Haha, oh yeah, I forgot what today was…
Hahaha, oh my god.
So I didn’t die in the snow this morning (it took an hour and a half to get to campus due to three separate bus breakdowns)! And I now present you with an alphabetical list of things I am thankful for, because alphabetical lists rock and I’m putting off going back outside to get home.
Annabelle. I love my cat!
Broccoli. Broccoli is perhaps the greatest food ever.
Creativity. I don’t think I’m all that creative, but it’s fun to pretend and gives me an excuse to draw.
Dad. I miss him up here more than I thought I would.
Existentialism. Sometimes the only outlook on life that works.
Fantasies. Crawling into the alternate worlds that exist in my head keeps me (relatively) sane.
Good music. This has been an excellent year for music made for zoning out.
Hope. Without it, why bother?
Immune system. I have the immune system of a God. For that I am highly thankful, especially in such a big city when I’m exposed to dozens of people a day in enclosed areas (buses).
Joking. Laugh or die.
Kitchen. My new mode of creative expression, apparently, is cooking. Which is funny, ‘cause I can’t taste half the crap I make.
Leibniz. Oh, you know it.
Mom. YAY!
NaNoWriMo. A chance to write without abandon.
Obsessions. Statisics! Philosophy of science! Getting irrationally excited about little things that make my soul tingle! WOO!
Philosophy. I honestly don’t know how I had gotten through life without this before, when I thought it was all dumb.
Quirky life events. Creepy coincidences: keeping life interesting since 1988.
Readers. To those of you (two of you, maybe?) who read this regularly and to the random people who stop by—I appreciate your reading my ramblings!
School. As conflicted as I am right now regarding it, it’s still school, and I’m still me.
Transportation. Thank the transportation gods for the Vancouver bus system (and the UPass. Thank you thank you thank you, UPass).
Unusual friends. I’m talking to you, Moscow people. Like, all of you.
Vaio. Trusted friend and companion since 2006 (Vaio I and Vaio II have the same soul).
Web access. I love the internet. I want to study the internet. Trend analysis + memes = ideal way to have fun.
Xeno-experiences. As in foreign experiences. Vancouver is SO not Moscow in a lot of ways, which is nice. And I like sushi now.
Yesterday. The past, even the sucktastic parts, is very, very important to me, and I’m thankful for almost every experience I’ve had.
Zealousness. It’s important to me to have unabashed passion for at least one thing in life. The fact that I’m still zealous about stats/philosophy/Leibniz gives me hope.
WOO THAT’S ALL!
Happy Thanksgiving, US friends!
Today’s song: Perfect Girl by the Ultrasonics
The world comes to its senses
Today is apparently the first ever World Statistics Day, which is probably one of the greatest days ever implemented (now we just need to petition for an International Leibniz Day).
Appropriately, a group of us spent nearly five hours on the homework assignment for multivariate.
It’s about time something like this happened. I’m not a fan of the way statistics has been vilified when there are a lot of people who aren’t bending the numbers inappropriately.
Woo!
Today’s song: Murder on the Dancefloor Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Oh! Canada!
Holy crap, the Canadian dollar was worth more than the US dollar early this morning. Creepy.
And this, because I have nothing else to say for today:
Starts out slow, gets pretty interesting (and colorful) a minute or so in.
Today’s song: Technicolor by Tim Myers
Waiter! There’s an infinite loop in my Waiter! There’s an infinite loop in my Waiter!…
OH JESUS 4 TIME ZONES IN 8 HOURS.
I woke up at 8 AM Eastern time (early morning poster sessions need to die) and got back here just now at midnight Pacific time. You do the math, I’m too jazzed up to think (mainly because I did about 200 calculus problems on the planes).
I’m also not tired at all. I guess conference stress = my body going “I DON’T NEED FOOD! I DON’T NEED SLEEP! LET ME DO CALCULUS!”
Anyway. Here are like five pictures I took from the conference, ‘cause I don’t take many pictures ‘cause I’m me.
The only time I ventured outside the hotel. I was looking for pain meds.
The poster session room.
More poster session room fun.
This would have been a better picture of the APS logo projecton, but there were like 4,000 people in the lobby and I didn’t have time to turn off the flash before people started walking over it.
Here’s my poster!
My poster was probably the biggest one at our session (8 feet wide, almost). There were about four of us in a row with quantitative-related posters and we were pretty much ignored the entire session, which was okay with me, ‘cause there was a dude advocating Bayesian reliability next to me and he was pretty cool to talk to.
There was something else important but HELL IF I CAN REMEMBER IT!
CAPS LOCK
Today’s song: Brazilian (Original Mix) by Gramophonedzie
Blogs: they’re still happening, I promise
HELLO DORKS!
Though you probably won’t see this until Monday or so, here is a warning to all you (read: maybe one of you) who regularly read these: moving to new apartment = happening this weekend, so I’ll have no access to the vast series of tubes until Monday. Throughout the rest of next week, blogs may be somewhat late (gasp!). I don’t know why I even bother putting a warning about late blogs in here, as you will not be able to see this until the blogs happen again.
Pah.
Anyway.
YAY new apartment time.
Here’s something to entertain you all while I’m away:
Parody or not, I want one just to look that cool.
Today’s song: Fast Car by Tracy Chapman
Olympics underway!
YAY Olympics! I love the Olympics, I always have. I think it’s pretty damn awesome that I got to saw the flame/insane crowds/other Olympic-related insanity.
I ALSO ENJOY THE LOGOS BECAUSE I’M LIKE THAT.
And we can always rely on the good contributors to Wiki to keep this as up-to-date as the news.
I also like to look at the flags. I like flags.
That is all.
Today’s song: Puppy Love by Scandy
I think I just won the gold medal in Sensory Overload
There’s a sort of freakish excitement of knowing that the Olympics are going on all around you (well, on most sides, at least).
Kate and I went downtown since we’re done with grad school horribleness for a few weeks.
There are SO MANY PEOPLE HERE. Here are some pictures.
This is why Stong’s is awesome.
Cambie Street/BC Place, where a lot of the events are happening.
More downtown insanity.
GIANT MAPLE!
Flags outside of the Olympic cauldron fence. It was the bluest sky I’ve ever seen.
Olympic flame! Yes, they fenced it in. Yes, people were bitching.
ALSO: we saw part of the Swiss team. It was pretty awesome. That is all. Fun day.
Today’s song: Someone to Love by Tofer Brown (quite fitting for Valentine’s Day, isn’t it?)
Haha, hey, I remember some of these
http://2010.newsweek.com/video/decade-in-seven-minutes.html
ALSO AN IMPORTANT NOTE: happy birthday, Maggie!
Mindwalkers
Good lord, that’s scary.
What a great way to start age 21
Guess who passed out on their 21st birthday from something other than excessive alcohol consumption??
ME!
Yeah.
These new meds are screwing with my head…got out of bed this morning and freaking hit the floor. Not sure how long I was out, but I don’t think it was that long.
Fun times.
Also, I now consider myself old.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME
AAAAAAAAHHHHHH WHAT THE HELL?!?!?
WHY didn’t I go as Leibniz today? WHY?!
God, that would have been AMAZING! I would have worn the black feather boa on my head and pranced around drawing integrals all over stuff and mass-sacrificing Fig Newtons in a pit of flame!
CRAP!
Next year, I promise.
Seattle insanity
WOO!
So the performance was badass. I’m glad my hat didn’t fall off like I thought it was going to.
And I bought some cool stuff, like a vintage Playboy and some shot glasses for my roomies.
Good times. Much better than yesterday.
Fun with Zeppelins
Hahaha, so most of these are from awhile back, but I finally just rediscovered them. For some reason, I came across the Hindenburg’s Wikipedia page, and, for some reason, I totally got a kick out of the whole idea of a zeppelin disaster. I’m a horrible person. These are excerpts from my messenger conversations, old and new.
Only 36 people died from the Hindenburg disaster?
I thought it was a lot more than that
Zeppelins are way too hilarious to be taken seriously
Why do I find this funny? What is wrong with me?
“Hydrogen: The H is for ‘Humanity'”
Oh god, it was named after someone
That poor family line
Apparently the United States’ monopoly on helium was the reason they used hydrogen
WHY IS THAT FUNNY?!
Germany: we’d like to use helium
US: you can’t, we’ve got a military embargo on you
Germany: but helium is reliable and is non-flammable—
US: go back to the periodic table, bitch!
And “rigid airship” sounds dirty
Ferdinand von Zeppelin = best name EVER
Dammit, I want to buy a zeppelin, but eBay’s search function is down
HAHAHA…www.hydrogennow.org has a picture of the Hindenburg going down on their “safety” page
That is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen
These jokes are so horrible…”I went for a zeppelin ride and all I got was some humanity”
If they had called themselves Hydrogen Zeppelin, would the band have crashed and burned?
I don’t know why I’m on this “find the humor in the Hindenburg” kick all of a sudden
But the comments on one of the YouTube videos of the original reel are HILARIOUS
“nah its all good just play it backwards and the hidenburg rises back to normal flying all the way back to germany”
“”oh the humanity” is olde english for “holy f*cking sh*t””
Waiter! …Waiter? AAAAAAAAAAAAAGLHALSKFDJSL!!!
Facts about the 20th year of life:
-The brain has reached maturity by age 20 and thus begins its long, slow deterioration.
-Starting between the ages of 20-30 (sometimes 25-30), people begin to lose roughly 5 to 10 pounds of muscle during each decade of life.
-This muscle loss causes a drop in the metabolism by 5%-7%.
-Bones are still not at peak density.
-Peak height has been reached, after age 20, average heights start to decline.
Happy freaking birthday to me.
Lighter note:
~Coolest pants in the universe came in the mail today
~My mom bought me SPSS and SAS
~My dad gave me a $150 visa gift card (use: socks, more cool pants, etc.)
~I have officially reached the age where I deem it acceptable—nay, necessary—for me to comment on society in general and in particular young peoples’ behavior by shaking my head and muttering, “kids today!” and “today’s music is nothing but crap!” and “back in my day…”
Bonus phrase: “Get the hell off my lawn, you unruly youngsters!”
Acquisition of material possessions
On this great day of Christmas, my family gave to me:
12 Sharpie markers (all different colors!)
11 packs of Bic pens (they know of my pen fetish)
10 of those big pink erasers (except they’re not just pink—they’re blue and purple and green, too!)
9 pieces of jewelry (a bit excessive, I must admit, but I did get a few cool pairs of earrings)
8 highlighters
7 books on philosophy
6 flash drives (cause my dad’s forgetful and wrapped three together and then the other three separately and forgot he got me the first group)
5 pairs of socks (sexy, colorful, outrageous socks, of course)
4 seasons of Futurama (that’s all of them!!)
3 electronic gizmos (a new camera, a little electric light thingy that responds to music, and a flashlight, cause I needed one)
2 books on tape (Plato’s Phaedo and Apology)
And a book on Psychometrics that’s also orange!
Hurrah!
Eggs! Everywhere! MAKE IT STOP!
Nick, you freaking Nostradamus.
Man, I don’t know how you did it, but you somehow told the future (unless, of course, you were somehow involved, in which case this blog title and the body of the blog following it are rendered meaningless).
Back story: earlier today once I got off school I was talking to Nick over Messenger. He says something to the effect of, “now that I’m twenty, I should have special powers. Like being able to predict the future.” Then, jokingly, he says, “I predict that there will be a fire tonight!”
What happened: so I’m sitting in my room tonight at 11:30, just minding my own business, when suddenly I hear this awful buzzing noise which, after about five seconds, I realize is the fire drill. I’m in my pajamas at this point and my room is a disaster area, so it takes me about two minutes to find my coat and my keys and drag my butt outside.
Turns out there was a fire, but this fire was from a burning pan of Spam down in the kitchen, started by none other than our hall president.
Yeah. So that’s why the entire population of McConnell was standing out in the street at 11:30 tonight: freaking Spam.
Nick, you’re amazing with your predictions. Now tell me, will I get a 4.0 all through college?
And happy birthday man, by the way. You’re freaking awesome.
Memorial Day
Our family has no military background, but I still think today is important. So here is a simple little blog.
“We have reached critical mass, captain!”
What’s up with this? Everything’s coming to a milestone lately. “Lately” meaning in the last week, especially today. Here’s a little timeline for y’all:
-I reach 300 blog posts (February 24th)
-I reach 100 (101, actually) wall posts on Aneel’s Facebook (February 25th)
-I reach 100 wall posts on my Facebook (yesterday, thanks Matt!)
-I reach 1,000 profile views (today)
-I reach 3,000 blog views (today, and right now we’re at 3,012)
-I reach 1,000 songs on my iPod (today)
-I reach my 9-month MySpace anniversary (tomorrow, assuming I don’t die in the meantime)
Like I said, what’s up with this? It’s like some cosmic syzygy, only on earth and without planets lining up.
Or something like that.
It’s my birthday, you lovesick fools!
Huttah! ‘Tis my birthday today! 19 wasted years!
Thanks for all the Facebook/MySpace comments, you weirdos. I like them much.
Yeah. That’s about all I got for today. My blogs have been too damn long lately, anyway.
E=MC Hammer
So apparently it’s Alaska Day.
So happy Alaska Day to all those awesome Alaskans I’ve met (all five of ’em)!
Teehee.
5
Just a remembering day.
Birthdaypalooza!
Holy crap…I know a lot of Leos. Here are all the people I know with a birthday today:
Shannyn
Linda (my art teacher)
Mindy (my dog)
Plus, today is also my half-birthday…happy half to me!
‘Kay, that’s all.
Tonight’s guest director: M. Night Shyamalan
Freaky weird crap goin’ down tonight!
Okay, this is what happened: my mom went down to Lewiston to spend the night with her boyfriend, and my dad is out of town until tomorrow. I was at home, messing around on the computer, when I heard these weird scratching noises upstairs.
So I go up there, figuring one of the cats got caught in something. But while I was up there, I heard a different noise outside–a weird rustling of leaves and a sound of several people running. So I run back downstairs and go outside. Looking around, I saw nothing–until I looked up in the trees. There were these freaky glowing sticks–green, blue, orange–hanging in groups of three in a few of the trees in our yard. It took me a few minutes to figure out that they were glow sticks.
I got a broom, stood up on the porch, and tried to knock them out of the trees, but I realized that the strings they were tied to were wrapped very tightly around the branches–too tightly, I thought, to have been done by simply throwing them up into the trees.
Then, to add to this, freaky twilighty music started to come out of one of our neighbor’s houses.
Weird. Very weird at midnight.
I’m scared!
But there’s good news…my dad called and apologized to me! However, I don’t know how sincere it really was.
Memorial Day
Very few people know this, but I am actually a very patriotic person. I hold Memorial Day, as well as all the people it stands for, in the highest regard. Therefore, this blog will be short and sweet and to the point:
Thank You.
Eigenblogger 