The ending *tears shed*

Its been a while since I have made a blog entry, but with such a hectic end to this already chaotic semester I couldn't find the time. This blog has come close to 800 views and it wouldn't be anything without people reading it so I thank you. As for the stuff you want to read and laugh at... back to Harbor College.

Well the last month or so has been pretty jam packed with essays and tests coming at me but it wasn't too bad. Why? Quite simply put, I have no life outside of going to school and exercising I guess that's what happens when you go to a JC. Somehow, I managed to get myself to the last week of school sitting in a nice position to pass all my classes and get myself to Cal State San Marcos. Everything leading up to this week was pretty standard there was the girl who dyed her hair a different color each week (pink, purple, lighter pink and finally dark pink), the clan of rolly backpacks, the fashions you'll later see sported by Victoria Secret Models and yes the simplicity of school.

5/29/12 : The 29th of May had finally arrived, it was going to be my most difficult final and one that I had spent many hours studying for. Philosophy as you can tell is not my cup of tea and I have no interest in it... kinda like the WNBA. Now thinking of it this philosophy class and the WNBA have many similarities, lets see here: boring, not many people care about either as in WNBA never sell out and are never on tv and no one is dumb enough to major in philosophy, if there was a lockout in the WNBA or if philosophers stopped caring about the world, no one would really be upset. Ok back to the final, the final was supposed to consist of 20 vocab words worth 3 points each, 60 points, then an in class essay worth 100 points and 10 multiple choice questions. Those vocab words were very easy to remember and I was anticipating a simple 60 points coming my way. The only thing that worried me was the in class essay which we had to write based off memory so I typed up an essay and, yes, memorized it.

So I roll into class and cram a little. 8 am comes and the professor, who closely resembles the winnebago man if you are familiar with him, comes into class in a piss poor mood. Why is he in a bad mood you may ask? Well it turns out he left the vocab test at home, however he thought he simply misplaced somewhere on campus. So he, like the amateur and ignorant fool he is, passed out the rest of the test and essay when he went to his car and office to hunt down the missing test. So obviously the students including myself, no did not cheat, just simply used our resources to complete the test. He eventually came back and told us how lucky we were. I got out of there in a half hour and hope I never have to take have to take a philosophy class again and never have to see that ungrateful, mean, grumpy old man who calls himself a professor. Oh and I got a B, so to answer the philosophers questions, I'm pretty sure there is a God. And only at harbor would a professor forget 1/3 of the final.... classic.

5/30/12 : Wednesday wasn't that grand so ill sum it up quickly. Didn't have to take my theatre final as I had a 103% making me exempt. Math final was slightly difficult but I managed it with a little help from my trusty _____ ______. You can fill in the blanks. English was decent we wrote an essay and I just rambled on, and I'll admit I had checked out by the time I got to that class.

Well that's it folks, its been a good ride and I have enjoyed blogging and letting you hear about my experiences. And remember if you ever have to go to a JC like harbor, if I survived a year then you can too.

Chapter 9: Week 11

Wednesday 4/25/12 : Wednesday started fantastically well as I was able to sleep in till 9 which was great. Not having to go to theatre and put up with all that nonsense in there can make any day good. Math class was pretty pointless I grasped the new section with ease and got out of class 10 minutes early. While walking to my car I walked past the culinary arts school and an African American woman had just left the building and was walking in front of me. Without knowing I or anyone else was behind her she started saying stuff fairly loud. The rest goes as follows... "I THOUGHT IT WAS SUPPOSED TO RAIN!!" as soon as I heard this I began to chuckle and sped up and got right next to her and said, "yeah they lied it's not raining" and her response was "YEAH I AINT TRIPPIN I KNEW THEY SAID THAT!" and without her being able to see the grin on my face at how funny she sounded I responded by saying, "yeah it's really hot today." I thought the conversation would be over but the best was yet to come... her response was "YEAH I GOT THESE THICK GYM SOCKS ON! AH MAN!" she babbled on some more but I couldn't make out what she said and I distanced myself from her. This outrageous lady and her funny lines brightened my day and I went to English in a good mood.

Expecting to get our essays back graded... finally... I sat in down in class and waited anxiously. He started class by saying, "I have some good news and bad news, which do you want first?" We all answered bad news and he told us he had yet to finish grading our essays (we turned in the essays March 28th). Now because he felt bad for us not getting our essays back on time, he then said we did not have time to take our midterm. This whole school year, I've had a grand total of ONE midterm. However, this gets better. Not only were we not going to have a midterm, he was going to give everyone 100% on it which counts for 5% of our entire grade. This is totally unheard of and I was stoked. 

Thursday 4/26/12 : Thursdays are always pretty lame, usually because I wake up at 6:30 to go to the weight room and then have philosophy immediately after. Well weight room was once again canceled and I got to school at the regular time of 7:45. Walking to philosophy I was lucky enough to be behind a group of three people. Yes... that girl is wearing overalls. I had no idea people still wore those, let alone in college. It seems like every week there is some new fashion statement and I highly doubt anything tops this. But yeah, the overalls, backpack on one shoulder, slip on vans and light blue socks is pretty sexy... unfortunately I did not get her number but who knows maybe next time! 

Chapter 8: Week 9

Wednesday 4/11/12 : The week started off well, probably due to the extra Monday we had off. It is quite amazing how much better the week is when you don't have school on Monday. I urge you guys just take one Monday off and you will notice a difference. Well Wednesday started and I went to theatre to deal with el gordo himself (the theatre teacher). We had a quiz on Oedipus which was a complete joke because I had already read it in high school so that was an easy 25 out of 25. I did not pay attention the rest of class because it is a waste of time.
Before I move on to my next class let me tell you about a new way I have come up with of entertaining myself. I time myself to and from school. Please do not assume that I am breaking a large amount of traffic codes because I am a good kid I would never do such a thing. Well anyways it gives me a reason to go to school because it becomes fun trying to beat previous "course records". I set a new course record right off the bat Wednesday with a time of 7:07.6 going to school... not too shabby. Leaving theatre I timed it perfectly and made it home in an amazing 7:01.7... if soccer doesn't work out look for me in NASCAR.
Math has been pretty boring lately as we have been learning Matrices, which are a huge pain the butt. We received our tests from the previous section and I am happy to say I am sitting nicely with an 88% in the class. Sometimes I worry about that class because the teacher is really bad and puts questions on the test that we have never seen before... oh well that's Harbor for you.
Already in a good mood thanks to that nice grade report I asked myself could my day get any better? Well at English we were bound to get our essays back and I was kind of nervous about my grade. Low and behold, we did not get our essays back because our teacher had strep throat all spring break so he never got around to grading them. Before class started a counselor came in and began talking to us about some silly fair he was putting on. Little did he know he had already talked to our class about the same thing but he went on anyways. This guy is a total goon and overly enthusiastic. There's that old saying, "take a chill pill"... well maybe he should take one. Half way through his presentation he asked if anyone had heard him speak because he has been to a lot of classes and our teacher responded saying, "yeah man you've already done this in here". This was really funny and he was totally embarrassed and I actually got the conversation on tape (just the sound).

Thursday 4/12/12 : I went to Philosophy at 8 am. I was so anxious to see what I got on my test, because I was pretty sure I got a perfect score or something close to it. Why am I so confident? Well the teacher accidentally posted the first 29 answers online so all I had to find out were the remaining 11 questions... pretty easy. Well I ended up getting a perfect score which brought my lowly average of 71% in the class to a 78% which is a really nice cushion to have. When I arrived in class however I noticed a girl with a lovely and trendy, if you will, fashion statement. Now Harbor has had some good fashion statements but I don't think anything tops this... Here we go

This African American female in my philosophy class was wearing large gold earrings that took up much of her ear lobe. She also had a nice nose piercing, one of those little hoops a la Michael Jordan. Attached to the earring was a gold chain.............. which was also attached to the nose ring so the chain dangled and times and then when in a seated position it would hang across her face. Why would someone wear that? I have no clue but it was the icing on the cake of another great week at Harbor College..... I believe in miracles where you from you sexy thing sexy thing you.....

Chapter 7: Week 8 halfway through second semester

Monday 3/26/12 : Started the week with little motivation. Why? Because Thursday would be the last day before spring break. So I went to theatre and all we did was watch a movie called A Raisin In the Sun. I don't know about you but I had never heard of it, probably because it was a play and also wasn't good. Walking back to my car after that class I ran into something I have yet to seen at Harbor College.

Yes, that is a gang of rolly back packs. And yes indeed they are rolling deep... no pun intended. The rolly backpack is by far my favorite thing about Harbor and to see them migrating in threes was really classic. I also like how they are rolling in a v kind of like one of my favorite movies the Mighty Ducks.

Wednesday and Thursday 3/28, 3/29 : Wednesday didn't really have anything going on besides turning in my first essay for English. It was also the teacher's birthday so he was being really cool. Let me remind you as long as you turn in the essay the day it is due, you can rewrite it until you get an A. Since it was his birthday and we turned in the essay he let us out 20 minutes into class and I was really happy. 

I set my alarm for 6:30 am to get to weight lifting at 7 am. I woke up and rolled over and looked at my phone to see a text saying weight lifting was canceled. So far so good I got an extra half hour of sleep which felt like about 2 minutes... hate that. Well on I went to school and was not looking forward to Philosophy. The class was totally empty as it was the day before Spring break. "Mr. Novak" began class by mentioning he accidentally posted the answers to the test online and that a few students were fortunate to see that and will obviously do well on the test. In this class every test we have is a take home exam but they are still really difficult so I was really bummed I didn't see the answers posted and kept kicking myself for that. The class went by and again I didn't learn anything but he did promise those who came, which was about 15 of us, would get extra credit on the next test. On my way out I took the same route to my car and was walking next to a kid in the class. We had a friendly conversation and I asked him about the test and low and behold he was one of the students who got the answers and had the pages printed in his binder. He let me take pictures of the exam and to say that I was stoked would be an understatement. Take that "Mr. Novak"!  

This day was already great and I could honestly say it was the best day I've had this semester. But could it get better, or would Harbor let me down like always? I journeyed to my math class and guess what? The teacher had lost her voice so the class was going to be a complete joke. She struggled explaining the curriculum as her voice was more quiet than a whisper. She didn't assign an in class assignment and I couldn't have drawn up a better way to start Spring break. 

The first half of this semester has been quite eventful and I'm sure I'll have more to write about when I return from Spring break. Thanks for reading the blog, really appreciate it. 

Chapter 6: Week 7

Monday 3/19/12 : I woke up not necessarily looking forward to another week at harbor... but who could blame me right? As I walked to class with my friend Brian, we were saying how great it would be if the theatre teacher didn't show up. So when we got to class our hopes of that happening looked like they were going to come true as I didn't see a man wearing a very feminine pink polo with a pot belly... yes that's his style. Well he didn't show and I was out of there in a record 8 minutes so I drove on home and took a nap which later would turn out to be incredibly helpful. Usually when I go back to school for my third class of the day, English at 2:20, I am completely drained and want to sleep. However for the first time all semester I felt rejuvenated and it was incredible how quickly class went by. To be honest I don't know if it was because I was having a good time on instagram (@zmirons9) or I was wide awake. Monday was pretty solid and the week was looking promising.

Wednesday 3/21/12 : Again I woke up hoping the theatre teacher wouldn't show up, but of course he did. In this class there are plenty of obnoxious students whose only goals in life seem to be trying to impress the teacher by analyzing simple, irrelevant plays that a kid in the 6th grade would have little difficultly doing. To your right you will see one of those kids that annoy me all day long. If you can't see, yes he is wearing a childish panda beanie with ears that come down to his waist. AND and classy leather jacket... quite the combo if I do say so myself. Now I didn't have any experience in project runway, but I know that's not a great outfit.
Skipping over my math class because I don't like to write about that, because it bores me. As I was leaving school after math I took an alternate route going home because they were doing construction on my normal route. So I flew down Anaheim and as soon as I passed Normandie I looked to my right and saw a Mexican male walking his dogs. He was wearing a classic gray tank top which made his pecs look like breasts and had long hair. I did a double take and noticed he was carrying something in his hand. What could it be? Don't bother guessing because you would never come up with the right answer. Yes, he was carrying a trumpet... yeah a trumpet. This was arguably the most random thing I have seen in my life and was really bummed that I couldn't take a picture. So after my hour and a half long break at home I drove back over to Harbor College. I pulled into the parking lot and got a spot in the shade. I looked in my rear view mirror and noticed the sheriff talking and about to arrest someone. Now who could be getting arrested on campus? YES SIR! The dog walking, trumpet playing, Mexican male!!! I couldn't believe my eyes! I was so shocked that I encountered him again.

The picture is kind of hard to see but the guy on the left with the breasts is him. And you can faintly see the trumpet on the hood of the car. Well whatever he did, whether that be sound pollution or animal cruelty (thanks Erin) the cops were not happy with him. A few minutes passed and I guess he talked his way out of the situation and was off walking his dogs again and playing a beautiful tune on his trumpet. I dedicate this post to you Trumpet man, until next time my friend... keep up the good work.

Chapter 5: Week 5

Monday 3/5/12 : Woke up at that sweet time of 7 am on the button, showered and went to the borefest called Theatre. From the boring redundant lectures to the lack of leg room, I can't decide what my favorite aspect of the class is! Anyways we watched a performance on video from the Reduced Shakespeare Company and I played Scramble with Friends for a majority of the class. The video consisted of every play by Shakespeare condensed into 90 minutes or something like that. It had as many cheesy jokes as rolly backpacks seen at Harbor College... yeah a ton. Being told that we had a quiz next class on "An enemy of the people" by Henrik Ibsen, I thought it would be a good idea to get the book. Na I'll pick it up later, I am going to go home and relax. The rest of the day went by smoothly and I eventually purchased the book for a mere $7.56, yes a total waste I might add.

Tuesday 3/6/12 : There is now a better way to start off your mornings... no not a hearty breakfast, but an hour and a half long philosophy class. If you didn't catch on that last sentence was oozing with sarcasm. We turned in our take home test which was pretty difficult to be honest and some of the students got harassed because they got the wrong scantron... classic. That class went by, like always, I learned nothing but enjoyed some of the sarcastic comments from the kids sitting near me. I left class in a hurry to get to my car because I wanted to get home and relax again. On my way to the car I encounter some trendy... not not rolly back packs... but uggs.

Now these caught my attention. I mean the purple is great, but they also have some glitter and the metallic appearance. For the ladies out there reading this, I urge you to invest in a pair I promise you'll get a lot of attention and they go well with basically anything. Another great fashion statement.... HARBOR COLLEGE SWAG!

Wednesday 3/7/12 : Started the morning off with a test in theatre on the awful play called "an enemy of the people" as previously mentioned above. Easily got a perfect score by using sparknotes to find out who the characters were. Sparknotes were about as clutch as me whipping out my phone and snapping pictures of the rolly backpacks and cute uggs. Anyways that class tugged along and he posted our grades. Looking for my grade through the swarm of people, I came to find that I had 369 points out of a possible 370. Now let me fast forward to after school when I told Julie, my mom, about this. After stating the amount of points I had, she asked, "is that an A?" Really? Come on J, what a classic moment.

In math we have continued to go over stuff that I learned way back in Ms. Stengel's Algebra 2 class sophomore year. I sit in that class and it's literally silent, and when she asks questions no one says a thing. So I kind of got fed up with it and have started to show off my intelligence and answer every question while everyone sits in awe at how I came up with such a simple answer. For example, we went over completing the square, one of my favorite things in math due to its simplicity and no offense to others but they just sit there and don't have a clue to what is going on. No wonder why I qualified for any math class offered at Harbor College.

Basically English was as classic as ever with "Mr. Harrington" rambling on about how school is pointless and I love every bit of it. Two quotes from the class by "Mr. Harrington" that I am still laughing about. "If a marathon of cribs comes on, I will sit there all day and watch. I also have seen every episode of Jersey Shore... I just really love those shows, they interest me." "People want nationwide health care, do you really want the people who run the DMV to run our health care?" The first quote is just classic of who this teacher is and the second one is right on the money. I'll keep politics out of this but he is totally right.

At 7 pm I went back to Harbor College to see a play for a theatre assignment. First of all I'll start by saying I was really annoyed that it interfered with me watching the clippers game which is far more important. Anyways I knew this would be a waste of my time but it will get that assignment taken care of. So it was called the "Lively art" or something, I don't really know but it started off and I knew it wasn't going to be anything special. I had my phone by my side checking the clippers game a la ESPN commercials where the guy at dinner checks the game instead of paying attention to his girlfriend, but in my case the girlfriend was this garbage play. So there was something like 12 separate performances and some of it was a little funny but overall it was average at best. The last scene was completely outrageous with people from the crowd emerging to sing some Indian tribal song. So mesmerized, I wanted to get up and sing myself and if the theatre teacher wasn't the director I honestly might have.

Thursday (3/8/12) : Thursday was just like all the other Thursday's. Attended philosophy class, everyone got destroyed by the first test, including myself but I managed to squeak out a C. Math was pointless  yet again and I did the same thing as Wed. When I came home from my lovely beach run, might I add that it was an absolute gorgeous day, I checked my email to come across probably the most prestigious award I've ever won.

WOW, I qualified for the Dean's Honor list!!!!! After reading the email a second time, I noticed that you can take 6 units and qualify. Uhhh two classes, are you serious? That is probably the easiest thing ever. I am truly humbled by this award and will probably celebrate by eating at chilis with my gift card. What a way to end my day, man oh man still can't get over how great that is! 

The incoveniences of Harbor College

This section will be a list of all the irritating things about the school and how it is run:

1. Transcripts: I needed an official transcript to send to a school for soccer. I went to the admissions office to see how I could get my Fall transcript so they had me fill out this card. I was very confused because the people at Harbor College are often as helpful as those employees of the DMV. So I asked a few questions and could tell the lady was kind of irritated so I walked away and filled out the card. I opted for the 3 dollar transcript for obvious reasons and gave the woman the card containing the information. She said I would get my transcript in a week and it would be mailed to my house.... why? I was too frustrated to even care so I said that was fine, but then she said I couldn't get my transcript because I hadn't paid my SPRING tuition yet.... what kind of stupid rule is that?!? What does the spring tuition have anything to do with getting a Fall transcript????

The following week after I paid my Spring tuition, I went back to get my transcript... again I filled out the card, this time opting for the 10 dollar one I could pick up right then and there. However that wasn't the case. I had to take some paper to the cashiers office which is a decent enough walk from the admissions office. Pay for the transcript there, wait in that lame line, then go back to get my transcript. Surely there is a better and more efficient way of doing that, but nope this is Harbor College.

2. Buying books: Since I don't walk around with hundreds of dollars in cash, I buy my books with a check. Every time you buy one of these overpriced books from the classy bookstore with a check, you must have a meaningless printout of your classes. Why? I don't really know but that is just another stupid rule they have implemented to frustrate the students. And every time I go to buy a book, I always seem to forget about the printout and then they send me to the cashiers office just like the transcripts and have me get a printout which costs a dollar (if you didn't figure out the philosophy problem this is where the missing dollar went... to harbor college).

3. The ease of communicating with Harbor College Employees: I call Harbor College, the DMV of colleges. Everyone that works in the front offices seems to be super grumpy and having a really bad day. However on rare occasions you encounter a compassionate being there to help you out. The ratio of unkind to kind employees is approximately 7:1. Just like the DMV, the employees want nothing to do with you, but yet it's their job? Maybe you should work some place where you don't have to deal with communicating and helping others... just a suggestion.