S DONE!” .. It helps a little, but I’ve had to take a couple of brain breaks – this being the second.

Descriptive Astronomy really shouldn’t have me worried, but I’ve had a prevalent problem of being unable to focus on anything much at all this semester. I’m feeling it all over campus to be honest; no one, even the instructors, are as relaxed as they were just last semester. There’s an over all sense of… what? “Fuck it” in the air? Something like that.

DA is a good class with a good instructor. I like her. She’s, as they say, cool. Love the material in this class, too. I just wish that I could have the focus to study the material more often; not that this matters after … today, technically. I’ve had all week to study, but every time that I’ve sat done to do so I didn’t last more than a minute.

Perhaps having no idea if I would be in this country or in South Korea in roughly a month’s time has had something to do with that.

Hells, I don’t think I’ll be going though. With tomorrow (today, whatever) being the last day of class and me still not having all of the required information to complete the process.. then no. I doubt it. I need a syllabus (or something else that describes the class) to give to the registrars office. They don’t have these available just yet, so I can’t go my registrars office and get the transfer of credits verified. Without that I can’t send – via snail mail – the packet to South Korea.

Even if I could, I’d have to wait for them to process the papers and send their acceptance letter back to me via snail mail. I’d then take that acceptance letter and snail mail it to the consulate in Chicago, who would have to process it and give me my visa and then ship my passport back to me.

All in time to leave in Feb. Maybe if I could magically get the paper work done tomorrow it could happen, but classes are done tomorrow. Vamoosh! School’s closed, kids, ’till Spring semester. Then I would have, oh, maybe one month for all of that to get done.

Ain’t happening, eh?

Here’s another joyful bit of shit that I get to stress out over: I have not pre-enrolled for Spring semester at PSU. I had no reason to because I was supposed to be going over seas. Well here I am, about 90% certain that I’m not going, and not enrolled HERE for Spring.

Jeebus. It seems like it’s all about dodging bullets these days.

Come next Fall I’ll try to go, once again, to South Korea. This time though I’ll most likely be heading to one of the universities in Seoul.

I want to state very clearly that I have nothing against the university in Jinju. The people there are great. They have worked so hard and they have been very, very helpful.

The problem is that the deadlines at my university are in considerable conflict with the time table at this particular Korean university. So this causes problems for everyone. It’s not because they’re not doing their job, because they definitely are doing a great job. It’s because I simply can not meet the requirements set forth by PSU in time for everything to happen.

Surely it must work easier with the Seoul universities because we have a number of students who have already gone there. In fact, I know one guy who is leaving in Spring who has already completed his paper – apparently he completed it all quite some time ago. So obviously, the universities in Seoul have a time table that is easier to work with.

In a way this will work out for the best. I miss Haengbok. I really do. She’s the greatest person I’ve met at PSU; heck, she’s the nicest person I’ve personally met in quite some time. She’s in Seoul, and I really hope to see my good friend again soon. I miss her. T_T

It’s going to break her heart when I have to tell her that I can’t come in the Spring. She was very happy that I would be there… argh.. it’s for the best, though. I’ll go directly to Seoul in the Fall (hopefully, eh?) and, in the long run, we’ll definitely get a chance to hang out more often.

So, wow, I’ve rambled so much and there’s a lot more that I can say, but I guess I should get back to studying the Astronomy stuff. Or not. I should get some sleep. Hey, I’m a psychology major, I know that sleep is very important to passing tests. In other words, I know better than to stay up until 3 am studying. That hasn’t stopped me from doing so in the past..

Hells. I couldn’t get to sleep right now if I tried, but I suppose that I’ll try anyway. Three more chapters and I’m done anyhow..

Must’n panic. that wouldn’t help a thing.

Good night from this evening’s disheveled host.

Oh hey look, it’s 12:36 AM.

I received the London Fog Men’s Wool Blend Duffle Coat today. Here are my observations on the coat so far:

• A steady wind will easily get cold air up the front
• The coat is fitted like a suit jacket, so lifting your arms makes the arms of the coat seem too short
• It’s quite comfortable to wear
• The hood is nice
• If there were some way to button the collar together – which sadly there is not – then you could probably never need to wear a scarf
• It was delivered with its own coat hanger. That’s convenient.

The warmth of the coat is okay, but where I live we have an ice storm every year so I am a bit doubtful that this coat can stand up to our climate. A steady wind did easily got up the front of the coat which undermined what would otherwise have been a cozy coat against the cold.

I’m hopeful that this can be fixed in some way, or at least addressed by doing something simple on my own.

The arms of the London Fog Men’s Wool Blend Duffle Coat are sewn exactly how you find the arms on a suit jacket. It’s fancy, but it has its draw backs. When I first put the coat on it felt a little tight in the shoulders, and then I lifted my arms in front of me to see the cuffs of the coat pull several inches behind my wrists.

This is the first time that I’ve had a coat sewn in this manner so it took me by surprise. I showed it to a family member who said that the coat looked like it fit fine and not to worry about the suit jacket style.

I have to admit, it is very comfortable to wear.

The hood of the coat works very nicely. In the past, hoods have always obstructed my vision in some way but that doesn’t happen at all on this London Fog wool duffle coat. If you add a snap to the collar so that you can snap them together then the combination of the hood and the collar will make a very good barrier against the cold. Even if you do not want to add buttons to the coat then a trusty scarf will do the trick nicely.

I just received this coat today so I have yet to wear it for a meaningful amount of time or under typical conditions. I’ll update this post – probably by next weekend – to say how well it kept me warm. That is the main point of a coat, after all.

At the time of writing this post the coat is available for $67 from Overstock.com. A very good price for a coat that is 80% wool. Click here to see the coat on their web site.

Technorati Tags: London Fog Men’s Wool Blend Duffle Coat, Longdon Fog, coat, wool coat

We had our meeting tonight. Turns out I can get the stipend before I leave, but I need to get my visa to get that. This could be good news as the stipend would pay for the majority of the plane ticket.

The lady at the international student office is also going to email the Korean university. Hopefully she can work something out, though I do feel bad about those people getting pestered even more.

So it’s not over yet, but it’s also not guaranteed at this point either.

Oh, we got free t-shirts this evening. A shame it wasn’t a sweater, but it was free and I got one in my size.

Later folks.