IT’S MY TOMBSTONE AND I’LL ROT IF I WANT TO
ghost: what would you like on your tombstone?
I shall not have a tombstone. I will be cremated. Part of my ashes will be scattered near Leibniz’ grave. If this does not happen I will HAUNT FOREVER
dracula: are you afraid of aging? or death?
Neither. Bring on the end, man.
nosferatu: what, as a child, did you imagine went bump in the night?
I don’t remember being afraid of much as a kid, though that might be inaccurate.
godzilla: what do you do when you are angry? are you ever destructive?
I’m not a pleasant person when I’m angry. And I’m angry quite often, so that’s not a fantastic combination. I try not to take it out on anyone but myself, though.
the blob: do you collect anything? if so, what & why?
I don’t collect anything specifically, but I do tend to amass trinkets/random nonsense I find cute/interesting/cool. Hence the trinket shelf.
zombie: when was the last time you trusted your gut? was it successful?
I’ve learned to always trust my gut based on past experience. The last time I did was when I was trying to decide between going to Carleton University versus U of C. Trusted my gut and chose U of C. Things couldn’t have worked out better.
mothra: what is something dangerous that attracts or fascinates you?
I’d totally do skydiving again. No question.
king kong: what are some questionable choices you’ve made lately?
Existing?
alien: what is your strangest feature?
The sheer ugliness of my body. It’s bad, yo.
cthulhu: do you like the ocean? why or why not?
The ocean’s great. Terrifying, but awesome.
nessie: have you ever felt invisible to people — the feeling of not existing?
Bah.
mutant spider: what is one of your biggest fears?
I don’t have any major ones, I don’t think.
golem: if you could make up an imaginary friend, what would they be like and why?
Not going to lie: it would be Leibniz. Just…Leibniz. Though he’d speak English so we could converse. I am being 100% honest here, so DON’T JUDGE ME.
sharktopus: what is something you’ve done that was ridiculous or a bad decision?
Going to University of Western Ontario, mainly because I very promptly failed at everything I wanted to do there and had to move back to Moscow. I’d had a bad feeling about going to Ontario before I even left, but didn’t listen to that feeling. Now I listen to those types of feelings.
robot: what is a habit you do without thinking?
Panic. That’s totally a habit, fight me.
Oh, right. NaNoWriMo.
That starts in a few days, doesn’t it?
Hell.
Well, I have an idea, even though it’s a garbage one. Though that kind of describes all my NaNo ideas, so…
I’ll give it a shot. Might not be able to win this year because of the combination of work, my walking goal, and the fact that Nate and I just bought Rock Band, but hey. WE’LL SEE I GUESS!
Name an underrated Simpsons character.
My answer: Milhouse.
I still say “everything’s comin’ up Milhouse!” in my head sometimes when something works out nicely.
GET THIS MAN A GRAMMY
Best thing I’ve ever seen.
Claudia vs. Emojis: Part II – I Sort Through This Shit So You Don’t Have To
Hi.
So as you all probably know, if I talk a lot about a certain thing, it’s either because I really love it or really hate it.
I leave it to you to decide in which of those categories emojis belong.
But anyway. For shits n’ giggles, I decided to see if there was some master list of Samsung emojis because I have no life and no hope of ever having a life.
And is there?
WHY OF COURSE THERE IS.
Let’s look at some of these buggers, shall we?
Mwah.
I SAID MWAH!
MWAH, MOTHER FUCKERS!
[why are there three versions of this? Do these really represent three distinct emotions?]
50 Shades of Water Polo
BEEMOJI
[god there are so many of these damn things]
It’s a scroll. It’s just a scroll. That’s its name. “Scroll.” I’m pretty sure the emoji creators were on drugs when they made this and actually don’t honestly know what it should have been, ‘cause how in the fuck…
Clippy
CLIPPY’S PARENTS
What are these for? Why are these here? What has my life become?
THIS IS WHY YOU HAVE A KEYBOARD WHAT IN THE SHITTING SHIT
I CAN’T
I’M DONE
Do southern bank customers make withdrawls?
Yeah, I agree with this to an extent.
Is it important that pedestrians be aware of their surroundings and do their best to “communicate” with drivers whenever entering the street (even if the pedestrian has the right-of-way)? Absolutely. The driver-pedestrian relationship is definitely a shared responsibility in that respect.
But as this article states, that’s sometimes not enough. I have had dozens of situations where I’ve been looking directly at a driver and thought they were looking directly back at me but they still buzzed right in front of me, even when I clearly had the right-of-way. There have been a lot of close calls that, had I not been very careful, would have not been close calls but rather would have been collisions.
And (also stated in the article) sometimes it’s not possible to determine if you’ve got eye contact with a driver. In the summer, everyone’s got sunglasses on. In certain lighting conditions (or in the dark), you can’t see into the car very well. And some drivers just don’t even turn their heads in your direction when you’re trying to make eye contact (e.g., people turning right on red, who are usually just looking left to see oncoming traffic and often don’t check for pedestrians at all).
So is it partially a pedestrian’s responsibility to “communicate” with drivers? Absolutely. But putting all the responsibility on pedestrians is neither appropriate nor helpful in avoiding/preventing accidents.
OBLIGATORY MONTHLY JAZZY PIC
She’s on my phone charger cord. How is this not obscenely adorable?
FREAKING OUT
Y’all.
Y’ALL.
So I had a meeting with Jim this morning to talk about next semester. Turns out I not only get to teach TWO classes next semester, but one of them is a 300-level class! I’ve never taught a 300-level class before.
It’s called “Statistics for the Physical and Environmental Sciences,” and it sounds like STAT 213 and STAT 217 combined and for people with a calculus background. I also get to teach them R, which is fantastic.
So yeah, I’m SUPER FREAKING EXCITED. I didn’t think I’d get any classes next semester, let alone two.
Let’s hope this trend continues!
Nummers
Yo, this is super interesting. Infinities!!
My Blog: It Does Have a Purpose
As Nate and I were driving home from getting groceries this evening, we had to drive through the chaos that is the construction around the hospital that’s across the street from us. Nate remarked that in six years (which is when the building of the new cancer center will be complete), everything will hopefully look nice and normal again.
Six years is a long time.
It got us wondering what we were doing six years ago—October 21st.
I suspected that I was either in London, ON and was about to pack up and head back to Moscow, or had just left London and was back at home.
Turns out I was right: October 21st, 2011, was the night before I left to fly back to Moscow. How did I find this out? My blog, of course!
I love my blog. I love having this record of the past 11+ years of my life that I can use to help figure out what I was doing and when at certain points of my life. I love having this archive of who I was and what my life was like; that’s something that not a lot of people have.
And I can’t wait to keep adding to that archive for another 16 years or so.
So yeah. Just a little love letter to my blog. Love ya!
Prediction:
Eric Prydz’ “Call On Me” will always be a Five-Star for me. I can’t remember the first time I heard this song, but it was a good while ago and I’ve loved it ever since. I predict it will survive both the onslaught of the remaining years of my Decade of Music Project as well as the eventual Five-Star Purge, where I trim my Five-Stars down to like 20 or 25 songs instead of 50.
I mean, listen to this baby.
(Also, the music video is basically porn, so that’s a plus too.)
Okay bye.
Concert Band Music: The Best of the Best
Hey peeps.
I got to thinking today (for some reason) about concert band back at the U of I. We played quite a variety of songs in there, and whenever we played a song I enjoyed, I of course downloaded said song for later enjoyment. So here’s something I surprisingly haven’t done on here before: let’s rank the top 10 concert band songs, ‘cause why not?
(Sorry, no he-brides)
#10: Blue and Green Music
We played this my “second time around” in concert band (that is, when I came back to UI and was working on my math degree). The song itself as a whole is okay, but the student conductor we had for this piece made us work until we had the part at 3:19 sounding so beautiful that it always made me excited for this song.
#9: Lincolnshire Posy: Horkstow Grange
This was a fun one to play and very moving.
#8: First Suite in E-Flat: March
HOOOOOOOOOOLST. Another fun song. We got to be loud. I love the last fourth or so of this song (1:53 to the end). Controlled chaos.
#7: Shenandoah
AAAAAAAAAAAAA Shenandoah is so freaking pretty. I love the clarinet part, too.
#6: Variations on a Korean Folk Song
I think this was one we did during my second round of school, not with you guys (referring to my band geek friends). I think this was divided into six movements. Some of them were really fun. Favorites were at 1:40-2:31 (aka “let’s be obnoxious on clarinet”) 4:13-end (I like how it goes from OH GOD LOUD to oh god soft but with drums in the background to the layering of the main theme around 6:00). Fun to play.
#5: First Suite in E-Flat: Chaconne
MORE HOOOOOOOOOOLST. I don’t know what it is about this movement, but I liked it the very first time I played it/heard it. I still have the clarinet sheet music for this and that scale at 1:27 is as crazy as I remember it. Also 3:59 lsjfalhfglaghfaldf
#4: Adrenaline Engines
Another “second round” song. This one was very fun to play. Lots of energy. This song is actually really fun to walk to (I love when it comes up on shuffle).
#3: Bayou Breakdown
We played this obscenely fast. This recording is the fastest one I could find and we did like 50% faster than this. CHAOS. 2:41 is like a mental breakdown and then 3:52 is so smooth and perfect and unifying. Really fun to play.
#2: O Magnum Mysterium
UGH THIS SONG. I love it so much. I remember Torrey bringing in the choral version of this for us to listen to before we played it (so we could emulate the feeling of singing when we played) and that choral version has such a significant meaning to me for a few reasons that I’ve explained on here before. But the band version is the whole reason I heard the choral version, so there ya go.
#1: Valdres March
The best song we ever played in concert band. No contest. I love Valdres March. Love love love.
Baby Tamagotchis?!?!?!?!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA NOSTALGIA
I remember when Tamagotchis were a thing, yo. I think they came out in 1997 in the US. My friend Emily and I needed them, haha. I think either my mom or dad bought me mine from JC Penny. Mine was the “yellow w/ orange” color, Emily’s was the “purple w/ magenta” color.
We took them everywhere.
I eventually amassed at least nine digital pets during elementary school—I had a few Tamagotchis, I had this one bear Tamagotchi knockoff, I had a Dinkie Dino (my favorite), and a whole bunch of others.
Sadly, I lost the giant keychain of them on the airplane back from California. ‘Twas a sad day. I wish I still had all of those, they were great.
Election!
YAY, Nenshi got elected as Mayor again. Badass.
I was worried Calgary would pull a “U.S. Voters” move on themselves and have more people voting for Nenshi’s opponent than the polls had suggested, but that wasn’t the case.
Too bad I couldn’t have voted.
Sigh…
I miss undergrad. Especially that group of math nerds I hung out with while I was getting my math degree. Mostly because we did this kind of nonsense when we were supposed to be studying.
TA TA TA-TAS
Nate and I just went on a 10-mile walk in ridiculously cold windy weather. I am very cold.
BUT.
I have a new walking goal idea for next year.
My original goal was to do the Calgary Marathon (which is more of a running goal than a walking goal, but it’s the SAME TYPE OF THING GIVE ME A BREAK). However, back in June or whenever the hell that was, my left knee started throwing tantrums whenever I ran. Pretty sure I had (have?) runner’s knee. Also, y’know, the leg thing.
So my backup goal was to walk the Sinister Seven (which is more of a “this will probably kill me” goal than a walking goal, but it’s the SAME TYPE OF THING GIVE ME A BREAK). However, now that I’ve got this leg thing, I’ve lost confidence in my ability to walk that far on that rough of terrain without re-injuring the leg.
SO.
My NEWEST goal, now, is to walk 100 miles in under 24 hours. This would be done around the city, so there wouldn’t be the rough terrain of the Sinister Seven, and I’m hoping my leg will be back to normal by the time I do this next year so that I won’t even have to worry about re-injury.
I’d say it’s possible; I did 50 miles in 10 hours and 16 minutes, and even with stops to use the bathroom/charge my iPod, my total time was still less than 12 hours. So assuming I can keep up a good pace for that long, I can totally do it.
Try and stop me.
I plan on doing it on the summer solstice so that I’ll have the most daylight possible.
So yeah. Hopefully I won’t have to modify this goal anymore. Though I’d still run the Calgary Marathon if I’m able to by next May.
Yay!
5sf
A while back, I was telling Nate about Five Second Films, or “Vines before there was Vine,” basically. Apparently they’re still around! Pretty crazy. I think I found them back in 2008 or so.
Anyway, here’s a playlist of 15 or so of my favorite 5sfs.
My Weird-Ass Nenshi Dream
Alright, take a seat for this one, ‘cause it’s gonna be long.
I don’t remember nearly as many dreams as I used to, probably because I get so little sleep that my brain goes right into REM sleep as soon as I close my eyes and it’s like “I don’t have time to remember any of this nonsense” when it comes to the dreams.
But last night’s dream I remember quite vividly.
OKAY. So.
In this dream, I’m living in this weird hybrid apartment that’s kind of like my place in Vancouver and kind of like our place here. I have no idea where Nate is or where Jazzy is; it seems like I’m living there alone.
But anyway, I come home one afternoon and Mayor Nenshi is just chilling in my living room. Now I’m pretty sure this is an unrealistic scenario—I doubt part of Nenshi’s re-election campaign is breaking and entering—but my reaction in the dream is one that makes the dream feel real. I’m like, “oh my god, how cool, Mayor Nenshi’s in my house, holy crapples, it’s Mayor Nenshi” etc.
He’s pretty cool with this; he lets me give him a hug and he says that he’s heard all about my walking and wanted to talk to me about it.
NICE.
Then suddenly there are these two other guys in the house, who are apparently working as Nenshi’s publicists/promoters, and they say that they’re planning on using my commercial to help Nenshi’s campaign.
I’m thinking, “what commercial?” But I say sure, yeah, okay, go for it. They show it to me to get my final approval, and they’ve got all these shot of me talking about Nenshi while dancing around and jumping into bushes and things.
Again, this dream feels very realistic, but at this point I’m doubting the realism in the dream itself, because 1) “my” body in the commercial is way prettier than my actual body, and 2) I don’t remember doing or saying anything I’m doing or saying in the commercial.
But I say it’s all good, so they say they’ll use the commercial. Then they say they want to do another (?) interview with me and that they need some time to set up to do so, so they tell me to “go take a short walk” and come back in a little bit.
Bad idea.
I leave and realize that I can’t go down to the river path the way I normally go because there’s some sort of huge music festival at the hospital on the hill, so I end up taking a bus out to some middle-of-nowhere forest place and go walking up there.
Well, a “short walk” to me is like 10 hours or something in this dream, ‘cause the bus sent out a search and rescue team for me since I wasn’t back fast enough, and once I got back to the bus (and the very worried driver and passengers), I realized that I’d kept Nenshi and the commercial guys waiting for a loooong time.
I get back to my apartment with every intention of apologizing profusely for my lateness, but—of course—everyone is gone.
I’m like, “OH SHIT I DONE FUCKED UP THIS TIME,” and I go over to where the commercial guys were and there’s this packet of papers with all these X’s on it and the words “do not use; did not show up for interview” on it. They’ve got some other stuff on there like “do not ask for interview again” and “not appropriate conduct for publicity” or something like that.
And I am very sad, ‘cause I don’t like disappointing people or making them mad.
But then I turn around and notice a little origami box on my desk. I seem to know that this box is from Nenshi himself, so I go over and open it.
Inside is a little piece of paper that says, “Keep on walkin’” with a little smiley face.
Which is all I need for the dream to have a happy ending. Nenshi’s not mad at me and he likes my walking. Badass.
Sorry, that’s just the first dream I’ve so vividly remembered in quite some time, so I had to share it.
I am in a mood™
Dinner: a handful of shredded cheese
Regrets: none
Psst. Hey. Want some really crappy art?
YOU GOT IT, BROTHER.
4,000 MILES
YO DAWGZ I just hit 4,000 walking miles for the year!
That’s about 300 more than I did last year, but still 1,000 short of my goal.
Can I walk 1,000 miles in a little less than three months? Surely. I’ve been keeping a pace of 400+ miles a month, even with Injury City, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
Unless the weather tanks. Which it might.
Alberta, yo.
Heights
Heyooooo so I was looking for some new data to update one of my STAT 213 note sets and I decided to use the on-record heights for 500 baseball players. We’re learning about types of graphs (boxplots, histograms, etc.) and ways of describing the shape of graphs (symmetric, skewed, etc.) so I thought hey, let’s plot these heights and see what we get.
UHHHH, have you ever seen such a perfect bell-curve shape for actual data?
But here’s where it’s interesting to also look at not only the numeric summary but other plots as well. The boxplot actually shows two outliers (two players at 80 inches tall).
So that’s interesting as well.
Anyway. Just thought this was a super pretty distribution and I have no life so I wanted to share this with y’all.
GUYZ GUYZ GUYZ
I’m bored but can’t think of anything to blog about.
Disappointment, thy name is Claudia.
Eigenblogger 