Random Bullets of Things I Learned This Semester

• Sea weed is a form of algae.
• Daddy Long Legs are not spiders. They're insects.
• Sponges are not plants, they're animals.
• Octopi or octopodes? The debate rages on.
• Anti-bacterial soap is counter-productive. It creates resistent bacteria. Bleach is better for killing germs on countertops. Plain old soap and hot water is best for washing hands.
• Widow's peaks and dimples are dominant traits.
• Biology is a LOT more interesting now than I thought it was 20 years ago.
• The Merrie Monarch Festival is a hula competition that is held in honor of King David Kawika Kalakaua. He brought back the hula after decades of suppression by the missionaries.
• Serious hula dancers make their own costumes, instruments, and accessories. Right down to collecting the materials to make the dyes and paints.
• Hula dancing is both more difficult and more fun than I thought it would be. I'm sad the class has ended.
• The world's religions are fascinating. I wish that people who claim to practice the ones we studied this semester would actually heed their teachings as most of them require people to live in peace with one another. Sigh.
• If I were a character in a Harry Potter book, I'd be Hermione. I am definitely an insufferable know-it-all. Always with my hand up. Always with some item to contribute that I've heard in the news, read in a book, or learned from one of you guys.
• Research methods and statistical analysis in psychology is both more and less interesting than I thought it would be. It's the one class I'm a little worried about in terms of my grade. It's 7 credits and I'm afraid I'll be getting a C. Gonna have to study hard for the final.
• If you're going to be in a class in any of the buildings on the east side of campus, park in lot A. The walk's much shorter from there, but it's not as pretty.
• The third floor bathroom in the huge central building will always have T@mp@x even when all the other bathrooms are sold-out.
• The computer lab in the farthest south-east building is closed on Fridays. Which really frosts my cookies, let me tell you.
• The bookstore has a good selection of text books, but a poor selection of everything else. Seriously...what bookstore has a mystery section that has not even ONE Agatha Christie title? But their general fiction section has everything David B@ldacci ever wrote. Feh.
• We have a synchronized swimming team. Truly. We do.