Sophistication

Grr... I would be doing my 6.001 (Intro to Computing) homework right now, but the online tutor is down and I can't see what any of the assignments are. Technology can be evil - we can't trust it! :P Mmm.... Yesterday was quite interesting. I went with WILG to go have tea at the Ritz Carlton. It was great - I felt rather sophisticated until these classy people came in to have tea too and sneered at us the whole time. -_-; There was a guy playing the piano and everything was so pretty and nice. And the tea and the pastries were really good too. I'm glad I didn't break anything. o_o; Anyway, it was all really good until these three awful drunk people came in and annoyed everyone. They were really noisy and were drinking some more. At one point, one of the women (2 women, 1 man) slapped the waitresses hand, exclaiming, "That's f***ing brilliant!" which cased all three to dissolve into laughter. Fortunately, they left (finally!) to go drinking somewhere else. Aaargh! Drunk people disturb me overly much. I don't see why someone would want to lose control of themselves like that. -___- At least the rest of our tea-time was quite pleasant.

I also went to a piano concert in the evening with Vivian. It was very good, although the pianist had a strange way of playing his modernist songs by flailing around a lot. It was rather interesting to see, but somewhat disturbing as well - especially when he finished one piece practically bent over backwards with his arms in the air. I'm not a big fan of Modernist music anyway, but I was quite impressed with how he managed to hit all the notes - maybe that's why his movements are so exaggerated... Hm, he also played a piano concerto by Beethoven with the helpf of a string quintet. It was so beautiful! The other players were excellent and they sounded beautiful together. Unfortunately, I have this terrible habit of becoming drowsy when listening to classical music at a concert. Play it on the radio or something and I'm fine. But I guess if I'm just sitting there, watching people play (for a long time!), I get really sleepy and I can't keep my eyes open. Bad habit... x_x. So I got tired during that song because it was long. I guess that's the good thing about Modernist stuff - they don't have the patience to write very long songs. Anyway, the last piece was a Brahms piano duet (arranged by the composer himself to be so) and that was very good as well, although I was very irritated throughout the first movement because the main pianist was playing the top part and he kept moving his leg around. I figure, since he couldn't really flail his arms around, he'd do it with his leg. How very annoying... At least it kept me awake - I didn't fall asleep anymore. Yay! Tea and a piano concert. Culture to the max. Tonight I'm going to a comedy show (Colin Mochrie from Whose Line is it Anyway?), so it should be a bit of a change in pace. :D

Aha, and as a side note, I got Janet hooked on DNAngel, so now she can drool over Dark too. ^____^

- Flykyr Skysong

Current song: None
Current mood: Feeling blinded by my desk lamp (not good)

SNOW!

Raah! Note to self: never post to blog without making a copy of the text. Anyway, I was talking about how everyone found out that school was cancelled at about the same time and everyone ran around the dorm screaming before getting dressed and running outside. Janet and I went outside and took pictures, frolicked in the McCormick courtyard, made snowangels on Kresge Oval, wandered over to Killian Court, hung out with Vivian for a bit, had a mini snowball fight, made a snow bunny, went over to Walker Memorial to see the pineapple ice sculpture (very prettiful and well made!), slid down some snowbanks on metal trays pilfered from some kitchen or other, then wandered over to East Campus to warm up. After that, we wanted to go over to the Concourse lounge to drink hot chocolate, but on the way, we bumped into a whole bunch of EC residents busily trying to cover up Transparent Horizons, the hideous sculpture right by East Campus. They had surrounded the sculpture with doors and were piling in snow, then freezing the snow in place with water. It will be interesting to see the final result! That sculpture really does deserve to be hidden - it is so ugly. Anyway, Janet stayed because she wanted to help (and use a snow shovel for the first time ever) but I was cold, so I headed indoors, went to the lounge and enjoyed my hot chocolate (we were out of cups though!) while listening to Justin and Dave's entertaining discussion of the math problem set. Then I finally shivered my way back here, had a hot shower, then sat down to type something up and then go to sleep. And now I've done it the second time through, and I hope this stupid thing works and doesn't lock up again.

Oh yeah, as a final note, I went home for the weekend and it was really really nice, but I didn't have time to do anything because I was doing homework the whole time! And now, since I spent most of today updating my website (go see!) I get to do all my work tomorrow. Yay. Glad I get the day off - I can sleep in! G'night!

- Flykyr Skysong

Current song: .hack//DUSK OP - New World
Current mood: Happy to be warm again

Dim Sum, Dorms and DVDs

Today was a very nice day. My family came by this morning and picked me up so we could all go have dim sum in Chinatown. It's still the middle of the Chinese New Year celebration, so there were plenty of people in costumes doing Lion Dances to bring the shops good luck or something.... It was neat - shops would leave out oranges and cabbage, and the lion dancers would come over and dance and throw the oranges and cabbage leaves around. I'd be interested to find out more of the history surrounding this - it sure was interesting to watch. The streets were all very noisy and crowded. Everywhere, you could hear the sound of drums and firecrackers. Lots of firecrackers, oh yes. Anyway, it was very nice, and the dim sum was very tasty too!

Then tonight, Amy and I got invited to a party over at the grad dorm next door. I guess David knows someone there and she invited him and told him to invite people... Well, anyway, it was a nice party - we rolled sushi and people brought food and it was all very nice. A little intimidating to be among so many grad students, but they were all very nice people and I had a good time. Ashdown is such a nice dorm! We were in this lovely lounge sort of place - it had a piano and the Well Tempered Klavier so I played a few things out of it. It was a little strange to be reading music after so long for going without. Rather nice, actually, though I was sad that I couldn't play as well as I used to. Well, that's to be expected, right?

Our dorm got a DVD player installed in the East Penthouse! This is quite exciting (to me, at least) and I went up there and watched my assigned Macross episodes there today. Except for the awful glare (it was middle of the afternoon and the penthouse doesn't have any windowshades) it was quite good - now I don't have to steal Amy's computer for anime-watching. Ha, I guess now I'll have to learn to wait until it gets dark out. Of course that means that I'll be competing against other people for the TV. Hmm...

The big question of the moment: Do I go home for the upcoming long weekend or stay here? Pros of going home: I can get a haircut, I can see my friends. Pros of staying: I can have cheesecake and hear acapella at WILG, I can go to Chinatown with the WILG gals, I will actually get some work done. I guess it all depends on how much homework I have over the weekend. Joy.

Huh, I've been avoiding my website for a while. I ought to do something with it soon. Like update the art section. Yes, I should, but not tonight - I still have a mound of physics homework to plow through. Eek!

- Flykyr Skysong

Current song: .hack//SIGN EXTRA OST - Rain and Storm
Current mood: Dodge... Fizzicks.... Die!

The Anime Class Might Work...

Wow, my Mondays and Wednesdays are going to be very very long... o_o; I didn't get out until 5 today - I'm used to getting out by 3 at the latest. :P I wonder how a UROP is going to fit into all this? When am I going to have time to do my homework? Having a life? Are you kidding? ^_~

Anyway, I had been nervous about my anime class... I went today, and while it still seems like it'll be quite a bit of work, I think the class will be a lot of fun. Hm, we're going to be watching this series called The Super Dimension Fortress Macross (1982) which is sort of annoying since I have to watch it out of class, and I'm going to have to try to borrow copies - they've got four in the Film Office (wherever that is!) but there's quite a few people in the class. Actually, I could buy the series for the class for 30% of the retail price (a great deal!), but I'm not sure if I want to do that. Still, $67 for 36 episodes sounds like quite a good deal. Still, I don't want to pay for the series if it's awful... Eh, well, it should be good, since we're watching it for this class. Still, I've never heard of it, so I don't know what it's about. Okay, so I just went and researched a bit, and it seems like some space-war type thing. Hmm.... Well, they say it's a classic... I'm not a big fan of mecha anime though - I hope there's a good story to it.

Oh yeah, I finished watching .hack//SIGN last week. The ending is so sad... But it's a great series. Go watch it. ^_^ I guess it's actually playing on the Cartoon Network now, but I'm sure the dub will be awful (they usually are). Subtitles are the way to go! Meep, I sound like such a stuck-up anime purist. But it's true - English dubs are often really really bad - I watch most of my Ranma episodes in English, and trust me, they are quite horrendous. Ever tried watching Slayers in English? *faints*

Time for me to watch my 6.001 lecture - online lectures are fun because you can watch them whenever you want! ^_^ *waves*

- Flykyr Skysong

Current song: P.O.D. - Youth of the Nation
Current mood: Nervous about my (near) future...

Spring Semester Already... ._.

Well, I've been avoiding my blog for no reason lately.... I guess it reminds me of school. ^^; Yes, well, the spring term has finally started. I still find it incredible that school ends before June even starts, but then I am jealous of the people who get out in the beginning of May (aargh!). Oh well, it's still nice to get out by May 23rd at the latest. *sigh* So I as I was saying, second semester started today - it was a pretty easy day actually, especially since I was expecting to get out at 3, but my last class was at 2. That was a rather nice surprise! Plus, my 6.001 (Intro to Computation) lectures are all online (there's only 6 live lectures!) so I don't really have to 'go to class' until 11 most Tuesdays and Thursdays. That's pretty nice. ^_^ Still, my Mondays and Wednesdays are going to be packed, especially if I keep my anime class, which I'm having serious doubts about. Hah, and I haven't even been to that class yet! I think I might drop it though - it looks like a lot of work for just 6 units, and I want to try to find a UROP or a job, which will require time. Sarah offered to let me tag along to apply for a UROP together - very generous of her. ^^ It seems rather interesting, but since it's in the Speech Lab, and isn't bio-related, I'm not sure... Dad, of course, does not approve. :P Well, I'm not sure what the project would entail - if there's computer work/programming involved, it could be cool. I feel so limited because all these researchers want people with very specialized abilities, which I do not have. Hm, I'm sure it's best to actually go and track down these people and see if there's anything I can do - that's what my advisor keeps suggesting. Sounds like so much work though, and I'm too shy for my own good. :P What, oh what, am I going to do with myself?! *rant rant*

Anyway, my parents came to visit last Saturday - we went out to dinner and saw a Shaolin Monks show - it was pretty cool! They had a performance based on an old Shaolin legend, and then they did some demonstrations afterwards. The Shaolin Monks, in case you didn't know, developed Kung Fu. It was amazing to see - these guys were incredible. They had some kids too - very flexible. It was a great way to spend an evening. ^_^ Tonight, I ate dinner at WILG - it's sorority/ILG rush, so they're doing stuff again. I was all set to decline my bid there, but, darn me, I found myself realizing how much I like the place and the people. Geez, what am I going to do?

And here is my anime update since I am really pathetic and don't have anything else to write about. Um, my two new favorite animes are Rurouni Kenshin and Galaxy Angel. Heh, Kenshin is yet another one of those guys with awesome hair. ^_^ He's such a cute character, both the anime and the manga are excellent. Galaxy Angel is also really cute - it's made by Brocolli, the makers of Digi Charat, so you can already expect something cute and funny right from that. Fortunately, Galaxy Angel is not as weird as Digi Charat is - it's about five teens (well, okay, one's in her 20s) who work in some sort of space army in the Angel Division, looking for Lost Technology. There's no real storyline, and each of the episodes are short - only 12 minutes long. They are hilarious though - very random, and very funny. I like it a lot. ^_^ Heh, well, there's not much I don't like, ne? Heh, I haven't mentioned my D.N.Angel obsession, have I? More guys with great hair! *drools* It's such a beautiful manga. I would buy it in a second if they had translated it, but it's only in Japanese. *cries* I have to settle for fan-translated copies on the web, which is better than nothing. Pictures.... so pretty! Aaah! And Violinist of Hameln is great too - quite funny, and the facial expressions are priceless. There's so much good stuff out here. Ach, what I've been missing all these years. :P

Ha, and since in my last post, I wished Kristen a happy birthday, I have to do it again. :P So, uh, Happy Birthday Mike, even though you probably don't read this! o_o; Yeah, yeah, your birthday was technically yesterday, but I haven't gone to sleep yet so it isn't officially Wednesday for me yet. :P

Ororo... I haven't done all my math yet, so I ought to do that, so I can get some sleep. Or just give up and go to sleep now. Hm, I'm behind already, shame on me. -_-

- Flykyr Skysong

Current song: Ayumi Hamasaki - Fly High (Vincent De Moor remix)
Current mood: Sleepy already (this can't be a good thing...)