Ok. So. Here's Earth...

I love that video, ze end of ze world.
On another note, here's a video I just recently love because I literally just saw it in someone else's Facebook feed.

It has me quite excited for 2013, and hoping that December 21st 2012 doesn't mean the end of the world that everyone doesn't think it does.

Speaking of that date, on that particular day, I will have gone 1 full year without a hair cut. I am actually not sure if I have the determination to make it that long. I just passed the 10 month mark, and it is seriously turning into a battle of willpower.


So what's going on in my life? Um. Good question. About a month ago I went up to Alaska for a weekend (Surprise!) and had a blast. Maybe not as much fun as I could have, but definitely the best I could considering the circumstances of why I was up there and people's schedules. Where did I upload those pictures to... Oh yeah, Facebook. Not sure how in depth I should go on that trip. I've forgotten the minor details, like the order in which everything happened... Oh well.

More recently, I've been involved again with the Lincoln Haunted Basement, an annual charity event done by a couple of the local dorm halls. Such a stressful event, since we meet every Thursday night, and since the second meeting, we haven't known heads or tails what the theme of the basement would be. It seemed pretty stable on a creepy, dusty, dead silent museum. Then some kind of creature got involved. Then the basement had no sense of whether it was a museum or an animal control project. Finally, it got completely redone into the Virginia Street Sewer Project, a haunted sewer system that has secretly been under Reno the entire time, and is now getting re-connected to the main system, with the help of eager volunteers who happen to pay the entry fee of $2 or two canned foods. We start construction this Friday, and I cannot wait to put our plans into action. My long hair will also be playing a part in it.

I played soccer with one of my house mates, Bandar (from Saudi Arabia) last Thursday, before the meeting. I'd forgotten how out of shape I was, my lack of obesity defies logic and makes people think I can still do sports well. I had a cramp after 30 minutes, and the grass was so slick I was falling after every kick. The group was nice though, one member of the opposing team even helped me up off my butt after I almost crashed into him.
On the soccer topic, I have officially joined an intramural co-ed soccer team, scheduled to play every Monday night, with one random Friday thrown in. Considering tonight is our first game, and we had snow in the forecast, I expect to lose a couple fingers, or be running across the field with my hands in my pants. At least the meager crowd will be entertained, if we have one. Maybe it'll entertain the referees, poor souls.

Classes are fluctuating, my Proofs class is proving (pun intended) to be the most difficult at the moment. When [2][6]+[11]^10 = [6], there is a problem with the world. Granted this was in Z_13 because you all know what that means. I fully expect to get a 60 or lower on this coming test Wednesday.
On the test topic, my midterm for Computer Science (yeah that class I'm taking for the third time) came back with a perfect 90. I'll see tomorrow what they didn't like about my test. I think I already know, but we'll see. I'm still not likely to pass the class with the required prerequisite for the next level, and thus will take it again next semester screw that, I'm done with it. I'm not wasting any more time and money in that class. If I can afford to audit the level 202 class, THAT'S what I'm going to do, I don't even care about credit anymore. I'm switching my major to a Bachelor of Arts in Math, and removing my need for Computer Science completely. I can teach myself whatever I need to if I can't audit 202.It's funny, I actually did my very first Design Assignment and Programming Assignment EVER during my wait in the airport heading up to Anchorage. I was proud of myself. Too bad it's still to late to recover my homework grade. Oh well, some things aren't meant to be. Seems to be a theme recently.
French is a joke still. Although I did manage to make a fool out of myself because we had to do a research project on Normandy, and I hate history almost more than Computer Science, so all my notes were "skimpy" by the professor's description. I replied that my care for the topic was equally skimpy. The people who heard me laughed.
I can finally say that I'm starting to understand why Linear Algebra has the word Linear in it, regardless of all the blooming matrices it uses to perform its convoluted actions.The test on that shouldn't be too rough, and I actually took notes in class today, so that's an even better upside. The homework is still ridiculous though, skipped about 4 of the 9 problems because they simply didn't make sense to me.

Can't think of much else really. Oh, I dumped salsa on my $1200 laptop, and after taking it apart using the knowledge my brother imparted upon me, I determined the keyboard was ruined, so I ordered a new one from dell. Hoping that everything works well when I get that added in, I really do fear for the damage that was done during those moments where the computer was on and the red goo was seeping into every part it could. My laptop is going to have a faint aroma around it forever... Typing this on my basic couple-years old laptop now. It's taken the brunt of my usage now.

Until I think of something else to write about, happy reading, and let's hope I have fingers left to use when this soccer game is over. Happy Reading, and Happy earlyHalloween.

The Interesting Points

Yeah, I don't think I'll be blogging daily like I was last year, too much seems mundane. Go to class, walk home, go to sleep, do things in between.
However, some people seem to think I write well, so I'll keep them entertained and feed their hunger for good literature.
Last thing I remember was Tuesday, I went to my Computer Science Lab, where we always have our 10 minute start-of-class quiz. That's the only reason I went, because we have to face the facts and agree that the lab itself won't teach me squat when I've already diligently sat through It twice, especially when the Teacher Assistant who leads it has an (Indian?) accent so strong I don't know what his name is. So I sat and made sure my computer login hadn't expired since last year, and got my paper out for the quiz. The TA put it on the projector, and I wrote down the crap I had to. In 3 minutes. The time it took the lead to get onto the paper. That might be why I got 18/20, I'll have to check that out when I get it back. So it's 4 minutes in, and the guy sitting in front of me starts shuffling about in his chair. Then he cups his head in his hands. Then starts breathing hard, like he was very frustrated. I heard him mutter under his breath, "why won't it compile?" (for the non-nerds, this means, "why is there an error popping up and stopping the computer from making this a program") so I assumed he was done with the quiz and frustrated over his homework as he was using his free time to work on it in the lab. I was wrong. The TA announced the 10 minutes were done, and everyone starts passing papers to the middle row, and the frustrated one looks up in surprise. "I thought we were supposed to do it on the application on the computer...? What...?" When the TA responds that all quizzes are on paper, the frustrated one stands up, and with a groan, SLAMS HIS HEAD INTO THE WALL. TWICE.  I couldn't help but feel sorry for his situation, since it was obviously his first time in the class, and that kind of misunderstanding sucks, but another part was just wondering what motivated him to make a scene of it. The TA tried to calm him down, but he just sat and started muttering about dropping the class, and I even told him its 1/16 of 1/5 of his final grade, one quiz wouldn't break him, he starts saying that I don't understand, if he messed up anything with his current scholarships he's out on his ass, and I just dropped out of the conversation and let the TA take over. I can't convince someone so deeply rooted in despair that such a small mistake wouldn't break him. It's literally 1.2% of the total grade. In addition, hoping for an A in this class without obsessive dedication and innate talent on the first try is extremely optimistic. To put it lightly. I left when the TA started going over the stuff in the lab, not sure if I got any funny looks for ducking out or not.
So Wednesday came and went. I started playing League of Legends. More on that later.
Thursday, the day I have no classes, I was rudely awakened at 8:40 in the morning by a smoke detector's shrill announcement. It sounded like it was legitimately going off, not just a low-battery chirp. Then it stopped. I opened my eyes, saw nothing, waited, heard nothing, then decided to pass out again. Not TEN minutes later, it did it again, sounding for maybe a half second longer. So I actually get up this time, see nothing wrong with it, look in the common area of the house, nothing, look out the front window to see... Nothing. So I just plopped back in bed and wasn't disturbed until I woke up normally at 11 or so. Don't know what the rest of the day consisted of, except when I played League of Legends with some online friends at about 8. That game. I find that it either tells you how much you suck at it, or your teammates suck at it and you lose anyways. The computer-controlled players are idiots, even though they troll you to death, but when you start facing actual humans, even on lower levels, you just can't win. There are so many advanced players that make new accounts for the novelty, that when you play "low" level people, you're playing people with 8 months+ of experience, and can't win. You either study the game until you can recite every character, how to equip them, what moves to use, what a combo is for them, and where they are supposed to go on the map, or you die because you don't know one of those details. I am not going to study a game that intensely this soon. No game should have a learning curve THAT steep. Typically a learning curve for a game looks like an exponential one, or an arc of small-big-small. Not 1/x, starting at infinity and slowly getting less information to take in.
Friday, today, I overslept by 50 minutes so got nothing to eat until after my first class. Bright side, I'm still hanging on in there, although the inequalities are looking like they will be my enemy the entire time. Why can't everything be equal? (Don't answer that)
So food was good, mail was empty, job still absent, bills paid, loan status questionable, bank account crying. Hooray?

OH MY ACHING HEAD

That might have had a different title had I chosen to write it yesterday. But I wanted to get all of my classes finished before I cataloged my first days back in school.

So let's breeze through the summer of driving over 4000 miles from Anchorage to Longview with my family over 3 weeks.
Skip over the news of my Grandmother's cancer.
Ignore the drama of not knowing if I'd have the money for school this year.
Forget living in a travel trailer for a month and a week with the same family while they looked for permanent residence.
Repress the 40 hour Greyhound ride to get to Reno from Longview.
Squeeze by the fact that all my Storage facility guarded belongings are literally and completely Gone.
Mention the new house I live in with (currently 2) other guys in Wolf Run Village, 15 minutes walk from the campus core.

And get to school on Monday, August 27th, 2012.
Waking up at 6:34am, about 24 minutes before my iPhone alarm was set to go (my internal clock can work miracles sometimes, I just have to concentrate as I doze off) I got up and saw Nicole and Kyle heading off to their 8 am classes. I ate a donut that I'd bought the day before at walmart, (did you know donut isn't considered a word to Blogspot's spellchecker), checked email and a few other things, and left the house at 8. I walked to the campus, got to the Ansari building, found the 6th floor, and proceeded to get lost for 10 minutes trying to find room 634. I eventually had success, though still no idea where the stairs are in that building. I am elevator reliant for the time being.
Intro to Proofs doesn't seem like it'll be that hard *knock on wood* although the first few weeks will be trying on my patience as we literally prove that 1+2 = 2+1 (I am not joking, we have to prove it's true for all cases, but it's literally the same thing), among other "are you stupid, or trolling" obvious cases. We have to prove the obvious and pray that eventually we can move on to more advanced proofs. More on that later. So I got through there and decided I'd do something productive with my two hour break, since I had no reason to return home for such a short duration.
So I hoofed it to the Post office, got a text from my mom asking if I was going to check my PO Box while I was on my way, and then she asked if I'd gotten my textbooks yet (which was literally my next stop) cleaned out the 3 pieces of mail in my box, and used the shuttle to get to the Joe Crowley Student Union, home of food, shops, and some semi-official goings-on. Walking in hit me with a shot of memory as I recalled the first time I walked in during orientation last summer. Couldn't help but smile at that one. How things have changed. Got my textbooks for 350, and stopped by Starbucks where I saw a previous roommate, and someone I'd rather not see too much of this year.
Sat in the Education building to wait for yet another non-education-oriented class (French 211) then made my way up to that room which was (big surprise) around 10 girls and 3 guys. I realized the "textbook" I'd bought was actually a looseleaf binder version, so half of my book proceeded to collapse on my desk when I tried to turn the page. The girl on my left was quite amused at my efforts.
So I will probably be bored brainless in that class, but it gives me time to focus on Math more. It'll also be a refresher for my French because there are quite a few written details I've forgotten in my year of not using them, considering all the French I do is spoken or read these days, and that's always to myself. I'm looking forward to it.
10 minutes break gave me time to quickwalk to the Math Building, where my Linear Algebra class is this year, the class I'm repeating because I didn't quite follow it last year. Oddly enough that class was so heavily curved, that I didn't take the final (already expecting to fail it, that's why) and I still got a D. Don't ask me. So it should be easier than last year since I already have a clue of what to expect, but I'll still need to be on my toes in class as time goes by, waiting for that lecture when I finally catch up with what I need to learn.
That was it for Monday. I got 3 classes knocked down, one to go. When I got home, I passed out on the couch for a much-needed hour nap, then was woken by my newest addition to the house, Jordan. He lived in here last year, and apparently the people who moved out were slobs and all the crap in our kitchen and storage areas belonged to them. Jordan says it looks better (regardless of the remains we were afraid to touch) and smells better too. We're going to have a cleaning party soon. Afterwards, Kyle, Nicole and I sat in Kyle's room watching Breaking Bad, a show they've recently become addicted to (pun intended, if you know the show's story, you'd get it) until bedtime at 10. They had to get up early.

Tuesday! Sleep in time! I don't have class until 4! YEAH! So my laptop got a workout, and I ate more of the (now 2 day old) donuts. One box down. I am so going to die before I'm 50. I can feel my arteries clogging already. I can also feel the daggers all my health-conscious friends are shooting at my back as I eat as well.
So at 3 I trekked to class, Intro to Analysis, MATH 310, oddly enough in the exact same room as my first class! I actually recognized about 10 people in there too. So while we were there we learned that 301 was actually a 'bridge' class, and without it, this would be a bit harder. I was ok with that, I can take a challenge. It's funny, the grading scale was: 87%:A 75%:B 60%:C 50%:D so that was slightly intimidating, but I thought it was funny-

Wait. What does that symbol mean? That set is greater than what? Where did that variable come from? How is that even important... So that means that a < q < b for some reason... why is k/b-a less than or equal to n? Where did n come from? Who cares that there is a Natural number between 2 real numbers? (I swear that number 2 was the only number on that blackboard)
I wish I had taken a picture of that board, my head hurt so much and I want to share the pain. For the last 30 minutes of the 75 minute class, my face was reminiscent of the face of a typical jock in an Algebra class. About halfway through my note page (I actually took notes on the first day, that's new, because I usually don't have to take notes on review, aka things I already know) I started drawing a picture of my brain. It was on my desk. In a puddle of brain fluid.
So I'm home now, and dropping that class like a hot potato. Goodbye single-semester math minor, I can wait. Now I am replacing it with the ever-loved Computer Science class that I've been beating my head on trying to pass for the last 2 semesters. That bloody homework will NOT get the better of me this year, I swear it. When this year is done, I'm going to reread this entry and say "Hell yes, I was right, I got better than a C- this time because I actually did my homework."

Next step: job search!

Day One, Take Two.

So I woke up at 7, my roommate Elika unintentionally woke me by not being able to sleep himself. I slept miserably, waking up every hour, so it was hardly a problem for me. So I got up, went to breakfast with 3 friends and got my first omelet of the school year. Afterwards, I had to scram to class at 9, Core Humanities 201, also known as Ancient and Medieval Cultures, where my professor Phil Boardman gave us an introduction to the course, told us how his favorite subject was particularly in Medieval history, and has been teaching the subject since before I was born. Literally.
Afterwards, I went to the discussion for said Core Humanites class, where my discussion leader was more interested in getting us all to know each other than we was into the subject. So first he went through attendance, where he would have us introduce how we wanted our name spoken, then where we were from, and finally... The Grossest Thing We Have Ever Eaten. Not like it was random or anything, but- Yes, yes it was. I think my favorite one I actually paid attention to was Duck Blood. Apparently a girl's father thought it was juice, and packed it with her lunch one day in elementary school. She had no idea, and bam, down the hatch it went. The leader took about 3 minutes per person inquiring into the story behind each experience the student had for food. I circumvented it by simply choosing Black Liquorice. Not much to be said about it, so he moved on with no doubt a slight disappointment that he would have no story with which to associate me.
On to Linear Algebra, my only 300 level class, where the professor decided he was going to intimidate the masses by showing us an example of what we would be using to solve our problems, and just how useful the subject could be in many fields. He used matrices, and I promptly decided I was going to hate the coming semester. Matrices have always been giant pains in my butt, and no doubt will continue to be so in the coming months. So with that out of the way, I moved onto my first break in the week, which lasted from noon until 2 Pm. I used this time to check my PO box, as well as grabbing something that a nearby location was holding onto for me. Once 2 arrived, I was in Schulich Lecture hall, hoping I spelled it correctly in my blog, and waiting for class to start. First words out of the professor's mouth and I knew this was NOT going to be a good time. The professor is German, and has in no way tried to tame his accent. I didn't even understand his name, forget the majority of his lecture. For the parts I did understand, I caught snippets of his life story, and I was one of the most interested students in the entire hall as he-ok I can't even lie about that, I was bored brainless. It's interesting that he worked on nuclear projects that used to be classified, but that's not what I came here to learn, and especially with no idea what most of his vocabulary is comprised of. I respect his work, but I only took the class for the science grade, and I freely admit it. Physics has hated me for years, and I thought I could catch a break with an easy, low-level class. Apparently the God of Physics had other intentions. On the bright side, I do know 2 people who are currently in the class, so there may be hope that we can collaborate and fill in accent-caused blanks on each other's issues.
I don't recall much of what happened afterwards, I was starting to lose focus, and I made my way BACK to Schulich Lecture hall for my repeated Computer Science course, since apparently I can fail a class even while receiving a D. According to certain people. Not my transcript, which says I got all 3 credits, but-ok dropping it. So I was bored to sleep as Bobby went over the same syllabus as last semester, although I did get a few more words in with the Supplemental Instruction leader than last time, hopefully I'll have the time to attend those meetings and improve my performance enough to succeed in this attempt. Then I ran out of the classroom in a desperate bid for my bed. That was delayed by a text conversation, until I rudely cut it off by passing out on the couch in 204. Then I woke to 2 girls laughing at my curled up form and bloodshot eyes due to contacts as I slept. A bloody nose got me to vacate the room and head to my suite to avoid the embarrassment of them seeing me in that state. I really hate the adjustment period as I switch climates from 80% humidity and -15 degrees, up to 40% humidity and 30 degrees. I'm toasty but my nose hates me now. So once I got that stemmed, it was into bed, and off to sleep. Day One, Done. Get it? D(ay)ONE