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Friday through Monday is now a time for, more than anything else, experimenting with spontaneous circadian reversal. The middle of the week forces me to switch back to a conventional sleep schedule, but the transitions are quite tolerable.
My relationship with the Information and Coding seminar grows ever more bipolar as the workload intensifies to humiliatingly unreasonable levels. The sense of accomplishment that arrives with the mastery of a novel mathematical concept is a wonderful and unique (and regularly experienced) one, even if it comes only after the concept is laboriously explained five times over by one's patient classmates; but dear Professor Petersen demands such bit-rates of us noisy-channel students that I can hardly recommend his class.
Generally, I don't think I've ever felt so good about not having a life. I like the brief balance of winter's cold and fall's color. I'm reading again, and I put cashews in my salad at least four times last week.
posted on Monday, November 21, 2005
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Pulled another five-hour study session with some of the Info and Coding guys night before last, and my sleep schedule is still wrecked, hence the timing of this post.
The peak of fall was beautiful here on campus. Weather oscillated wildly between different degrees of perfection, and the trees' colors exploded into brilliance like a staggered string of slow-motion fireworks.
I bought Cryptonomicon a few days ago, and so far it's about twice as good as the first time through now that I have some grasp of the math involved, but I'll be surprised if I finish it within two weeks.
posted on Sunday, November 13, 2005
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F.E.A.R. (First Encounter Assault and Recon) arrived on Wednesday, and I finished it a few hours ago. You tell yourself it's only a game, but the goosebumps won't go away. Nightmares fade, only to horrifyingly reveal themselves as reality. The storyline's development is dizzying and heartbreaking -- has a game ever succeeded in making me feel sadness before? Or pity mixed with loathing, or dread of the unknown? Triumph, a more commonly aroused emotion, abounds as greatly as in any game I've ever played, and F.E.A.R. could excel solely through its insanely nuanced, intense, and visceral combat, its oppressively atmospheric settings (I was strongly reminded of Die Hard by floor-to-floor combat in the sterile Armacham offices, which is entirely a good thing), and the perfect conjunction of music with events, but what wins this game a place of wonder is the way in which the final plot elements crash into place.
Before F.E.A.R. arrived, I'd been playing Star Control II, a thoughtful, humorous, addictive and apparently still-popular oldie, but I think my expectations of a game's immersive qualities have been temporarily boosted to generally unreasonable levels.
Classes continue much as before, with Latin still far superior. Spring registration starts tomorrow morning! So I should probably end this post, now that I've made the cursory reflection on things not related to awesome games.
posted on Saturday, November 05, 2005
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