In 1994 my father, who lived 3000 miles away, told me he had a difficult time imagining what my day-to-day life was like as a math major at San Jose State University. I wrote this diary to give him an idea of what my life was like and what I was learning at school.

DAWN

A.M. 6:20 a.m. My clock-radio comes on. It's tuned to KLIV, "San Jose's news station." They play the audio track of CNN Headline News. I set it for 6:20 rather than 6:30 because they give local news and weather just before every half-hour. In the summer I would just as soon skip the local stuff since the weather is exactly the same every single day: totally gorgeous. (Oh how I love my state!) But in the winter I need to know if I should bring my ratty old umbrella with me to school. I guess you could call me a news junkie. I know all the CNN anchors' names, Toria Tally, Bob Losher, Gordon Graham, Judy Fornton, Chuck Roberts, and Linda Russell. I like Linda best. She has big brown eyes, lots of chocolate brown hair, and a Jane Russell figure. And she's a private detective—how cool! Some people daydream about movie stars, some Playboy bunnies; me . . . I daydream about news anchors. You know, you can tell a lot about people by how they spend their quality daydream time. I lie awake thinking about what I need to get done today. 6:35 a.m. My annoying, buzzing alarm goes off, telling me if I don't get up now I'm really going to be late. I get dressed—jeans and a T-shirt unless it's an unusually cold day when I'll wear a long-sleeved shirt—and go to the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face. I stop on the way to put the kettle on so the water will be hot when I'm done; that way I'll get my coffee just as fast as possible. What did people do before coffee? 7:00 a.m. My coffee, banana, and bowl of Quaker 100% Natural gone, I go back to the bathroom to shave.

7:12 a.m. Done shaving. Now I'm really awake. I go to my room and put my physics and history notebooks, history textbooks, miscellaneous papers, and sunglasses in my big, blue backpack. 7:17 a.m. I gently close the front door and tip-toe across the front porch so as not to wake my housemates who don't have to be up 'til a normal, human time, like 8:00. At this hour it's quiet near my house even though I live just two blocks from campus and one from Santa Clara Street, San Jose's main drag. I like stepping out into the cool morning sunshine and walking to school; here I am downtown in a big city and I feel the same feeling as I do when walking down some grassy path in the country. This feeling only lasts 'til I get to the first light when I go into don't-get-run-over-on-the-way-to-school mode. I can hear the Mission Impossible theme beating in my head as I wait to cross the street. On the occasional day when I'm ahead of schedule, I wonder about the lives of all these people going by in their cars. Why does one person hold on to a beat-up old Hyundai until it collapses beside the road from exhaustion while another person works himself to death to have a brand new Omniroad Cruiser by GMordissan (or whatever these new fancy-schmancy chromium and spitmobiles are called)? Where are they going? What do they do all day? What problems do they think about? What's their story? On days when I'm running late, I am absolutely positive all these people have driven all the way here from wherever they're from just to make me late for class. The light turns red but they keep driving through it. I practically have to step out in front of them to get them to stop. The way people drive can tell you a lot about them.

MORNING

7:30 a.m. Physics class. This semester we're learning about electricity and magnetism. My professor is a very nice man from India. He's a good teacher and I enjoy the subject. My friend Robert sits next to me. We were in Physics together last semester and we help each other with the homework. He's an older, returning student, like me, and we relate to each other in more than just an academic way. We both like an obscure guitar player named Allan Holsworth and are avid 49er fans. He's travelled to some exotic spots in Europe, as have I, and we trade travel stories. He's a lot like me, so I suppose you can tell a lot about yourself by who your friends are. 8:20 a.m. Physics is over and Robert, John from Greece (another friend), and I have our morning Breakfast Club meeting at the end of the hall. We stand next to the windows and talk about physics, what we did over the weekend, the weather, and world or national events. We watch the women on their way to their 8:30 classes and try to get up the nerve to say 'hi' as they walk by. John is the bravest and handsomest so he has all the "luck." 8:35 a.m. I stop at a newspaper dispenser on my way to the library to read the Spartan Daily, our school newspaper—you can't get enough news. 8:50 a.m. I go to a certain table at the back of the first floor of Clark library. I sit in the same chair every day. The fourth one from the end has the best light by which to read my history books. People come to study, then leave later. Some are regulars like me. I recognize them, but I've never spoken with them; occasionally, maybe, we'll exchange smiles. I have two and a half hours 'til history class so I can read two chapters of the book before it's time to go.

11:15 a.m. I'm getting hungry so I pack up my books and go outside to eat the mixture of peanuts and chocolate chips I bring for this purpose. It's just enough to tide me over until lunch. 11:30 a.m. California History since 1900. There were several courses I could have taken to fulfill the General Education requirement to learn about California State government, but I wanted this one. I like history and I like California, so this way I can study two of the things I like most at the same time-very efficient. It's interesting to notice the make-up of this class compared to my math and physics classes. It's an entirely different atmosphere. There are many more women here. People talk out, give their opinion, ask questions. In math classes, the students are stayed and quiet. They diligently take notes and ask only about homework problems that gave them trouble. One nice thing about math, though, it's easy to tell which answers are right and which are wrong. Try giving an indisputable proof of the justification for the Criminal Syndicalism Law of 1919. I'm sure there is a right and wrong to the things human beings do, but this is a truth that stays very well hidden. One truth is clear though, you can tell a lot about people by what they like to study.

AFTERNOON

P.M. 12:20 p.m. History is over so I walk home for lunch. I have half a cucumber, a bean burrito, and a slice of cantaloupe. I have just enough time to make it home, make and eat lunch, and go back to school before Partial Differential Equations starts. 1:30 p.m. Partial Differential Equations. This course might as well be called "math for engineers." We derive equations that describe the way heat travels through an object or describe the way springs bounce. I can't say I really like this class, but I have a good professor so that makes it bearable. 2:20 p.m. School is over for the day and I head for the Post Office to check my mail. I have a post office box that's a two minute walk from the math building. I love to get mail, I'm not sure why. Maybe I feel isolated and alone in my school-boy life and want contact from the outside world. 2:45 p.m. I get back home and I may do one of any number of things until dinner. I may have to go to the supermarket, make some phone calls, get some things for school, answer my mail, do laundry, or just generally take care of things around the house. If there's nothing else to do, I study.

6:10 p.m. I put the rice on low heat and go take a shower. 6:25 p.m. Shower done. I put the water on for the broccoli and finish making dinner. I have it timed so that I have everything ready to eat by 7:00 when Star Trek, the Next Generation starts. I remember when that show first came on, I didn't watch it out of protest. I was being loyal to the old Star Trek, which I loved as a kid. I think I have every one of those old episodes memorized. But eventually I broke down and began watching The Next Generation. Now I like it almost as much as the old show. It certainly is produced better and the special effects are light-years ahead of the old days. Still, I think the chintzy effects, the bad directing, and the unpolished feel of the old shows make the moral aspects, the humanness, of the episodes stand out more. So I'm still loyal to the old Star Trek. I think you can tell a lot about people by what they watch on TV.

EVENING

7:00 p.m. I sit down in front of the TV with my dinner and watch Star Trek. I finish eating before the show is over so I run to the sink during commercials and wash my dishes. I should become an efficiency expert! 8:00 p.m. Evening study time. I can usually finish my history stuff in the morning so in the evening I study differential equations or physics. I would love to go out, go to a movie, go for a ride on my bike, see a play, visit a park, go to San Francisco for coffee, or any of a thousand other things, but I don't. I want to do the best I can in school, so I force myself to stay devoted to it. I study and do homework 'til about 11:30. Don't get me wrong, I do actually like school too, most of my classes anyway. I think I would just as soon skip the engineering math, though; but calculus is fun and interesting, and number theory is positively cool!

11:30 p.m. I get ready for bed, brush my teeth, wash my face, set my alarms—the usual. Then to relax and unwind I play my guitar for about half an hour. I play quietly in case my housemates are asleep, but they usually aren't. They don't have to be up at an ungodly hour like me. Lately, I've been learning a beautiful classical piece by Steve Howe of the group Yes. It's called Mood for a Day and is very sweet and flowing. It was written in 1973 or there abouts making it over 20 years old. A thing of beauty endures and I often think that what gives me the strength to persevere with my studies is that I want to have something that endures. So many of my (younger) fellow students don't take their studies very seriously. They are having fun now, but how will they feel later about how they spent all this time and all their parents money? I guess you can learn a lot about people by how they spent their day. 12:00 p.m. Lights out!