News Flash:
I have a lot of earrings. I’ve been slowly amassing them ever since I got my ears pierced and now we have this madness.
Some of my favorites (plus a few I’ve acquired in the interim between when this blog was written and when it was actually posted, haha):
Tee to the Hee
This review is hysterical.
I need these headphones.
(Mom, do not buy these for me!)
F THE UNIVERSE
I just deleted all of this year’s walking miles, because fuck everything.
CARBO
I’d love to see someone who knows nothing about Aqua Teen Hunger Force watch this scene and try to figure out what in the actual living fuck the show is about.
Hell, I’d like to see someone who is very familiar with Aqua Teen Hunger Force watch this scene and try to figure out what in the actual living fuck the show is about.
Master Shake reminds me of my friend Zack from high school for some reason.
Also, I used to watch this show a lot during my first year of college. This and Futurama.
…then Metalocalypse.
Do school-age cows eat at a calfeteria?
I’TS A SURVEY I DON’T EVEN CARE
1. What book are you reading?
Nothing right now, ‘cause I’m a bad person.
3. Favorite board game?
Scrabble is fun. So is Pictionary.
4. Favorite magazine?
Uh…that Running Room magazine I get?
5. Favorite smells?
Go to hell
6. Favorite sounds?
Frisson-inducing music. Jazzy purring.
7. Worst feeling in the world?
Failing. Or running your nails across dry towel fabric (or heavy yarn blankets). I really don’t like that feeling.
8. What is the first thing you think of when you wake up?
NOT AGAIN
9. Favorite fast food place?
Cougar Country or (if it counts) Mongolian BBQ. But I don’t know if the latter counts.
10. Future child’s name?
I will not be having a future child.
11. Finish this statement. “If I had lot of money I’d….?
Give enough of it to my mom so that she could retire.
12. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?
Nope.
13. Storms – cool or scary?
Awesome.
14. Favorite drink?
Water?
15. Finish this statement, “If I had the time I would….”?
Draw more, read more, create more.
16. Do you eat the stems on broccoli?
Ew, no. Give me florets or give me death!
17. If you could dye your hair any color, what would be your choice?
Orange.
18. Name all the different cities/towns you’ve lived in?
Moscow, Troy, Vancouver, London, Marana, Tucson, Calgary.
Thank you for not asking me to list all the different houses.
19. Favorite sports to watch?
BASEBALL
20. One nice thing about the person who sent this to you?
No one sent this to me. I stole it like the thieving thief I am.
21. What’s under your bed?
Cat hair, cat toys, and sometimes a cat.
22. Would you like to be born as yourself again?
EW NO
23. Morning person, or night owl?
Night owl.
24. Over easy, or sunny side up?
Over easy.
25. Favorite place to relax?
Relaxing is for SQUARES
26. Favorite pie?
Not a pie fan, really.
27. Favorite ice cream flavor?
Oreo.
More Ted
This is really interesting.
Proudly Childfree
Yes. Not having them. Not ever. Not changing my mind.
HOLES
I keep forgetting to mention this on here, so I’ll use today’s blog for it because why the hell not.
That industrial piercing I have in my right ear? It’s gone now.
I used to never take the industrial bar out, but it gets so ridiculously cold up here that I got paranoid about the bar freezing my ear during my walks, so I’d been taking it out for decently long stretches of time. I had it out for less than 48 hours a while back and when I tried to put it back in, the lower hole was completely healed over. Completely. Like, you can’t even tell there was ever a hole there.
I could still jam the bar through the hole in my upper ear cartilage, but just barely. I suspect that it’s completely healed over as well.
I had that piercing for TEN YEARS. I take it out for less than two days and my dumbass body heals everything over.
Fantastic.
Community: My Anti-Depressant
So the past week and a half has been a shit show.
But then I saw that someone had uploaded all of the Community end credit scenes from seasons 1 – 3 and that helped make things a lot better.
Psst:
I suck. Pass it on.
Nabokov would be pleased
I am in a CRAP MOOD because it’s been a CRAP SEMESTER but here are BUTTERFLIES, so that helps.
Crappy Day.
Things that make me feel better:
- My wonderful husband
- My soft kitty
- Knowing that I’ll get to see my mom in a little more than a month
- Walking
- Euro Truck Simulator 2
- Knowing that there might be a lull in the chaos for a few days
The end.
THE AVALANCHE
I’ve seen my fair share of movies in my life.
But this damn avalanche scene from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is still one of my favorite movie moments.
Couldn’t tell you why, but I’ve always loved the avalanche. Ask my mom.
Anyway.
How To Get Over a Leg Injury: Claudia Mahler Style
Step 1: Give injured leg two days of rest.
Step 2: Continue to walk 15 miles a day on injured leg, ignoring pain that is actually quite severe.
Step 3: Shun doctors.
Step 4: Shun the pain. Walk through it.
Step 5: Occasionally push it too far and re-injure it a little bit.
Step 6: Repeat steps 2 through 5.
Step 7: It gets better (mostly?) eventually, so be proud of your completely irresponsible healing technique.
Want to move to Van? Watch this.
Accurate.
I still miss it there every once and a while, though. My time at UBC was hell on earth, but the city was cool when it wasn’t trying to drown you in rain.
CC
Remember that bomb blast simulation I mentioned a few days ago? They have an interactive “how will climate change affect you?” map as well.
Scary stuff.
A Blight at the End of the Tunnel
Me: I am sad.
Me: *buys three DLC packs for Euro Truck Simulator 2*
Me: I’m still sad, but at least now I have cool trucks.
SimNuke
I like these kinds of things.
(Simulations, not nukes.)
If you click on the little menu on the upper right-hand corner, they have a lot more info on nuclear weapons than just the interactive sim.
HEY GUESS WHAT
I’m sad.
Help, I’ve Fallen Into Euro Truck Simulator 2 and I Can’t Get Up
It’s serious, dudes. Like, I spent part of my afternoon looking up racing/driving game steering wheels, pedals, and gear shifts that I could use for ETS because I HAVE A PROBLEM.
I like these.
Logitech G 920 Driving Force Shifter
Logitech Driving Force Shifter
I’d go for it because I’m pretty sure I won’t be getting tired of ETS any time soon, but 1) expensive toys are expensive and 2) I’m not sure how well they’d work with a desk setup rather than a racing rig setup.
But I can dream, right?
Current mood:
Bye.
It’s a math meme. Because of course it is.
You honestly think I’d pass this up?
I’m going to try to focus on math instead of stats, but I might have to include some stats. Sorryz.
What math classes have you taken?
Lots. The calculus series, linear algebra, discrete math, mathematical statistics, stochastic methods, complex analysis, analysis of algorithms, linear regression, plus a whole bunch of stats classes…those are the main ones I can remember.
What math classes did you do best in?
Technically my highest grade was in calc III, but I did pretty good in discrete math as well. I also got a 100% on a calc II test, which is wild because that’s the one and only 100% I’ve ever gotten on a math test.
What math classes did you like the most?
Calculus, discrete math, mathematical stats.
What math classes did you do worst in?
I did terribly in Stochastic Methods. That was a ridiculously hard class for me for whatever reason. I just couldn’t get it.
Are there areas of math that you enjoy? What are they?
Statistics. Complex analysis. Is calculus an area? If so, calculus.
Why do you learn math?
Because I don’t want to be afraid of it anymore. The more I learn about it, the more that visceral reaction of “OH GOD WHAT IS THIS I’M SCARED” disappears faster whenever I see math.
What do you like about math?
I like how much it can explain in our universe. It’s so wild to me that humans have found a way to use math in so many different situations to explain or describe how things work. I love that.
Least favorite notation you’ve ever seen?
This nonsense. What in the hell, Newton?
Do you have any favorite theorems?
Does the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus count?
Better yet, do you have any least favorite theorems?
Not that I’m aware of.
Who actually invented calculus?
Oh, honey. Oh, honey.
Do you have any stories of Mathematical failure you’d like to share?
My entire high school experience? I hated algebra II. Hated it.
Do you think you’re good at math? Do you expect more from yourself?
I can make math work for me, but I am absolutely not naturally good at it. It takes a lot of work, I have zero mathematical intuition, and I feel like I don’t “get” it like a true math person should. I always expect more from myself, but I’d say I’m doing pretty good for someone who would get hives whenever she’d go to math in high school.
Do other people think you’re good at math?
People automatically assume I am because I teach stats. I guess I can’t blame them. But GOD I AM NOT.
Do you know anyone who doesn’t think they’re good at math but you look up to anyway? Do you think they are?
I don’t think so.
Have you ever taken a competitive exam?
Nope. I’m not good enough to even try.
Do you have any friends on Tumblr that also do math?
I follow a good number of math-related Tumblr blogs, but I don’t personally know any of the blog owners.
Who is your favorite Mathematician?
Leibniz. Absolutely no question. I love that man, y’all have no freaking idea.
Who is your least favorite Mathematician?
I don’t think I have one. Maybe John Keill ‘cause he was a dick to Leibniz.
Who is/was the most attractive Mathematician, living or dead?
L E I B N I Z oh dear god yes
Have you ever dated a Mathematician?
Nope.
Would you date someone who dislikes math?
I think Rob disliked math. But Rob disliked everything, so…
Would you date someone who’s better than you at math?
I think anyone I’d date would be better at math than me.
Have you ever used math in a novel or entertaining way?
I’ve used stats in some interesting ways, like when I tried to analyze fmylife.com to see if people tended to assign blame to certain types of FMLs more than others.
Have you learned any math on your own recently?
I had to re-teach myself a bunch of intro stats stuff when I first started teaching here. Some of that is really easy to just completely forget.
When’s the last time you computed something without a calculator?
Lawl. I need a calculator for everything. 2 + 3? Goddamn, I have no idea.
What’s the silliest Mathematical mistake you’ve ever made?
My first semester teaching at the U of I. I was defining some basic set theory stuff for my stats class and I wanted to make a set of all even integers from 0 to 10. I forgot to include 0.
Did you ever fail a math class?
No, surprisingly. Not even in high school.
Is math a challenge for you?
Yes. At the very least, it’s not intuitive at all.
Are you a Formalist, Logicist, or Platonist?
Logicist.
Are you close with a math professor?
Not super close, no.
Just how big is a big number?
Graham’s Number!
What’s your favorite number system? Integers? Reals? Rationals? Hyper-reals? Surreals? Complex? Natural numbers?
I have a bit of a soft spot for complex numbers. They’re super cool plus were a major weird part of “Prime.”
Favorite casual math book?
“Classical Mathematics: A Concise History of Mathematics in the Seventheenth and Eighteenth Centuries” by Joseph Ehrenfried Hofmann. So much calculus history.
(So much Leibniz.)
Do you have favorite math textbooks? If so, what are they?
I really like my “Handbook of Parametric and Nonparametric Statistical Procedures” book, but I guess that’s more stats than math. Gonna count it. I also like the calculus books I used while taking calc I, II, and III. They were very good textbooks.
Do you collect anything that is math-related?
I…don’t think so? Which is shocking. Maybe math books, does that count?
Where is your most favorite place to do math?
Anywhere that’s quiet with a large desk so that I can spread out my stuff. I used to like doing math in the U of I library.
What inspired you to do math?
Fear. I don’t like being afraid of things and I was afraid of math for the longest time. Then I started doing stats and didn’t find that too bad, so I thought “what the hell let’s get a math degree” and bam here we are.
Do you have any favorite/cool math websites you’d like to share?
Mathematicians’ birthdays
Pronunciation guide for mathematics
A handbook for mathematics teaching assistants
What’s your favorite number?
I really like 11, but I also dig 2 because that number shows up a lot for me.
Are there any non-interesting numbers?
Nope! Every number has a story, a use, and a background.
Have you ever tried to figure out the prime factors of your phone number?
Nope.
Do you have any math tattoos?
No, unfortunately.
Do you want any math tattoos?
I would love to have either just a plain old integral sign tattooed somewhere or the second part of the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus.
Are you a fan of algorithms? If so, which are your favorite?
Dijkstra’s algorithm.
Can you program? What languages do you know?
A little C++, some Perl, R.
Come on, brain, what the HELL
Last night’s feature presentation dream? I was watching a nature documentary on how horses had evolved to have gums like concrete, turned evil, and went around gumming other animals to death in incredibly brutal ways.
Examples: gumming off the legs of goats then stomping on them (the goats, not the amputated legs), sneaking up behind baby animals and grabbing them by the back of the necks and strangling them, using their power gums to break out of their corrals (or pens or whatever the hell horses are kept in) and create havoc.
The visuals were really disturbing. Woke me up.
Thanks, brain.
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