Joseph Natividad

Classes Resume after “Fire Week”

I feel as if I?ve already gotten used to and waking up in the afternoon, walking through a near empty campus and breathing in flakes of ash.

I woke up today and found a lot more people walking around to and from classrooms and cafeterias. I was a little groggy, not being used to waking up before 10AM and copying entire lectures into my notebook. Basically, I have turned into a lazy bum in the course of a week.

The air quality has been getting much better lately. It?s a bit overcast today but at least I can breathe effortlessly now.

I still have Calculus to get over with at 4PM and I think I?ll get some reviewing done for my rescheduled midterms taking place a couple days from now. It didn?t take that long for me to switch back into this sort of mode or attitude about getting my work done and being fully prepared for whatever test I have coming up.

Halloween is this Wednesday. I went out over the weekend to Toys R Us and got an Optimus Prime mask from the film ?Transformers.? It changes my voice when I wear it and has a few other sound effects that came along with it. I guess I?ll be a robot for Halloween, but it?s sad that I may miss out on whatever?s going on that night because my Calc. midterm is scheduled to take place from 7-9PM.

Tags: calculus, fire, halloween, Midterm, optimus-prime, transformers, ucsd

No Classes on Tuesday Either

People were beginning to talk about it happening. I checked the school website a few minutes ago and guess what?

“Due to the continuing concern of the fires, the UCSD campus will be canceling classes Tuesday, October 23. The air quality continues to threaten the health of all in this general area. The fires are still uncontained and other nearby entities, such as SD Unified School District, are closing for tomorrow.” - Chancellor Marye Anne Fox

I’m basically going on a four day weekend, with the latter half being spent mostly in the confines of my residence hall. Everyone’s been jumping around and making loud noises for quite awhile now but at the back of my mind I still think of the fact that I have midterms for Calculus and Music & Film along with a two-page essay for my writing class. All of this will be taking place on Wednesday and Thursday. I’m missing out on possible reviewing sessions in class or during the professors’ office hours…but oh well.

Tags: calculus, cancelled-classes, fire, Midterm, music-and-film, san-diego, uc-irvine, UC-Santa-Barbara, wildfire

Classes Cancelled due to Wildfires

I woke up to loud yelling and laughing outside my dorm. I got out of bed to see what the fuss was all about and my suitemate approached me with a giant bear hug. It turns out that classes are cancelled today due to the spreading fires across Southern California. San Diego State, UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine still seem to be open though.

The people in my building don?t seem to mind. I?m supposed to be in my Music and Film discussion right now. Instead I suddenly have all this time to catch up on my reading and studying for this week?s batch of midterms.

Homes in places like Rancho Bernardo are burning down and residents from all around the area have been advised to move out if they spot a fire in the distance. Qualcomm Stadium and a number of high schools in the area have been converted into makeshift evacuation zones. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in San Diego, Los Angeles, Riverside, Santa Barbara, Irvine, Ventura and san Bernardino last night.

I noticed the smoke in the air late yesterday afternoon. I began to choke and saw flakes of ash floating around me not too long after. When I got back to my dorm and looked in the mirror, I could see black flakes all over my face and my clothes smelled like smoke.

The video footage above was sent to me by a friend at UC Irvine. It was taken with his cellphone at about 6PM last night. You could see the blanket of smoke beginning to take over the sky — a sight I never experienced when I was living in the Bay Area.

Tags: fire, qualcomm-stadium, rancho-bernardo, san-diego, san-diego-state, uc-irvine