More Blatherning
(This isn’t a poem I hate poems this is just me rambling sorry I’ll shut up I haven’t slept since Thursday.)
(I’m also super emotional ‘cause someone I’ve connected to very strongly over the past few weeks just left Moscow forever.)
I am the friend that helps you move. Right after the last final of the semester or at 3:30 in the morning, I am the one unfolding empty boxes and asking you what you want to pack first.
I am the friend that cleans the kitchen. You pack the stuff in the pantry and last of the cutlery and I scrub the counters, cabinets, and fridge until everything is as clean as the day you moved in.
I am the friend who distracts you. You need a break and so do I, so I suggest we watch a few YouTube videos and we sit on the warm pile of freshly-dried laundry and watch clips of Disney movies for half an hour.
I am the friend that buys the packing tape. It’s 9 PM and you’re panicking because you’ve got an empty tape dispenser but three more boxes still and I run to the gas station down the road while you continue to prioritize your possessions in anticipation for my return with more tape.
I am the friend that folds your clothes. It’s your least favorite thing to do, but you don’t want to just throw your clothes into boxes. So I fold each item for you to pack neatly away. Yes, even the underwear.
I am the friend who makes space in your car. I play Tetris with your boxes and appliances and manage to fit in the sleeping bag and toolkit that you were sure you’d have to leave behind.
I am the friend that drives you around. You need to take your unused U-Haul boxes back but there’s not enough room in your car, so we load them into mine and I take you to return them. I remind you that you need to stop at the post office and request a permanent change of address.
I am the friend who sees you last. The apartment is clean and the car is packed and you’re ready to leave. We don’t know how to say goodbye, so we just hug again and again until it’s finally time for you to go. I wave from the sidewalk and you wave from your open car window until we can no longer see each other.
And even though I am the friend you have known for the least amount of time, I am also the friend who will miss you the most.
PEGGLE!
Oops, I’m addicted to Peggle.
Thanks a lot, Achievement Hunter.
For those of you who don’t know what Peggle is, here’s the AH crew playing Peggle 2, which just came out. Peggle is quite similar, so if this looks fun, I recommend Peggle! You can get it from Steam.
United State of Pop 2013
Alright, so ever since I’ve started this “download a new song everyday” thing, I’ve made my the last download of the year be DJ Earworm’s United State of Pop mashup for that particular year.
I plan to do the same thing this year. However, this year’s mashup is so freaking good that I’ve decided to give it its own blog post. Behold!
2009’s mashup has been my favorite since it came out, but I honestly think this one’s better. The video’s pretty awesome, too.
My favorite parts are 2:03 (I love that chord, whatever that is) and everything past 4:20.
Another Productive Study Session Brought to You By End-of-the-Year Burnout
Calculus Dragon is the product of three Linear Algebra students who have their final on a FREAKING FRIDAY and just want to go home.
Yeah.
(Ignore the “L’Hopital” in the corner. I just felt like writing his name.)
WELL I BROKE THE COPY MACHINE.
Elaboration: After our Proofs final this afternoon (which was surprisingly easy), I had to go copy the tests for STAT 251 (‘cause, you know, I don’t plan ahead like I should and instead waited until the night before the test to copy them). So Wayne and I went back to Brink. We went up to the stats department floor and he worked on his SAS project while I started the copier.
The first ¾ of the copies went fine, but then the machine stopped so I went to check on it. I figure it was just out of paper; I was making 145 copies, after all.
But no. What was it out of? Staples.
Replacing the staples in that particular copier is the hardest freaking thing ever.
So I manage to mangle the damn staple holder to the point where I’m pretty sure it’s broken. I’m totally freaking out because I’ve got 37 more copies to make, and Wayne, with his seemingly boundless patience, tries to fix the staple holder for like 15 minutes before we’re both like, “okay, screw this” and I leave a frantic note with the gist of “sorry, I broke the staple holder ‘cause I’m an idiot” and went to Kinkos to make the remaining copies.
Got home at 9:45. I have my probability final tomorrow at 7 AM.
Screw finals week, man.
Somebody forgot to turn off my pants!
I AM TOO NERVOUS TO BLOG
HERE ARE GIFS
CAN IT BE FRIDAY NOW?
Nerrrrrrrrrrvous
Linear Algebra Saturday Study Session!
I honestly don’t know which final I’m most worried about. I have three—one each on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday—which is good ‘cause I have extra time to study, but bad ‘cause tests make me ANXIOUS and waiting to take said tests makes me OBSCENELY ANXIOUS.
Also, they’re all comprehensive. I don’t think I’ve ever had a semester where all of my finals have been comprehensive.
Haha, welcome to math, eh?
VvVvVvVvV
(In Alice Cooper voice)
SCHOOOOOOOOOOL’S OUT…FOR…SUMMER!
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII LIED…IT’S…FINALS!
Anyway.
I’ve taken like 400 classes at UI and this is the first time I’ll have a final on a Friday.
GROSS.
In not-even-slightly-related news, I found this Tumblr about 15 minutes ago and am entirely in love with it.
I’M WATCHING YOU
If I’m ever in a city with one of these stores, I’m spending like 15 hours in it and no one will be able to stop me.
I like to think I’m not a very materialistic person, but I really like fancy-ass watches.
Pretty ones:
Bias
Are there certain sounds and/or combinations of letters in the English language that you find unappealing, regardless of the words they’re in?
For example, I don’t like the long “o” sound (like in boat or moat or goat), but only if it’s spelled with “oa”. Tote and smote and wrote are fine.
Same with “s”. I only like that sound when it’s spelled with the “s”, like pass or summer or loose. I don’t like pace or rice or ceiling.
Words that end in “b” drive me nuts (job, crib, drab). Even if the “b” is silent (like in limb).
I’ve never really liked “w” in general.
Not a big fan of the long “e” sound, either, especially if it’s spelled with “ea”. Lease, east, peanut. Beer, Weedle, and peer are fine.
So what do I like?
I like the “k” and hard “c” sound. Coin, click, coffin.
I like “ch” and “tch”. Batch, cheddar, kitchen.
The “h” sound isn’t bad, either. Hoop, honor, rehire.
I like “v”, but only at the beginning of words. Vacancy, victorious, vanity. Not glove or rave or reverberate.
I dunno.
Some Songs
Today was weird.
Have some songs I can’t get out of my head.
COLD
Walked 8 miles in the single-digit weather today.
Probably not one of my smartest moves.
At least I’m almost to 1,300 miles now. Probably not going to get to 1,500 for the year, but I’m gonna freaking try!
(Now to sit next to the space heater and play Minecraft)
KibbieCraft
So I just spent my evening recreating the back of the old Kibbie Dome in Minecraft.
Yeah.
I know it looks a little narrower than the actual Kibbie Dome…that’s because even though I copied the tiles exactly (there may be a few mistakes ‘cause I suck), tiles in the actual Kibbie dome are rectangular but the Minecraft blocks are square.
(I didn’t do the actual building ‘cause that would have taken forever. Plus it’s just a big dome of white, so it would also be pretty boring to construct.)
TWSB: The Sounds of Sorting
This is easily one of the coolest videos I’ve ever found on YouTube.
(note: put your speakers at a lower volume; this seemed fairly loud to me.)
A sorting algorithm is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: it’s an algorithm that puts the elements of a list in a certain order (like in the video above, where the bars represent integers and the algorithms are putting the integers in order from smallest to largest).
There are a bunch of different types, depending on what’s most important to the individual using the algorithm: ease of coding, run time, stability, etc. For example, the bubble sort (4:01 in the vid) has a fairly short code, but has a long run time compared to something like a radix sort (1:56).
At 3:11 and 3:14, you hear Pac Man!
The algorithms used in this video are, in order: selection sort, insertion sort, quick sort, merge sort, heap sort, radix sort (LSD), radix sort (MSD), std::sort (intro sort), std::stable_sort (adaptive merge sort), shell sort, bubble sort, cocktail shaker sort, gnome sort, bitonic sort and bogo sort (30 seconds of it).
How cool is this??
Here is a little code “cheat sheet” by the creator of this video, Timo Bingmann. Check out his Sound of Sorting page!
(Seriously, I’ve watched this video about 20 times already. It gives me goosebumps!)
YES VIRGINIA, THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS
HOLY FREAKING CRAP, MY WISH HAS BEEN GRANTED BY A WONDERFUL SOUL ON ETSY.
I’m buying this for myself for Christmas because LEIBNIZ DOLL.
I am FLIPPING OUT SLKFJALGHARLIFHASLFHASDLKFHADLFJ
[throws credit card at monitor]
When the Nose Doesn’t Know
This stuff does happen, y’all.
Thingy Majingy Doohickey Sticky
I, uh…I don’t remember drawing this. I think it’s pretty old.
Welcome to the Internet
(Sorry, I had a mega migraine today and am very foggy. This vid is probably more coherent than anything I’d try to write here.)
The November List
- I’ve made more friends this semester than in the past 3 years combined. I’m not kidding.
- This semester has been awesome, but I’m ready for it to be over.
- THAT ISN’T FUNNY NBC
- Big Life Changes will (hopefully) be happening in the next half-year. Stay tuned.
- I had a dream about the devil last night. But he was a nice devil. He had only one horn so he called himself the Unicorn Devil. I had apparently been hired to keep an eye on hell’s sole (soul?) security camera. Unicorn Devil bought me M&M’s during my first shift.
- RED BULL!
- This is probably one of my favorite blogs ever.
- I didn’t do NaNoWriMo this month because I’m a loserpalooza.
- I’m a loserpalooza who I really enjoys Minecraft.
- (I didn’t do much of that this month, either.)
- This is exactly how I put my laundry away:
I think that’s all!
SCHEDULE CHANGE!
Okay, duders, I’m changing my spring schedule around. ‘Cause I always do that. ‘Cause I’m me.
Reason: I’ve wanted to take STAT 453, Stochastic Methods, ‘cause my knowledge of such things is pretty much zero. I knew that it was offered in the spring, but I thought that I needed both 451 and 452 as prerequisites. However, I randomly decided to check the course catalog (again…) and it turns out that only 451 (which I’m in now) is the prereq. So Stochastic Methods is in! It knocks out poetry and leaves me with just Advanced Nonfiction as my only English class next semester. Kinda sad, but I’m excited about Stochastic Methods.
Updated schedule (as if anyone cares):
WOO!
Thanksgiving!
You know what I’m thankful for?
My freaking awesome mother.
I know a fair number of my friends have bad relationships with their moms, but I seriously can’t imagine having a better relationship with my mom.
Heck, I can’t imagine having a better mom.
So mom, I know you read these (whenever I get around to posting them, haha) and I just want you to know how much I love you and appreciate you and appreciate all the stuff you’ve done for me over the past 25 years. I’m so glad we’re as close as we are and I’m so glad we “get” each other.
I love you, mom! <3
Eigenblogger 