Lasto Beth Nin

classes

2007-09-06T16:22:00Z

Oh man, I could totally get used to this "breaks between classes" thing. I can eat lunch! It's so exciting.

Classes this term:
8.13 (jlab)
8.05 (quantum II)
8.286 (the early universe)
21M.301 (harmony and counterpoint)

I was going to take 12.002, physics and chemistry of the terrestrial planets, but it turns out it overlaps a lot with 12.001 and the lecturer isn't very good anyway. Plus I needed to drop a class. Anyway, I'm really excited about my schedule. All my classes will actually be interesting! You have no idea how exciting this is after last year. Man, last year sucked.

My room is almost done. I will post pictures here once it is totally done, because I am extremely proud of it.

Anyway, off to the first day of 8.05. Yay, quantum!

hi everyone!

2007-08-02T16:53:19Z

So, what am I doing these days?

- watching Texhnolyze with Nick
- panicking about REX
- convalescing (read: sleeping!)
- painting my room
- having fun with the three really long nails on my left hand (I don't think my nails have ever been this long before)
- constantly re-remembering that I'm about to be a junior and am thus getting *old*!
- stalking the freshmen on facebook -- I mean, uh, "welcoming the freshmen to MIT" as I'm required to put it to the ARC
- generally trying to do everything I won't be able to do during term so that I don't feel bad about not doing it then

yup, uh, that's about it.

alive, in brookfield

2007-05-27T06:13:04Z

Hello. I swear I am still alive. This term failed to kill me. (In fact, it was better than last term, though not as good as two terms ago.)

Classes didn't go so badly. I am still waiting on one grade -- the one that I'm the most worried about, of course -- but the rest of my grades are fine.

This term was...interesting. I feel like I've come out of it with a better understanding of my habits and how to change them so that I do better in my classes and am a happier person overall. Of course, this is probably something that I should have picked up several semesters ago...I guess I'm slow. Anyway, I'll be practicing these ideas for changing my habits over the summer so that hopefully I can make them work for me in the fall (in Junior Lab!).

Also, for those of you who care, I am currently in Brookfield and will be until June 13. You should contact me and we can make plans to get together and chat. It'll be awesome.

mandatory beginning-of-term post

2007-02-05T06:45:32Z

Well, I just got back from Europe. Yay! Kim, David, Jimmy. Germany, Austria, Slovenia. One week. Fun!

For next term, it looks like I will have to take 8.03 again. Ugh. 8.03 exemplifies all the ways in which physics is normally taught and done that I really dislike, and it's hard enough for me to do really well in classes that I like right now, forget about classes that I dislike. I feel like a silly little kid -- like last term, I was like, "do I reaaaaally have to do this? I don't want to!" and now the physics department is like "YES YOU HAVE TO" and now I'm all like "aargh". But I think I'll do much better the second time around. The one good thing about this is that Ashoori won't be lecturing next term, and hopefully Walter Lewin will be around again. And oh well, retaking a class isn't the end of the world, and having to retake the class isn't what I'm most concerned about -- I'm more concerned about how it's going to work with my schedule this term, and whether taking 8.03 will mean that I have to sacrifice some other classes that will be a lot more fun and keep me sane. And talking to my advisor about it tomorrow will be kind of awkward, because he wants to know "what went wrong". The only reason I can give him for "what went wrong" is that I just really didn't like the class and was shooting for a C and missed, and that might end up prompting a "well, maybe you should think about not being in physics" discussion and I really don't want to go there right now for several reasons.

On the bright side, it looks like I'm being phased out of LCS -- Meghan and Allison seem to have been making decisions without me all IAP, and hopefully this will put me on a track of not being needed for pants anymore! Wheeee. Unless they keep needing me to bail them out like during this IAP, in which case, I will go back to my original plan of officially not doing anything for the club. So I win either way.

Actually, reading this over, things seem really depressing. Right now they kind of are -- this is the first time I've ever been sad about having to go back to MIT, but our trip through Europe was just wonderful, and I really didn't want it to end. Mostly it was because things were simple and we were mobile -- tired of Salzburg? Let's drive to Ljubljana! Want to see more mountains? Okay, we'll spend a day in the Alps instead of in the city. etc. And I'm happy to see people back at Random, but I miss having that freedom and not having to deal with all these messy things like classes and LCS for a while. Maybe I'll travel again next IAP, but for longer. That would be fun, although I might miss out on fun IAP events that way too.

anyway, I'm rambling, and I need to sleep so I can go to all my meetings tomorrow.

zellia @ 2007-01-10T11:09:00

2007-01-10T16:11:55Z

I have been moved to post by the fact that I haven't read livejournal in so long that I can't skip back in my friends page to entries that I've already read. What can I say, I was too busy half enjoying and half being disgusted with Cryptonomicon over break. And also I read Lee Smolin's The Trouble with Physics, which I really, really loved.

Let's see. I got my grades; B's in everything except for 8.03, which I got a D in (ick ick ick!). Yeah um not so good. Have sent email to advisor asking what horrible things are in store for me (though I don't think anything is). I may yet get an A this term in my HASS (I missed the final due to illness, S^3 excused it, but now I have to actually take the final third week of IAP so I get a grade rather than an OX). But it'd be nice to get an A in a science class at MIT. Y'know, like, in my major would be especially nice.

Next term, I'm looking at...8.04, 8.044, some HASS, and a black holes class whose number I forget. Also under consideration are 18.06, 18.354 (with Yi-Hsin!), 8.225 (the Einstein, Oppenheimer, Feynman one), 6.004 (which I think conflicts with things, but I haven't checked the schedule in a while), and generally a lot of other classes. I'm not sure how many classes to take during this next term, though. Five classes worked out pretty well last year, but not so well last term. And my extracurricular demands will probably go up, not down. On the other hand, eating last term also didn't work out so well (eating lunch a few times might have helped...), so I might be much better off if my schedule works out better this term in that regard.

Uhh, right. Firefox just crashed on me after opening another tab (for a grand total of 4 tabs open). Luckily, it restored my draft because Livejournal saved it (at 11:11:11 AM!). But I have other things to do, so I'm just going to finish this entry now so that I actually have space in which to do these other things. Stupid Firefox. *grumble*

today

2006-12-08T06:33:28Z

It was really, really amazing.

I think the universe somehow knew it was my birthday and adjusted events accordingly.

By which I mean, I'm going to pretend there's a secret code in the FRW metric that said so. (Friedman-Robertson-Walker metric, it describes the universe on large scales and gives the direct mathematical reason for why the universe is expanding, when combined with Hubble's law.)

Yeah, so 8.033 rocks my world a little bit. I'm thinking about being a cosmologist when I grow up. But we'll see how 8.04-8.06 go. And also 8.286.

(8.033 = relativity, but we've done an extended cosmology unit. 8.04-8.06 = standard MIT quantum classes. 8.286 = the early universe, a cosmology class taught by ALAN GUTH who's MY ADVISOR.)

speaking of 8.033, I have this problem set I haven't started. hmm. maybe I'll go to sleep and do it tomorrow. psets, whatever.

corrections

2006-11-12T21:16:27Z

So I realized that my last entry (two months ago) was misleading. The classes I'm taking are totally different than my list two months ago would lead you to believe! Here's what I'm taking, complete with commentary on how they're going:

8.03 (Waves and Vibrations): I'm horrible at classical mechanics, awesome at the e&m portion. Also, Nick and Nelson are in the class. Also, Walter Lewin. The end.

8.033 (Relativity): Classes like this remind me why I'm a physics major. And give me hope! I have a feeling I'm going to do a lot better in higher-level physics classes than in the lower-level ones. I'm not sure why, although I noticed this trend before college too, that I tended to do a lot better as my classes got higher-level, probably because they also got a lot more interesting as they got harder, and my interest in a class is really a major factor in how well I do in it. Although I've also noticed the teaching of the class making a much bigger difference in college. I did fine even with really bad teachers in high school, but now I really need to actually enjoy the class and the teacher to do well in it. The point is, Tegmark is an amazing professor, recitation is occasionally helpful, and the class is *really* interesting. I'm doing well in it. Anyway, continuing...

12.003 (Physics of the Atmosphere and Ocean): Really really interesting, and with a hilariously insane teacher, but the kind that actually isn't that great at teaching. Also I don't start the psets on time, ever. So my grade is sorta up in the air for that...I should find out how I'm doing before drop date, since this is the class of choice to drop if I'm doing badly in it. (They hand back our problem sets with grades on them, but have totally neglected to tell us how our grades compare to everyone else's, so I have no idea how I'm actually doing in the class.)

12.102 (Environmental earth science): Boring, only marginally good teacher, not very interesting, made it Exploratory, unfortunately doing quite well in it. It would almost contradict my theories of what makes me learn, except that I'm not doing well in it because I've learned anything in the class, but rather because it has a lot of stuff based off other classes that Lanthe and I have collectively taken (for the psets) and because I was really good at bsing on the test -- in fact, the grader gave me half the points on my REALLY AWESOMELY done rock cycle that was detailed and based off 12.001 (geology), but lanthe got full points for what was literally a few scribbles. Anyway, I would drop this class, but as I said before, I made it exploratory. (Also, that horrible run-on sentence from two sentences ago...I'm sorry for everyone reading this. I wish I could still communicate effectively.)

3.986 (archaeology): It conflicts with 8.033, in that the last half hour of 8.033 overlaps with this class. So mostly I leave 8.033 early to go to this class, unless we're doing something *really cool* like deriving why space is expanding, or how you can unify the strong, weak, and electromagnetic forces by using a certain metric and then considering different symmetries for the universe, or other similarly awesome things. Anyway, 3.986 is *really* fun. We've learned about the archaeology of the Middle East, and the reasons why agriculture first arose there, and how writing started, and how they invented mechanized farming equipment like automatic seeders, and lots of other fun stuff. Now we're studying Mesoamerica. All we've learned so far is that the Mesoamericans had very few large mammals for meat, so they bred huge fat chihuahuas for their meat. And stuffed them with corn. hehehe. I'm also doing quite well in the class, because it's interesting, my teacher is awesome and good, etc.

So I'm really posting this because I'm in a boring execcomm meeting...but now the meeting's over and my laptop is just about to run out of batteries. crap. Anyway, it's time for me to eat and tool tool tool.

Comment if you're reading this! I'd like to know who cares.

2006-09-01T23:10:47Z

ARGH THE UPDATING FONT IS DIFFERENT!

</surprise>

Livejournal is starting to get a bit out of hand with all the "new and exciting features" crap. Then again, I don't check it too often and I update exponentially less, so I suppose it's not much of an issue.

There have been big changes in my life lately! Firstly, I'm now running Ubuntu on my computer, with WindowMaker as my window manager (the window manager of choice for Random nerds!). It's so cool, I have all these workspaces and dockapps and stuff... I'm still figuring out the details for my computer, though -- I need a good music player, and I need to do something to make my computer work with Athena. Currently I'm leaning towards installing tabbott and nelhage's debathena packages -- this option would be great if I weren't so scared of the uber-course-6 things tabbott and nelhage do together.

Secondly -- RUSH! FRESHMEN! OH GOD THE FRESHMEN!
Rush went very well this year -- especially Random's party, although now I'm sick, primarily because of all the stress I was under during that event -- but so far I'm not that big a fan of our freshmen. We have at least a few cool ones, though, so hopefully the rest will turn out to be cool as well. Hopefully I will also recover fully before term. (I felt really good yesterday, but wasn't actually recovered yet, so I overexerted myself and now I feel like shit again.)

Thirdly -- personal life. Angst. Stupidity. blah.

Fourthly, term. Currently I'm thinking of taking:
8.03 (vibrations & waves)
8.033 (relativity)
12.003 (atmospheres, climates & oceans)
18.700 (linear algebra)
9.29 (computational neuroscience)
21F.403 (german 3)

I also wanted to take 3.986 (intro to archaeology) this term, but it conflicts with 8.033 and I don't need it for a hass-d, just for my hass concentration. So I can take it next fall, although I wonder if there's a limit on how many times one can enter the hass-d lottery for one class -- I also entered the hass-d lottery for 3.986 last year, and then dropped it when I realized I needed to take a CI-HW. so I'm wondering if I'll be able to get it a third time when I can actually take it.

And lastly (finally!), back to the subject line. I'm kind of wondering who reads this now, because I feel like my high school friends have probably given up due to lack of regular updates, and I don't have that many livejournal friends from MIT (mostly due to laziness). Also, three cheers for you if you actually read all the way through my ramblings. :)

summer!

2006-07-24T20:43:23Z

Summer's been awesome so far, though I feel I'm still not maxing out this newfound "I can do whatever I want whenever I want and NO PSET WILL STOP ME!" thing. Must do that.

I've made a tie skirt -- it's awesome. Next up, sketchy tie shirt.

I decided to do all this stuff for Rush, and I was freaking out about it a few days ago, but now I think it's manageable as long as I keep doing things on time. (Though if I keep this up much longer, people are going to start thinking I'm a responsible person and nominate me to take all these other leadership positions -- ahhh!)

I need to install Linux on my computer already. Actually, first I'd like to uninstall/reinstall Windows and see if that makes my computer happier than it is now. Then I can think about partitioning the hard drive and installing Linux.

I'm going to spend a weekend or longer in NYC this summer. It must be done. Hopefully I will be able to crash on ecprice's/alexrs's floor/couch. Also, I will see a taping of the Daily Show, and thus one of my major life goals will be fulfilled.

I finally got through the first season of Battlestar Galactica -- yes! Now for the second season!

Today is such a nice day...okay, tomorrow I will DEFINITELY be motivated at work and I will go around and ask people where files are and it'll be great. *nods vigorously* I swear! No, really!

....

Mmm, summer.

condi has sex?!

2006-07-05T18:04:41Z

Question for the masses:

Do you think that the first letter in this week's Savage Love was actually sent in by Condoleezza Rice? Or is it all just a hoax to make us think that she actually is a normal human being?

The column can be found here: http://www.avclub.com/content/node/49925

Fun things

2006-07-03T18:20:49Z

Bored at work again. Honestly, I could have sex in here at noon every day and no one would be around to notice. Although I think someone else who works on the other side of the floor already thought of that -- I swear I heard someone orgasming the other day when I was leaving.

In other news, yesterday on the steps of 77 Mass Ave (the big formal entrance to MIT's main campus), I saw this girl wearing a shirt that looked very familiar. This is because it was the shirt that was given to everyone who was at CTD at Northwestern the year that I was there. (I took Honors Chem at Northwestern's summer program the year after freshman year in high school.) And the girl wearing the shirt happened to be the girl that I hung out with the most at this program! So I went and said hi to her. A rather embarrassing/amusing conversation followed.

Me: Hi, Megan!
Megan: ...Hi...what's up?
Me: Not much, you?
Megan: So...you look familiar. Where do I know you from?
Me: *points at her shirt* That!
Megan: Oh...um...I forgot your name. What was it again?
Me: Preeya.
Megan: Right. Right. Um. What year were you at CTD?
Me: *points at her shirt again* That year!
Megan: Oh. Um. Were you in Chem Honors with me?
Me: Yeah! Remember [our teacher] and...
Megan: Yeah, yeah, I remember all *that*...just not *you*.
Me: *beginning to feel silly* So what are you doing here?
Megan: Oh, I'm here for the space elevator team. How about you?
Me: *figuring she goes to another school and is here for a competition* Well, I go to school here.
Megan: *looks at me like I'm crazy* Well, so do I.
Me: Oh! Um. Uh. You mean why am I here *now*. Well, I'm living here for the summer.
Megan: *gives me another look* Yes, so am I.
At this point, I was feeling like such an idiot that I just mumbled for a little while longer and then ran away as fast as possible. The friends that I was with at the time were highly amused by the whole thing.

Also, I don't know how many of you heard: there was a vote on the flag-burning amendment (you know, amending the Constitution so the flag can't be burned) in the Senate. It failed by ONE vote (66-34). Now, I'm inclined to agree with the people who say that votes like that don't come about by coincidence -- I'm sure there was a *lot* of politicking done to bring that about. The 12 Democrats who voted for the amendment were probably the ones in the tightest elections this year, and the 3 Republicans who voted against were probably good friends of some of those Democrats and thus were willing to go against the party line so that those Democrats could vote for the amendment without actually passing it. I think that if everyone currently in Congress voted on this issue according to how they felt about it, it would not pass.

Nevertheless, I now feel that it is my solemn patriotic duty to go and burn a flag while I still can.

Which means I actually have to go find a flag. This could be problematic. Where do they sell flags anyway? (And if the flag is such an important national symbol, then isn't the idea of selling them kind of crass? Shouldn't the government just be giving them out to people?)

Hmm. I don't feel like working today, and it's not like anyone else is here. I think I'm going to go home and nap or something.

boredom

2006-06-26T18:16:33Z

I'm currently at work, bored out of my mind. This whole UROP thing would be awesome if only people would show up and give me something to do! Plus the AC is out *again*, although it's not as hot this time as it was last time it was out. I think I'll start bringing in books from tomorrow -- I'm currently rereading Godel, Escher, Bach (stupid work computer won't let me put the umlauts in). Or maybe I'll keep teaching myself Python. Hmmm.

I finally got around to reading the Great Gatsby this summer, and I watched Gattaca yesterday. Both were intriguing. I wasn't really a fan of the Great Gatsby until I got to the last third or so, and then things started getting sort of interesting. I think I need to reread it with the end in mind, and more slowly as well. I really enjoyed Gattaca, though. If for no other reason than that I felt happy that that sort of thing most likely will never happen. But it also raised issues about the use of technology and oppressive systems and all sorts of fun things that are good to think about.

I still have some major goals left for the rest of the summer. I must install Linux on my laptop, finish my tie skirt, make the dye in my hair fade as quickly as possible so I can redye it blue, bug Lanthe to make that Rocky Horror trip happen, and pull together this whole Global Thermonuclear War party for Rush. I should actually start exercising, too.

Okay. Off to waste time in some other way.

Done with finals!

2006-05-26T05:20:53Z

This has been the best term ever. I pwned my finals (I think) and I'm happy about life in general. So far, the one grade that's in is an A, so I can rejoice in having a 5.0 before reality (all my other classes) sets in.

I also just laid in the sun on the roofdeck for a while today. It was nice.

I'm looking forward to going home for a week and then being able to come back here. Summer will be amazing.

Going back to Brookfield soon!

2006-05-22T23:07:45Z

Now that someone has asked me about my summer plans, I suppose I should post them out here so that those of you that check livejournal can see them (and hopefully tell interested people who don't check livejournal).

Currently I'm in the middle of MIT's final exam week. I had two today -- physics and human origins & evolution, both went okay -- and I have two on Thursday. I'm going back to Brookfield this Saturday, May 27. I'll stay there for just over a week -- until june 5, that's the tuesday after next -- at which point I'll be heading back to MIT for my summer job.

I have to say I'm really looking forward to spending the summer in Boston -- I'll get to hang out with awesome people and finally get a chance to really explore Boston! I've been so focused on school here that I just haven't had a chance to get out into the city. Here's my official to-do list:

1. Make a tie skirt. (a skirt of ties)
2. Get sketchy clothes from Hubba-Hubba.
3. Paint/build stuff in my room. (My roommate and I are in the same room with each other next year, so we're planning all these awesome things we're going to do in the five days between when I come back for the summer and she leaves.)
4. Learn about the science of chocolate.
5. Cook a lot to figure out how to make chicken really well.
6. Cook a lot to gain experience with red meat. (I've been doing only chicken so far.)
7. Explore Boston, especially nightlife, and especially with one pippa12788. Or whatever her lj username is.
8. Eat at a lot of restaurants to gain the knowledge of which are good.
9. Put Linux (probably Ubuntu) on my computer.
10. Become generally much more competent with computers.
11. Get more awesome music.
12. Make better use of my speaker system.
13. Do fun things with electronics.

I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting, but 13 is a good number (though not as good as 17, I'll admit) and there's food waiting for me. FOOOD!

My summer job is in the New York Times!

2006-05-02T19:21:18Z

Read the following article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/02/science/space/02hole.html?ex=1146715200&en=2797161dd0625098&ei=5087%0A

My summer job here, with LIGO, is "analyzing the safety of vetos." You see, the problem with having very sensitive detectors to detect very small gravitational waves is that they end up detecting a lot of stuff that isn't a gravitational wave, like speeding trucks or people jumping up and down with joy. So there are some built-in secondary channels within the detectors that are supposed to be triggered whenever an event that isn't a gravitational wave happens, but not when gravitational waves are detected, so that one could figure out when a gravitational wave has been detected by comparing the signal from the secondary channel with the signal from the interferometer itself. Unfortunately, the secondary channels within the interferometers can sometimes be affected by gravitational waves, causing them to register the gravitational waves as signals -- essentially causing the waves to veto themselves! So my job is to look at these signals and determine whether they might be gravitational waves.

It's times like this that I cannot believe how insanely lucky I am to be here.

Well, except for the times when people start rapping mathematical proofs. That's when I really know I'm in the right place.

Happiness

2006-04-29T01:45:09Z

Today I saw Nayna Lodhia.

Tomorrow I'm going to see Kassia Karr.

I have a decent UROP for the summer and I'll be able to pay for my own summer housing.

And I think I'm going to get decent grades in all my classes. As in, a >B average. At the very least, I'm going to pass them all.

Hahahaha. Ahahahahahaha. Take that, MIT!

SPRING BREAK THANK GOD

2006-03-25T08:04:24Z

Going to Las Vegas on Sunday! Whoo Vegas!

(Actually, I'm going to do homework the whole time I'm there. Some bastards assigned a lab and a programming project over break, and I have problem sets that I'm turning in late. And an overdue paper. Hmmm.)

Ah well. It'll be fun anyway, especially hiking in the Grand Canyon. And that'll be even better because of my geology class this term. Have I mentioned how awesome my geology class is? Hell, all my classes are awesome. They're so much fun. I'm so glad for this term. I've never really had the experience of being in a class and loving the content without doing really well in it -- generally because I tend to do very well in things I like, because, you know, I like them. But lately I've been managing my time really badly and this has caused me to have tons of overdue stuff, which generally lowers one's grade. Still, as long as I don't fail my classes, and I don't think I'm in any real danger of that, I'm good.

Spring break will be nice, though, if only because I'll at least be able to look out the window onto a different scene. And it'll probably be warm in Nevada. Mmmm, warm.

ahhhhh I'm so behind on work why am I on lj?!

2006-03-19T01:57:39Z

So now I'm really officially a physics major -- I have an advisor in the physics department! And guess who my advisor is? ALAN GUTH!

...You've never heard of him? then I direct you to this wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Guth

What the article doesn't mention is that Guth's inflationary model solved a *lot* of problems in cosmology, and drastically changed our understanding of the early universe. It may also provide some insight into fundamental questions like where mass comes from. also, that he won the Boston Globe's Messiest Office competition last year.

And he's my *advisor*!!!!

*bounce bounce bounce bounce*

Oh, and does anyone know if anyone at BCHS got into MIT? Apparently they just released all the notifications online, so people should know by now.

Subjects the Chorallaries, and many others, wish were taught at MIT.

2006-03-05T20:34:35Z

Note: Classes at MIT are designated by course number (15 is management, 6 is EE/CS, 7 is biology, 4 is architecture & art, etc.), followed by a period and some other digits denoting what level the class is at, though this depends on the department (.0x/.00x generally is freshman level, etc).

The classes:

17.76: How to Stick It to the Man (course 17 is political science)
7.11: Basic Nutrition
15.69: How to Get Ahead in the Corporate World
4.20: Experimental Consciousness Art
21L.33T: h4x0r w|2i7ing (21L is language; course 21 comprises most humanities tracks here)
1.51: Intoxicology
6.66: Advanced Digital Electronics Laboratory (this is funny because this class actually exists, but its number is not 6.66, though I hear it really should be)
3.141: Confectionary Chemistry (course 3 is materials science)

There were two others, but I can't remember what they were. Ah well. yay for the Chorallaries! (They are an awesome acapella group that puts on this concert every year called Bad Taste. It was delightfully tasteless.)

I'm so excited about this term that I'm updating!

2006-02-08T02:25:09Z

This definitely promises to be an amazing term. IAP was full of relaxation and not doing anything, even if a week of that was because I got sick and really couldn't do anything, and I feel in control of everything and excited about classes.

Speaking of classes, here's another exciting thing -- I got sophomore standing, which means I no longer have a credit limit and can officially declare my major. So now I'm officially a physics major, and I'm taking six classes, which works out to 72 credits (eep!). Yeah, a little bit insane, but I'm still really excited, seeing as how I chose them based not on requirements but on "hmm, what looks interesting and is offered in the spring?" I mean, today was the first day of term and it was really great, especially psychology. (I'm taking intro to psychology, intro to geology, principles of applied math, freshman e&m for physics majors, intro to comp. programming, and human origins and evolution (actually a humanities class offered through archaeology)). The psych professor is hilarious -- we learned where the Victorians thought the lust locus in the brain was (just behind the ear), which resulted in me drawing a circle behind my friend's ear and labeling it "Poke for Sex". Anyway, I've only been to three classes so far, but they all seem at least fun if not always easy. The class that I'm least excited about is the applied math one, so if I feel I have too much work I'll drop that one.

In other news (what?! there are things other than classes?! blasphemy, I know), I am just really happy. I don't think my radio show is continuing, but that's okay because it would interfere with the regular sleep schedule I'm trying to establish (I know, I'm crazy, but it must be done). My roommate is awesome, the rest of my friends are awesome, there are cute boys...possibly the only bad thing right now is that THERE IS NO KASSIA IN MY LIFE. Also that my mom is coming to visit this weekend, which isn't bad by itself but she just chose the most inconvenient weekend ever to come.

I told my friend about how happy I am in this entry and she said, "It's start of term euphoria, it'll only last a couple of weeks and then you'll hate everything." So there you go.

Also, google pi10k and click the first link. It's brilliant.

Too many classes!!!

2006-01-30T16:54:54Z

Once upon a time, I thought I would double-major in physics and math. I was a silly girl. Now I know that my destined second major/degree isn't math, it's brain & cognitive sciences. Even better, now that I'm pretty much done with general requirements, I can take things I'm really interested in.

One problem: there's about 30 of those, not counting major requirements that aren't electives in the major, and 4 semesters to take them in. Also taking into account that I've currently scheduled 6 classes for this semester and both next year, and about 3 per each of my junior semesters (the physics department kindly provides a 4-year schedule, instead of just saying which classes to take, and some math classes fall into tracks). And then I haven't even thought about foreign languages -- I'd really like some.

Why?! Why must there be so many interesting classes? whyyyy? ;_;

Since my primary interest is more in physics, I'm thinking about just getting a minor in BCS, maybe a minor in math as well, and taking a lot of physics electives. That doesn't really solve the problem, though, other than getting me out of a couple of BCS labs.

Mmmph. why can't I just be in college forever? That would be so awesome.

Blah blah blah Iwanttogobacktocollegenow.

2006-01-06T03:40:26Z

So it turns out it's really really fun to go talk to high school teachers once you're not in high school anymore. Even Hipp and Kuemmel are more tolerable that way.

I saw Elizabeth today (yay!), and she mentioned that apparently I'm famous around Central -- something about how she's more popular because she knows me. Bwaaa?! This is pretty strange, considering that a lot of people in my grade spent middle school and much of high school trying *not* to be friends with me. Now people think I'm cool or something. Weirdness.

Anyway, I want to go back to college. Now. *mumbles*

Random thoughts/updates

2006-01-04T04:31:37Z

How bored am I? Bored enough to actually update my livejournal!

Let's see. First: I want to go home, and by home I mean my dorm. Zephyr (MIT's instant messaging system) is a poor substitute for actually being there. I can't /wait/ until IAP (our "january term", aka a month of being at MIT but not taking real classes)!!! ahh so much fun!

I preregistered for 6 classes next term -- I don't necessarily have to take them, since nothing is final until drop date (halfway through the term), but I think I like my schedule enough to not change it until term actually starts and I see if I can handle 6 classes. I failed one last term, but I slacked off too. I think more classes will force me to spend more time on school and do better. That's the plan, anyway. I'm really excited about principles of applied math, intro to geology, and my humanities class, Human Origins and Evolution. (I know, sounds more like a bio class, but it's offered as part of archaeology and it's an interesting topic. And I NEVER have to take a bio class again, thank god.) I'm also taking intro to computer programming (which is supposed to be a horrible amount of work for someone who doesn't know everything already), and two physics classes, at least one through ESG. Yay physics and ESG!

I wish I weren't allergic to kitties... ;_;

So it turns out some people who I didn't think even knew I existed are subscribed to my zephyr class. Interesting.

I visited Central after school today, and talked to Dapelo, Stanke and Mrs. Heartt. I enjoyed talking to them about different things, and Stanke gave me some investing advice (I got an IRA today, and I had to decide what I wanted to invest in with it this year.) Plus he still has that "economists do it with models" shirt, hehe. I'm going to visit again tomorrow and see if I can catch some other teachers -- Frau Diercksmeier, Mrs. Rast, Mrs. Moschella, anyone else I happen to bump into, though I'll try to avoid Hipp and Mueller. I might talk to Kuemmel, though, about math, seeing as how the class I failed was a math class (not a necessary one, though). I kind of wish our science teachers didn't suck so much, because I'd really like to talk to a science teacher about all the classes at MIT, but Nygren and Zimmerman are gone, and I certainly don't want to talk to Hipp or Mueller. -sigh-

I hope I can stay at MIT over the summer. I really want to do a UROP (undergrad research project) there, but I don't really have all that many skills, so I don't know if I'll be able to. Hopefully someone will give me a decent-paying one out of charity. It would be soooo much fun to stay over the summer...I really hope I do well in 6.001 (the intro to comp. programming class) because that'll give me the most immediately useful skills.

In closing, this article makes me happy.

Home again

2005-12-25T07:26:06Z

Yup, I'm back in B-field until Jan 8th. Come hang out with me! Call me, IM me, whatever. All I'll really be doing is relaxing at home, so just don't wake me up too early.

Hooome!!!

2005-11-24T22:35:18Z

Oh man, I'm home, and it's absolutely incredibly weird. Everything is the same but different...mmm. I can't wait to get back to MIT, though.

Anyway, you all should come talk to me! Either sometime Friday, or come to the get-together I'm having at my house on Saturday night, 5-whenever. (Leave a comment if you're coming because my mom wants estimates of who's coming since she feels obligated to cook for people or something.)

Wow...I could go on and on about how strange being home is...but I have to start working. ~_~ Never ever does the work go away!