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SWF seeks ???: Katharine Magary, 19, student in Pasadena. Likes beach walks at sunset, sing-song poetry, constructed languages and geology. INTP. Foot mutant and keeper of the Devil's Haircut. Will not pay your rent on minimum wage.
Contact info:
email: email
AIM: pailblusea
ICQ: 12670431
Y!: durlomiel
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torstai, helmikuu 28
Hm...
Karin asked me for a printable map of Middle Earth, so I went looking for one online and instead found this.
Now I want to go to Irvine. Heh.
Karin asked me for a printable map of Middle Earth, so I went looking for one online and instead found this.
Now I want to go to Irvine. Heh.
Lights out!
So I was hanging out in the lab as usual when Mr. Cohen asked me to join his after-school group on some sort of advanced math. The basic premise involves this game, Lights Out, and how to solve it using...I forget which kind of math. Probably something I'll be taking next year. Anyway, I'm looking forward to it. It'll probably be Tuesdays, except next week which is a Wednesday (but I can't make it because of my class.)
I have to do a presentation on the Eye for aca-deca today. I hope I don't screw up. I'm hungry. Maybe I should leave.
muzak: Shakira, "Whatever, Wherever" (or something like that.)
So I was hanging out in the lab as usual when Mr. Cohen asked me to join his after-school group on some sort of advanced math. The basic premise involves this game, Lights Out, and how to solve it using...I forget which kind of math. Probably something I'll be taking next year. Anyway, I'm looking forward to it. It'll probably be Tuesdays, except next week which is a Wednesday (but I can't make it because of my class.)
I have to do a presentation on the Eye for aca-deca today. I hope I don't screw up. I'm hungry. Maybe I should leave.
muzak: Shakira, "Whatever, Wherever" (or something like that.)
They've taken down the forest
They said they were only going to knock down a few trees. Now there's so many gone. I went out there today and noticed they were removing those that shaded the fire path. No more sitting below the willows. I just didn't imagine the building being so huge that it took up that much room. It just seems so ironic-- knocking down nature in order to build a science inbuilding in which the destruction of nature will be studied. When I put up a new sign on my locker, Carmack walked by and commented "Oh, you're the troublemaker" and expressed his own sadness on the loss of our leafy friends. Meredith took a picture through the window with wires. Diane and I made up a poem about bleeding trunks that was Deep. Karin is going to take a very nice picture of the wood piles. They will become a new shrine for the trees.
They said they were only going to knock down a few trees. Now there's so many gone. I went out there today and noticed they were removing those that shaded the fire path. No more sitting below the willows. I just didn't imagine the building being so huge that it took up that much room. It just seems so ironic-- knocking down nature in order to build a science inbuilding in which the destruction of nature will be studied. When I put up a new sign on my locker, Carmack walked by and commented "Oh, you're the troublemaker" and expressed his own sadness on the loss of our leafy friends. Meredith took a picture through the window with wires. Diane and I made up a poem about bleeding trunks that was Deep. Karin is going to take a very nice picture of the wood piles. They will become a new shrine for the trees.
keskiviikko, helmikuu 27
Herpes redux
I have discovered that my frisbee skills steadily get worse. I took the AMC-12 test this morning (too the AMC-10 in freshman and sophmore year, but forgot to sign up for the 12 last year.) It wasn't that difficult; I finished 20 of the 25 problems, and I'm sure about most of my answers, except one where I already know I screwed up. Anyway, after finishing, Nancy and i went out and played frisbee, but my accuracy has slipped to about 60 degrees to the left or right-- pathetic. I used to be able to make it on target every time.
Left Physics early due to a boring but short video about electric potential. I never got to class on time though, due to a 30-minute delay on Bart that left me five minutes to get to Leconte, a task which is nearly impossible if you already have a sore back. By the time I arrived I was hot and dehydrated, but only a few minutes late. (The dehydration probably contributed to my fainting.
I have discovered that my frisbee skills steadily get worse. I took the AMC-12 test this morning (too the AMC-10 in freshman and sophmore year, but forgot to sign up for the 12 last year.) It wasn't that difficult; I finished 20 of the 25 problems, and I'm sure about most of my answers, except one where I already know I screwed up. Anyway, after finishing, Nancy and i went out and played frisbee, but my accuracy has slipped to about 60 degrees to the left or right-- pathetic. I used to be able to make it on target every time.
Left Physics early due to a boring but short video about electric potential. I never got to class on time though, due to a 30-minute delay on Bart that left me five minutes to get to Leconte, a task which is nearly impossible if you already have a sore back. By the time I arrived I was hot and dehydrated, but only a few minutes late. (The dehydration probably contributed to my fainting.
Life imitates art
Really Mean Girls
I read this article after Sarah pointed it out to me. It bears relations to my middle-school experience. Everyone should read it. More on this later.
Really Mean Girls
I read this article after Sarah pointed it out to me. It bears relations to my middle-school experience. Everyone should read it. More on this later.
Why I am beginning to enjoy calc, in a sick sort of way
In the past week, Nancy and Diane's conversations have become more and more disgusting. They used to talk about how the teachers resembled gnomes. Now they've moved on to seventh-grade subject material.
Monday: Do you have an idol? If so, would you bid in an auction for one of their personal items? Would you pick up a snotty tissue that s/he left on thr ground? Would you covet his/her underwear? (Nancy: "But underwear is nasty! Just imagine where it's been!" Diane: "Snot? But the underwear could be clean. There's lots of clean underwear. And why is celebrity snot so special?")
Today: Leg hair and its texture. Why men should shave. The relative niceness of various guys' leg hair. (Diane: "You've seen Tommy's leg hair? EW!") Waxing. Brazilian waxes, and what exactly this entails. I shall say no more.
In the past week, Nancy and Diane's conversations have become more and more disgusting. They used to talk about how the teachers resembled gnomes. Now they've moved on to seventh-grade subject material.
Monday: Do you have an idol? If so, would you bid in an auction for one of their personal items? Would you pick up a snotty tissue that s/he left on thr ground? Would you covet his/her underwear? (Nancy: "But underwear is nasty! Just imagine where it's been!" Diane: "Snot? But the underwear could be clean. There's lots of clean underwear. And why is celebrity snot so special?")
Today: Leg hair and its texture. Why men should shave. The relative niceness of various guys' leg hair. (Diane: "You've seen Tommy's leg hair? EW!") Waxing. Brazilian waxes, and what exactly this entails. I shall say no more.
Brain surgery
At a Valentine's party in eighth grade, I got called out suddenly and told that my sister had fainted in her science class, so would I please go talk to her and see if she was all right? Anyway, she told me they had been watching a video about brain surgery and she thought it was interesting, but then she passed out and fell on the floor and her teacher yelled at her because of it. Anyway, I've always had issues with this sort of thing...mainly it's going into hospitals that bothers me, but it's happened in class and on the street before. Today it happened, coincidentally, in the middle of psych. We were watching clips of people with psychiatric disorders talking about their illnesses, and the people who made the video checked on them at different stages and followed them around. One of them was a man with obsessive-compulsive disorder and medication and therapy hadn't worked, so now he was going in for surgery. And they had to show the whole thing on camera, blood and all, describing how the patient is awake throughout the procedure and "feels no pain". To make it worse, they showed footage of lobotomies from the 1950s. Evidently I couldn't handle it because the next thing I knew, I couldn't hear anything and I was loosing my vision. I passed out momentarily, only to be fine in time for a clip later about a guy getting electroconvolusive shock treatment for his depression.
Remind me never to work in a hospital, okay?
muzak: U2, "New York"
At a Valentine's party in eighth grade, I got called out suddenly and told that my sister had fainted in her science class, so would I please go talk to her and see if she was all right? Anyway, she told me they had been watching a video about brain surgery and she thought it was interesting, but then she passed out and fell on the floor and her teacher yelled at her because of it. Anyway, I've always had issues with this sort of thing...mainly it's going into hospitals that bothers me, but it's happened in class and on the street before. Today it happened, coincidentally, in the middle of psych. We were watching clips of people with psychiatric disorders talking about their illnesses, and the people who made the video checked on them at different stages and followed them around. One of them was a man with obsessive-compulsive disorder and medication and therapy hadn't worked, so now he was going in for surgery. And they had to show the whole thing on camera, blood and all, describing how the patient is awake throughout the procedure and "feels no pain". To make it worse, they showed footage of lobotomies from the 1950s. Evidently I couldn't handle it because the next thing I knew, I couldn't hear anything and I was loosing my vision. I passed out momentarily, only to be fine in time for a clip later about a guy getting electroconvolusive shock treatment for his depression.
Remind me never to work in a hospital, okay?
muzak: U2, "New York"
In too deep
Wonderful. I get a call: "Now I know the reason I never tell you things, Kate. I never tell anyone anything. I didn't tell anyone I got glasses; I just did. And I didn't tell anyone I was getting my braces off either when I did. I just want things to be my thing to tell, you know?"
Okay, so when I mentioned it, I didn't explicitly mean to tell anyone. It just slipped. I was pissed, yes, and that's why I did it. But I wasn't trying to steal the spotlight from you, Meredith. The thing is, I feel like as your best friend, you can tell me important things when they occur, not just wait until the "right time" which may come weeks later. If it's important, which this is, why can't you call me and tell me? Then I wouldn't be pissed. It's just that you've been talking about getting a car for so long, and I feel like I'm close enough that you can tell me things. It's not exactly a life-defining piece of information, and it's not gossip...just something interesting.
I know that whenever something interesting happens to me, I share it. Now, if the issue is that you find what I say boring, please tell me, because I don't want to take up too much of your time if that's the case. But it's like you don't trust me to know information at all. This isn't the results of a pregnancy test. (I guess in that case I'd be annoyed if you were pregnant and didn't tell me until I noticed. Or if you decided to elope and then I just had to discover this a year later.)
Wonderful. I get a call: "Now I know the reason I never tell you things, Kate. I never tell anyone anything. I didn't tell anyone I got glasses; I just did. And I didn't tell anyone I was getting my braces off either when I did. I just want things to be my thing to tell, you know?"
Okay, so when I mentioned it, I didn't explicitly mean to tell anyone. It just slipped. I was pissed, yes, and that's why I did it. But I wasn't trying to steal the spotlight from you, Meredith. The thing is, I feel like as your best friend, you can tell me important things when they occur, not just wait until the "right time" which may come weeks later. If it's important, which this is, why can't you call me and tell me? Then I wouldn't be pissed. It's just that you've been talking about getting a car for so long, and I feel like I'm close enough that you can tell me things. It's not exactly a life-defining piece of information, and it's not gossip...just something interesting.
I know that whenever something interesting happens to me, I share it. Now, if the issue is that you find what I say boring, please tell me, because I don't want to take up too much of your time if that's the case. But it's like you don't trust me to know information at all. This isn't the results of a pregnancy test. (I guess in that case I'd be annoyed if you were pregnant and didn't tell me until I noticed. Or if you decided to elope and then I just had to discover this a year later.)
tiistai, helmikuu 26
Survivor Marquesas (4) starts Thursday. That means that I will do very poorly on Friday's calc test.
List #1: Things that bug me
addendum: Denethor's character in Return of the King.
- Backaches
- This year's Oscar nominees
- "alot"
- Michael Gulman
- People who have a name that is pronounced completely differently from the way it is spelled and
- People who insist their weirdly-spelled name be said perfectly, with all native accents, inflections, etc.
- The schwa symbol
- Hank Williams' "The Lovesick Blues"
- American Democracy
- Krispy Kreme
- This fanfic Leci wrote that involved me
- Lavender
- My inability to be happy with the layout of my website
- Improper integrals
- Nickels
- Non-ergonomic office chairs
- The fact that Bart no-longer offers high-value discount tickets
- Pigeons
- Gauss' Law
- "Hey Baby" by No Doubt
- Belgium
addendum: Denethor's character in Return of the King.
Tell the sun not to shine
Meredith got a car...and didn't bother to tell me until two days later. Sort of like the way she didn't tell me she was flying until a month after she started. Well, I tell her, I would tell her if I so much as thought about learning to drive, or sat behind the wheel, or passed any sort of test, let alone got my own car.
So I spent the afternoon hanging out in the lab spying on people, and then I walked Meredith to the "bus", her car, and then went back to school and walked around for a bit. Always fun. We didn't do much during the meeting, but Edelman is threatening to kick Diane off the team. He was happy that she had a "dentist appointment" (the beach) this afternoon. We spent the rest of the time studying with country music in the background. I'm sure everyone considered it annoying that Nance and Joyce and me were all singing along, but at least I know that I know this music.
Meredith got a car...and didn't bother to tell me until two days later. Sort of like the way she didn't tell me she was flying until a month after she started. Well, I tell her, I would tell her if I so much as thought about learning to drive, or sat behind the wheel, or passed any sort of test, let alone got my own car.
So I spent the afternoon hanging out in the lab spying on people, and then I walked Meredith to the "bus", her car, and then went back to school and walked around for a bit. Always fun. We didn't do much during the meeting, but Edelman is threatening to kick Diane off the team. He was happy that she had a "dentist appointment" (the beach) this afternoon. We spent the rest of the time studying with country music in the background. I'm sure everyone considered it annoying that Nance and Joyce and me were all singing along, but at least I know that I know this music.
Corruption uncovered!
So as I type this, I am appearing to be innocently surfing the net in the physics lab, when in fact I am secretly eavesdropping on a conference between the editors of The Lowell and SBC. James looks worried; I already know that Alisa's on a rampage against one of the other editors, and Toby and Dennis appear smug, as usual. Basically, the way I understand it is that Toby wants to take away the SAC money that The Lowell gets and instead give them certain money. Underlying incentives? Obvious Toby is sick and tired of the honest look at politics that the paper gives the student government. He either wants to get rid of all funding if they continue to do that, or to have their money under the thumb of whoever is president next year. "SBC working closely with journalism" sounds suspiciously like they own the press.
This is really fascinating. Maybe I should start working for the paper too.
So as I type this, I am appearing to be innocently surfing the net in the physics lab, when in fact I am secretly eavesdropping on a conference between the editors of The Lowell and SBC. James looks worried; I already know that Alisa's on a rampage against one of the other editors, and Toby and Dennis appear smug, as usual. Basically, the way I understand it is that Toby wants to take away the SAC money that The Lowell gets and instead give them certain money. Underlying incentives? Obvious Toby is sick and tired of the honest look at politics that the paper gives the student government. He either wants to get rid of all funding if they continue to do that, or to have their money under the thumb of whoever is president next year. "SBC working closely with journalism" sounds suspiciously like they own the press.
This is really fascinating. Maybe I should start working for the paper too.
maanantai, helmikuu 25
An epicure dining at Crue
If you visited earlier, ignore the funky layout. I was playing, to no success, with my design. I wanted a sidebar. My HTML for this page is horrendous, so I kept making errors.
Today was a really great day. Every day should be sunny. The weather has a really big effect on my mood, I think, because I have noticed that I tend to get depressed starting in late October lasting until the middle of January or February, but immediately when it started becoming sunny again I've been noticably happier. (At least to myself. I doubt anyone else has noticed my lack of total bitchiness.)
Speaking of which...I don't remember if I was complaining about Julia last week and how I dislike her presence because she talks way too much and is a generally vapid person, but I had to spend a few hours working with her at Parents' Resource Night and I was miserable. I was smiling and nodding as she talked about how cute and adorable some little kid she babysits was, and how it's so funny that Emily knows her from volunteering at Lakeshore and that this girl likes to pretends to be Britney Spears and whatever else she was going off on for two hours while we waited for something to happen. And how she watched 10.5 hours of TV the previous day and hasn't read a book since August. And other stuff. (Now I remember: how not enough people appreciate the genius teaching of Spellicy. Okay, so he's a good teacher, but after she's repeated it seven or more times you really want her to just close her mouth for a while.)
But I will forgive her incessant materialism and lack of a developed brain, because she's filing a sexual harrassment claim against Michael Gulman. Yvonne told me this and of course the entire female population, except for a select crazy few, are rejoicing. Yvonne's afraid of his mafia, but I dount they'll do anything. He deserves this. See, the difference between Michael and Julia is that while neither is particularly smart, Julia isn't evil on purpose. Michael's a rat, and needs to be expelled. "Couldn't have happened to a nicer person," commented Bettencourt. That seems to be the consensus of the faculty, considering he's cheated his way through every class, tried to cheat his way into Stanford, and none of it ever seems to go on his record. Most goes unnoticed.
This is what happens when someone pokes me in the back for an entire semester. I hold grudges. Poetic justice should always be so sweet.
muzak: John Mayer, "No Such Thing"
If you visited earlier, ignore the funky layout. I was playing, to no success, with my design. I wanted a sidebar. My HTML for this page is horrendous, so I kept making errors.
Today was a really great day. Every day should be sunny. The weather has a really big effect on my mood, I think, because I have noticed that I tend to get depressed starting in late October lasting until the middle of January or February, but immediately when it started becoming sunny again I've been noticably happier. (At least to myself. I doubt anyone else has noticed my lack of total bitchiness.)
Speaking of which...I don't remember if I was complaining about Julia last week and how I dislike her presence because she talks way too much and is a generally vapid person, but I had to spend a few hours working with her at Parents' Resource Night and I was miserable. I was smiling and nodding as she talked about how cute and adorable some little kid she babysits was, and how it's so funny that Emily knows her from volunteering at Lakeshore and that this girl likes to pretends to be Britney Spears and whatever else she was going off on for two hours while we waited for something to happen. And how she watched 10.5 hours of TV the previous day and hasn't read a book since August. And other stuff. (Now I remember: how not enough people appreciate the genius teaching of Spellicy. Okay, so he's a good teacher, but after she's repeated it seven or more times you really want her to just close her mouth for a while.)
But I will forgive her incessant materialism and lack of a developed brain, because she's filing a sexual harrassment claim against Michael Gulman. Yvonne told me this and of course the entire female population, except for a select crazy few, are rejoicing. Yvonne's afraid of his mafia, but I dount they'll do anything. He deserves this. See, the difference between Michael and Julia is that while neither is particularly smart, Julia isn't evil on purpose. Michael's a rat, and needs to be expelled. "Couldn't have happened to a nicer person," commented Bettencourt. That seems to be the consensus of the faculty, considering he's cheated his way through every class, tried to cheat his way into Stanford, and none of it ever seems to go on his record. Most goes unnoticed.
This is what happens when someone pokes me in the back for an entire semester. I hold grudges. Poetic justice should always be so sweet.
muzak: John Mayer, "No Such Thing"
sunnuntai, helmikuu 24
Why one should always be awake while typing
I just typed "Keynes explained that depressions occured because of a lack of serotonin."
It's just not good when one starts to confuse psychology and economics. Especially since they explain things in the complete opposite way. I need some caffeine.
I just typed "Keynes explained that depressions occured because of a lack of serotonin."
It's just not good when one starts to confuse psychology and economics. Especially since they explain things in the complete opposite way. I need some caffeine.
A spherical cow
I've decided to make up my own language. In the last few weeks I've become interested in constructed languages again, which is why you'll see a bunch of conlang links in my link section. Details will follow, and I think I'll start a separate blog page for my thoughts on this subject. You see, this is what happens when I become bored while sitting at the information desk.
Karin is going to get a job at Zeum after I told her she shouldn't work where I do, since she should be her own person and stuff. The job is fine today. The museum was relatively slow since it was a sunny day, compared to last weekend, when there were about a billion and one visitors all asking me questions. Today we just seemed to have a lot of dumb people who lost their kids. Kids should be kept on leashes, imho. Remind me never to have any.
I've decided to make up my own language. In the last few weeks I've become interested in constructed languages again, which is why you'll see a bunch of conlang links in my link section. Details will follow, and I think I'll start a separate blog page for my thoughts on this subject. You see, this is what happens when I become bored while sitting at the information desk.
Karin is going to get a job at Zeum after I told her she shouldn't work where I do, since she should be her own person and stuff. The job is fine today. The museum was relatively slow since it was a sunny day, compared to last weekend, when there were about a billion and one visitors all asking me questions. Today we just seemed to have a lot of dumb people who lost their kids. Kids should be kept on leashes, imho. Remind me never to have any.
pailblusea: Pippin looks good in this picture.I guess that pretty much illustrates my current state of mind.
pailblusea: I dunno why
floozyangle: ok
floozyangle: he ALWAYS LOOSK GOOFD
floozyangle: I KNOW
floozyangle: hes sooo cute in that one
pailblusea: isn't he?
floozyangle: i love pip
floozyangle: PIPIP
pailblusea: really
pailblusea: that's so deep
floozyangle: yeea
I have spent my life wondering
Say it loud: "I'm a pork-infesting parasite and I'm proud!"
Find out what YOUR inner non-sequitur is!
quiz by A.V. Phibes
lauantai, helmikuu 23
Sumo wrestling
I have discovered yet another thing that I need to improve before I go to college. I am the worst frisbee player on the planet. I can't even get within, say, 45 degrees of my target. Nancy, Tommy, Jenny and I were playing in this courtyard today and they could all throw it pretty much to the right place, but I could only catch and not throw. To the point of embarrassment. It either hit the building or went in the middle of this area of bushes, and then I'd have to go find it. Que pena.
Anyway, so we [Nancy, Dennis, Herman, Peter, Jenny, Allen, Tommy and I] decided to call our team "Lowell Wrestling" so the other teams would feel really bad at losing to a bunch of athletes instead of trained mathletes. Or whatever cheesy term you'd like to insert in that place. We didn't place, which is understandable, since we never do well at these math events compared to all the Silicon Valley schools which I swear train for months or something. Or they're just full of geeks, or geniuses. At least there aren't any more Math Olympiad people like Gabriel Carroll around in this region. (One should not be allowed to be 16 and taking graduate math classes. Did I ever mention that?)
Anyway, most of us decided that the algebra looked a lot less daunting than the calculus, so we attempted that. Unfortunately it turned out to be a lot more difficult. The calculus looked easy in comparison. So that I maybe got three out of ten problems, about normal for my team. The geometry was insanely easy, though, so that was much better. The team event wasn't too hard, except for a few matrix-type problems. We collectively forgot how to take matrix inverses. Not a good thing. Other than that, we guessed correctly: there were two problems which required knowing the prime factorization of 2002. One question: who cares? This is why physics is so much better than math.
The rest of the day involved walking around the campus. Jenny and Nancy like Stanford. I, being a Cal student, am required to despise its very nature and make snide comments about how Hoover Tower is about 40 feet shorter than the Campanile, etc. There are some cool things about the campus, though. One is the Rodin sculpture garden, a ring of guys holding keys. I had my picture taken hugging one of them, and Nancy said it would be my prom date, so that was one of our ongoing jokes for the day, about how I dumped Chad (Elijah Wellington IX, my calculator) for the tall, dark, and handsome Brad Alia Bellington VIII. I later decided that I didn't really like the strong silent type and so I dumped him and went back to my faithful Chad. Later we were walking through this gate when we saw a squirrel run up a palm tree. I decided that Stanford was inferior because it had rabid squirrels that jumped and attacked visitors from above. Somehow we got from there to talking about STDs, and Nancy named her frisbee "Herpes" just so she could throw it at people and tell them they caught Herpes.
Right before the awards they had to score everything so they had a lecture about mathematical models of diseases, something we decided to skip and take a walk around, although Tommy threatened not to give us rides back if we ditched him there. Well, we went over to Lake Lagunitas, which proved to be a rather ironic experience, since the lake was a huge expanse of grass and weeds with giant signs warning "Caution: Do not dive! Always wear flotation devices when in water. No lifeguard on duty." We laughed about how we had seen a puddle on the quad bigger than that lake. We also found a Papua New Guinea sculpture area and posed with our favorite totems. 'Twas fun. And Tommy didn't give us a ride back, but Mr. Merlo did, in his hilarious little turquoise Geo Metro.
muzak: Delerium f. Sarah McLachlan, "Silence"
I have discovered yet another thing that I need to improve before I go to college. I am the worst frisbee player on the planet. I can't even get within, say, 45 degrees of my target. Nancy, Tommy, Jenny and I were playing in this courtyard today and they could all throw it pretty much to the right place, but I could only catch and not throw. To the point of embarrassment. It either hit the building or went in the middle of this area of bushes, and then I'd have to go find it. Que pena.
Anyway, so we [Nancy, Dennis, Herman, Peter, Jenny, Allen, Tommy and I] decided to call our team "Lowell Wrestling" so the other teams would feel really bad at losing to a bunch of athletes instead of trained mathletes. Or whatever cheesy term you'd like to insert in that place. We didn't place, which is understandable, since we never do well at these math events compared to all the Silicon Valley schools which I swear train for months or something. Or they're just full of geeks, or geniuses. At least there aren't any more Math Olympiad people like Gabriel Carroll around in this region. (One should not be allowed to be 16 and taking graduate math classes. Did I ever mention that?)
Anyway, most of us decided that the algebra looked a lot less daunting than the calculus, so we attempted that. Unfortunately it turned out to be a lot more difficult. The calculus looked easy in comparison. So that I maybe got three out of ten problems, about normal for my team. The geometry was insanely easy, though, so that was much better. The team event wasn't too hard, except for a few matrix-type problems. We collectively forgot how to take matrix inverses. Not a good thing. Other than that, we guessed correctly: there were two problems which required knowing the prime factorization of 2002. One question: who cares? This is why physics is so much better than math.
The rest of the day involved walking around the campus. Jenny and Nancy like Stanford. I, being a Cal student, am required to despise its very nature and make snide comments about how Hoover Tower is about 40 feet shorter than the Campanile, etc. There are some cool things about the campus, though. One is the Rodin sculpture garden, a ring of guys holding keys. I had my picture taken hugging one of them, and Nancy said it would be my prom date, so that was one of our ongoing jokes for the day, about how I dumped Chad (Elijah Wellington IX, my calculator) for the tall, dark, and handsome Brad Alia Bellington VIII. I later decided that I didn't really like the strong silent type and so I dumped him and went back to my faithful Chad. Later we were walking through this gate when we saw a squirrel run up a palm tree. I decided that Stanford was inferior because it had rabid squirrels that jumped and attacked visitors from above. Somehow we got from there to talking about STDs, and Nancy named her frisbee "Herpes" just so she could throw it at people and tell them they caught Herpes.
Right before the awards they had to score everything so they had a lecture about mathematical models of diseases, something we decided to skip and take a walk around, although Tommy threatened not to give us rides back if we ditched him there. Well, we went over to Lake Lagunitas, which proved to be a rather ironic experience, since the lake was a huge expanse of grass and weeds with giant signs warning "Caution: Do not dive! Always wear flotation devices when in water. No lifeguard on duty." We laughed about how we had seen a puddle on the quad bigger than that lake. We also found a Papua New Guinea sculpture area and posed with our favorite totems. 'Twas fun. And Tommy didn't give us a ride back, but Mr. Merlo did, in his hilarious little turquoise Geo Metro.
muzak: Delerium f. Sarah McLachlan, "Silence"
perjantai, helmikuu 22
Men with brooms (are funny)
I want to learn to curl. Not my hair, but play that hilarious sport. (My hair doesn't need curling. I've got the hobbit genes to do that for me.) I hope the Olympics are over soon so I'll stop watching so damn much TV.
So tomorrow I have to get up at the crack of dawn to go to a math competition at Stanford. I thought I was done with these weekend events. But no, Nancy is somehow convinced that I will be an asset, or at least fill up a space on the team.Thusly I will go.
I want to learn to curl. Not my hair, but play that hilarious sport. (My hair doesn't need curling. I've got the hobbit genes to do that for me.) I hope the Olympics are over soon so I'll stop watching so damn much TV.
So tomorrow I have to get up at the crack of dawn to go to a math competition at Stanford. I thought I was done with these weekend events. But no, Nancy is somehow convinced that I will be an asset, or at least fill up a space on the team.Thusly I will go.
torstai, helmikuu 21
I'm free
Okay, so that was another pointful afternoon for me. I waited around for 2.5 hours, watching construction killing trees, for a meeting that lasted for an hour, then came home for 20 minutes, and am about to go back to school. Not that my time was wasted, necessarily, but somehow I think I could have spent my time more wisely than sitting in the library idly flipping through books I couldn't check out, listening to Cody talk about golf and Guy talkabout computers while I bemoaned the loss of the precious plants online, then a bit of eating oranges in the hallway with Meredith, who also came back to school for no reason whatsoever. The meeting was mostly Edelman giving us the "Study more, so you can do well at state" lecture and no learning, really. Then I decided that my meal prospects at school, namely a mini-pita, a Coke and a package of animal crackers, were too diminuitive for me to last through an evening of Wellness Center health propaganda. But now, after consuming a bit o' toast, I feel so much more prepared.
Okay, so that was another pointful afternoon for me. I waited around for 2.5 hours, watching construction killing trees, for a meeting that lasted for an hour, then came home for 20 minutes, and am about to go back to school. Not that my time was wasted, necessarily, but somehow I think I could have spent my time more wisely than sitting in the library idly flipping through books I couldn't check out, listening to Cody talk about golf and Guy talkabout computers while I bemoaned the loss of the precious plants online, then a bit of eating oranges in the hallway with Meredith, who also came back to school for no reason whatsoever. The meeting was mostly Edelman giving us the "Study more, so you can do well at state" lecture and no learning, really. Then I decided that my meal prospects at school, namely a mini-pita, a Coke and a package of animal crackers, were too diminuitive for me to last through an evening of Wellness Center health propaganda. But now, after consuming a bit o' toast, I feel so much more prepared.
Do not disturb the shepherds...
So during English today, we had the wonderful opportunity to listen to the sounds of a backhoe out on the construction site. They should have started building it a few years ago, and doesn't the district know that a bunch of machines making noise while were're in class is a bad idea? But this is the logic of SFUSD we speak of. So I won't say anything more.
Anyway, we realized a few minutes later that what they were doing wasn't merely digging holes, but ripping trees from the ground, knocking them over violently. We stood in the stairwells, many of us, looking over the erected chain-link fence at the bulldozer and backhoe, shocked that such a thing would be done. I remembered the article in the paper in which someone was protesting this construction because of the tree damage, but then I forgot. When I saw the way they were destroying these straggly trees, poor plants, I almost cried, thinking of the former tree in my yard. But that was removed properly, not pulled out crudely.
This all reminds me of the scene in which Saruman commands the orcs to cut down all the trees in Isengard. But I know that there is revenge for this act later on. Yavanna made the ents in order to protect her helpless children from the wandering axes of men. Where is this protection now?
Fuck, it's like a religion.
So during English today, we had the wonderful opportunity to listen to the sounds of a backhoe out on the construction site. They should have started building it a few years ago, and doesn't the district know that a bunch of machines making noise while were're in class is a bad idea? But this is the logic of SFUSD we speak of. So I won't say anything more.
Anyway, we realized a few minutes later that what they were doing wasn't merely digging holes, but ripping trees from the ground, knocking them over violently. We stood in the stairwells, many of us, looking over the erected chain-link fence at the bulldozer and backhoe, shocked that such a thing would be done. I remembered the article in the paper in which someone was protesting this construction because of the tree damage, but then I forgot. When I saw the way they were destroying these straggly trees, poor plants, I almost cried, thinking of the former tree in my yard. But that was removed properly, not pulled out crudely.
This all reminds me of the scene in which Saruman commands the orcs to cut down all the trees in Isengard. But I know that there is revenge for this act later on. Yavanna made the ents in order to protect her helpless children from the wandering axes of men. Where is this protection now?
Fuck, it's like a religion.
keskiviikko, helmikuu 20
Why do music critics complain
...that today's kids only listen to corporate music, forced at them by MTV and other such devices, when a good deal of good, less-known music is unavailble to them anyway? I'm talking specifically about local music scenes that block access to teens. Many clubs aren't open to people under 18, but 18 is when a lot of us pick up our bags and leave town. How are we supposed to get to know local groups if we can't see their shows? By obtaining their music digitally? What ever happened to live music?
My beef is with Noisepop, which this year is occuring in cities other than just SF, but here, almost all the venues are 18-and-over. The Bay Guardian is constantly criticizing mainstream music. Now it has a feature on who's playing the festival, and I'm sitting there, reading it, and drooling at the artists I've been dying to see, but I can't, because my eighteenth birthday isn't until April. Now, I could use a fake ID, sure, but I don't like to do illegal things. All I can do is go to the shows that are all ages (none of which appeal to me) or sit around and cry.
...that today's kids only listen to corporate music, forced at them by MTV and other such devices, when a good deal of good, less-known music is unavailble to them anyway? I'm talking specifically about local music scenes that block access to teens. Many clubs aren't open to people under 18, but 18 is when a lot of us pick up our bags and leave town. How are we supposed to get to know local groups if we can't see their shows? By obtaining their music digitally? What ever happened to live music?
My beef is with Noisepop, which this year is occuring in cities other than just SF, but here, almost all the venues are 18-and-over. The Bay Guardian is constantly criticizing mainstream music. Now it has a feature on who's playing the festival, and I'm sitting there, reading it, and drooling at the artists I've been dying to see, but I can't, because my eighteenth birthday isn't until April. Now, I could use a fake ID, sure, but I don't like to do illegal things. All I can do is go to the shows that are all ages (none of which appeal to me) or sit around and cry.
tiistai, helmikuu 19
Another death-defying experience
...courtesy of Anatoly's car. I managed to clutch the seat with sweaty palms for another 7 minutes as we rocketed down 18th to my house. Remind me to breath.
Anyway, I haven't done much today, other than hold up a facade of self-esteem while other people made about a million comments about me which I would otherwise find offensive. What am I talking about? I'm still thinking about it So evidently I do find these comments mildly insulting. After school (and then an hour of sitting and waiting) I had a semi-meeting for aca-deca, to which only two other people showed up, except Nance and Joyce came later. Anyway, I took a bunch of superquiz questions and got 680, which would be good...if the other two hadn't scored higher than me with little to no studying. I read that damn packet twice, went over all the laws, etc.
"Maybe the score is inversely proportional to studying" was one explanation Diane offered. The other was worse, that at least I had studied, or I would have done worse. So I guess I'm just stupid. Because evidently everyone else can guess better than I can perform on a test I actually study for. My future isn't looking good. Later I received this pearl of an observation: "The difference between you two [Diane and me] is that Diane tries to look good, while you don't."
Now, I realize my hair is hopeless, but I actually do spend a lot of time grooming and cleaning. I do care how I look, and I do try to look at least good enough that I don't turn people to stone when they gaze upon my countenance. I know I'm not naturally gorgeous, but it seems to me that I put enough effort into my personal appearance for the effort to show. No effort would be like someone who owns one outfit, never washes it, and doesn't care. And doesn't bathe either. I own way too many clothes, and I know I'm not a fashion plate, but I choose what I wear, not pick random items from a pile.
So honestly, friends who have seen me, does this person, who shall remain nameless, have a point? Do I need to look better? Or is he just a stupid asshole?
...courtesy of Anatoly's car. I managed to clutch the seat with sweaty palms for another 7 minutes as we rocketed down 18th to my house. Remind me to breath.
Anyway, I haven't done much today, other than hold up a facade of self-esteem while other people made about a million comments about me which I would otherwise find offensive. What am I talking about? I'm still thinking about it So evidently I do find these comments mildly insulting. After school (and then an hour of sitting and waiting) I had a semi-meeting for aca-deca, to which only two other people showed up, except Nance and Joyce came later. Anyway, I took a bunch of superquiz questions and got 680, which would be good...if the other two hadn't scored higher than me with little to no studying. I read that damn packet twice, went over all the laws, etc.
"Maybe the score is inversely proportional to studying" was one explanation Diane offered. The other was worse, that at least I had studied, or I would have done worse. So I guess I'm just stupid. Because evidently everyone else can guess better than I can perform on a test I actually study for. My future isn't looking good. Later I received this pearl of an observation: "The difference between you two [Diane and me] is that Diane tries to look good, while you don't."
Now, I realize my hair is hopeless, but I actually do spend a lot of time grooming and cleaning. I do care how I look, and I do try to look at least good enough that I don't turn people to stone when they gaze upon my countenance. I know I'm not naturally gorgeous, but it seems to me that I put enough effort into my personal appearance for the effort to show. No effort would be like someone who owns one outfit, never washes it, and doesn't care. And doesn't bathe either. I own way too many clothes, and I know I'm not a fashion plate, but I choose what I wear, not pick random items from a pile.
So honestly, friends who have seen me, does this person, who shall remain nameless, have a point? Do I need to look better? Or is he just a stupid asshole?
Isn't it wonderful to discover your true self?
I Am A: Neutral Good Half-Elf Ranger Druid
Alignment:
Neutral Good characters believe in the power of good above all else. They will work to make the world a better place, and will do whatever is necessary to bring that about, whether it goes for or against whatever is considered 'normal'.
Race:
Half-Elves are a cross between a human and an elf. They are smaller, like their elven ancestors, but have a much shorter lifespan. They are sometimes looked down upon as half-breeds, but this is rare. They have both the curious drive of humans and the patience of elves.
Primary Class:
Rangers are the defenders of nature and the elements. They are in tune with the Earth, and work to keep it safe and healthy.
Secondary Class:
Druids are a special variety of Cleric who serves the Earth, and can call upon the power in the earth to accomplish their goals. They tend to be somewhat fanatical about defending natural settings.
Find out What D&D Character Are You?, courtesy of NeppyMan!
Of course, I've never played D&D, but people are beginning to put pressure on me and I may succomb to being a true nerd. And Meredith wants me to learn to play chess too. Tsk. How will I survive?
I Am A: Neutral Good Half-Elf Ranger Druid
Alignment:
Neutral Good characters believe in the power of good above all else. They will work to make the world a better place, and will do whatever is necessary to bring that about, whether it goes for or against whatever is considered 'normal'.
Race:
Half-Elves are a cross between a human and an elf. They are smaller, like their elven ancestors, but have a much shorter lifespan. They are sometimes looked down upon as half-breeds, but this is rare. They have both the curious drive of humans and the patience of elves.
Primary Class:
Rangers are the defenders of nature and the elements. They are in tune with the Earth, and work to keep it safe and healthy.
Secondary Class:
Druids are a special variety of Cleric who serves the Earth, and can call upon the power in the earth to accomplish their goals. They tend to be somewhat fanatical about defending natural settings.
Find out What D&D Character Are You?, courtesy of NeppyMan!
Of course, I've never played D&D, but people are beginning to put pressure on me and I may succomb to being a true nerd. And Meredith wants me to learn to play chess too. Tsk. How will I survive?
maanantai, helmikuu 18
Han Solo kept getting knocked over
Yes, I spent the afternoon in Piedmont with Laura, my mother's friend, and her family. It's always such a joy to see Brian. But now I was the shortest one there. Brian's all of 6'2", Michelle is 5'11", my sister's 5'9" or so, and then there I am, two inches shorter than the next.
And what did we do? Eat sundaes and watch me get my ass kicked at Monopoly. I tell you, living with a real estate agent and taking economics doesn't help me at all in that game. It was the Star Wars version, and my piece was R2, always my favorite. I bought all the expensive properties, but that didn't help me win. Because even though I owned half the board, no one seemed to land on my squares, but I always landed in the worst situations and had to pay high taxes and such. Blah. Even after I sued Brian for $1100 for hitting me with his crutch, I lost by $75. I shouldn't be so competitive.
muzak: Pink Floyd, "Wish You Were Here", one of my favorite songs
Yes, I spent the afternoon in Piedmont with Laura, my mother's friend, and her family. It's always such a joy to see Brian. But now I was the shortest one there. Brian's all of 6'2", Michelle is 5'11", my sister's 5'9" or so, and then there I am, two inches shorter than the next.
And what did we do? Eat sundaes and watch me get my ass kicked at Monopoly. I tell you, living with a real estate agent and taking economics doesn't help me at all in that game. It was the Star Wars version, and my piece was R2, always my favorite. I bought all the expensive properties, but that didn't help me win. Because even though I owned half the board, no one seemed to land on my squares, but I always landed in the worst situations and had to pay high taxes and such. Blah. Even after I sued Brian for $1100 for hitting me with his crutch, I lost by $75. I shouldn't be so competitive.
muzak: Pink Floyd, "Wish You Were Here", one of my favorite songs
I won!
Note to Julie: I solved the riddle. I should have been studying the origins of government, but what did I do instead? See if I was in that alleged 2%.
Einstein's riddle, with the correct answer.
Note to Julie: I solved the riddle. I should have been studying the origins of government, but what did I do instead? See if I was in that alleged 2%.
Einstein's riddle, with the correct answer.
A very merry un-birthday to me
It was my fourth birthday on WoD. Four years. More later.
...
Okay, so anyway. This is what started it all: my heavy use of the internet, the rumor that I was in a cult. [Actually, that's Becca's fault. She was the one who informed my entire class of my involvement with what she thought was a cult. NO. So the answer is NO, I have never been a cultist. And I don't sacrifice goats either.]
I could reflect on the last four years as an experiment in politix and Getting to Know people. I could describe it as my first adventure into the world of people that weren't my former classmates. You see, I was very shielded. I didn't know the people outside the very close-knit and stifling circles that I moved in, willingly or unwillingly. It's hard to describe me as an extravert, but when I started going online I at least met a few new people and started realizing that I had a voice and that I could use it, even if no one listened to me.
It was interesting because I thought I was regarded, not necessarily well, but at least people in a group knew my name. I was young and naive, only 13, yet talking to a lot of older teens and adults. Yes, it wasa venture in being a nerd, playing part of a fantasy game, learning a conlang, etc, but it was my identity. Shortly beforehand I had been working on building a fake identity for myself, making a weak attempt to fit in during my lastr few months so I could leave on a good note, but then I realized it didn't matter. Now I don't really care if I come back to my reunions and anyone knows who I am or even cares. They won't really, but I'm not going to be anxious about it.
muzak: DJ Shadow w/ Thom Yorke, "Rabbit in Your Headlights"
It was my fourth birthday on WoD. Four years. More later.
...
Okay, so anyway. This is what started it all: my heavy use of the internet, the rumor that I was in a cult. [Actually, that's Becca's fault. She was the one who informed my entire class of my involvement with what she thought was a cult. NO. So the answer is NO, I have never been a cultist. And I don't sacrifice goats either.]
I could reflect on the last four years as an experiment in politix and Getting to Know people. I could describe it as my first adventure into the world of people that weren't my former classmates. You see, I was very shielded. I didn't know the people outside the very close-knit and stifling circles that I moved in, willingly or unwillingly. It's hard to describe me as an extravert, but when I started going online I at least met a few new people and started realizing that I had a voice and that I could use it, even if no one listened to me.
It was interesting because I thought I was regarded, not necessarily well, but at least people in a group knew my name. I was young and naive, only 13, yet talking to a lot of older teens and adults. Yes, it wasa venture in being a nerd, playing part of a fantasy game, learning a conlang, etc, but it was my identity. Shortly beforehand I had been working on building a fake identity for myself, making a weak attempt to fit in during my lastr few months so I could leave on a good note, but then I realized it didn't matter. Now I don't really care if I come back to my reunions and anyone knows who I am or even cares. They won't really, but I'm not going to be anxious about it.
muzak: DJ Shadow w/ Thom Yorke, "Rabbit in Your Headlights"
A note on the incident with the people
Chaosdancer, an odd combination of fractal geometry and myticism.
I'm at Meredith's house. After reading abour personality for two hours, I got tired of that and decided to go online while she and Andrea study analytic geometry. I vaguely remember all this, except Chambers called every 3d shape a "football" or "saddle thing" instead of its proper name, so I'm not very good at it. They claim my helping them is like "so then you set something equal to zero and like it should work out but it might not. Yeah, see, it kind of looks like a cone, right?" They found her dad's old math textbook, in French, and said it was a million times better than me. I'm not insulted.
Last night we watched what is arguably the stupidest movie ever, Wet Hot American Summer, the epitome of fake 80s camp movies, starring Janeane Garofalo and some other people. They think a piece of Skylab is going to crash and kill everyone, and there's a guy who talks to a can of vegetables, and everyone has sex with everyone else. Yeah. It's wonderful.
Chaosdancer, an odd combination of fractal geometry and myticism.
I'm at Meredith's house. After reading abour personality for two hours, I got tired of that and decided to go online while she and Andrea study analytic geometry. I vaguely remember all this, except Chambers called every 3d shape a "football" or "saddle thing" instead of its proper name, so I'm not very good at it. They claim my helping them is like "so then you set something equal to zero and like it should work out but it might not. Yeah, see, it kind of looks like a cone, right?" They found her dad's old math textbook, in French, and said it was a million times better than me. I'm not insulted.
Last night we watched what is arguably the stupidest movie ever, Wet Hot American Summer, the epitome of fake 80s camp movies, starring Janeane Garofalo and some other people. They think a piece of Skylab is going to crash and kill everyone, and there's a guy who talks to a can of vegetables, and everyone has sex with everyone else. Yeah. It's wonderful.
sunnuntai, helmikuu 17
You acting like it's...something unintelligible
Good work today. Except the incident with the people.
I was peacefully sitting around at the info desk (not being bombarded by tourist questions like I was later)when Dar came up to me and asked me to be on this panel to talk about "the museum" to this gruop of people from Sonoma State who were evidently going to be teachers. Except it turned out that they were all like the same age as me. They sat there and didn't say anything at all while I talked to them and gave a really bad presentation about this exhibit and made a total fool of myself. I think they felt uncomfortable being talked to by high school students and I felt uncomfortable talking to people who were almost the same age as myself and it just wasn't very fun. They gave me no feedback whatsoever. Normally peple at least look at me and nod as I talk to them, but this group was enough to give anyone stage fright. They either stared at me or sighed uncontrollably as if they had just lost everything.
I work all day. Dar gave us The Talk later, telling us that everyone should have been on the floor all day since there were like a million visitors because of the holiday and the cold. I spent all day out of the lounge. It's just my stupid lazy coworkers who act nice when they need to get rehired but then immediately become lazy again. Shni.
Well, I got a guidebook to Antarctica for Valentine's day. Good to know my parents appreciate my presence.
Good work today. Except the incident with the people.
I was peacefully sitting around at the info desk (not being bombarded by tourist questions like I was later)when Dar came up to me and asked me to be on this panel to talk about "the museum" to this gruop of people from Sonoma State who were evidently going to be teachers. Except it turned out that they were all like the same age as me. They sat there and didn't say anything at all while I talked to them and gave a really bad presentation about this exhibit and made a total fool of myself. I think they felt uncomfortable being talked to by high school students and I felt uncomfortable talking to people who were almost the same age as myself and it just wasn't very fun. They gave me no feedback whatsoever. Normally peple at least look at me and nod as I talk to them, but this group was enough to give anyone stage fright. They either stared at me or sighed uncontrollably as if they had just lost everything.
I work all day. Dar gave us The Talk later, telling us that everyone should have been on the floor all day since there were like a million visitors because of the holiday and the cold. I spent all day out of the lounge. It's just my stupid lazy coworkers who act nice when they need to get rehired but then immediately become lazy again. Shni.
Well, I got a guidebook to Antarctica for Valentine's day. Good to know my parents appreciate my presence.
lauantai, helmikuu 16
It's all her fault
Okay, so maybe it isn't.
After going to be at like 2:30 this morning, I woke up around quarter to noon, fresh from a dream about a really heavy snowfall in San Francisco that consequently got washed away by really heavy rain. It was an interesting dream, being stuck inside, but one that needed to be broken. I meant, of course, to read a lot, but during breakfast Karin suggested that we see a movie. Arguments ensued. We wanted to go see The Royal Tenenbaums still, but then I had sort of half-promised my friends that we'd see it, so our second choice was you-know-what for the third time for both of us. (Karin said Leci wanted her to see it with her for the seventh time or something. Jesus.)
Anyway, I finally dragged her out of the house against her will, and we decided that we'd make decisions later when we got downtown. We waited in line at the Metreon for a while and as soon as we got to the counter, Karin decided that she'd buy the tickets, thinking I would pull some trick on her. And of course the agent decided to card her, and since she was under 17, she had no ID. Obviously the guy would not then let me buy tickets for both of us, so I got tickets for the other movie and left it at that. "You liar!" she screamed at me. "You tricked me! I knew you were going to do that!" But eventually she gave in because I paid for her ticket anyway. The theater was crowded, though, and there were no seats except in the front row, so wesat on the steps. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the fire alarm went off in the middle of the previews and they had to evacuate the whole building. (That must have been some trick, getting thousands out of a vast entertainment complex. Anyway.) When we went back in later, we got really good seats, and the movie was good, of course, and I managed to get through it this time without leaving once to go to the restroom. The only problem was the guy next to me, who had obviously seen it before also, and seemed to have it memorized, because he laughed really loudly before all the jokes, and then during scenes that were not even remotely funny. Unless you consider people dying slowly funny, which it seemed he did.
Er, I wrnt to Virgin later to buy the Starsailor CD which was on sale. It's pretty good. Thanks to Alex for the recommendation.
muzak: Starsailor, "Poor Misguided Fool"
Okay, so maybe it isn't.
After going to be at like 2:30 this morning, I woke up around quarter to noon, fresh from a dream about a really heavy snowfall in San Francisco that consequently got washed away by really heavy rain. It was an interesting dream, being stuck inside, but one that needed to be broken. I meant, of course, to read a lot, but during breakfast Karin suggested that we see a movie. Arguments ensued. We wanted to go see The Royal Tenenbaums still, but then I had sort of half-promised my friends that we'd see it, so our second choice was you-know-what for the third time for both of us. (Karin said Leci wanted her to see it with her for the seventh time or something. Jesus.)
Anyway, I finally dragged her out of the house against her will, and we decided that we'd make decisions later when we got downtown. We waited in line at the Metreon for a while and as soon as we got to the counter, Karin decided that she'd buy the tickets, thinking I would pull some trick on her. And of course the agent decided to card her, and since she was under 17, she had no ID. Obviously the guy would not then let me buy tickets for both of us, so I got tickets for the other movie and left it at that. "You liar!" she screamed at me. "You tricked me! I knew you were going to do that!" But eventually she gave in because I paid for her ticket anyway. The theater was crowded, though, and there were no seats except in the front row, so wesat on the steps. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the fire alarm went off in the middle of the previews and they had to evacuate the whole building. (That must have been some trick, getting thousands out of a vast entertainment complex. Anyway.) When we went back in later, we got really good seats, and the movie was good, of course, and I managed to get through it this time without leaving once to go to the restroom. The only problem was the guy next to me, who had obviously seen it before also, and seemed to have it memorized, because he laughed really loudly before all the jokes, and then during scenes that were not even remotely funny. Unless you consider people dying slowly funny, which it seemed he did.
Er, I wrnt to Virgin later to buy the Starsailor CD which was on sale. It's pretty good. Thanks to Alex for the recommendation.
muzak: Starsailor, "Poor Misguided Fool"
perjantai, helmikuu 15
Wasabi
Okay, so I thought it was going to be a nice quiet afternoon and evening at home. but as soon as I arrive home and start reading the newspaper, along comes my mother, home from work so she can take an online course to update her real-estate license. About an hour later, I decide to go online and then my sister comes on and loudly begins to complain that I've been able to use Chaz all afternoon, when in fact it's only been 13 minutes. And I've just come up with a brilliant new design for my page, too. [It's alreadt taken effect: I got a script for a random page title, something I have always desired. Yay!]
Anyway, along about 3:30 I left the computer and went to go read. I should have started studying for my psych midterm, but did I do that? No. I read half of The Hobbit which I found lying around and then I found out we were going out to dinner with the Klemeyers. So we all ended up going out for sushi. Now, I didn't know that there was anything alcoholic in sushi, but my assumption appeared to be wrong. After dinner we walked a half-drunken Jenny back to her house. Well, she was acting that way, anyway, but it's always hard to tell. She's always been a little odd, hyperactive, whatever. I'll make sure not to be in the area when she turns 21, believe me.
At her house we all decided to watch Reduced Shakespeare on video until the parents all arrived, but ended up seeing the whole thing. It's hilarious. Everyone should see it. And then I came home and started making some lovely little graphics for my menu v. 2.0 that will be coming soon. The only problem it that I forgot what color was the background. Argh. I now have to redo 18 icons. Someone please wake me up.
Okay, so I thought it was going to be a nice quiet afternoon and evening at home. but as soon as I arrive home and start reading the newspaper, along comes my mother, home from work so she can take an online course to update her real-estate license. About an hour later, I decide to go online and then my sister comes on and loudly begins to complain that I've been able to use Chaz all afternoon, when in fact it's only been 13 minutes. And I've just come up with a brilliant new design for my page, too. [It's alreadt taken effect: I got a script for a random page title, something I have always desired. Yay!]
Anyway, along about 3:30 I left the computer and went to go read. I should have started studying for my psych midterm, but did I do that? No. I read half of The Hobbit which I found lying around and then I found out we were going out to dinner with the Klemeyers. So we all ended up going out for sushi. Now, I didn't know that there was anything alcoholic in sushi, but my assumption appeared to be wrong. After dinner we walked a half-drunken Jenny back to her house. Well, she was acting that way, anyway, but it's always hard to tell. She's always been a little odd, hyperactive, whatever. I'll make sure not to be in the area when she turns 21, believe me.
At her house we all decided to watch Reduced Shakespeare on video until the parents all arrived, but ended up seeing the whole thing. It's hilarious. Everyone should see it. And then I came home and started making some lovely little graphics for my menu v. 2.0 that will be coming soon. The only problem it that I forgot what color was the background. Argh. I now have to redo 18 icons. Someone please wake me up.
The funniest one yet...
This is why we need to see more women. Dammit.
Sam will kill her if she tries anything.
This is why we need to see more women. Dammit.
Sam will kill her if she tries anything.
torstai, helmikuu 14
I watch way too much TV
...but anyway, what else is new?
As I sat in front of the boob tube this evening, I was delighted to watch the remainder of men's figure skating, long program. I really wanted Todd Eldredge to win a medal this time round, but after his falls during the short program, who knows? But still, he did a really nice routine to a LoTR medley, as I found out just as I was about to leave the room. Very elegant, only one mistake. And then we got to see Elvis Stojko's final Olympic performance, which was interesting, as usual.
Ah yes.
...but anyway, what else is new?
As I sat in front of the boob tube this evening, I was delighted to watch the remainder of men's figure skating, long program. I really wanted Todd Eldredge to win a medal this time round, but after his falls during the short program, who knows? But still, he did a really nice routine to a LoTR medley, as I found out just as I was about to leave the room. Very elegant, only one mistake. And then we got to see Elvis Stojko's final Olympic performance, which was interesting, as usual.
Ah yes.
In the spirit of poetry...
Middle-Earth Haiku
I wrote econ love haiku earlier. The result was not very interesting.
Middle-Earth Haiku
I wrote econ love haiku earlier. The result was not very interesting.
Your monopsony.Anyway...I think the haiku is a superior form of poetry and everyone should use it. At least for today. Tomorrow I shall try a sonnet.
I want it now. Damn your love,
Q-sub-D too high.
Updated life plan
(Dar was teasing me for having a fixed schedule for my entire life the other day.)
Okay, so now I've decided that if I don't major in astronomy or physics, then my third-choice major (or possible second major) would be linguistics. I cannot think of very many applications of the field, but then again, astronomy isn't particularly useful either. I think I'm bound to go into something obscure. Damn life.
(Dar was teasing me for having a fixed schedule for my entire life the other day.)
Okay, so now I've decided that if I don't major in astronomy or physics, then my third-choice major (or possible second major) would be linguistics. I cannot think of very many applications of the field, but then again, astronomy isn't particularly useful either. I think I'm bound to go into something obscure. Damn life.
I want to go
BlogCon2002
I need to get my summer plans laid out. Now.
Yes, this is a reminder to myself. There's a lot that I want to do this summer and I need to start planning last month.
BlogCon2002
I need to get my summer plans laid out. Now.
Yes, this is a reminder to myself. There's a lot that I want to do this summer and I need to start planning last month.
keskiviikko, helmikuu 13
Something valuable
Okay, so I had a really good interview today. It went overtime by an hour and a half. (It was only supposed to last for half an hour, but took two hours instead.) We talked about everything that wasn't on my application and even though I have like a 1% chance of actually being accepted, at least this won't hurt me. There were two interviewers, and fortunately they didn't ask the typical questions like "why do you want to go to this school?" and "what kind of unique talents and abilities do you have?" I hate those; they make me feel like this is all scripted. So we let the topics range from my interest in seeking patterns in things, how I'd like to change the science curriculum, game theory in relation to Olympic judges, literature, dot-commers, institutional food, etc. Plus the guy used to do aca-deca when he was in high school, so he knew what I was talking about.
I don't like the financial district. It's really scary. I almost got lost in the Montgomery BART station going into some tower with a direct entrance to the subway, and then I almost went onto the wrong street and got run over by a bunch of businesspeople. And it was funny, obviously moving against the flow of rush hour. So there I was, lost among the skyscrapers of Downtown SF. And I felt so out of place there, with all the people in suits and ties and black umbrellas, carrying their briefcases from the stacked boxes.
Okay, so I had a really good interview today. It went overtime by an hour and a half. (It was only supposed to last for half an hour, but took two hours instead.) We talked about everything that wasn't on my application and even though I have like a 1% chance of actually being accepted, at least this won't hurt me. There were two interviewers, and fortunately they didn't ask the typical questions like "why do you want to go to this school?" and "what kind of unique talents and abilities do you have?" I hate those; they make me feel like this is all scripted. So we let the topics range from my interest in seeking patterns in things, how I'd like to change the science curriculum, game theory in relation to Olympic judges, literature, dot-commers, institutional food, etc. Plus the guy used to do aca-deca when he was in high school, so he knew what I was talking about.
I don't like the financial district. It's really scary. I almost got lost in the Montgomery BART station going into some tower with a direct entrance to the subway, and then I almost went onto the wrong street and got run over by a bunch of businesspeople. And it was funny, obviously moving against the flow of rush hour. So there I was, lost among the skyscrapers of Downtown SF. And I felt so out of place there, with all the people in suits and ties and black umbrellas, carrying their briefcases from the stacked boxes.
tiistai, helmikuu 12
Ventures in pure stupidity...
This.
In the spirit of me wanting to kill the TV and especially the figure skating judges.
This.
In the spirit of me wanting to kill the TV and especially the figure skating judges.
On personal space
It's all related to this one installation at work. It looks kind of like the outline of morphing tangrams when a bunch of people stand on it, and the lines are drawn such that the space inside any one person's shape is closest to that person and no one else. So in regard to that, I was walking up to class earlier today and looking at this long bench they have below the plaza below the Campanile and Leconte Hall, where my class is held. Now, this bench is about 100 feet long, and there were 15 people seated on it, all almost exactly spaced evenly, with about 6 feet between them. No need to get too close to anyone strange, I suppose.
It's all related to this one installation at work. It looks kind of like the outline of morphing tangrams when a bunch of people stand on it, and the lines are drawn such that the space inside any one person's shape is closest to that person and no one else. So in regard to that, I was walking up to class earlier today and looking at this long bench they have below the plaza below the Campanile and Leconte Hall, where my class is held. Now, this bench is about 100 feet long, and there were 15 people seated on it, all almost exactly spaced evenly, with about 6 feet between them. No need to get too close to anyone strange, I suppose.
maanantai, helmikuu 11
Something that made me laugh
Leci, if you ever read this, don't kill me for commenting about your story. Because you also just filled up allmy posts with useless comments.
I just finished reading one of Leci's LOTR fanfics. It's amusing, about this long-lost amnesiac elf who comes floating up somewhere wearing a Ring of Power. Very factually inaccurate, or whatever, but it's cute how she has her fall in love with Legolas.
Leci, if you ever read this, don't kill me for commenting about your story. Because you also just filled up allmy posts with useless comments.
I just finished reading one of Leci's LOTR fanfics. It's amusing, about this long-lost amnesiac elf who comes floating up somewhere wearing a Ring of Power. Very factually inaccurate, or whatever, but it's cute how she has her fall in love with Legolas.
St. Who?
Every time I hear about Valentine's Day I keep having these memories of Burke's, when everyone had to bring cards for everyone in the class. No one took it seriously, of course. I remember making that mistake once in first grade. I was in a fight with certain people for unmentionable reasons, and I found the ugliest cards I could to send to them. Becca and I still laugh about it. Anyway, so in Psych we got a lecture about love and emotion, and the guest lecturer kept bringing up That Day. So I'm approaching my seventeenth dateless V-day, which ordinarily wouldn't mean anything to me..but..17! It's a largish prime number. I deserve better than this.
...
The cynic in me says it's Hallmark's fault that I have to go through any of this. Maybe I should just get over myself. Or join a convent.
Every time I hear about Valentine's Day I keep having these memories of Burke's, when everyone had to bring cards for everyone in the class. No one took it seriously, of course. I remember making that mistake once in first grade. I was in a fight with certain people for unmentionable reasons, and I found the ugliest cards I could to send to them. Becca and I still laugh about it. Anyway, so in Psych we got a lecture about love and emotion, and the guest lecturer kept bringing up That Day. So I'm approaching my seventeenth dateless V-day, which ordinarily wouldn't mean anything to me..but..17! It's a largish prime number. I deserve better than this.
...
The cynic in me says it's Hallmark's fault that I have to go through any of this. Maybe I should just get over myself. Or join a convent.
Stupid Olympics
So all day I've been rotting my brain. I spent about three hours earlier reading Superquiz. And comprehending it this time. I want to absorb the information so I don't have to read it for a third time. Then after I fried doing that, I sat on my butt in front of the TV and watched the pairs long program figure skating. I was cheering for Canada-- I thought that they performed much better than the Russians and really deserved the gold more. Evidently so did everyone else. But not the judges. Noooo.
I also spent the first half of the day wondering how to avoid being given a long lecture by Meredith about my absence from her show yesterday. I called her around 2 telling her I couldn't make it; that I had to stay at work until the end because I've had to leave early recently. But I don't know if she got my message because Karin called me at 3:55 reminding me that in five minutes, I had to be at the pool. So then after not having spoken to her much all weekend, I wasn't expecting a warm welcome at school today. She seemed sick, but not necessarily pissed at me. At least not overtly annoyed. I feel horrible for telling her I'd be there and then not being able to come at the last minute, but I tried to call her. None of her phones answered. So I tried the best I could.
Also it was senior cut day. Did anyone tell me this? Nope. I should have guessed, since Bettencourt was emphasizing the test so heavily, but I ignored his remarks and just studied a lot. Surprisingly, it wasn't all that bad-- for a calc test, that is. I got all the essays, my only problem being actual proofs for the statements I made. I sort of fudged the answers. They made sense, but they wouldn't hold in a mathematical court. Let's hope they get the jist of my arguments and just assume I know what I'm talking about. (I do. I just don't know how to write it.)
muzak: Creeper Lagoon, "Wrecking Ball"
So all day I've been rotting my brain. I spent about three hours earlier reading Superquiz. And comprehending it this time. I want to absorb the information so I don't have to read it for a third time. Then after I fried doing that, I sat on my butt in front of the TV and watched the pairs long program figure skating. I was cheering for Canada-- I thought that they performed much better than the Russians and really deserved the gold more. Evidently so did everyone else. But not the judges. Noooo.
I also spent the first half of the day wondering how to avoid being given a long lecture by Meredith about my absence from her show yesterday. I called her around 2 telling her I couldn't make it; that I had to stay at work until the end because I've had to leave early recently. But I don't know if she got my message because Karin called me at 3:55 reminding me that in five minutes, I had to be at the pool. So then after not having spoken to her much all weekend, I wasn't expecting a warm welcome at school today. She seemed sick, but not necessarily pissed at me. At least not overtly annoyed. I feel horrible for telling her I'd be there and then not being able to come at the last minute, but I tried to call her. None of her phones answered. So I tried the best I could.
Also it was senior cut day. Did anyone tell me this? Nope. I should have guessed, since Bettencourt was emphasizing the test so heavily, but I ignored his remarks and just studied a lot. Surprisingly, it wasn't all that bad-- for a calc test, that is. I got all the essays, my only problem being actual proofs for the statements I made. I sort of fudged the answers. They made sense, but they wouldn't hold in a mathematical court. Let's hope they get the jist of my arguments and just assume I know what I'm talking about. (I do. I just don't know how to write it.)
muzak: Creeper Lagoon, "Wrecking Ball"
sunnuntai, helmikuu 10
I had a dream last night
Was it ever disturbing. I dreamt about being in a department store when someone came running up to me, hugged me, and squealed, "YOU GOT INTO STANFORD! CONGRATULATIONS! EEEE!" which would be nice and all, except I did not apply to that school, and have no desire to go there. My mother was delighted with my acceptance letter and demanded that we tour the school immediately so I could like it and go there next year. I told her that under no circumstances would I go there, and that I wanted to take a trip to see some other schools.
...
Was it ever disturbing. I dreamt about being in a department store when someone came running up to me, hugged me, and squealed, "YOU GOT INTO STANFORD! CONGRATULATIONS! EEEE!" which would be nice and all, except I did not apply to that school, and have no desire to go there. My mother was delighted with my acceptance letter and demanded that we tour the school immediately so I could like it and go there next year. I told her that under no circumstances would I go there, and that I wanted to take a trip to see some other schools.
...
So I've finally admitted to it.
So because of the whole problem with minimum wage they were having at work, they decided to do rehire-conferences. Of course, since I've been around so long, the conference was a joke for me. They basically told me at the beginning that I was rehired, but they wanted to talk to me anyway. So Dar was asking about why this was my last semester. I told her that I wanted to travel during the summer and that my going to college out of the area was likely. (Well, I don't know how likely, but I'm hoping that the probability of it happening is higher than 0.) She seemed to approve of my college list- with the exception of Berkeley, because she thought there weren't enough professors teaching undergrads. I've had pretty good classes so far, though- 3/4 isn't bad. She also said that I should be doing more trainings. Giving them, that is, because she wasn't sure how much I was getting out of my position. Well perceived-- I haven't gotten much out of it for about a year and a half, but since there aren't that many positions open for non-high-school graduates who are under 18, especially jobs that are more than retail, I've stuck with it. It's an interesting environment. I told her frankly that I wasn't impressed with my coworkers, since I'm one of the older people and also one of the more focused, shall we say, on the tasks at hand. Anyway, she wants me to do trainings, so that's what I'll do. I wish I could officially have a higher position so I'd get more than minimum wage, and maybe people would pay more attention to me
Ironically, they're also making us keep notebooks of our thoughts. I should just redirect them to this page, although I'm not sure that I'd want my boss reading everything I have written here. So I'll keep a side journal of things I'd rather she read. Today it was my observations about various exhibits, something that I'm sure no one can take offense at, especially since it was mostly mathematical musings about the Tower of Hanoi.
So because of the whole problem with minimum wage they were having at work, they decided to do rehire-conferences. Of course, since I've been around so long, the conference was a joke for me. They basically told me at the beginning that I was rehired, but they wanted to talk to me anyway. So Dar was asking about why this was my last semester. I told her that I wanted to travel during the summer and that my going to college out of the area was likely. (Well, I don't know how likely, but I'm hoping that the probability of it happening is higher than 0.) She seemed to approve of my college list- with the exception of Berkeley, because she thought there weren't enough professors teaching undergrads. I've had pretty good classes so far, though- 3/4 isn't bad. She also said that I should be doing more trainings. Giving them, that is, because she wasn't sure how much I was getting out of my position. Well perceived-- I haven't gotten much out of it for about a year and a half, but since there aren't that many positions open for non-high-school graduates who are under 18, especially jobs that are more than retail, I've stuck with it. It's an interesting environment. I told her frankly that I wasn't impressed with my coworkers, since I'm one of the older people and also one of the more focused, shall we say, on the tasks at hand. Anyway, she wants me to do trainings, so that's what I'll do. I wish I could officially have a higher position so I'd get more than minimum wage, and maybe people would pay more attention to me
Ironically, they're also making us keep notebooks of our thoughts. I should just redirect them to this page, although I'm not sure that I'd want my boss reading everything I have written here. So I'll keep a side journal of things I'd rather she read. Today it was my observations about various exhibits, something that I'm sure no one can take offense at, especially since it was mostly mathematical musings about the Tower of Hanoi.
lauantai, helmikuu 9
Hehe
Tall, dark, and RUGGEDLY handsome!
Aw, you go for the tall, dark and handsome type. How trite. True, Aragorn's as much a man as any of the Fellowship, but the whole "I'm not good enough to be king" thing really gets in the way of bedroom fun. Whining can be a real turn-off, you know.
Tall, dark, and RUGGEDLY handsome!
Aw, you go for the tall, dark and handsome type. How trite. True, Aragorn's as much a man as any of the Fellowship, but the whole "I'm not good enough to be king" thing really gets in the way of bedroom fun. Whining can be a real turn-off, you know.
perjantai, helmikuu 8
The friday recap
Yesterday being Friday, it was a better day than usual. Actually, the week ended well. It was an exceptionally good week for me in terms of honors being heaped upon me. (I guess I won't try to make that sound humble.) Thursday night I received my report card, the first time I've gotten a 4.0 since...well, I've never gotten one before. Middle school counted the in-between grades. The time I took one class at Berkeley during the summer didn't count, because it was only one grade. Anyway. So then during the day of Friday, I went to go ask my counselor if she wanted a copy of my grades, and she didn't, but as I was standing there Ms. Glashagel told me she had seen the list of National Merit Finalists and I was included, so that made me happy. Then I went to Econ and had received a perfect score on the test, something that I totally did not expect.
I think I need to start being miserable again because I actually feel guilty about feeling good.
Yesterday being Friday, it was a better day than usual. Actually, the week ended well. It was an exceptionally good week for me in terms of honors being heaped upon me. (I guess I won't try to make that sound humble.) Thursday night I received my report card, the first time I've gotten a 4.0 since...well, I've never gotten one before. Middle school counted the in-between grades. The time I took one class at Berkeley during the summer didn't count, because it was only one grade. Anyway. So then during the day of Friday, I went to go ask my counselor if she wanted a copy of my grades, and she didn't, but as I was standing there Ms. Glashagel told me she had seen the list of National Merit Finalists and I was included, so that made me happy. Then I went to Econ and had received a perfect score on the test, something that I totally did not expect.
I think I need to start being miserable again because I actually feel guilty about feeling good.
She's got issues
(Meaning me.)
I hate getting in fights with my friends. I really do. And I've stopped myself from doing that a lot recently. But let me just voice my frustrations now anyway.
I have class every Friday and I get back to the city around 5. Now, 5 is a nice time to see movies. My going to class does not [revent me from doing things on Friday nights, and if it were up to me, I'd go out every Friday. Unfortunately, the logistics of this do not work well. Since I work on Sunday (if I don't, I have to go to church, so it's not like I'd be free if I didn't work then.) Meredith made her work schedule for Friday night from 5-8 so we could do things on Saturday. This doesn't seem to work out 90% of the time, because we're often busy on Saturday doing other things: she has swim meets, I have various events, you know the drill. If we want to go do things on Friday, it has to be after 8:30, but the problem is that most movies start at 8. So basically I have the choice of going out with other people or trying to work around her schedule. The latter usually doens't work, and I feel guilty if I leave her out.
So this means I end up doing nothing at all. The catch-22 is that I often see movies on video with my family instead, and then I get yelled at for having seen too much, and that this fact limits our options, etc. Well, it's really not my fault that I don't want to sit at home and stare at the wall, or do homework on Friday. Can I help it if I want some entertainment?
This experience was exacerbated by her comment after I said that I was going to watch the Olympics of "Well, some of us don't get NBC anymore." As if I can do anything about her lack of cable and KNTV's refusal to bring reception to San Francisco. I mean, she probably didn't mean it that way, but that's how I took it...that everything having to do with logistical problems is my fault.
(Meaning me.)
I hate getting in fights with my friends. I really do. And I've stopped myself from doing that a lot recently. But let me just voice my frustrations now anyway.
I have class every Friday and I get back to the city around 5. Now, 5 is a nice time to see movies. My going to class does not [revent me from doing things on Friday nights, and if it were up to me, I'd go out every Friday. Unfortunately, the logistics of this do not work well. Since I work on Sunday (if I don't, I have to go to church, so it's not like I'd be free if I didn't work then.) Meredith made her work schedule for Friday night from 5-8 so we could do things on Saturday. This doesn't seem to work out 90% of the time, because we're often busy on Saturday doing other things: she has swim meets, I have various events, you know the drill. If we want to go do things on Friday, it has to be after 8:30, but the problem is that most movies start at 8. So basically I have the choice of going out with other people or trying to work around her schedule. The latter usually doens't work, and I feel guilty if I leave her out.
So this means I end up doing nothing at all. The catch-22 is that I often see movies on video with my family instead, and then I get yelled at for having seen too much, and that this fact limits our options, etc. Well, it's really not my fault that I don't want to sit at home and stare at the wall, or do homework on Friday. Can I help it if I want some entertainment?
This experience was exacerbated by her comment after I said that I was going to watch the Olympics of "Well, some of us don't get NBC anymore." As if I can do anything about her lack of cable and KNTV's refusal to bring reception to San Francisco. I mean, she probably didn't mean it that way, but that's how I took it...that everything having to do with logistical problems is my fault.
torstai, helmikuu 7
I found one ring
I found my preciouss, lost for a week, found at the bottom of my backpack.
I also got my watch to start working again. Yesterday, as previously mentioned, was a good day.
I found my preciouss, lost for a week, found at the bottom of my backpack.
I also got my watch to start working again. Yesterday, as previously mentioned, was a good day.
The Riven Lysters Map
The Riven Lysters Map
I am not lysted here, because my hiatus from everyone occured exactly at the wrong time. I guess I have this amazing ability to not be included in various communities due to bad timing.
The Riven Lysters Map
I am not lysted here, because my hiatus from everyone occured exactly at the wrong time. I guess I have this amazing ability to not be included in various communities due to bad timing.
Wednesday, part II
Okay, so yesterday I also met the Treasurer of the US, Rosario Marin. She spoke at the Federal Reserve of SF. It was pretty cool, meeting someone who is usually considered important, or at least a figurehead. She spouted a lot of Bush propaganda about winning the war on terrorism, etc, but I guess it was okay. (She thought we were the geniuses of the city. I felt I was inappropriately dressed for the occasion, as I seemed to be the only one who didn't know to wear something kind of formal.)
So later in my wonderful day I went to Berkeley and arrived a little early, so I went shopping on Telegraph. Now, I had a gift certificate for Amoeba, so I used it to buy two CDs, but since I couldn't get change, they gave me store credit. But she gave me $20, instead of $3.16, so I basically got two free CDs. Which was nice, of course. Then I felt guilty when I realized this, but I didn't even check the credit slip until I was halfway across campus and was about to be late for a wonderful lecture on how birth order makes a difference in personality. (Evidently, I should be more neurotic and extraverted than my sister. But in reality, she got the extraversion and I got the neuroticism. Is life fair? Not really.)
So today was good. We got congratulations. Ben was carrying the enormous trophy around giving excuses like lack of time, the smallness of Edelman's office, etc. And when I found Shimmon in the social studies office, crouched in a corner between the wall and a file cabinet while talking on the phone, and when he stopped his conversation he said congrats. So did Mr. Spellicy when I saw him later. (Although I'm not sure if he knows who I am, really, or just that I am a person who exists on the team and in Shimmon's econ class.)
Okay, so yesterday I also met the Treasurer of the US, Rosario Marin. She spoke at the Federal Reserve of SF. It was pretty cool, meeting someone who is usually considered important, or at least a figurehead. She spouted a lot of Bush propaganda about winning the war on terrorism, etc, but I guess it was okay. (She thought we were the geniuses of the city. I felt I was inappropriately dressed for the occasion, as I seemed to be the only one who didn't know to wear something kind of formal.)
So later in my wonderful day I went to Berkeley and arrived a little early, so I went shopping on Telegraph. Now, I had a gift certificate for Amoeba, so I used it to buy two CDs, but since I couldn't get change, they gave me store credit. But she gave me $20, instead of $3.16, so I basically got two free CDs. Which was nice, of course. Then I felt guilty when I realized this, but I didn't even check the credit slip until I was halfway across campus and was about to be late for a wonderful lecture on how birth order makes a difference in personality. (Evidently, I should be more neurotic and extraverted than my sister. But in reality, she got the extraversion and I got the neuroticism. Is life fair? Not really.)
So today was good. We got congratulations. Ben was carrying the enormous trophy around giving excuses like lack of time, the smallness of Edelman's office, etc. And when I found Shimmon in the social studies office, crouched in a corner between the wall and a file cabinet while talking on the phone, and when he stopped his conversation he said congrats. So did Mr. Spellicy when I saw him later. (Although I'm not sure if he knows who I am, really, or just that I am a person who exists on the team and in Shimmon's econ class.)
keskiviikko, helmikuu 6
Score one for the team...again
So I'm back from the awards ceremony, which went much better than I expected. Meaning we didn't lose to Lincoln. We're going to state! Modesto, here I come.
Okay, so the whole ceremony was just an excuse for other teams to cheer a lot and for the judges to give out a ton of awards. In all, probably like 110 medals were given out...Lowell got 55 or 60. It was...well...an ego boost. I don't mean to brag, but it's more medals than I've gotten in my whole life. (Then again, I've never gotten one before.) I got 8: Gold for my essay, silver for econ, math, science, and superquiz, and bronze for literature. And then our team got gold and I got silver individually in Scholastic. Wow, I totally expected to blow the overall individual, but of all the categories, we swept Scholastic. The very same thing that we blew superquiz on. Yes, that's right. The three definitions of senioritis got first, second and third. I guess everyone in the city must also have senioritis or an early case of the same disease.
Okay, now I'm hyper. We just went out for ice cream at Ghirardelli-- the whole team, minus a few who either didn't know or didn't care. It was interesting. I spilled half the sundae I traded with Hasan, the rest was pure sugar and fudge sauce. Needless to say, not something I should have been eating after 8pm.
More stuff happened today, but I'll write it later and put a back date on it. (God, I love BloggerPro and its ability to fake things.)
muzak: Gus's awful rendition if "Single Girl, Married Girl" stuck in my head.
So I'm back from the awards ceremony, which went much better than I expected. Meaning we didn't lose to Lincoln. We're going to state! Modesto, here I come.
Okay, so the whole ceremony was just an excuse for other teams to cheer a lot and for the judges to give out a ton of awards. In all, probably like 110 medals were given out...Lowell got 55 or 60. It was...well...an ego boost. I don't mean to brag, but it's more medals than I've gotten in my whole life. (Then again, I've never gotten one before.) I got 8: Gold for my essay, silver for econ, math, science, and superquiz, and bronze for literature. And then our team got gold and I got silver individually in Scholastic. Wow, I totally expected to blow the overall individual, but of all the categories, we swept Scholastic. The very same thing that we blew superquiz on. Yes, that's right. The three definitions of senioritis got first, second and third. I guess everyone in the city must also have senioritis or an early case of the same disease.
Okay, now I'm hyper. We just went out for ice cream at Ghirardelli-- the whole team, minus a few who either didn't know or didn't care. It was interesting. I spilled half the sundae I traded with Hasan, the rest was pure sugar and fudge sauce. Needless to say, not something I should have been eating after 8pm.
More stuff happened today, but I'll write it later and put a back date on it. (God, I love BloggerPro and its ability to fake things.)
muzak: Gus's awful rendition if "Single Girl, Married Girl" stuck in my head.
tiistai, helmikuu 5
With all my mind I'll try
Meredith wants to send a letter to me. Not an email, but a letter. In fact, she made me come with her to a mailbox so she could put it in. She wouldn't let me do it myself, nor would she allow me to just take the letter. She wants me to actually read and consider it. And it's all about what we should do next summer. Sure, it's important, but that important?
So I got up at the right time today. I did not wake up early. But today I couldn't pry open my eyes for a while, not until after breakfast when I forced them open with a shower. My sleeping depth is sort of sporadic. I can't really figure out how much I need to not be tired in the morning, or when exactly I should wake up or go to sleep. Anyway, I have a late day on Friday, so that should be good.
Let's see, what did I do today? Evidently I've won a certificate from the science department for my achievements. A lot of people got certificates from various departments; a few got opportunities to go on to compete in the state for some low-value scholarship. I was hoping to do that, but I'll take what I've got. It's sort of poorly organized in that there were four categories: Liberal Arts, Applied Arts, Fine Arts, and Math/Science. Well, of course I competed in the last one. But why have only one thng for that? What's the difference between all those arts? Why have so many, relatively, for arts? I'm not going to say that science is underappreciated, but I just feel ignored by that particular organization.
The problem is that in order to succeed in being nominated, one had to be good at math and science. Well, I'm a lot stronger in science than in math. I've always gotten A's in science, and I've taken so many classes in it that it's my obvious strong point. And I'm pretty good in physics, and I like it enough to want to pursue a career in the field of some physical science. I don't want to do biology. Hell, I'd rather do something non-scientific than be a biologist. But I don't know if I can succeed in physics if I can't do higher-level math. It's not necessarily a problem of not understanding, but just not being able to make myself go through the steps and figure these things out. I can't perform on tests. (Or I can, but I don't understand why.)
...
Dilemma.
muzak: Travis, "Side"
Meredith wants to send a letter to me. Not an email, but a letter. In fact, she made me come with her to a mailbox so she could put it in. She wouldn't let me do it myself, nor would she allow me to just take the letter. She wants me to actually read and consider it. And it's all about what we should do next summer. Sure, it's important, but that important?
So I got up at the right time today. I did not wake up early. But today I couldn't pry open my eyes for a while, not until after breakfast when I forced them open with a shower. My sleeping depth is sort of sporadic. I can't really figure out how much I need to not be tired in the morning, or when exactly I should wake up or go to sleep. Anyway, I have a late day on Friday, so that should be good.
Let's see, what did I do today? Evidently I've won a certificate from the science department for my achievements. A lot of people got certificates from various departments; a few got opportunities to go on to compete in the state for some low-value scholarship. I was hoping to do that, but I'll take what I've got. It's sort of poorly organized in that there were four categories: Liberal Arts, Applied Arts, Fine Arts, and Math/Science. Well, of course I competed in the last one. But why have only one thng for that? What's the difference between all those arts? Why have so many, relatively, for arts? I'm not going to say that science is underappreciated, but I just feel ignored by that particular organization.
The problem is that in order to succeed in being nominated, one had to be good at math and science. Well, I'm a lot stronger in science than in math. I've always gotten A's in science, and I've taken so many classes in it that it's my obvious strong point. And I'm pretty good in physics, and I like it enough to want to pursue a career in the field of some physical science. I don't want to do biology. Hell, I'd rather do something non-scientific than be a biologist. But I don't know if I can succeed in physics if I can't do higher-level math. It's not necessarily a problem of not understanding, but just not being able to make myself go through the steps and figure these things out. I can't perform on tests. (Or I can, but I don't understand why.)
...
Dilemma.
muzak: Travis, "Side"
What is wrong with this signature?
I have decided that someday it may be necessary for me to completely revamp my signature. The one I use a pen to write, that is. Right now no one can tell that it says my name, and I leave out more and more letters each time. Part of it comes from the fact that I haven't written in cursive since fifth grade, the other part is that my name take a while to write out, so when I have to write fast, I tend to skim over all the bumps and turn them into a line or some vague bumps.
Anyway, this all comes up because evidently I can get my real signature inside my ring, which would be cool, but it's so ugly. Bleh.
I have decided that someday it may be necessary for me to completely revamp my signature. The one I use a pen to write, that is. Right now no one can tell that it says my name, and I leave out more and more letters each time. Part of it comes from the fact that I haven't written in cursive since fifth grade, the other part is that my name take a while to write out, so when I have to write fast, I tend to skim over all the bumps and turn them into a line or some vague bumps.
Anyway, this all comes up because evidently I can get my real signature inside my ring, which would be cool, but it's so ugly. Bleh.
maanantai, helmikuu 4
Was King John forced to sign the Magna Carta?
My psych professor mentioned a novel little experiment today: if you hold a pencil between your teeth, you tend to feel happier than if you hold it between your lips. Good old James Lange speculated it's because the same facial muscles you use for smiling are stimulated in the between-the-teeth position. Well, everyone seems to have their own reason, but it's sort of fun to make people do that.
You know what else would make me happy? A tree. The backyard looks so bare now. It's covered in mulch from ground up trunk and branches and stuff, and everything is trampled. The tree guys also took out some old bushes, like an especially ugly and dying daisy bush. But I want my tree back. I went out earlier when I got home intending to do some dendrochronology, and picked up a bunch of tree chunks that were lying there. Those tended to be from branches. The tree was 70 years old, and it grew a lot more on the north (downhill) side, if you look at the growth patterns. I guess it had to be supported more on that side, or that's where all the water came in. Don't ask me; I've forgotten all my plant bio except for hormones and the fact that xylem and phloem exist. Merely because they're fun words. (So is schlerenchyma.)
This morning I accidentally woke up and hour early when I set my clock an hour fast last night. I didn't realize this until after I had eaten breakfast and went to wake up my mother, thinking she should have been up at 6. It was 5:30. So she grumbled and told me what time it was, and I went back to bed, got up a little while later to finish a psych survey online that I needed done by this afternoon. I've turned in my lengthy prescreening packet and am now ready and willing to be a lab rat if they let me.
I've also discovered that I'm not very good at writing in vague philosophical terms like the guy who wrote the argument we had to analyze in an essay today in English. Oh well. I figure there are plenty of people out there who would make superior philosophers, speaking about intelligence and knowing oneself and stuff.
muzak: Lenny Kravitz, "Dig In"
My psych professor mentioned a novel little experiment today: if you hold a pencil between your teeth, you tend to feel happier than if you hold it between your lips. Good old James Lange speculated it's because the same facial muscles you use for smiling are stimulated in the between-the-teeth position. Well, everyone seems to have their own reason, but it's sort of fun to make people do that.
You know what else would make me happy? A tree. The backyard looks so bare now. It's covered in mulch from ground up trunk and branches and stuff, and everything is trampled. The tree guys also took out some old bushes, like an especially ugly and dying daisy bush. But I want my tree back. I went out earlier when I got home intending to do some dendrochronology, and picked up a bunch of tree chunks that were lying there. Those tended to be from branches. The tree was 70 years old, and it grew a lot more on the north (downhill) side, if you look at the growth patterns. I guess it had to be supported more on that side, or that's where all the water came in. Don't ask me; I've forgotten all my plant bio except for hormones and the fact that xylem and phloem exist. Merely because they're fun words. (So is schlerenchyma.)
This morning I accidentally woke up and hour early when I set my clock an hour fast last night. I didn't realize this until after I had eaten breakfast and went to wake up my mother, thinking she should have been up at 6. It was 5:30. So she grumbled and told me what time it was, and I went back to bed, got up a little while later to finish a psych survey online that I needed done by this afternoon. I've turned in my lengthy prescreening packet and am now ready and willing to be a lab rat if they let me.
I've also discovered that I'm not very good at writing in vague philosophical terms like the guy who wrote the argument we had to analyze in an essay today in English. Oh well. I figure there are plenty of people out there who would make superior philosophers, speaking about intelligence and knowing oneself and stuff.
muzak: Lenny Kravitz, "Dig In"
sunnuntai, helmikuu 3
WE PLANTS ARE UNHAPPY PLANTS
Tomorrow they are cutting down one of the big trees in my backyard. Evidently it's dying, as it's producing a lot of cones now, and that's what Monterey pines due right before dying. Reproduce while you still can, I guess. Anyway, I'm just so used to having it there, with its huge branches and the swing that I've always enjoyed playing on. I've hardly gone out back in the last few years, ever since I went to high school and grew into a grumpy old woman. It also blocks people from looking in my window. But to think, there's it's been outside my window, and now I'll be able to see downtown from my room.
I didn't go to work today since I had to go to an applicants' reception for Cornell, which was informative. Except my mother seemed fascinated by one of the panelists who wanted to go into astronomy but switched his major to economics after two years. Isn't that just a wonderful fantasy for her? She'd really love it if I did something practical instead of dallying my time with my head in the stars or whatever it is she thinks I'm doing. Well, I saw Julia Baron there, along with Teresa and Andrea of course. (Andrea liked it too.)
I had to go in to work anyway because I kept forgetting to pick up my W-2 form. When I went to get it, Dar was sorry I hadn't been there that day. I think I'll miss her when I'm gone; she's a good boss. She said she needed my input because she was having trouble deciding what to do about the program in the future. Since minimum wage is going up, the HR department wants to either start interviewing explainers personally before hiring or make them go through 160 hours of training at 85% wage before they actually start working. Dar doesn't want them to interview because she think they'll be too picky. (Well, I just wish the people that were hired wouldn't turn out so evil, but that's my personal opinion, and I don't work for HR.)
Tomorrow they are cutting down one of the big trees in my backyard. Evidently it's dying, as it's producing a lot of cones now, and that's what Monterey pines due right before dying. Reproduce while you still can, I guess. Anyway, I'm just so used to having it there, with its huge branches and the swing that I've always enjoyed playing on. I've hardly gone out back in the last few years, ever since I went to high school and grew into a grumpy old woman. It also blocks people from looking in my window. But to think, there's it's been outside my window, and now I'll be able to see downtown from my room.
I didn't go to work today since I had to go to an applicants' reception for Cornell, which was informative. Except my mother seemed fascinated by one of the panelists who wanted to go into astronomy but switched his major to economics after two years. Isn't that just a wonderful fantasy for her? She'd really love it if I did something practical instead of dallying my time with my head in the stars or whatever it is she thinks I'm doing. Well, I saw Julia Baron there, along with Teresa and Andrea of course. (Andrea liked it too.)
I had to go in to work anyway because I kept forgetting to pick up my W-2 form. When I went to get it, Dar was sorry I hadn't been there that day. I think I'll miss her when I'm gone; she's a good boss. She said she needed my input because she was having trouble deciding what to do about the program in the future. Since minimum wage is going up, the HR department wants to either start interviewing explainers personally before hiring or make them go through 160 hours of training at 85% wage before they actually start working. Dar doesn't want them to interview because she think they'll be too picky. (Well, I just wish the people that were hired wouldn't turn out so evil, but that's my personal opinion, and I don't work for HR.)
lauantai, helmikuu 2
AND SOMETHING ABOUT TRENDS
lookie, now you can take part in my egocentric little test just like everyone else.
Warning: I intentionally made it almost impossible to get everything right unless you're me. So don't feel bad.
lookie, now you can take part in my egocentric little test just like everyone else.
Warning: I intentionally made it almost impossible to get everything right unless you're me. So don't feel bad.
THE FEELING OF COMPLETE BRAINDEADNESS
So now I've experienced true stupidity. That is, my performance today. It probably won't count, so I don't feel so bad for doing it, but I just think it's hilarious how badly I probably scpred on some of the sections, in particular art and music. My speech and essay didn't go as badly as I thought. In fact, my essay was written well; its actual content I cannot judge.
I haven't really gotten much sleep due to a cold, a lot of work, and not much time. Plus I often don't feel like sleeping. I'd rather read or do something else. I make bad decisions like that there are better things to do than to sleep, and later I regret them when I wake up the next morning restlessly with a sore throat and a headache and I've just been interrupted at precisely the wrong time. Maybe that's why I'm so irritable. Maybe it has more to do with the fact that I think everyone is to blame for my problems even though it's really me. Frustrating point: that no matter what I do, I cannot have a smooth college admissions experience. I'm not talking about interviews not going as planned, I'm talking about the fact that I've received notifications from two schools saying that by the way, they haven't gotten my recommendation from my social studies teacher. Yeah, by the way Schmidt, those were due a month ago.
I should stop acting hostile.
Anyway. I began to develop laryngitis this morning at around 3am. I needed water but was too tired to get it. I wanted to sleep for a few more hours, but the lack of water (possibly due to my negligence in actually drinking things over the last few days) was not making this a smooth ride into dreamland. This morning I woke up with a dry throat, dry skin and a paper cut on my palm. It was not looking good. I went over the art one last time, paying particular attention to the French, as I tend to get them mixed up. (Of course, you know that they tested what I glossed over. Murphy's Law.)
McAteer is a nicer high school than I expected. It looks, like Anatoly said, somewhat like a post-industrial prison, but that's entirely beside the point. Anyway, upon arrival I dropped my things in the parking lot, stood around in the cold, went over topics at the last moment, and received what would be my serial number for the day, 510, meaning that I was student 5 from school 10, in order to keep my true identity hidden from the judges so they wouldn't be biased. (Stereotypes can influence impressions as we learned yesterday.) Morning was testing, speech, interview, more tests. The science and interview went the best, except my CD player turned on in the middle of me telling old men how wonderful Berkeley is and started blasting through distant headphones the tinny sounds of "The House Carpenter."
I guess I will continue to be a completely naive and innocent person through high school, walking the line, etc. While on our way to a restaurant after the competition, we picked up Kane, and he asked me something about some variety of weed. I had no idea. He laughed when I told him I didn't smoke and then he become serious when he realized I wasn't a junior. I have a feeling that if we go to the state thing I'll have some interesting experiences trying to get certain teammates of mine to believe that I just wouldn't be fun if I were high. Diane took offense when I suggested that the only people I trusted as roommates would be Nance and Joyce, which might be true. It reminds me somewhat of the suggestion someone made the other day, that it's Herschel's lifetime goal to corrupt Nancy Q., not in that way, but to make her wild or whatever. Incidentally, she asked me yesterday if I'd go compete in some math thing with her at Stanford in a few weeks. I said yes. Does this doom me to a lifetime of being a nerd? Yes.
So anyway, a summary. Of everyone at the citywide Aca-Deca event, on our team, my division, Scholastic, by far did the worst. On the Superquiz we performed pathetically, with Toly and I getting a 5 (out of 10) and Ben getting a 4. We should be honorary varsity members, I think, even though our GPAs are too high. I think I'm a disgrace to the team, except they seem to be convinced of some sort of intelligence. I beg to differ. But that's that.
So now I've experienced true stupidity. That is, my performance today. It probably won't count, so I don't feel so bad for doing it, but I just think it's hilarious how badly I probably scpred on some of the sections, in particular art and music. My speech and essay didn't go as badly as I thought. In fact, my essay was written well; its actual content I cannot judge.
I haven't really gotten much sleep due to a cold, a lot of work, and not much time. Plus I often don't feel like sleeping. I'd rather read or do something else. I make bad decisions like that there are better things to do than to sleep, and later I regret them when I wake up the next morning restlessly with a sore throat and a headache and I've just been interrupted at precisely the wrong time. Maybe that's why I'm so irritable. Maybe it has more to do with the fact that I think everyone is to blame for my problems even though it's really me. Frustrating point: that no matter what I do, I cannot have a smooth college admissions experience. I'm not talking about interviews not going as planned, I'm talking about the fact that I've received notifications from two schools saying that by the way, they haven't gotten my recommendation from my social studies teacher. Yeah, by the way Schmidt, those were due a month ago.
I should stop acting hostile.
Anyway. I began to develop laryngitis this morning at around 3am. I needed water but was too tired to get it. I wanted to sleep for a few more hours, but the lack of water (possibly due to my negligence in actually drinking things over the last few days) was not making this a smooth ride into dreamland. This morning I woke up with a dry throat, dry skin and a paper cut on my palm. It was not looking good. I went over the art one last time, paying particular attention to the French, as I tend to get them mixed up. (Of course, you know that they tested what I glossed over. Murphy's Law.)
McAteer is a nicer high school than I expected. It looks, like Anatoly said, somewhat like a post-industrial prison, but that's entirely beside the point. Anyway, upon arrival I dropped my things in the parking lot, stood around in the cold, went over topics at the last moment, and received what would be my serial number for the day, 510, meaning that I was student 5 from school 10, in order to keep my true identity hidden from the judges so they wouldn't be biased. (Stereotypes can influence impressions as we learned yesterday.) Morning was testing, speech, interview, more tests. The science and interview went the best, except my CD player turned on in the middle of me telling old men how wonderful Berkeley is and started blasting through distant headphones the tinny sounds of "The House Carpenter."
I guess I will continue to be a completely naive and innocent person through high school, walking the line, etc. While on our way to a restaurant after the competition, we picked up Kane, and he asked me something about some variety of weed. I had no idea. He laughed when I told him I didn't smoke and then he become serious when he realized I wasn't a junior. I have a feeling that if we go to the state thing I'll have some interesting experiences trying to get certain teammates of mine to believe that I just wouldn't be fun if I were high. Diane took offense when I suggested that the only people I trusted as roommates would be Nance and Joyce, which might be true. It reminds me somewhat of the suggestion someone made the other day, that it's Herschel's lifetime goal to corrupt Nancy Q., not in that way, but to make her wild or whatever. Incidentally, she asked me yesterday if I'd go compete in some math thing with her at Stanford in a few weeks. I said yes. Does this doom me to a lifetime of being a nerd? Yes.
So anyway, a summary. Of everyone at the citywide Aca-Deca event, on our team, my division, Scholastic, by far did the worst. On the Superquiz we performed pathetically, with Toly and I getting a 5 (out of 10) and Ben getting a 4. We should be honorary varsity members, I think, even though our GPAs are too high. I think I'm a disgrace to the team, except they seem to be convinced of some sort of intelligence. I beg to differ. But that's that.