mánudagur, maí 24, 2004
Well, not much to say this time. I'm just in the "can't-or-won't-go-to-sleep" phase, so I figured...
Met up with the DnD group I found on the net, which was fun (although it was after an insomnic night, so I was a bit lethargic). Spent all day after that just lounging around, although I did do a tiny bit of writing.
Started playing Final Fantasy XI again, against my own common sense. Meh, I have time now, so it's not a big deal.
Toilet's still broke, research is still stuck, same old same old. I actually did cook some fried rice and it was pretty good. In fact the boiled rice by itself was surprisingly tasty. I followed a recipe where they said you were supposed to wash the rice first (to get the starch off or something?) and then I bring the water+rice to a quick boil and immediately lower heat and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. This way the rice was sticky and chunky, and tasty (I always remember rice tasting like paper, except when it was spiced of course). I put a whole bunch of stuff into the fried rice, but still didn't manage to get it to be tasty. I guess next time I'll try to put the garlic in first, get the taste into the oil, and then the rice+onions, and then the veggies. Last time I just threw it all in at once. I even put soysauce and got the rice to be lightbrown in color, but the taste just seemed to vanish. Maybe I'll try putting half a bullion into the oil or something
Meh, what a pathetic blog (pathetiblog, patheblogic), don't have much to say.
Maybe I should become like a behavioral anthropologist. Since I'm always looking at people and how they behave, and I still can't understand most peoples subtle signs...sometimes not even the blatant ones :)
I have been doing a lot of thinking on how people act and why they do what they do, especially since I've been watching a lot of tv shows, where narrative and storytelling play a lead role. Now I know one shouldn't attempt to base reality on a fantasy...HOWEVER, I realized that the most popular of these shows have a direct effect on popular culture and also on how young minds think. The example formost in my mind is the show Sex and the City.
DISCLAIMER: For my male friends, I tell them I watch this show because a) it's got a lot of cute girls in it, and b) it (supposedly) gives me insight into the female psyche.
I had lots of fun watching this show to begin with, and then when my ocd hooks were firmly in place and I HAD to finish watching it, the show started to get ugly. The main characters are all supposed to be liberal, free women, dating whom they choose and bladebla. In reality, they are just bitches hung up on every clichéd thing a woman is "supposed" to be hung up on. And I realized, all the young girls who idolize these characters are going to grow up to be them. And that just made me almost sick to my stomach. One great example:
The main character, Carrie, moves in with a guy, and they break up, and because of complications, she loses the apartment. It was rent-controlled so she needs to get a loan to afford another apartment. Turns out that she, being a 35 year old, has something like $800 in savings. She goes wahwah and whines on her friends' shoulders, and realizes that she has spent over $40,000 on shoes alone in the past 10 years. Enter crisis as she realizes she has to change her lifestyle to live. Then she magically gets a better job and is able to continue her lifestyle. And back to the shoes and no saving.
I totally respect a show's right to do whatever they want, and I'm not saying it's their fault or a bad show or anything. I'm just saying, what does this tell young girls? I mean, comon...$40,000 in shoes? And it's not just stuff like this, it's everything. The show only serves to perpetuate half-myths and stupid cultural rituals which only complicate things in relationships. And this show would actually affect young boys just as badly. The women are painted as saints, when, after just a cursory glance under the surface, you realize they are just simpering bitches, little princesses that whine when they don't get what they want. And Carrie ends up with the womanizer, rich, cool guy who broke her heart, while herself breaking the heart of the really nice guy who loved her from day one.
So it's true what they say guys. If you want the girl, you gotta be the jerk. Or at least it will definitely be true now, after millions of women in the world have watched this show and identified with it. At least according to articles I read, this show has "become an icon for women in a man's world" bladeblablingblingblah.
I think the whole way of thinking/living which is portrayed in this show is almost sick. But because the show is actually well done, I even found myself believing some of the hogwash, if only for a moment. If it can affect me, I can only wonder how much it affected younger and more easily influenced minds.
The other thing that annoyed me was the depiction of gay people. Now I don't pretend to know much about that, but I do know that not all gay guys have an impeccable fashion sense or speak with a stupid half-lisp and exuberant gesticulation. Nor do they all dress in assless leather pants and take off their shirt wherever they go out partying.
Ah well, anyway...just ranting. Guess I'll get to sleep before I get incoherent.
p.s. just for extra clarification. I am NOT under the mistaken assumption that this show, or any other show for that matter, is a reflection of reality. I am afraid that reality might come to reflect this show due to its popularity.
Met up with the DnD group I found on the net, which was fun (although it was after an insomnic night, so I was a bit lethargic). Spent all day after that just lounging around, although I did do a tiny bit of writing.
Started playing Final Fantasy XI again, against my own common sense. Meh, I have time now, so it's not a big deal.
Toilet's still broke, research is still stuck, same old same old. I actually did cook some fried rice and it was pretty good. In fact the boiled rice by itself was surprisingly tasty. I followed a recipe where they said you were supposed to wash the rice first (to get the starch off or something?) and then I bring the water+rice to a quick boil and immediately lower heat and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. This way the rice was sticky and chunky, and tasty (I always remember rice tasting like paper, except when it was spiced of course). I put a whole bunch of stuff into the fried rice, but still didn't manage to get it to be tasty. I guess next time I'll try to put the garlic in first, get the taste into the oil, and then the rice+onions, and then the veggies. Last time I just threw it all in at once. I even put soysauce and got the rice to be lightbrown in color, but the taste just seemed to vanish. Maybe I'll try putting half a bullion into the oil or something
Meh, what a pathetic blog (pathetiblog, patheblogic), don't have much to say.
Maybe I should become like a behavioral anthropologist. Since I'm always looking at people and how they behave, and I still can't understand most peoples subtle signs...sometimes not even the blatant ones :)
I have been doing a lot of thinking on how people act and why they do what they do, especially since I've been watching a lot of tv shows, where narrative and storytelling play a lead role. Now I know one shouldn't attempt to base reality on a fantasy...HOWEVER, I realized that the most popular of these shows have a direct effect on popular culture and also on how young minds think. The example formost in my mind is the show Sex and the City.
DISCLAIMER: For my male friends, I tell them I watch this show because a) it's got a lot of cute girls in it, and b) it (supposedly) gives me insight into the female psyche.
I had lots of fun watching this show to begin with, and then when my ocd hooks were firmly in place and I HAD to finish watching it, the show started to get ugly. The main characters are all supposed to be liberal, free women, dating whom they choose and bladebla. In reality, they are just bitches hung up on every clichéd thing a woman is "supposed" to be hung up on. And I realized, all the young girls who idolize these characters are going to grow up to be them. And that just made me almost sick to my stomach. One great example:
The main character, Carrie, moves in with a guy, and they break up, and because of complications, she loses the apartment. It was rent-controlled so she needs to get a loan to afford another apartment. Turns out that she, being a 35 year old, has something like $800 in savings. She goes wahwah and whines on her friends' shoulders, and realizes that she has spent over $40,000 on shoes alone in the past 10 years. Enter crisis as she realizes she has to change her lifestyle to live. Then she magically gets a better job and is able to continue her lifestyle. And back to the shoes and no saving.
I totally respect a show's right to do whatever they want, and I'm not saying it's their fault or a bad show or anything. I'm just saying, what does this tell young girls? I mean, comon...$40,000 in shoes? And it's not just stuff like this, it's everything. The show only serves to perpetuate half-myths and stupid cultural rituals which only complicate things in relationships. And this show would actually affect young boys just as badly. The women are painted as saints, when, after just a cursory glance under the surface, you realize they are just simpering bitches, little princesses that whine when they don't get what they want. And Carrie ends up with the womanizer, rich, cool guy who broke her heart, while herself breaking the heart of the really nice guy who loved her from day one.
So it's true what they say guys. If you want the girl, you gotta be the jerk. Or at least it will definitely be true now, after millions of women in the world have watched this show and identified with it. At least according to articles I read, this show has "become an icon for women in a man's world" bladeblablingblingblah.
I think the whole way of thinking/living which is portrayed in this show is almost sick. But because the show is actually well done, I even found myself believing some of the hogwash, if only for a moment. If it can affect me, I can only wonder how much it affected younger and more easily influenced minds.
The other thing that annoyed me was the depiction of gay people. Now I don't pretend to know much about that, but I do know that not all gay guys have an impeccable fashion sense or speak with a stupid half-lisp and exuberant gesticulation. Nor do they all dress in assless leather pants and take off their shirt wherever they go out partying.
Ah well, anyway...just ranting. Guess I'll get to sleep before I get incoherent.
p.s. just for extra clarification. I am NOT under the mistaken assumption that this show, or any other show for that matter, is a reflection of reality. I am afraid that reality might come to reflect this show due to its popularity.
fimmtudagur, maí 20, 2004
Wheeee, finished my finals.
Got a B in NLP, and still haven't gotten my grade in the Graphics course....Ah well, I'll get all A's next semester :p.
Spent all day yesterday just lounging around (like normal :)), reading and enjoying being done. Buuut, I'm not really done because I'm gonna be doing research all summer.
...
Went to that tennis class today. That was a lot of fun, just what I needed. Just me and this coach (cost me $55 but it was worth it) He sort of just had me hit ball after ball, first slow and short, then from the baseline, then some volleys and lobs, and finally some serves. After 45 minutes, I was totally beat and had a blister on my right thumb. The grip on my racquet, after having been unused for 10 years, had obviously started to rot, because it left my hand completely black. Got a new grip and decided to sign up for a membership at the club, only $25 a month. They also have a weight room and although there is a free one on campus, something tells me I'll use this one more. There's something about having to pay for stuff...you usually make sure you make use of it. Free stuff...meh, you didn't pay, so what's the loss if you don't go, right?
Signed myself up for a list where they try to pair off people with similar skill to play practice matches, now I just have to wait for a call. In the meantime, I'll probably drop by there a couple of times to use their practice wall, and maybe to practice serving on the court. If I keep this up, I should be in shape in no time.
I asked Oliver (the coach) where he would place me, and he advised me to drop in on one of the intermediate adult courses. So I'm gonna check that out. Also asked him about getting full time professional training, possibly in the future....
It costs $12,000 a year
O_o
When I'm rich, I'll train tennis full-time.
I'm also gonna go and meet with a racquetball group on campus. They meet once a week and also have a sort of "league" where you can arrange games.
Alrighty, next thing on the agenda...get to cooking some healthier food. I bought a 20lb bag of rice and it's sitting on my bedroom floor staring at me. I think it's giving me bad dreams. Got a bunch of veggies, and I figure I'll make myself the fried rice expert. Seems that fried rice, with some bits of maybe chicken or shrimp, and a bunch of veggies, is tasty, cheap, easy to make, and good for you (as long as the fry part doesn't entail too much grease)
Looking forward to getting back home this summer. Hey! How many of you gringos are coming to the wedding?
Got a B in NLP, and still haven't gotten my grade in the Graphics course....Ah well, I'll get all A's next semester :p.
Spent all day yesterday just lounging around (like normal :)), reading and enjoying being done. Buuut, I'm not really done because I'm gonna be doing research all summer.
...
Went to that tennis class today. That was a lot of fun, just what I needed. Just me and this coach (cost me $55 but it was worth it) He sort of just had me hit ball after ball, first slow and short, then from the baseline, then some volleys and lobs, and finally some serves. After 45 minutes, I was totally beat and had a blister on my right thumb. The grip on my racquet, after having been unused for 10 years, had obviously started to rot, because it left my hand completely black. Got a new grip and decided to sign up for a membership at the club, only $25 a month. They also have a weight room and although there is a free one on campus, something tells me I'll use this one more. There's something about having to pay for stuff...you usually make sure you make use of it. Free stuff...meh, you didn't pay, so what's the loss if you don't go, right?
Signed myself up for a list where they try to pair off people with similar skill to play practice matches, now I just have to wait for a call. In the meantime, I'll probably drop by there a couple of times to use their practice wall, and maybe to practice serving on the court. If I keep this up, I should be in shape in no time.
I asked Oliver (the coach) where he would place me, and he advised me to drop in on one of the intermediate adult courses. So I'm gonna check that out. Also asked him about getting full time professional training, possibly in the future....
It costs $12,000 a year
O_o
When I'm rich, I'll train tennis full-time.
I'm also gonna go and meet with a racquetball group on campus. They meet once a week and also have a sort of "league" where you can arrange games.
Alrighty, next thing on the agenda...get to cooking some healthier food. I bought a 20lb bag of rice and it's sitting on my bedroom floor staring at me. I think it's giving me bad dreams. Got a bunch of veggies, and I figure I'll make myself the fried rice expert. Seems that fried rice, with some bits of maybe chicken or shrimp, and a bunch of veggies, is tasty, cheap, easy to make, and good for you (as long as the fry part doesn't entail too much grease)
Looking forward to getting back home this summer. Hey! How many of you gringos are coming to the wedding?
laugardagur, maí 15, 2004
I've done a bunch of stuff this week.
I contacted Chris Gekker about a trumpet class, still haven't heard back from him though...gotta send him another email. I dropped by the College Park Tennis Center, checked out the summer schedule. It's actually quite expensive to take part in the classes there. $215 for 7 weeks, once a week. And if I want to come more often than once, I need to just pay multiples of $215. So three times a week for 7 weeks = $645.
O_o
Don't know about that. But I did sign up for a single class with a trainer, to have him sort of evaluate me and get me going again, been 10 years since I played tennis last. After that, I'll probably try to find a partner, someone who's interested in playing regularly.
Dropped by at a comp sci picnic on thursday, had some interesting discussions about language and movies. When it was over, the guys who had arranged it had loads of food left over, and they wanted someone to take it. Nobody offered, so I took it. Now I have a freezer full of hamburgers and sausages (20/50). Not that I'll ever eat the sausages (they're quite disgusting), but I was thinking about taking the burgers and chopping them up and making some spaghetti sauce or something.
Professor Varshney (comp graphics) showed off my piano project (and a couple of other projects) in class on tuesday. He said that all the projects were great, the lowest got a 13/15 score. But that there were a handful of projects that "impressed the hell out of the professor", and mine was one of them, yay! So lugging the comp to school, having to buy a new seat for my bike (which cost $85!) and lugging the comp back, was all worth it. Now I just have to hope I get a decent grade on my NLP project. I turned in a quite subpar project, having spent most of the weekend watching movies and moping around. But, Nizar (the TA in NLP) was at the picnic and he gave me a ride home, and we had a really interesting chat about worlds and languages and stuff (he's palestinian). So maybe that'll help my grade a bit :p
Speaking about weekends and moping. I should be studying for my finals on monday and wednesday, but I'm not. I'm procrastinating (procrastinate, pro-crastinate, (pro)crastinence, crastain?)
I found a roleplay group in the neighborhood online. They had recently lost a member and were looking for a new one. Perfect timing. So I dropped by the DM's house, where he was at home in the middle of the day, with an 8 month old baby girl, while the mother (career woman) was out working. And we chatted about the world he had created and he basically welcomed me into their group. They use the whole loft as a gaming area, with a huge marble table always covered with gaming stuff. Very cool, something I'd like to do once I have my own place. So I just have to make my character, and then begin to play with them next weekend. They play every saturday from 2-8pm. A regularly playing roleplay group, something I always thought was an oxymoron.
Aaaanywayy
Just hanging in there, not reading as much as I was. In fact, haven't really done much of anything since monday when I turned in my NLP project. Oh well, I guess I'll just try to get through my finals with as little trouble as possible(they also double as two of my four MS comps, so they are a little important) and take it from there. My research is still at a standstill due to techincal difficulties, which I have a number of people helping me out on.
So stay tuned...
I contacted Chris Gekker about a trumpet class, still haven't heard back from him though...gotta send him another email. I dropped by the College Park Tennis Center, checked out the summer schedule. It's actually quite expensive to take part in the classes there. $215 for 7 weeks, once a week. And if I want to come more often than once, I need to just pay multiples of $215. So three times a week for 7 weeks = $645.
O_o
Don't know about that. But I did sign up for a single class with a trainer, to have him sort of evaluate me and get me going again, been 10 years since I played tennis last. After that, I'll probably try to find a partner, someone who's interested in playing regularly.
Dropped by at a comp sci picnic on thursday, had some interesting discussions about language and movies. When it was over, the guys who had arranged it had loads of food left over, and they wanted someone to take it. Nobody offered, so I took it. Now I have a freezer full of hamburgers and sausages (20/50). Not that I'll ever eat the sausages (they're quite disgusting), but I was thinking about taking the burgers and chopping them up and making some spaghetti sauce or something.
Professor Varshney (comp graphics) showed off my piano project (and a couple of other projects) in class on tuesday. He said that all the projects were great, the lowest got a 13/15 score. But that there were a handful of projects that "impressed the hell out of the professor", and mine was one of them, yay! So lugging the comp to school, having to buy a new seat for my bike (which cost $85!) and lugging the comp back, was all worth it. Now I just have to hope I get a decent grade on my NLP project. I turned in a quite subpar project, having spent most of the weekend watching movies and moping around. But, Nizar (the TA in NLP) was at the picnic and he gave me a ride home, and we had a really interesting chat about worlds and languages and stuff (he's palestinian). So maybe that'll help my grade a bit :p
Speaking about weekends and moping. I should be studying for my finals on monday and wednesday, but I'm not. I'm procrastinating (procrastinate, pro-crastinate, (pro)crastinence, crastain?)
I found a roleplay group in the neighborhood online. They had recently lost a member and were looking for a new one. Perfect timing. So I dropped by the DM's house, where he was at home in the middle of the day, with an 8 month old baby girl, while the mother (career woman) was out working. And we chatted about the world he had created and he basically welcomed me into their group. They use the whole loft as a gaming area, with a huge marble table always covered with gaming stuff. Very cool, something I'd like to do once I have my own place. So I just have to make my character, and then begin to play with them next weekend. They play every saturday from 2-8pm. A regularly playing roleplay group, something I always thought was an oxymoron.
Aaaanywayy
Just hanging in there, not reading as much as I was. In fact, haven't really done much of anything since monday when I turned in my NLP project. Oh well, I guess I'll just try to get through my finals with as little trouble as possible(they also double as two of my four MS comps, so they are a little important) and take it from there. My research is still at a standstill due to techincal difficulties, which I have a number of people helping me out on.
So stay tuned...
fimmtudagur, maí 13, 2004
My friend Berglind just told me she's having a baby.
I was going to try to explain how I feel about this, but I'm totally at a loss. All I want to do is to hug and squeeze her. Berglind has been one of my closest friends for 10 years now, and I love her dearly. There's just something wonderful about seeing one's friends so happy. I have had a number of friends recently have babies, some closer friends than others, but there I've always been more of a friend to the guy. When the friend is the girl, it's totally different, for some reason. Can't quite explain it.
Til hamingju elsku Berglind mín, þú átt eftir að vera æðisleg mamma.
I can't wait to get to know all these little people sprouting up around me. If they're anything like their parents, we'll get along famously.
The only thing that makes me sad is that I can't be around. Three of my friends have now had babies and in each case, I've been out here, feeling happy for them, but again, feeling sad because I can't take part in the happiness physically. In reality it's a totally selfish feeling, but I can't help it. Berglind is due beginning of december, so I'll be able to visit her newborn when I come home for christmas.
I was going to try to explain how I feel about this, but I'm totally at a loss. All I want to do is to hug and squeeze her. Berglind has been one of my closest friends for 10 years now, and I love her dearly. There's just something wonderful about seeing one's friends so happy. I have had a number of friends recently have babies, some closer friends than others, but there I've always been more of a friend to the guy. When the friend is the girl, it's totally different, for some reason. Can't quite explain it.
Til hamingju elsku Berglind mín, þú átt eftir að vera æðisleg mamma.
I can't wait to get to know all these little people sprouting up around me. If they're anything like their parents, we'll get along famously.
The only thing that makes me sad is that I can't be around. Three of my friends have now had babies and in each case, I've been out here, feeling happy for them, but again, feeling sad because I can't take part in the happiness physically. In reality it's a totally selfish feeling, but I can't help it. Berglind is due beginning of december, so I'll be able to visit her newborn when I come home for christmas.
sunnudagur, maí 09, 2004
I need a purpose.
That's what I seem to be getting down to these days. I need something to focus all my energies on. I have a plethora of things I could focus on, but don't see myself doing so.
School
Music
Writing
Reading
Programming
Working out
Meditating/thinking
I want to be able to focus on all of these things at once, but for some reason, I can't. My problem is that I have been (or know I could be) succesful in all of these things. I can just hear people going "What's he complaining about?". But I envy people who have one thing they're good at. Because those people don't have to choose, it's been chosen for them. And they know that this is it, so they are able to focus all they've got on it. (Boy do I sound conceited :( )
This is similar to when I'm shopping. I hate having all these choices, but I used to be the type that would pine over everything, trying to find the best whatever I was buying at the moment. Now, I just want something, don't care if it's the best or not. Same with my choices in life, I just want something, one thing, don't care what it is, just something that I can take and "do" and be a specialist at. The only problem is, I'm not at that place in my mind yet. I still want to do everything. Everything at once, and I want to be the best at everything too. I have a feeling that this kind of thinking has a tendency to lean towards the self-destructive side...
I recently read an article about the danger of having too many choices. It was directed at the consumer world, but I think it applies also to other types of choices. This article speculated that the sudden burst of choice in consumer related products is causing millions of Americans to fall deeper into depression. The idea was that, if you are the type to really look everything over, and then choose what you think is the best choice, if and when it turns out to be not the best choice, you become sad, or frustrated with yourself. If, however, you only had one choice, you can become frustrated with the supplier, which is much more healthy. The other type of person, the one which just buys whatever, has it much easier because they don't expect their consumer products to be the best, so when it turns out to be just on par, and not exceptional, they are blasé about it.
Come to think of it, that sounds like that "expect the worst" type of thinking...which I always thought I didn't agree with....
Anyway, of all the things I can think of that would be a possible "purpose", none seem to be "worthy". It's easy to dismiss this feeling as "oh well, this is just a step up to whatever purpose shows itself further down the road." Well that's all fine and dandy, but it doesn't ease my unease.
There are a couple of things I have thought of that would be "worthy" goals.
1. Spending decades getting rich, creating a foundation and then using that money to do good things, like charity or building hospitals or stuff like that.
2. Really dedicating myself to perfecting mind/body, for example just going away somewhere, becoming a monk or something (seriously, I find this idea charming in some way)
3. Family, children. This is something that pabbi mentioned a while back, that I might be just like him in this sense, and I totally agree. The only problem is, what happens when the children grow up, and the purpose becomes less dominating? This is why (at this point) I view the first two options as a "main goal" while the third would be a "main goal" for some twenty odd years at some point in my life.
Anyway, as always, too much energy going into thinking, and not enough going into actual corporeal things, like school and cooking dinner. Some real world news...Binh surprised me by telling me my haircut looked good. Maybe he's just a really strange guy rather than a bastard. Our toilet is broken, doesn't fill up, so we need to fill it by hand until it gets fixed. So Dan pees off the porch into the yard. ... And I had to leave my bike at school while I was bringing my comp back, and it was so late that I decided to leave it on campus overnight. Big mistake. Somebody stole my seat and the pump and drink carriage thingy. They obviously had tools, because that stuff was bolted down. What I don't understand though, is why they didn't take my front wheel? It has a quick release and everything. Oh well, going to buy new stuff tomorrow. I can still ride it, as long as I remember not to sit down....that would hurt.
That's what I seem to be getting down to these days. I need something to focus all my energies on. I have a plethora of things I could focus on, but don't see myself doing so.
School
Music
Writing
Reading
Programming
Working out
Meditating/thinking
I want to be able to focus on all of these things at once, but for some reason, I can't. My problem is that I have been (or know I could be) succesful in all of these things. I can just hear people going "What's he complaining about?". But I envy people who have one thing they're good at. Because those people don't have to choose, it's been chosen for them. And they know that this is it, so they are able to focus all they've got on it. (Boy do I sound conceited :( )
This is similar to when I'm shopping. I hate having all these choices, but I used to be the type that would pine over everything, trying to find the best whatever I was buying at the moment. Now, I just want something, don't care if it's the best or not. Same with my choices in life, I just want something, one thing, don't care what it is, just something that I can take and "do" and be a specialist at. The only problem is, I'm not at that place in my mind yet. I still want to do everything. Everything at once, and I want to be the best at everything too. I have a feeling that this kind of thinking has a tendency to lean towards the self-destructive side...
I recently read an article about the danger of having too many choices. It was directed at the consumer world, but I think it applies also to other types of choices. This article speculated that the sudden burst of choice in consumer related products is causing millions of Americans to fall deeper into depression. The idea was that, if you are the type to really look everything over, and then choose what you think is the best choice, if and when it turns out to be not the best choice, you become sad, or frustrated with yourself. If, however, you only had one choice, you can become frustrated with the supplier, which is much more healthy. The other type of person, the one which just buys whatever, has it much easier because they don't expect their consumer products to be the best, so when it turns out to be just on par, and not exceptional, they are blasé about it.
Come to think of it, that sounds like that "expect the worst" type of thinking...which I always thought I didn't agree with....
Anyway, of all the things I can think of that would be a possible "purpose", none seem to be "worthy". It's easy to dismiss this feeling as "oh well, this is just a step up to whatever purpose shows itself further down the road." Well that's all fine and dandy, but it doesn't ease my unease.
There are a couple of things I have thought of that would be "worthy" goals.
1. Spending decades getting rich, creating a foundation and then using that money to do good things, like charity or building hospitals or stuff like that.
2. Really dedicating myself to perfecting mind/body, for example just going away somewhere, becoming a monk or something (seriously, I find this idea charming in some way)
3. Family, children. This is something that pabbi mentioned a while back, that I might be just like him in this sense, and I totally agree. The only problem is, what happens when the children grow up, and the purpose becomes less dominating? This is why (at this point) I view the first two options as a "main goal" while the third would be a "main goal" for some twenty odd years at some point in my life.
Anyway, as always, too much energy going into thinking, and not enough going into actual corporeal things, like school and cooking dinner. Some real world news...Binh surprised me by telling me my haircut looked good. Maybe he's just a really strange guy rather than a bastard. Our toilet is broken, doesn't fill up, so we need to fill it by hand until it gets fixed. So Dan pees off the porch into the yard. ... And I had to leave my bike at school while I was bringing my comp back, and it was so late that I decided to leave it on campus overnight. Big mistake. Somebody stole my seat and the pump and drink carriage thingy. They obviously had tools, because that stuff was bolted down. What I don't understand though, is why they didn't take my front wheel? It has a quick release and everything. Oh well, going to buy new stuff tomorrow. I can still ride it, as long as I remember not to sit down....that would hurt.
laugardagur, maí 08, 2004
Had a nice day.
Started out with waking up at 6 in order to get a ride from Dan to school. I had to get my desktop computer in to be able to demo my graphics program for my professor. I had tried to avoid having to lug the comp up there, but UNIX world be damned, they only have a handful of win comps at school, and none of them had midi capability. Ergo, the lugging. Anyway, I walked back home, deciding to try to stay awake until 1pm, for the trumpet class. I hadn't slept that much the night before, still recovering from the insomnia. So I sat out on the porch, in the sweltering heat, and read Driven to Distraction. Well, poetically, I only managed to read that for about an hour, before I needed to get up and do something else. So I picked up one of those paddles with the ball stuck on an elastic string and started to play with it. An hour later I stood up, quite a bit better with the ball, and quite a bit shocked at how much time had passed without me noticing it.
...
Went to the trumpet class at 1. This was very interesting. Soren (the girl who brought me there) played the Kent kennan sonata (which I played for my 8th stig test 5 years ago) and Chris Gekker went through it with her, master-class style, for the first 20 minutes. After that, he had us listen to some piccolo trumpet, and spoke a bit about styles of piccolo playing. Finally he had a little lecture about Carmine Caruso and his method. This was all fascinating to me, and at the same time, made me quite sad that this kind of thing was never done at Tónó. This was such a great feeling, about 15 trumpet students together in a small lecture hall, Chris playing and talking and joking, and the students joking back. I learned quite a lot during that hour. More than I had expected.
I went and talked to him afterwards, although he was in a hurry. (Yes he remembers Kirk, and he says "Hi Kirk". By the way, from a first impression...this guy has all the same mannerisms I've seen in Kirk...he even looks a little like him :D ) Yes, it was fine that I sit in on these meetings, and can continue to do so while I'm at UMD. And yes, he does teach private lessons. $50 a pop. So I'm gonna get myself into a little better shape, and then maybe try to get into a routine with him, possibly take 1-2 lessons from him a month
The award ceremony was a joke, typical computer geek style. Just a couple of guys reading from a paper "and the NEXT award goes to" joke joke. One guy managed to destroy a microphone and a keyboard with one swift movement. It was all quite hilarious.
I finally got to showing my project around 5pm. I had to set up my own comp, so prof Varshney brought us to his computer graphics lab and we set up there. So I not only showed my project to him, but also to all his grad students. Which, needless to say, put some added pressure on me. Varshney was very quiet while listening to it the first time through, until he finally said. "This is very cool. Hey guys, you should see this." And a full-blown, theoretical discussion about inverse kinematics and it's application to music ensued with me at the (slightly off-)center. I was surprised at the effect the program had, I felt it was something I could have done much better (which means, I really didn't spend that much time on it) Buuut, I guess that's just the way I think.
When I brought my comp home, I figured I'd just use the chance to take it downstairs and hook it up to Tos' comp and get some of the movies he'd downloaded. I got almost 40 movies from him.
21 Grams
A Time to Kill
Along Came Polly
Big Fish
Blow
Boat Trip
Confidence
Dawn of the Dead
Embrace of the Vampire
Final Destination 2
Hackers
Harvard Man
Honey
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
Intolerable Cruelty
Man on Fire
My Boss's Daughter
Mystic River
Out of Time
Peter Pan
Reservoir Dogs
Runaway Jury
Swat
School of Rock
Starship Troopers 2
The Butterfly Effect
The Dreamers
The Hot Chick
The Hunted
The Last Samurai
The Missing
The Pianist
The Punisher
The Alamo
The Passion of Christ
Torque
True Romance
Under the Tuscan Sun
If any of you guys would like me to write some of these movies on to DVDs I can do so. Right now, this takes up about 50GB of my new drive so it's not too much of a sink on my resources. But as I watch them, one by one, I might want to start to remove them. And not all of them might be worth owning, for me. So let me know, and I'll see what I can do.
Of these, I have watched The Punisher, The Last Samurai, and School of Rock, and each one of those came as a pleasant surprise. I expected comix trash, presumptuous trash, and just plain trash respectively, but got instead, a refreshing action flick, a truly epic, powerful drama, and a hilarious, feelgood, music movie. M&P, you guys should especially see school of rock, you'll love it.
Started out with waking up at 6 in order to get a ride from Dan to school. I had to get my desktop computer in to be able to demo my graphics program for my professor. I had tried to avoid having to lug the comp up there, but UNIX world be damned, they only have a handful of win comps at school, and none of them had midi capability. Ergo, the lugging. Anyway, I walked back home, deciding to try to stay awake until 1pm, for the trumpet class. I hadn't slept that much the night before, still recovering from the insomnia. So I sat out on the porch, in the sweltering heat, and read Driven to Distraction. Well, poetically, I only managed to read that for about an hour, before I needed to get up and do something else. So I picked up one of those paddles with the ball stuck on an elastic string and started to play with it. An hour later I stood up, quite a bit better with the ball, and quite a bit shocked at how much time had passed without me noticing it.
...
Went to the trumpet class at 1. This was very interesting. Soren (the girl who brought me there) played the Kent kennan sonata (which I played for my 8th stig test 5 years ago) and Chris Gekker went through it with her, master-class style, for the first 20 minutes. After that, he had us listen to some piccolo trumpet, and spoke a bit about styles of piccolo playing. Finally he had a little lecture about Carmine Caruso and his method. This was all fascinating to me, and at the same time, made me quite sad that this kind of thing was never done at Tónó. This was such a great feeling, about 15 trumpet students together in a small lecture hall, Chris playing and talking and joking, and the students joking back. I learned quite a lot during that hour. More than I had expected.
I went and talked to him afterwards, although he was in a hurry. (Yes he remembers Kirk, and he says "Hi Kirk". By the way, from a first impression...this guy has all the same mannerisms I've seen in Kirk...he even looks a little like him :D ) Yes, it was fine that I sit in on these meetings, and can continue to do so while I'm at UMD. And yes, he does teach private lessons. $50 a pop. So I'm gonna get myself into a little better shape, and then maybe try to get into a routine with him, possibly take 1-2 lessons from him a month
The award ceremony was a joke, typical computer geek style. Just a couple of guys reading from a paper "and the NEXT award goes to" joke joke. One guy managed to destroy a microphone and a keyboard with one swift movement. It was all quite hilarious.
I finally got to showing my project around 5pm. I had to set up my own comp, so prof Varshney brought us to his computer graphics lab and we set up there. So I not only showed my project to him, but also to all his grad students. Which, needless to say, put some added pressure on me. Varshney was very quiet while listening to it the first time through, until he finally said. "This is very cool. Hey guys, you should see this." And a full-blown, theoretical discussion about inverse kinematics and it's application to music ensued with me at the (slightly off-)center. I was surprised at the effect the program had, I felt it was something I could have done much better (which means, I really didn't spend that much time on it) Buuut, I guess that's just the way I think.
When I brought my comp home, I figured I'd just use the chance to take it downstairs and hook it up to Tos' comp and get some of the movies he'd downloaded. I got almost 40 movies from him.
21 Grams
A Time to Kill
Along Came Polly
Big Fish
Blow
Boat Trip
Confidence
Dawn of the Dead
Embrace of the Vampire
Final Destination 2
Hackers
Harvard Man
Honey
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
Intolerable Cruelty
Man on Fire
My Boss's Daughter
Mystic River
Out of Time
Peter Pan
Reservoir Dogs
Runaway Jury
Swat
School of Rock
Starship Troopers 2
The Butterfly Effect
The Dreamers
The Hot Chick
The Hunted
The Last Samurai
The Missing
The Pianist
The Punisher
The Alamo
The Passion of Christ
Torque
True Romance
Under the Tuscan Sun
If any of you guys would like me to write some of these movies on to DVDs I can do so. Right now, this takes up about 50GB of my new drive so it's not too much of a sink on my resources. But as I watch them, one by one, I might want to start to remove them. And not all of them might be worth owning, for me. So let me know, and I'll see what I can do.
Of these, I have watched The Punisher, The Last Samurai, and School of Rock, and each one of those came as a pleasant surprise. I expected comix trash, presumptuous trash, and just plain trash respectively, but got instead, a refreshing action flick, a truly epic, powerful drama, and a hilarious, feelgood, music movie. M&P, you guys should especially see school of rock, you'll love it.
fimmtudagur, maí 06, 2004
I get the kind of insomnia that leaves me wide awake.
Not like some of my friends who get the kind of debilitating insomnia, where you are sooo tired you just can't fall asleep. Usually what happens with me is I have something on my mind. And when I lie down for bed, even though I am tired and need sleep, my mind goes into massive overtime and starts thinking, planning, playing out scenarios, jumping from one thing to the next. When I get to this point, it is absolutely impossible for me to get to sleep. And this is when having 40,000+ minutes of media to watch comes in handy.
Although, when faced with such a huge selection, actually choosing what to watch might be enough to make me sleepy again.
I'm becoming more and more convinced that I have Adult ADD. I feel constantly that things are sort of....swimming...especially when I'm reading. I never felt like that before(and I swear), but then again...in the old days, I would read books voraciously, but almost always with intense concentration. For example, I read a 700 page novel in 7 hours. With not a single break. Not even to look up. They say that is another hallmark of ADD. In any case, I would love to be able to organize my thoughts, and to focus on one thing for a while, instead of constantly having 20 things in my head at once. Don't get me wrong, it's fun to have so many things going on at once. In reality, I never get bored. I just get overwhelmed. The only thing I can say I have ever completed, of all the things I have done outside of school, is my short story.
Boy that's a depressing thought.
I have so many projects running at once, so many things I am really interested in and want to apply myself to, that just thinking about deciding what to spend my free time on at any given moment, is daunting enough to be almost paralyzing. And so I procrastinate.
That's kind of sick isn't it? To procrastinate on one's own free time? Instead of working on one of those things, I do my net round, or I check the status of my downloads, or I blog, or I watch an episode or two of whichever show I'm following at the moment, or I clean my room, anything other than making a decision. Maybe I'm seeing a holy grail where there is none, but wouldn't it be nice if ritalin would help me focus? I've often thought of what I could accomplish if I were just able to focus all my energy on some one thing.
While I was doing music, I probably came the closest to that. I estimate that at my peak I was spending about 50% of my energy on music, while the rest was split evenly between normal school and having fun. At the same time, the other kids at the music school were basically living there. I was spending at the absolute most 1.5 hours practicing a day. The other kids practiced 4 - 8 hours a day. I envied their dedication. Right now, the majority of my energy is spent on thinking and in general being existential. Over the last couple of weeks, I would estimate only about 20% of my energy has been spent working on school related stuff.
So anyway, I'm going to finish reading both the depression book, and the ADD book, and then get my health insurance papers together and in order and figure out if I can somehow get an ADD evaluation for free :)
Oh, by the way. For those of you guys who have downloaded my piano program thingy and the sound doesn't work...do the following:
1. Go to Start|Settings|Control Panel|Sounds & Multimedia
2. Go to the audio tab
3. Change to MIDI settings to something other than they are at now and try the piano program again
4. If this doesn't work, repeat 1-3, trying a different setting each time.
5. If that doesn't work then throw away your computer. It's a piece of shit.
And for you guys who haven't downloaded it...What's your problem? :D Go ahead and get it. It's only 300K(I wrote roo the first time instead of 300...funny how one's mind works) and should only take a minute.
Going on friday to this trumpet group class with Chris Gekker. The trumpet girl in UMRO invited me. Then after that there is some sort of thingy in the CS department, where I get recognition for the fellowship I received this year. So that should be a fun day.
Oh well, now I'm even more awake than I was (and I can't stop writing this blog....bloggybloggy bloggittysmog dogloghoggyschlog.... o_O)
Can anybody figure out what this is a picture of?
[>^_^]> ([~]`[~])
Oh yeah, and I shaved my head. Not skinhead type, but like, about one cm short. It was just so hot here, it itched, it was too long, and a haircut costs $15. This cost me 5 minutes of battery time. Plus it was fun :)
Not like some of my friends who get the kind of debilitating insomnia, where you are sooo tired you just can't fall asleep. Usually what happens with me is I have something on my mind. And when I lie down for bed, even though I am tired and need sleep, my mind goes into massive overtime and starts thinking, planning, playing out scenarios, jumping from one thing to the next. When I get to this point, it is absolutely impossible for me to get to sleep. And this is when having 40,000+ minutes of media to watch comes in handy.
Although, when faced with such a huge selection, actually choosing what to watch might be enough to make me sleepy again.
I'm becoming more and more convinced that I have Adult ADD. I feel constantly that things are sort of....swimming...especially when I'm reading. I never felt like that before(and I swear), but then again...in the old days, I would read books voraciously, but almost always with intense concentration. For example, I read a 700 page novel in 7 hours. With not a single break. Not even to look up. They say that is another hallmark of ADD. In any case, I would love to be able to organize my thoughts, and to focus on one thing for a while, instead of constantly having 20 things in my head at once. Don't get me wrong, it's fun to have so many things going on at once. In reality, I never get bored. I just get overwhelmed. The only thing I can say I have ever completed, of all the things I have done outside of school, is my short story.
Boy that's a depressing thought.
I have so many projects running at once, so many things I am really interested in and want to apply myself to, that just thinking about deciding what to spend my free time on at any given moment, is daunting enough to be almost paralyzing. And so I procrastinate.
That's kind of sick isn't it? To procrastinate on one's own free time? Instead of working on one of those things, I do my net round, or I check the status of my downloads, or I blog, or I watch an episode or two of whichever show I'm following at the moment, or I clean my room, anything other than making a decision. Maybe I'm seeing a holy grail where there is none, but wouldn't it be nice if ritalin would help me focus? I've often thought of what I could accomplish if I were just able to focus all my energy on some one thing.
While I was doing music, I probably came the closest to that. I estimate that at my peak I was spending about 50% of my energy on music, while the rest was split evenly between normal school and having fun. At the same time, the other kids at the music school were basically living there. I was spending at the absolute most 1.5 hours practicing a day. The other kids practiced 4 - 8 hours a day. I envied their dedication. Right now, the majority of my energy is spent on thinking and in general being existential. Over the last couple of weeks, I would estimate only about 20% of my energy has been spent working on school related stuff.
So anyway, I'm going to finish reading both the depression book, and the ADD book, and then get my health insurance papers together and in order and figure out if I can somehow get an ADD evaluation for free :)
Oh, by the way. For those of you guys who have downloaded my piano program thingy and the sound doesn't work...do the following:
1. Go to Start|Settings|Control Panel|Sounds & Multimedia
2. Go to the audio tab
3. Change to MIDI settings to something other than they are at now and try the piano program again
4. If this doesn't work, repeat 1-3, trying a different setting each time.
5. If that doesn't work then throw away your computer. It's a piece of shit.
And for you guys who haven't downloaded it...What's your problem? :D Go ahead and get it. It's only 300K(I wrote roo the first time instead of 300...funny how one's mind works) and should only take a minute.
Going on friday to this trumpet group class with Chris Gekker. The trumpet girl in UMRO invited me. Then after that there is some sort of thingy in the CS department, where I get recognition for the fellowship I received this year. So that should be a fun day.
Oh well, now I'm even more awake than I was (and I can't stop writing this blog....bloggybloggy bloggittysmog dogloghoggyschlog.... o_O)
Can anybody figure out what this is a picture of?
[>^_^]> ([~]`[~])
Oh yeah, and I shaved my head. Not skinhead type, but like, about one cm short. It was just so hot here, it itched, it was too long, and a haircut costs $15. This cost me 5 minutes of battery time. Plus it was fun :)
miðvikudagur, maí 05, 2004
Just to continue my analysis of Dan and friends.
I've noticed over these past months, that Dan's (and Tos') humor is...hmmm..don't know quite how to put it. Basically, 90% of their humor is about sex (usually gay), and the rest of their humor is like a competition in taking shots at each other. The competitive humor I have witnessed back home (most notably between Tóti and Ingó. However, Dan and Tos are better at it then they were). It's their sexual humor that I find...interesting.
There's nothing wrong with using sex as humor. I'm sure everybody has done it to some degree at some point. But when it gets to the level these guys are at...it becomes a bit twisted.
The way this works here is, you say something a bit shocking, but you have to sort of meld it into your natural way of speaking so it doesn't sound like you're saying something shocking, although the only reason you're saying it this way is to try to shock the other person. And then of course, the other person must not miss a step, if he does he shows that he is shocked and becomes the point of ridicule. Let me try to give you an example (and still keep it non-r rated :p)
Dan is limping across the den. I ask what's wrong.
Dan: "Dude, I went out on this date last night, and this girl had me going all night."
Tos: "Wait, was that before or after I took you like the bitch that you are?" (insert gratuitous, graphic, sexual vocabulary at will)
Dan and Tos: [laughing] "good one"
Another example, this one non-vocal. Dan comes out of the bathroom wearing only boxers, and I ask him something. He answers while walking into his room and pulling off his shorts and leaning over.
All this stuff strikes me as infantile. If I allow myself to generalize here, it's almost as if "Americans" got fed up at some point with being thought of as less liberal than "Europeans" and decided to become liberal in a jiffy by acting as if talking about explicit, graphic sexual acts, and walking around nude were normal things. The difference being that the "Americans" are doing it either to shock people or to make a point while the "Europeans" act this way naturally. And because of this, the "Americans" have gone overboard in the shock process, and of course keep going further.
The other thing that is fascinating is that these people seem to have a quite quick wit, and a good vocabulary. Now, I'm not able to take part in such verbal banter in english yet, I don't have that much control over the language. I can do it...but not at their pace. Whether that makes them intelligent is highly debatable. It does make them proficient at putting other people down though.
This doesn't bug me that much, it's almost hilarious. I mean when Dan talks about "his balls" in the same tone of voice one would talk about "his car", it makes me want to crack up. Not for the reason Dan might think this is clever, but for the absurdity of Dan and his type acting in this manner and thinking that it makes them clever and liberal.
In other news, I joined a community synphonic wind orchestra today(glorified lúðrasveit). Went to my first rehearsal. It was fun, nice people, not too difficult music. There's something totally different about being in an amateur band, there is no competition. People are just there to play and they really couldn't care less what they play. I was placed straight away on first trumpet. Some guy asked me what I'd been doing. I said I played principal in the UMRO, and he went "Oh. You'd best play first here then." I was fine with that. Although I did tell the conductor that I would be willing to play any voice, if he felt he needed some support at the bottom, for example. Too often, the best players group up on the first and sometimes second parts, leaving the lower parts for the less proficient. This is not so great, because often the deep parts are more difficult to get in tune than the higher parts, so having a strong player there is usually a good idea.
Either way, I'm slowly but surely getting back into the music world.
I've noticed over these past months, that Dan's (and Tos') humor is...hmmm..don't know quite how to put it. Basically, 90% of their humor is about sex (usually gay), and the rest of their humor is like a competition in taking shots at each other. The competitive humor I have witnessed back home (most notably between Tóti and Ingó. However, Dan and Tos are better at it then they were). It's their sexual humor that I find...interesting.
There's nothing wrong with using sex as humor. I'm sure everybody has done it to some degree at some point. But when it gets to the level these guys are at...it becomes a bit twisted.
The way this works here is, you say something a bit shocking, but you have to sort of meld it into your natural way of speaking so it doesn't sound like you're saying something shocking, although the only reason you're saying it this way is to try to shock the other person. And then of course, the other person must not miss a step, if he does he shows that he is shocked and becomes the point of ridicule. Let me try to give you an example (and still keep it non-r rated :p)
Dan is limping across the den. I ask what's wrong.
Dan: "Dude, I went out on this date last night, and this girl had me going all night."
Tos: "Wait, was that before or after I took you like the bitch that you are?" (insert gratuitous, graphic, sexual vocabulary at will)
Dan and Tos: [laughing] "good one"
Another example, this one non-vocal. Dan comes out of the bathroom wearing only boxers, and I ask him something. He answers while walking into his room and pulling off his shorts and leaning over.
All this stuff strikes me as infantile. If I allow myself to generalize here, it's almost as if "Americans" got fed up at some point with being thought of as less liberal than "Europeans" and decided to become liberal in a jiffy by acting as if talking about explicit, graphic sexual acts, and walking around nude were normal things. The difference being that the "Americans" are doing it either to shock people or to make a point while the "Europeans" act this way naturally. And because of this, the "Americans" have gone overboard in the shock process, and of course keep going further.
The other thing that is fascinating is that these people seem to have a quite quick wit, and a good vocabulary. Now, I'm not able to take part in such verbal banter in english yet, I don't have that much control over the language. I can do it...but not at their pace. Whether that makes them intelligent is highly debatable. It does make them proficient at putting other people down though.
This doesn't bug me that much, it's almost hilarious. I mean when Dan talks about "his balls" in the same tone of voice one would talk about "his car", it makes me want to crack up. Not for the reason Dan might think this is clever, but for the absurdity of Dan and his type acting in this manner and thinking that it makes them clever and liberal.
In other news, I joined a community synphonic wind orchestra today(glorified lúðrasveit). Went to my first rehearsal. It was fun, nice people, not too difficult music. There's something totally different about being in an amateur band, there is no competition. People are just there to play and they really couldn't care less what they play. I was placed straight away on first trumpet. Some guy asked me what I'd been doing. I said I played principal in the UMRO, and he went "Oh. You'd best play first here then." I was fine with that. Although I did tell the conductor that I would be willing to play any voice, if he felt he needed some support at the bottom, for example. Too often, the best players group up on the first and sometimes second parts, leaving the lower parts for the less proficient. This is not so great, because often the deep parts are more difficult to get in tune than the higher parts, so having a strong player there is usually a good idea.
Either way, I'm slowly but surely getting back into the music world.
mánudagur, maí 03, 2004
sunnudagur, maí 02, 2004
Just thought I'd update you on my completely obsessive downloading.
I have now downloaded over 40,000 minutes of anime.
That amounts to ca 30 days of watching anime, with no break to eat sleep or poop. So I guess I'm set for quite a while. Not that this means I'm gonna stop downloading. Nahh..
Oh yeah, and of course in addition to this I've also been downloading other tv shows, like Alias, ER, 24, Friends, Scrubs, Smallville, Sopranos, Coupling, Blackadder, Angel, Carnivale, and the occasional movie or so. With all that I probably break the 50,000 mark.
Will I ever watch all that anime? Who knows. Right now I'm just letting the collector in me go wild. It's not often you get to take on a collection so extensive as this one without using a huge amount of money :D
I have now downloaded over 40,000 minutes of anime.
That amounts to ca 30 days of watching anime, with no break to eat sleep or poop. So I guess I'm set for quite a while. Not that this means I'm gonna stop downloading. Nahh..
Oh yeah, and of course in addition to this I've also been downloading other tv shows, like Alias, ER, 24, Friends, Scrubs, Smallville, Sopranos, Coupling, Blackadder, Angel, Carnivale, and the occasional movie or so. With all that I probably break the 50,000 mark.
Will I ever watch all that anime? Who knows. Right now I'm just letting the collector in me go wild. It's not often you get to take on a collection so extensive as this one without using a huge amount of money :D
Who'd've thought writing a stemmer for Icelandic would be so difficult?
I mean, I knew Icelandic was a difficult language, but I figured I was getting off easy, doing a project on my own language. But no...what's with all the sound changing and rule exceptions in this language? Geez...
For those of you who don't know, a stemmer is a program which takes a word as an input and outputs the stem of the word based on a certain algorithm. For example, in the english stemmer 'abduction' is stemmed to 'abduct', and 'conflation' to 'conflate'.
Oh well, I'll just have to work on it.
In other news...two girls I know quite well are pregnant, but I'm not allowed to tell who they are!
More on that once I get permission...
I mean, I knew Icelandic was a difficult language, but I figured I was getting off easy, doing a project on my own language. But no...what's with all the sound changing and rule exceptions in this language? Geez...
For those of you who don't know, a stemmer is a program which takes a word as an input and outputs the stem of the word based on a certain algorithm. For example, in the english stemmer 'abduction' is stemmed to 'abduct', and 'conflation' to 'conflate'.
Oh well, I'll just have to work on it.
In other news...two girls I know quite well are pregnant, but I'm not allowed to tell who they are!
More on that once I get permission...
Went to a party at Freyja's yesterday during the day. She had her T'ai Chi friends over and also us other people, like me, Þóra, Christine and Christopher, Fred and Helen...It was nice. Good food, a nice selection of beer, and interesting conversation. Got into a long one with some guy I didn't know (Paul maybe?) about Japan and the language and culture.
I had ridden my bike there, using the metro on the way, which was not altogether an unpleasant experience, although a bit tiring. Anyway, Freyja sent me home with a chunk of ham, some biscuits and an unopened bottle of red wine. Thanks Freyja mín :) Us cheapo grad students will never say no to free food, let alone wine.
Christopher got into a long discussion with some of the T'ai Chi people about energy and synchronicity and such. It was an interesting discussion to follow, and I had to steel myself not to join in. Christopher was being very polite and interested about something he obviously was quite sceptical about. I wouldn't have been as polite. Not on purpose, mind you. Just that when I get into such discussions, I want to get down to the nitty gritty of things, and I don't like stopping at some point because somebody gets offeneded. In fact, I usually don't even notice that they get offended :p
Go back here around 8pm, was gonna do some work but didn't. I was totally exhausted after the bike riding, but still not sleepy. So I watched two new episodes of 24.
Now, I think of myself as a rather jaded person when it comes to cinematic violence and such. However, as I was saying to pabbi the other day, it's not so much the blood and gore that bothers me, it's the actual ideas behind it. Somehow, I guess I see myself in the situation the protagonist is in, and I just get horrified. It doesn't always happen. Like when you're watching an action movie, like Die Hard, you can't really put yourself in the position, because it's just so far from your reality. But when things happen to the Joe Blow...it's much more striking for me. For example, the things that make me feel awful in movies are those little scenes...the ones that just flit by, where passerby get shot indiscriminantly.
So there was one scene in one of the 24 episodes I just thought was horrible. Actually it was more the whole theme of the episode. I'm not going to tell you what it was, at least no here. I don't want to spoil it for the rest of you.
Then I went and spoke with Dan and Tos about the scene and they were all like "Yeah! Wasn't that awesome?"
Hmmm...I'm still not quite sure what to make of all this.
Either way, 24 gets respect from me for being able to write and execute such a powerful episode.
I had ridden my bike there, using the metro on the way, which was not altogether an unpleasant experience, although a bit tiring. Anyway, Freyja sent me home with a chunk of ham, some biscuits and an unopened bottle of red wine. Thanks Freyja mín :) Us cheapo grad students will never say no to free food, let alone wine.
Christopher got into a long discussion with some of the T'ai Chi people about energy and synchronicity and such. It was an interesting discussion to follow, and I had to steel myself not to join in. Christopher was being very polite and interested about something he obviously was quite sceptical about. I wouldn't have been as polite. Not on purpose, mind you. Just that when I get into such discussions, I want to get down to the nitty gritty of things, and I don't like stopping at some point because somebody gets offeneded. In fact, I usually don't even notice that they get offended :p
Go back here around 8pm, was gonna do some work but didn't. I was totally exhausted after the bike riding, but still not sleepy. So I watched two new episodes of 24.
Now, I think of myself as a rather jaded person when it comes to cinematic violence and such. However, as I was saying to pabbi the other day, it's not so much the blood and gore that bothers me, it's the actual ideas behind it. Somehow, I guess I see myself in the situation the protagonist is in, and I just get horrified. It doesn't always happen. Like when you're watching an action movie, like Die Hard, you can't really put yourself in the position, because it's just so far from your reality. But when things happen to the Joe Blow...it's much more striking for me. For example, the things that make me feel awful in movies are those little scenes...the ones that just flit by, where passerby get shot indiscriminantly.
So there was one scene in one of the 24 episodes I just thought was horrible. Actually it was more the whole theme of the episode. I'm not going to tell you what it was, at least no here. I don't want to spoil it for the rest of you.
Then I went and spoke with Dan and Tos about the scene and they were all like "Yeah! Wasn't that awesome?"
Hmmm...I'm still not quite sure what to make of all this.
Either way, 24 gets respect from me for being able to write and execute such a powerful episode.
