March 2002 Archives

Welcome to the March 2002 Rant Archives. These posts are from the brief period of time when I used blogger, so they aren't archived very well. Some of the internal links might not work, though references to outside sites should be just fine.

Friday, March 29, 2002

I'm finally done classes for the week, and while I'm quite glad of this fact, there are certain key events that prevent my weekend from being as enjoyable as possible. The first is a Statistics exam coming up on Monday, and even though it's open book, open notes, it will still be quite difficult. There's a review session being held at 5:00 on Sunday, so as long as I go to that, I should be fine. My second major concern is a Greek exam coming up on Wednesday, though I won't be working on that until after the Stats exam on Monday. My friend Trebor is coming up to visit tomorrow morning, though I'm not really sure what we're going to do. Not Another Teen Movie is playing, and while I've resisted seeing it for a while, because of elitist movie tastes, I'll probably give it a try Saturday night. Trebor raves about it, and while it will almost certainly be raunchier than I'd like, parts of it are sure to be amusing. I even found parts of American Pie 2 to be hilarious, despite my misgivings.

I met with my Honors Advisor today, to review my Annual Academic Plan, since it needs to be approved by him before Monday afternoon. He was pretty agreeable, though he strongly recommended that I honors option one of my three CSE courses next semester. For those of you who aren't in the know, I've got to have 14 honors credits between my junior and senior year up here. If you honors option a class, it counts towards your requirement, though it means that the previously easy class will now require some work. Classes that were difficult to begin with become nigh impossible, as honors optioning usually manifests itself in the form of a term paper or final project. My advisor pointed out that taking this option will probably help me find ideas for an honors thesis, which is by far the nastiest of the requirements for being an honors student. I'm feeling a little pompous throwing the word honors around willy-nilly, though the use of the phrase willy-nilly throws my arrogance right out the window. The way things are looking right now, I should be on track to pick up a Math minor and a Greek minor. The math minor is a definite, since I'll be simultaneously satisfying CSE requirements, and as long as I get C's or better in my next four Greek classes, the Greek minor should work out fine. After careful deliberation, I've decided to skip Dudes tonight, since I didn't get much sleep last night. As it is, I'll probably go to bed rather early, since Trebor might arrive as early as 11:00

Currently Listening to: REM - Radio Free Europe
Link of the Day: Robot Duck - This is a Shockwave site created by a fellow named Ben Pitt, and currently features 14 games. I've only tried two of the so far, and they're both pretty entertaining. Robot Duck also claims to have "director programming tutorials tips and source code", which immediately set off my comp sci radar. I'll keep you posted as I experiment with the rest of the games.

Posted at 5:27 PM

So I'm sitting on a couch in one of the Atherton hallways studying for Greek, when this very attractive girl walks by. She's one of the people around campus that I take note of when they pass by, but I don't make any sort of effort to "run into her" or even initiate conversation. So I'm sitting on the couch, following this girl with my eyes, if you know what I mean, and as soon as the turns the corner, the girl studying on the adjacent couch says, "She's engaged," and nothing more. Apparently my leering was blatantly obvious to her, though hopefully it was far less transparent to the object of my ogling. All in all, merely slightly embarrassing, since only one person saw it, which leaves me to wonder why I'm mentioning it on my site for the whole world to read.

I had my CSE 331 exam today, and it didn't go very well. I'm pretty sure that I managed to pass it, though I'm not hoping for much better. My grade in the class should still be secure, though it will be very difficult to get an A at this point. Fortunately, there's no chance of me doing worse than a B+ at this point, so I'm not too worried. My Stats exam on Monday and Greek exam on Wednesday are of a much larger concern, since those are the two classes I'm having the most trouble with. I should be able to pull off B's in both of those classes, though the final will be probably be the deciding factor in both cases.

Leah reminded me to mention Just Shoot Me today, which I watched when I should have been studying. Jack is talking to Finch about college, since Jack's paying for it, and Finch isn't doing too well. To paraphrase: "Education is one of the greatest things in the world. Except for maybe pie. But while pie fills you up down here (points to stomach region), educations fills you up here (points to head). So education is sort of like Mind Pie." Later, when Finch is showing signs of maturity because of his college classes, Jack continues, "Wow... education isn't just Mind Pie, it's Soul Pie too." That's right folks, I'm paying thousands of dollars a year for Pie. And not the sort of pie mentioned at bamf, as their Pie is just half (or completely) naked women.

Currently Listening to: Nothing
Link of the Day Ultra-High Frequency - Billed as the Unofficial Stereolab site, this appears to be a pretty good fan site, as far as such things go. I'm not really sure why I have this site bookmarked, since I've only heard one Stereolab song in my life, namely "French Disko." Perhaps I'll check it out further when I have some free time. Or better yet, one of you fine folks out there could do it for me, and let me know how it turns out.

Posted at 1:25 AM

Wednesday, March 27, 2002

I picked up a two liter bottle of Mountain Dew today, because it only costs thirty cents more than a twenty ounce bottle. I carried it around with me all day, and when I got back to my room, I tossed it in the fridge. Well, apparently I'm really good at closing soda bottles, because when I went to open it just now, it was on so tight that I broke the skin on my right index finger trying to open it. There's about a half an inch tear in my skin now, and it's mildly irritating, though, luckily it doesn't really interfere with typing. I'm hoping that I can grow a few new layers of skin overnight, because this is a real pain. I didn't have much homework tonight, since my only class tomorrow is Calculus, and the homework the teacher assigned only took me about an hour. I spent most of the evening playing Icewind Dale, and I've been having a really good time. I'm almost going to be disappointed when I finally finish it, though Lord knows I've got plenty of other games to occupy my time. If I manage to resist taking a nap tomorrow, I'll have plenty of time to mess around on the computer, until about 3:00, when I should start studying for my CSE 331 exam. That takes place at 6:30, after which I've gotta do my Greek homework and study for a short quiz. The way things are looking, I should have no trouble getting into bed before 1 on Friday, for the first time in a while. Well, I'm gonna read a little Jack Vance before bed, since I've gotta be up at 7:30 for Calculus.

Currently Listening to: Ace of Base - Hear Me Calling
Link of the Day: Leah's Livejournal - I know I've already linked to Elocina's Live Journal, but I'm running out of interesting links, so this is what you get. I actually don't read his LJ (as they're called) very often, but it's a good source of on-line quizzes, at the very least.

Posted at 11:15 PM

On-line quizzes always come in pairs, so here's two more I've found from Elocina's website. The first one doesn't apply to me at all, but the second one is supposedly quite funny... I haven't taken it yet:



You’re Michelle Branch! You’re the ‘girl nextdoor’ type of gal. You’ve got a down-to-earth feel about you, and you’re not afraid to be original. You’re still trying to find yourplace in life, but that doesn’t mean you’re not enjoying the trip. Rich and famous? Sure! But you’re not gonna let that go to your head. ;D

What Kind of Pop Princess Are You? Quiz by Jonah





you have an ominosity quotient of

six.


you are really ominous.

find out your ominosity quotient.


I can't say much for being Michelle Branch, but an ominosity quotient is pretty darn good.

Posted at 12:55 AM

It's 12:10 and the fire alarm is going off, and I'm not sure if I want to ignore it or not. I'm damn sure they aren't allowed to do drills this time of night, so it's either a false alarm or the real deal. I'm going to wait long enough to finish typing this sentence though, just in case it's the former. (Brief pause as I stand outside in the cold). Well, it turned out to be a false alarm after all, and the alarm stopped about three minutes after it started. The fresh air did me good though, so I'm not too pissed off at the jerk who set it off. Who am I kidding? That guy is an unrelenting fucktard, and deserves to drown in a puddle of his own vomit. And since he was mostly likely drunk, that scenario isn't too far-fetched.

Although I only had two classes, and I manged to get a whole lot of reading in, today pretty much sucked. Not only was it raining the entire freaking day, I've only played Icewind Dale for 45 minutes. By the time I took my post-lunch nap and worked on my Mythology thesis, it was time to eat dinner by myself. I would have eaten with Neevred, Akira, and the rest, but I was due to be at a gaming session at 6:15, so I didn't have any time. I got back from the gaming a little after 10:00, when I proceeded to work on my Greek homework. I attempted to work on some 465, with little success. My friend Ellar is going to help me out a little with the concepts tomorrow, since I'm pretty close to understanding all of them. There were four problems assigned, and so far, I can do about 1 1/2 of them. My friend Trebor is visiting Leah and I this weekend, which should be pretty cool. Not that this is different from the Trebor who visited last semester, as he is now called Samoht. I'm eventually going to make a page that talks about all of the people I mention on my site, and their relationship to eachother, since the random aliases I come up with don't help very much.

Currently Listening to: Tom Petty - Free Falling
Link of the Day: Teddisms Generator - I'm not really sure who Tedd is, but this is a pretty entertaining site if you aren't offended by exceedingly foul insults. This site is not for the faint of heart, most notabally my mom, if she's still reading my site. My favorite random insult by far is Unrelenting Fucktard, which I made use of earlier in the post.

Posted at 12:33 AM

Sunday, March 24, 2002

Where have all my favorites gone? That's the question I've been asking myself, whenever I pull down the favorites tab on my browser. To save space Windows, XP removes website from the list that you haven't looked at in a while. To look at the old ones, you just have to hit a button at the bottom of the pulldown menu. Now, I was a little distressed the first time I witnessed this disappearing act, but a little detective work solved the dilemma. As such, I don't need Internet Explorer to remind me every time I hesitate on the favorites menu. What's the point of a convenient new feature if they have to remind me of it constantly? There's a significant chance I'm just babbling here, so to summarize, Microsoft sucks... for no good reason.

My weekend was largely uneventful, but that hardly comes as a surprise. Llahned and I attempted to see Ocean's Eleven at the HUB on Friday night, but by the time we got there, the line was already out to yesterday. So instead, we took part in a game show being hosted by Mr. B on the ground floor. It turned out to be entirely music trivia, which wasn't what we were expecting. We both ended up getting called up, which was lucky, but Llahned didn't sore a single point on his own, and I only got second place in my round. I was pretty entertaining though. On Saturday I worked on a 331 project until about 10:00, then I headed back to my room for my usual routine of Icewind Dale and Jack Vance. We eventually did see Ocean's Eleven today, and it was just as good the second time around. George Clooney melts my butter. Julia Roberts doesn't really do anything for me though. And speaking of Icewind Dale, I have snow trolls to slay.

Currently Listening to: Faith Hill singing at the Oscar’s
Link of the Day: Turdmonster.com - This is the home of a little brown monster plushie who travels the world having adventures. You may have seen him featured on a popular image, captioned "Every time you masturbate, God kills a kitten". The picture shows two Turdmonsters chasing a kitten down a grassy field. It's entertaining the first time you see it, but it gets old after a while. Anyway, there is some pretty funny stuff on this site, so check it out when you get a chance.

Posted at 11:25 PM

Friday, March 22, 2002

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't today the third day of spring? Now that we agree on that, can somebody please tell me why the hell it's snowing? I guess you would have to call it flurries, but it's still far more snow than we should have in late March. My Greek quiz went pretty well, and I'm excpeting a low B or a high C. Not spectacular, but it's about what I expected. And now, some on-line surveys:



Daria is the poster child for "teen misfit," and holds in high contempt what she sees as the shallowness and superficiality of the world around her. She is also cynical -- though she'd say she's "realistic" -- and mistrustful of authority, and doesn't hesitate to make her opinions known when she sees fit. She has a talent for writing, a sharp intellect, an even sharper tongue (her sarcasm could cut tempered steel), and a wit so dry it makes the Sahara look like a rain forest.

I took the Inner Dragon online quiz and found out I am a Green Dragon on the inside. My Inner Dragon is the embodiment of Nature and the Earth. Greens spend almost all of their time below the canopy or just above the treetops in tropical rain forests. Not a bad life considering every other creature in the forest looks up to me, figuratively and literally. I speak the language of every animal and plant in my domain and know most of them by first name. If people mess with my forests, I'm more than happy to wail on their puny butts. Because of my protector/caretaker role, I am the Earth Elemental dragon.

Naturally my whole life pretty much revolves around the other couple million species I keep an eye on, but that's not my whole dragon. I also like to like to impose my steadfast will on others, commune with Nature, and lobby governments for alternative fuels and conservation. My favorable attributes are gemstones, mountains, caves, soil, respect, endurance, responsibility, prosperity, and purpose in life. Folks shouldn't get the idea I'm a hippy pushover though, because my breath weapon is a nasty Fire/Acid combination. Maybe I should invest in a hemp shirt reading "Don't knock my smock, or I'll clean your clock." *wink*

Originally they tried to give me the Gold dragon, but I was like, nas... I needs to be an Earth elemental dragon. So I rethought my answers and made sure to pick earth-friendly ones. It may be cheating, but in the world of online quizzes, who's to judge? Besides... this dragon description mentions "clean your clock" which is a fantastic phrase. As for the Daria quiz, I didn't cheat at all, but since I'm a sarcastic fellow, it was hardly suprising.

Posted at 11:53 AM

I've got a Greek quiz in just under nine hours, and I'm only about half as prepared as I'd like to be. But since my mind isn't tailored towards memorization, I probably can't hold any more words in my head anyway. At least not until I get a little sleep. My tenative plan is to wake up at 7:00 tomorrow morning, and I've vowed not to check the internet until after my test. This should prevent a good half an hour of procrastination, and even counting on the fact that I won't actually get out of bed until 7:30, I should have about an hour to drill myself on vocabulary before Mythology. This quiz is only worth 3% of our grade, so I'm not stressing too much, but I'd like to do well on it. Nothing in my world is worse than getting a D on a Greek quiz, because her inevitable comment is "What happened here?" I'm always tempted to translate it into Greek and write it on the top of my quiz, so as to save her the trouble.

My Mythology assignment today was quite interesting. We had to describe a modern ritual, and explain how it derived from a passage in the Odyssey. Well, I chose to explain the ritual of college, which I'm enjoying less and less as the semesters roll by. I decided that college came about because of the contest that Penelope gives to the suitors. They had to string Odysseus' bow, and shoot an arrow straight through twelve axe handles. I decided that the number was then reduced to eight, to make it easier, and that young men performed the task as a right of passage. Eventually archery became a rare skill, and young men instead had to perform eight difficult tasks. After a while, these tasks became purely intellectual, and were given a fixed length of four months, or semesters. Thus, when a student attends four years of college, he's really just carrying out a mindless ritual dictated by an ancient Greek text. It works for me.

Currently Lisening to: Naked Eyes - Always Something There to Remind Me
Link of the Day: M&T Bank - This is one of the websites I have bookmarked, since it's my bank, and I'm feeling rather uninspired today. Thanks to the handy features provided by web banking, I haven't looked at my checkbook in weeks. Why add and subtract by hand, when my account balance is a few mouseclicks away? Also, of all the banks across the street from my dorm room, M&T is the best.

Posted at 1:41 AM

Wednesday, March 20, 2002

Amazing, even with this new Blogger system that makes updating my site ludicrously easy, I'm still to lazy to make a new post every day. To be fair to myself, I was incredibly busy last night, so ranting about my life was the last thing on my mind. Not much ever happens to me anyway. I don't have any homework assignments due tomorrow, but I just spent the last two hours working on Mythology and Greek so that I have a little less to deal with later. Now all I have to do for Friday is write a short paper for Mythology and study for a humungous Greek quiz. I can't wait. I think I might try to give plasma tomorrow, even though they'll probably reject me because of beta proteins, or some such nonsense. Lately I've been in the mood to listen to whole CDs, rather than random tracks from my MP3 collection. Since my CD collection is currently quite small, I'd like some money to beef it up. Specifically, I'd like to pick up all of the REM and Cranberries CDs I don't have, and that's a whole lot of music. But I'd better not plan my purchases too carefully, because chances are that they won't take my plasma.

Several bad things happened today, but all is well, since I had plenty of time to play Icewind Dale. First of all, it was raining this morning, and it continued to do so for most of the day. Thanks to Trenchie and Commodore Mel, I managed to stay dry for the most part, but even so, I didn't enjoy it. And as usual, people with giant umbrellas ticked me off. It's very difficult to get between classes at a reasonable pace when there's a maze of jumbo umbrellas blocking the sidewalk. I also bombed a CSE 331 quiz today, mostly because I've been sleeping through class the past two weeks. It shouldn't hurt my grade, since we get lots of throwaway points, but I'll have to do some major studying before the second midterm next week. And the final bad thing that happened today was a fire drill at 9:05. I still don't understand why we have to have these things once a month. We've been doing them since elementary school, and we're all quite capable of finding the nearest exit when we hear that annoying bell. If fact, the fire alarm would be more effective if we didn't have a drill, since whenever we heard it, we'd know damn well it was an emergency. But campaigning about fire drills is a losing battle... you can't fight the system.

Currently Listening to: 10,000 Maniacs - All That Never Happens
Link of the Day: REM HQ - Although the loading time is a bitch, this is one of the coolest REM sites I've found in my travels. The graphical interface is pretty clean, and you can view lyrics and listen to samples for just about every song they ever came out with. But as I mentioned, the site is not kind to those with low bandwidth, so if you're using a dial-up connection, you'd be better off finding a different site for your REM information.

Posted at 11:35 PM

Monday, March 18, 2002

Man, I hate Mondays. I wake up with barely enough time to shower and read my webcomics, and then it's off to Mythology. After Mythology comes Greek, followed by an hour for lunch. Then it's time for CSE 331, CSE 465, and Stats. Finally at 3:30, seven hours after waking, I'm able to chill and my room and play computer games. And that's just what I did. I got a good four hours of Icewind Dale in today, and I'm loving it. I fought off hordes of shadowed elves with nary a scratch, recovered mystical artifacts, and restored the sanity of an undead elven king. Not bad for a day's work. I'd actually like to be playing right now, but there are only so many hours in a day, and Jack Vance would be angry if I neglected his book. I've only got two classes tomorrow, but I'll be busy most of the day, since I've got assignments pending in almost all of my classes. I'm meeting Ellar to work on CSE 331 from 6:30 to 9:00, when I'm due to meet Xof in the HUB for some Stats action. Toss in Greek translations, Mythology reading, and a 465 assignment I haven't started yet, and you've got a recipe for fun. I should still be able to get a couple hours of video gaming in though. After all, I'll be busy, not dead.

Don't you hate it when people make perfectly reasonable requests of you that you just don't feel like complying with? Something small that you just don't feel like doing, but if you refuse, you'll look like an asshole. For instance, I was working on some Greek in my personal study room, when this guy asks me if I'll be willing to leave so that he and his friend can have a "study session." I was about ten minutes from finishing, and really didn't want to move, but I did anyway, because it's the proper thing to do. In some respects I prefer when people make ludicrous request of me. That way I can refuse them and keep my dignity. I'm hoping that some of you out there have had similar difficulties with "reasonable favors", and that I'm not just coming off as a rambling moron. Though if I am, I can probably deal.

Currently Listening to: Wall Flowers - Bleeders
Link of the Day: Strength Coach.com - This is a cool little site that Samoht found a while back, and while neither of us are much interested in the body-building aspect of the site, it has a cool collection of flash games where you can simulate a variety of different sports that would be much less fun in real life.

Posted at 10:38 PM

Sunday, March 17, 2002

Well, another Sunday passed, and I still haven't achieved enlightenment. Not that I'm trying very hard, mind you. I met Xof at the HUB to work on Stats today, and after working on it for about 90 minutes, we decided to give up. We got slightly less than half of it done, and it's not due until Wednesday, so we should be in good shape. I've got monkeyloads of work to do this week, so much that I'll have to miss the gaming session with Christman on Tuesday. As an added bonus, I might just get a chance to see the premier of Andy Richter Controls the Universe. Unfortunately, it's running opposite Gilmore Girls, so I probably won't be able to watch it on a regular basis.

That Jack Vance collection that I'm reading is called The Compleat Dying Earth, and I'm already a fourth of the way through. It's amazing how much reading time I'm getting in now that I'm finished with Lord of the Rings. Pretty soon I'm going to be finished with all the books I bought over the summer, and I'll have to turn to Nostre or Llahned for further literature. Hopefully they'll both be willing to help me out. On the video game front, I'm making good progress in Icewind Dale, though I'm having a bit of trouble with an elven wizard right now. He lives at the top of a gigantic tower (of course), and is always sending Shadowed Goblins, Orcs, and Ogres after me. My party is a pretty formidable force, but I have some trouble when that damn wizard throws twenty archers at me. And since they're shadow monsters, they don't leave any corpses that I can loot. I'm making moderate progress in Lemmings Revolution, which is a really fun game, if you're a fan of the Lemmings series. I also played a little bit of Paper Mario today, and I might actually finish in the next couple days. My friends have been accusing me of never finishing games anymore, a charge which I vehemently deny. I just haven't been in the mood to play Final Fantasy X lately... I'm firmly resolved to work on my website today, and I'll be spending the next hour updating various things. Whether these things will be of any import is yet to be seen.

Currently Listening to: Harry McClintock - Big Rock Candy Mountain
Link of the Day: Elocina's Live Journal - Elocina is a friend of mine back home, and after a failed attempt at a regular website, she decided to do a blog. Live Journal is a pretty good host, but they don't provide enough customization options to incorporate a live journal into my website. Leah's also got a live journal over there, though I must admit that I don't read his very often. Elocina's is pretty entertaining though.

Posted at 11:29 PM

Saturday, March 16, 2002

I finally got up the nerve to ask Nostre out last night, after talking with her and one of her friends at dinner. I invited her to see Ice Age with me some time, but it turns out that she'd rather just be friends. It's a bit disappointing, but I think I can handle it. Besides, it's better to know one way or the other than to never have asked... only slightly better, in this case. The rest of my day was rather uneventful. I was supposed to meet my friend Resnad to work on a 331 assignment today, but apparently he decided to visit his girlfriend back home for the weekend instead. I imagine he had planned to update me during class on Friday, but seeing as how I skipped all of my afternoon classes to take a nap, he never got a chance. I did get lots of computer game time in, which is always nice, and I finally finished Lord of the Rings. I enjoyed it well enough, but it will be a long time before I give it a third read. It's a very good piece of literature, but it's a little slow at times. I think I'm going to read a book I have by Jack Vance next... whoever he is. It's one of the books I got from the Science Fiction Book Club over the summer, so hopefully it will be decent. Well, Llahned's coming over soon, so I'd better get going. We're going to play The Incredible Machine for a while, and then we're heading to the HUB for a rousing game of Bingo. Wheeee!

Currently Listening to: Wang Chung - Everybody Have Fun Tonight
Link of the Day: Perfect World - This is one of the best Ace of Base websites I've ever found, and I've done a lot of searching. It's got places where you can listen to all of their songs and download all of their videos. Its' also got the latest information on their fourth album, which should be out sometime this year. If you thought Ace of Base stopped after The Sign, you've got another think coming.

Posted at 8:26 PM

Thursday, March 14, 2002

It's been a rather productive day so far, mostly thanks to the fact that I only took a short nap after Calculus this morning. The rest of the morning (and early afternoon) was spent playing Icewind Dale, sometimes to the tune of two middle-aged guys working on our radiator. Supposedly we can actually control the flow of heat now, though I'll have to see it to believe it. After battling countless trolls and lizardmen, it was time to head to my private study lounge to work on Calculus. I spent about three hours doing practice problems for the exam, which served me well. I just got back from the test about 20 minutes ago, and I think I kicked its ass. And if that wasn't good enough, those practice problems I worked on just happened to be the same ones that are due next Tuesday. That's one less thing for me to worry about this weekend. Unfortunately, I still have plenty of things to worry about tonight. I haven't started writing that Mythology paper, and while I've prepared some index cards of Greek vocabulary, I haven't really started studying for that test either. I'm hoping to be in bed by 1:00, though I could probably stay awake later if absolutely necessary. IN other news, this silly blogger system has finally decided to recognize my cookies, so I don't have to log in every time I want to make a post.

Currently Listening to: Destiny's Child - Say My Name
Link of the Day: How to Become a Hacker - This is another cool site that I found through Neevred, and it's basically an FAQ for becoming a hacker. Not to be confused with l33t hax0rs or crackers, both of which are lamers. As the webpage puts it, "The basic difference is this: hackers build things, crackers break them." So read it and enjoy, but don't let the pretentiousness get to you. They're nerds... they can't help it.

Posted at 8:12 PM

Wednesday, March 13, 2002

The RA Interview seemed to go pretty well, though I won't find out anything for certain for three or four weeks. I really hope that I either get the RA position or the job at IBM, because if I don't get one of those, it will be terribly difficult to pay for tuition. Since my younger brother is starting college next year, my parents can't afford to chip in on the bill like they did for the past two years. I suppose that I can get more student loans somewhere if worse comes to worst, but I'd rather not have to go that route. I got my CSE 465 exam back in class on Monday, and I'm not too pleased with my performance. The class average was around 68%, and I wound up with a 62. I'm confident that my homework grade is above average, so as long as I don't mess up on the final, I should be in good shape for a B. CSE 331 should be an easy A, and I'm expecting something in the B+/A- range for Mythology and Greek. I should be able to snag an A in calculus, which leaves Stats as my only stumbling point. We haven't gotten our midterms back, but I can safely say that I failed it. The only thing I can hope for now is not to be too far below the class average. I might have a miniscule shot at a B, but I've got to be realistic with my expectations. I'm expected a C in the class, and there's even the possibility of a D if the next two exams are as difficult as the first one. My GPA is high enough to survive one bad grade, so I'm not too worried about that... I just don't like having obnoxiously low grades.

Tomorrow is supposed to be the easiest day of the week for me, since I've only got one class, but I'll be spending most of the day doing work for Professor Beck. I've got a short Greek assignment to attend to, a three page Mythology paper to write, and a Greek quiz to study for. I've also got my Calculus midterm, but I'm not too worried about that. I'll find out at 6:30 tomorrow night if my confidence in my Calculus skills is misplaced or not. I suppose that I'll study a little bit, but I've been doing pretty well in that class... except for the fact that I've been skipping it lately. I've been playing a lot of Icewind Dale lately, and I'm loving it. I think my party is more balanced this time around, and I actually have a chance of defeating the evil snake demon boss I was stuck on the last time I tried the game. Well, I suppose I should make good use of my free time and get started on some of the work I've got to do for Friday.

Currently Listening to: Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up
Link of the Day: Abandon Games - This is a pretty cool site that Neevred showed me a while back, and it allows you download old games that aren't being published anymore. I'm not sure about all the legal issues involved, but it's safe to say that the companies who make these games won't be seeing any profit from them anyway. I downloaded Mast of Magic once, but my damn computer didn't feel like running it.

Posted at 10:12 PM

Tuesday, March 12, 2002

I've got my RA interview in 25 minutes, which means I'm in Full Dress Up Mode. Keep in mind that for me, FDUP consists of a dress shirt, a tie, a pair of khakis, and a nice pair of shoes. Toss in the fact that my shirt and tie are purple, and it's not too bad. I do despise wearing ties though. Well, I guess I should be fashionaly early to this interview... at least it will give me some time to do my Mythology reading.

Currently Listening to: Stereo Lab - French Disko

Posted at 4:07 PM

Friday, March 01, 2002

If I was a little more limber, I'd be doing backflips right now. Instead I've been doing the Happy Dance all day, which basically consists of me saying "Happy Dance, Happy Dance, Happy Dance" over and over again. Don't tell Leah though, since after two dances, he's already sick of it. There are actually three reasons I'm ecstatic today, and here they are, in no particular order:

Well, I have to play some of my old computer games now, since they'll be neglected as soon as the new ones get here. I'd also like to do a little packing, since my dad will be here tomorrow morning at 10. I should be doing a few posts over break, since I've got this lovely blog system going on.

Currently Listening to: Sting - Desert Rose
Link of the Day: GoGamer.com - This is the site where I ordered all of those computer games today. From now until Saturday at midnight, Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition is only $12.90! You can't beat that deal with a ten foot pole. Well, maybe you could, but you'd look really weird doing it.

Posted at 12:10 PM