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Except for a rather dull three-day trip to Charleston, spring break was nice. I stayed up late one night talking to Mingo and Kelly about family, parenting, religion, etc., which is always enlightening. Also enjoyed the home cooking and catching up on sleep. I played some games (beat Call of Duty: United Offensive and replayed the ever enjoyable Freespace 2), which I do hardly ever now, though I'm not sure whether that's for lack of interest or of time.
The day before Diana left, I got up before eight to go see her. We hung out for hours and hours, a shocking number of them spent in the kitchen, and the remainder split between Sunflower's, her car, and the cold and drizzle of Lake Johnson, which a pair of umbrellas wasn't entirely sufficient to ward off.
Nana came to stay with us for her birthday right before break ended. She brought a huge assortment of photographs and letters from Japan, some of them over a century old. It was all fascinating.
posted on Wednesday, March 21, 2007
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Last night's CS 410 review session was over by 8 PM, but a fair fraction of the attendees stayed to work on 411 problems. We banged our heads against one circuit diagram after another, stopping only to order pokeys, until about 11 PM, at which point we went our separate ways. My way was a short walk to the Student Union, where I spent two hours finishing the 411 homework, and then to the UL after the Student Union closed at 1 AM. Even at that hour, the UL was crowded, with no shortage of scholarly zombies to populate what was now clearly my personal hell. Serendipitously, among them were fellow 410 students, collaboration with whom gave little net benefit in productivity, but substantially improved my state of mind.
By 4:30 AM, as I was preparing to leave, the crowds had thinned and I was nearly alone, save for the snoring undergrads sprawled across every surface even the slightest bit cushiony. As I biked back to Hinton James, the freezing wind that tore through my jacket, fluttered in my hair, and blurred my vision drowned out for a few moments the throbbing behind my eyes. I slept almost immediately and and woke up early to begin studying for today's 410 test.
And after my classes, another four hours of programming finds me here. I'm slightly alarmed at my apparent masochism -- by the time I finished my CS assignments, I'd actually begun to enjoy designing 8-bit multipliers and writing a GUI for a glorified container class. I've still got a lot left to do for tomorrow (the last day before break!), but having maintained the pace this long, I think I'll pull through. Can't afford another zero for Roman History, anyway.
Is this me getting my academic groove on, or me being far too tired for rational introspection? I wish I knew.
posted on Thursday, March 08, 2007
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I've had a few brilliant moments recently.
Last week, studying some Japanese vocabulary, I came upon the word おぼえる (oboeru) and rolled it around in my mouth a few times, noting absently its resemblance to Ouroboros. Then I glanced over to the definition. The word for "to memorize," which I was memorizing, sounds like the name of the autophagous snake. Best mnemonic ever? I think so.
Tonight at dinner, I thought I had a dilemma. I wanted cornflakes. I also wanted soft-serve ice cream. Then my mind glowed with the light of divine revelation as I realized that these desires were not only compatible, but complementary. I don't know whether the result should be described as a frozen bowl of cereal, or as soft-serve with a cornflake mix-in. As the union of my two most frequent late-night cravings, its only necessary classification is "flawless perfection."
posted on Monday, March 05, 2007
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I'm confused. I stepped onto the balcony just now, and as soon as the outside air touched me I was filled with a need to stay up to watch dawn. Something about temperatures, I think, this cold night following a warm day. Maybe a memory from last year? In any case, I'm considering complying with the urge -- I'm bored enough that I might get some homework done in the hours between.
Edguy's "Lavatory Love Machine" just came on and demolished my attempts at a serious tone. Well, anyway, I joined a small crowd in celebrating Morgan's birthday tonight. Burgers with blue cheese remain mindblowingly tasty. I'd bought an unspectacular present earlier today but, as I'd half-expected, almost nobody else had brought anything at all. Easily concealable gifts are nice, my general social confusion not so much, but I seem to get by.
Went to the Mae concert earlier this week and I admit some disappointment, though it wasn't the band's fault they were playing in a fixed-seating auditorium. Got into Ram Village, though I'm still waiting for a verdict from ResNET. And otherwise, nothing but the usual slacking.
posted on Sunday, March 04, 2007
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