Epilogue: Converging Points

At some point, I'd realize that these tangents weren't exactly random. Perhaps their generation and point of contact were random, but some semblance of similarity connected them all together. Other than the fact that it was me, the author, generating these tangents, it had come to my attention that unless there were only a mere two tangents, all of the tangents generated must connect at some point with one another. Of course, by two tangents, I mean parallel lines.

I started to wonder, if all these tangents.... all of these thoughts meant something about the author, and every tangent would connect with another tangent in some way... then perhaps it would start painting some sort of massive picture. A connect-the-thoughts if you will.

Random Tangents started off as a place to rant. A place to throw around random thoughts and feelings to which no other place would receive. It soon became much more than that though. Trends, ideas, beliefs emerged. A writing style that I could possibly call my own flourished.

While entertaining (possibly for you, the reader as well), I have come to the realization that this is no longer necessary. Random Tangents is no longer necessary.

At least not now.

Perhaps in another place, at another time. But for now... rest. A break. A brief reprieve from something that was a reprieve in itself.

Much appreciation to you, the reader. It has been a ridiculous journey.

And I've enjoyed it every step of the way.

Winter 2011 Fin

For a surprisingly short semester, the finals week was surprisingly long given that I only had three finals to write. The amount of exhaustion felt was... immense? Or mayhaps it was built up throughout the semester and finally revealed itself at the worse time possible.

In any case, exams are done, there's only a paper left, and I already start work tomorrow. Between the final exam and work, I've managed to read 3/8s of a book, finish the rest of Mass Effect as well as beating Stacking.

But that's perhaps for another time. It's already... 11? And I'm sleepy. Maybe because I stayed up the previous two nights playing Mass Effect and then waking early out of habit.

To bed!

Trine

Yes, I opted out of studying to play Trine instead. Or rather, as a break of sorts. (I'm leaving Magicka for another post because I'm not completely done with it yet).

So basically, I've been pseudo prepping for the last final (Soci) by just reading through the textbook and going through my notes. It's a style of studying I've long ago abandoned because I realized it was ineffective. Yet, given the amount of time (and focus) I have left, doing this is probably better than doing nothing. Studying consisted of reading a chapter, playing a level in Trine, playing a few rounds of Tetris, then repeat. And repeat, I did.

Trine is a platformer with physics-based puzzle solutions in a fantasy setting. The game revolves around through archetypal characters: the wizard, the knight, and the thief as they gallivant across the country to free themselves from some sort of magical artifact that has bound the three of their souls together and to see what was causing the undead to rise.

The wizard can conjure up boxes, planks, and a floating platform as well as telekinetic abilities to move objects around. The thief can use a bow to shoot enemies, light torches on fire, and has a grappling hook for wooden surfaces. The knight has a sword and shield and can also lift heavy objects. Using a combination of the three of their unique capabilities, you do a quite a bit of jumping around, crossing dangerous chasms and pits of spikes and demolishing hordes of skeletons.

The premises of the game is rather interesting, although the 'fighting' itself was a bit clunky and never really felt right. The jumping was also a bit 'floaty', making it difficult to control the characters at times. Or perhaps it's just me because this has been occurring in several games I've played. I'm losing my touch D=.

In any case, it's back to 'studying' for that final in 2 hours. Before I'm done. Woot.

Mind Unfocused

It's been ridiculous hard to focus the past few days. This is rather odd as its the first time where I've only had 3 exams and they're all separated by a day or two. So why is it so hard to stay on task and focus?

Why am I so burned out? No clue really. Maybe. Perhaps elaboration will take place later.

Later.

Because Soci readings must be done now if I hope to finish. Notes writing will be abandoned because I can't accomplish both reading and writing in the span of 46 hours. But none of it will stick. Such dilemmas.

In other news...

Bcem is over! Slept a mere four hours pseudo cramming and working on the index card. Which paid off as there was some rather impertinent information on it. Was rather hard to focus on the exam though. An hour into the exam, my brain just stopped working. Consequently, it took a good 40 minutes to do the final written question. Bleh.

Jho surprise early present worked out well. Because no one ever really expects a birthday present almost 2 months ahead of schedule. But then again, it wouldn't make sense to give him the present 3 weeks later, a present which he wouldn't be able to use to its fullest extent. Think about it. That APM ain't going to pump itself up.

Started listening to an artist called Ellie Goulding. 'The Writer' is a very good song. Check it out.

Went to Denny's the other day for their epic bacon'ness. Bacon sampler with the three different kinds of bacon. Then the maple bacon sundae. Maple syrup, smoked bacon bits, and vanilla ice cream. Such an odd juxtaposition of flavors that manages to make both stand out in a implosive harmony of delicious oddness. Nom.

Right. Soci. Bleh. Head's hurting already.

VGL 2011

So yesternight (or yesteryesternight if you want to be anal about time), I attended Video Games Live 2011.

And it was awesome.

I've always been a fan of orchestrated music (of most sorts) as well as a huge fan of music from games (and perhaps music in general). The combination genre of gaming music being orchestrated just kind of seals the deal. It's amazing when they take songs that initiate an intense feeling of nostalgia then add a slight twist to it, adding a sort of new element you didn't know existed before.

This time, they played music from Megaman, Zelda, Mario, Shadow of the Colossus, Final Fantasy, Assassin's Creed 2, God of War, Portal, Chrono Trigger / Chrono Cross, Castlevania, Warcraft, Sonic, and possibly some stuff that I've forgotten.

More than half of those made me giddy. Only because they're just seriously that awesome. Vocalist was good. Crazy flute soloist for Zelda. Blindfold Mario pianist guy was as insane as usual.

All in all, it was rather (very) enjoyable.

In other news...

One exam down, two more to go. It's been a while since I've had an exam that was cumulative, and this one was a beast. Four profs, 80+ MC, several written, and way too much to remember. But that's all finished and gone now. There's more to focus on. Especially that Bcem stuff. Can't seem to wrap my head around (studying) it.

And... yeah. I'm tired. Whatever.

The English Barrier

The follow thoughts are based on thoughts thought about during this talk by Patricia Ryan, Don't Insist on English!.

It's a scary thought that in 90 years we'd be down from 6000 to 600 languages and that a language dies every 14 days. Language is a beautiful thing. It gives us a common medium for us to connect with one another. Inherently in this problem is that if there's so many people in the world and only a few know that language, it becomes unwieldy and inefficient to know that language because there's so few that you can communicate with.

But when you do meet that person, how wondrous it can be. Just within the 'Chinese' language, there's a multitude of dialects that can distinguish from which region each person is from. It's certainly one aspect that one can use to relate to their home, recalling their memories of days gone by. Just hearing my dad communicate with his sisters using 潮州話 (Chaozhou dialect) is pretty intense. There's a sense of familiarity and togetherness in the way they speak, even if it's over the phone. It's a shame that I only know a few terms from this dialect (mainly only what I remember from my Grandmother saying my name, time to eat, and bathing... obviously the only things important to the younger me...).

Ryan's idea about language being a barrier and the self-fulfilling prophecy of research is also a neat notion. I've never really though about language being that big of a deal, but taking a step back... how can't it be? My parents are intelligent people, but their lack of English proficiency prevents them from ever rising up. I know of many people that have so many incredible ideas, only that they are unable to communicate it in a language that others will accept. It''s frustrating. (It's also frustrating because I get stuck with all the help center calls and whatnot, but that's a different story altogether).

Yet at the same time, I can't help but feel that part of this is sort of... necessary. Cruel perhaps, but required. Or perhaps it is rather just the notion of efficiency. The number of papers being pumped out every year is extraordinary. Now multiply that by the number of 'major' languages out there... and you can see how easily it can get out of hand. The notion of the common ground is found here too in that if we do not use the same language, how can we be sure that we're not talking about something that is completely unrelated?

But of course, science is in itself a language. Our professors can look at a chain of amino acids and know exactly what kinds of motifs to expect, what types of folding occurs, the functions of sequences... which still completely baffles me. Computer sciences need only look at 1's and 0's. Math sciences and physicists need only examine variables and equations.

... I wish I knew more languages.

In other news...

Studying. Lots of it.

Procrastinating. Too much of it.

Unhealthy food? Saturated.

Ten Left

... is all there's left before my 3rd year is officially over.

Which is kind of scary given the amount of work that still needs to be done in terms of studying and writing papers and whatnot. But then again, one of the papers isn't due till end of the month... so you could technically say that it doesn't end for another 2 weeks....

Zool - Going over Lab 6, review everything because it's (sadly) cumulative

Zool - Go over paper a few more times

Soci - Read 4 or so chapters and class notes

Bcem - Go over lectures, realize I'll fail, give up

Nans - Write a paper.

But honestly.. I can't wait till this is over so I can just go sleep without having to worry about papers or exams or anything. I feel so... drained. Can't think properly. A headache's only a single trigger away. So tired. But hey, only ten more days right?

In other news...

'pparently our Nans lab recently bought the tools for Dip-Pen Nanolithography. Writing stuff on the nano scale! Like... Harry Potter on less than 1cmx1cm! Don't know if I'd ever get the chance to use it though.

Surprisingly haven't been gaming much in the past week and a half. Did download and read Marvel Zombies though. Or at least most of the different series pertaining to it. Because American comic series are difficult to grasp in terms of continuity and how each thing works. They never end. Never.

SU Clubs Awards was interesting. I had to give the short spiel for the Best New Club Award... but didn't know that I was supposed to do an honorable mentions... so there was a slightly last minute scramble there. And things were a little awkward because I didn't get a chance to practice what I wanted to say... Yeah. Awkward.

And... my mind stopped working about 20 minutes ago. I don't know how I typed so much.. but... more to do tomorrow (today).

The Mouse

If you think about it, the mouse is a rather useful piece of tech. It:

- Translates your hand movements to the cursor on screen

- Left clicking to select single / multiple objects

- Right clicking for extra options and whatnot

- Scroll wheel (it's actually so awkward without one of these now)

- The forward / backward buttons on the side I'm using quite often now too

- My scroll wheel also has the capability to slide the page left / right

That is... until the mouse stops working properly.

- A scroll up every other time I scroll down? That's disorienting

- A left click that's not always registering unless I click hard enough? I can't tell if the site's just loading or if I'm not clicking right. It's frustrating

- Or for when the mice use to use balls to detect movement and when those stopped rolling properly. That was just bothersome.

... I think I need a new mouse.

In other news...

One week left before exams! One week left before my third year is practically over. That's... sort of frightening, really. There's definitely still quite a bit to do before finals:

- Patch the constitution (again and again)

- Finish up final touches on Zool paper

- Do results for Nans paper

- Study for all finals, sadly Zool looks to be ridiculously cumulative

- More SU stuff with SLC, TEA, and Clubs Awards

- Touring Yamnuska Hall (and later EEEL, yay!)

In any case, I better start on that list. =___="

Cooking

It's a rare occasion for me to cook. Given my current student status coupled with the living at home scenario, I rarely do have the chance to cook. Even when the chance arises to cook, it's usually along the lines of instant noodles or throwing something into the oven.

And so, with being the host this time around, getting to make an entire meal was something that was some parts exciting and most parts daunting.

Although I did have in mind what I wanted to make, it's not like I ever cooked often enough to have any actual techniques for anything (cutting, washing, etc etc) and I didn't know any of the recipes well enough to make things well.

That being said... somewhere between the almost completely cooked drumsticks, the poorly cut cucumbers, the sorta cold salmon from poor timing, and the mango pudding was some sort of fulfillment at having cooked so much food.

To be honest, I'm amazed at how my mom can make such copious amounts of food on a daily basis: having to buy all the groceries and planning ahead, preparing and cooking, serving and cleaning... It took me well over 4ish hours to cook. But then again, I'm sure their experience makes them more efficient with the task... but...

Well. Another day, another chance to be better at something.

Time Crunch

I wonder why it's such a recurrence with most (if not all) students to leave their work till the last minute.

You think we'd have learnt from the xth time of procrastination, but yet every time, without fail, the end of the semester will come and we're knee-deep in papers and labs and assignments and finals to study for.

I'd like to think that after already almost 3 years of university that I may have learnt something, and time management may possibly be one of them. I'm still not sure.

Although I'm kind of killing my point since it is near 4am right now. But believe me, I was on a roll with such high momentum that anything in my path would be rolled up into my katamari of knowledge.

Or I'd hope so. I guess time will tell whether or not any of it really stuck with me.

Puns? At this hour?

Yes. It's that tasteful.

Time for sleep. I've got my 18th consented-blood loss coming up.

Being Vulnerable

I've started to develop a habit to sort of pseudo-circumvent my recent Tetris addiction: listening to talks and lectures while I play. Since I've sort of reach this state of being of sorts where I don't have to consciously think about where to play the pieces (hard to describe, it's not exactly not thinking), it allows me to focus on listening and analyzing what I hear.

Of course looking back, I've never really been one to sit still and not move about. Fidgeting, spinning a pen, folding stars, squeezing whatever I'm holding... I just don't like being still. If I can't move... I get rather uncomfortable... and have this minor panic attack like I'm practically suffocating. But that's a massive aside.

I just listened to a talk by Brene Brown on The Power of Vulnerability and she brings up a lot of interesting points:

- Having fear and shame allows us to connect with others.

We're not necessarily perfect beings. Being flawed, although flawed in different aspects, allows us to connect with one another. Which makes sense. It feels weird to be with someone that's 'perfect'. They sort of... exist outside of who we are. They never struggle with anything.

- To connect with someone, we must be seen

And by seen, it meant showing someone our vulnerable side. Again, this makes sense. We usually hide this discrepancies when they rear their ugly head because they're unsightly. No one likes to do it because it makes us uncomfortable. Yet... it is by showing the people around us these vulnerabilities, we're telling them that we trust them. Trust. Connections.

- To be vulnerable was to be human. To be beautiful

Vulnerability is, necessary. To make ourselves vulnerable in the attempt to make a connection with someone. To take the first step to do something when there's no guarantee of success. Simple really. If we never took the chance to try something, nothing would ever happen.

- Numbing ourselves and making the uncertain certain

Because such vulnerability is ever present, we try to numb ourselves to it. To dull ourselves to the pain so we don't have to worry. Furthermore, to rid ourselves of such uncertainties, we attempt to make it certain by laying blame upon others. But that's not conducive to anything, and it certainly does not solve the underlying issue nor allow us to bridge the gap between the self and others.

Being vulnerable... is no easy task. It's definitely something that I've been struggling with. Dulling myself to 'failure' and just accepting myself within it... solves nothing either. But again, this too is something to work on.

Something to work on amongst the plethora of things to work on. Academics, relationships, my inner well-being.

One step at a time.

Forgotten Premonition

There were two pairs of children: two males and females, the males from one family, the females from another. They're young, possibly around 6 or 8? They are wearing a sort of traditional garb that, by just the look you can tell there was something mystical about them.

As one of the kids, I started running around and a whole new line of thought came into my mind. I hate training. I don't want to be the successor. I knew then that the four of us were training. Training for something. That something was coming someday, and our family had to always be ready to protect against it coming.

It is now raining. I am one of the adults watching over the kids. They're dressed normally and chasing each other around on the street. A few cars drive by, barely missing the kids. My kids and theirs. Odd that this time there's no feeling of magic nor mystery, just... lingering depression.

Now it's an autumn day. The same field, this time everything is near golden. I am once again the kid, but things have changed: we are now all older. Nothing seems out of place. We're just going to play soccer. Then I get a strange text from one of the girls, "It is starting. Everyone will have forgotten. You must be ready."

It was dated as several years back, to be sent on this day. Suddenly, nothing seemed normal anymore. How did we all forget? How did she know this would happen, and why did she only send it to me? What happened to our powers? I felt out of place, being forced to play soccer with them. Their identities no longer matched what they used to be in my memory.

Something was wrong.

Another text. It said to meet at the following coordinates. I double checked the phone.

It became the phone in my hand, on my bed.

... Sigh, I wanted to know what happened next in that dream.

Lazing About

A lot of not work's not being done lately.

Not that there are things to hand in...

Disheartening really since I should be working hard.

Regrettably, it's taken a good two weeks, but paper's done.

Even though it's still missing some figures and references.

All in due time I suppose.

'sigh.

Still have exams to burn through though.

Oddly enough, I'm not feeling the pressure right now.

Stepping back, I've realized that I'm almost done third year.

Mind-numbing thought. How can it pass so quickly?

And yet, it's so excruciatingly slow at times...

Realistically though, there' still (hopefully) more years of classes.

Time to study again.

274

Ranting alert.

Zool paper's taking forever to write. It's not that the material is difficult or hard to write about, it's just finding the information and condensing it into what want it to be. Working on it. Projected completion time should be tomorrow. But that won't include refining it and whatnot.

It seems like at least once every week where there's a moment where I feel abject failure. Like nothing I'm doing is right. Nothing is correct. I can't satisfy anyone. I can't meet anyone's standards. I'm not productive. I haven't exercised at all. Grammar fail. It's... doubtlessly unhealthy, but... well, this lack of confidence is not entirely new.

More data crunching. Another 2.5 hours.

Realized that I spent a good 5 -6 hours on Tuesday for SU stuff. 2.5ish hours deliberating on scholarships (a reminder of how little I'm involved with on campus) and then the rest of it was a very very uncomfortable SLC.

CRO's post-election report degenerated into some sort of hate circle as the CRO, having to stand at the center of the circle to present, was bombarded by questions from all sides of the circle. That must've been ridiculously rough and to be honest, rather unfair. Personally, she didn't do an amazing job, but she did do a satisfactory one where she did do everything within her job description and powers. It's a shame that the issue with the joke candidates came up, but it's being played out to be something much larger than it has to be. By-law ambiguity doesn't help, nor do vague answers and aggression-fueled responses.

You'd have to wonder though, there really isn't much the CRO can do other than a small slap on the wrist. There isn't anything in the by-law that represents a strong enough punishment that will actually deter people from violating the rules. The rampant campaigning in MacHall and around the voting booths spoke to that. The CRO can only tell them to go away, but the damage is already done, no?

The excusal motion later in the meeting also didn't do anything to lighten the mood that evening. Basically, for each semester, you'll get in trouble if you miss either 4 meetings overall or 3 meetings consecutively. These non-excused absences are there for random instances (i.e. non-SU or academic related events) wherein you can't make the meeting such as being slightly sick. If of course, you were so sick that it warranted going to the hospital or being able to obtain a doctor's note, that's a different story and would be acceptable for excusal as well.

However, this is poorly thought-out by the former Arts Rep. Having missed two unexcused meetings due to 'sickness', then having missed a third to attend an event, you're completely out of space for anything that may suddenly happen. Was the event important enough to lock yourself into such a hole? Probably not. Risking being impeached so late into the term is not the way to go out. The wrong bang if you will.

A shame that despite having missed probably 6 or 7 meetings due to illness that you didn't learn to at least get a doctor's note of sorts, or probably to the point where you're sort of on the fence for acceptable or non-acceptable, but too many enemies were made.

But... her email doesn't really put things in the correct light: "It is my regret to inform you that I must end my term early as a Faculty of Arts representative due to missing a meeting for having the flu last week (and having missed additional meetings due to illness)." Sigh. Some people.

Movies on Tuesdays

If I haven't mentioned this, did you know that movies on Tuesdays are practically half price?

On a Tuesday, each ticket is around $6.40 some?

On any other day, a general admission ticket is around $12.75.

Also, it would seem that there's less people that go to the theatres on Tuesdays despite this half price deal. Or rather, b/c there is so little people on Tuesdays, they made it half price to at least attract some people and at least break even on a Tuesday? Who knows. But it's cheap. Ridiculous cheap.

So the two movies I watched were The King's Speech and Limitless.

The King's Speech was a fine movie and definitely deserved all the awards that it had been nominated for (and won). The story revolves around King George VI who needs to overcome his stammer as it is difficult for him to communicate and inspire his subjects unless he speaks with confidence. This comes necessarily with the looming start of World War II on the horizon and the whole country is at the brink of war.

To overcome his stammer, George VI, having failed with many other 'doctors' and 'therapists' of the time received help from Lionel Logue. Their developing friendship between one of royalty and one of common descent as well as George VI overcoming his stammering problems was humorous and slightly bitter at times. I enjoyed it lots.

Limitless on the other hand focused on a miracle drug of sorts that allowed one to access 100% of their brain potential, allowing them to recall things they've learnt before, learn things at an incredible rate, the ability to think at a heightened pace, and powerful analytical abilities. However such abilities come with awful side effects if you don't continuously have the drug. Although the plot itself wasn't anything spectacularly, the basis of the story is at least intriguing. Probably the neatest thing about the movie was the color palette change of all the shots between when one has the drug and when one hasn't. Everything is visually brighter and sharper when the drug is taken compared to the dull and bleak shots when without.

It'd be... amazing to have that sort of brain capacity. Even if not for the brain capacity, but the ability to completely focus on the task at hand would be great. To work without procrastination and to ignore all distractions? That sure would come in handy. Perhaps I'd be able to finish my paper by last Sunday like I wanted to instead of still working on it now. Being able to write a test and recalling everything you've learnt without having to worry about forgetting anything, that too would be so so amazing.

If only if only.

Multiple 'Dead' Things

If this was Jeopardy, then your answers would go along the lines of :
- What is Dead Nation

or

- What is Dead Space: Extraction

I don't know where I find time to game amidst all the work / studying that goes on, but it somehow still happens. Or perhaps I really am trading away sleep and stress-free-ness for gaming. But if I don't game, there'd also be quite a bit of stress (that and I'd fall behind on games and then I'd never catch up... not that I can now).

Dead Space: Extraction is an on-rails shooter in the Dead Space universe. The main appeal of this survival horror game is that general conventions of shooting games (e.g. headshots = instant kills) are gone. Instead, they focus on something known as 'strategic dismemberment', where you have to cut off your opponents limbs, tails, etc. in order to properly defeat the foes. 'Twas fun, if not too short of a game. Still don't think I'd play the original Dead Space though, not very good at horror games if I have to play them by myself.

Dead Nation is a twin-stick shooter zombie apocalypse game. The game uses its lighting system to good effect as you can only point the light in front of you (therefore having to maintain constant vigilance behind your back) to survive. I don't know if I'd be able to beat the game by myself, but playing alongside my brother for this game was loads of fun. It's been a while since I've been able to play a game with him where we worked together (instead of backstabbing each other). Also a relatively short game though.

And finally, I've also been playing Trauma Team lately. It plays a little differently from the previous titles in that instead of playing as one doctor, you play as six in different fields: Surgery, First Response, Orthopedics, Endoscopy, Diagnostics, and Forensics. Each of the characters has their own back story and character flaws that they overcome throughout the course of the game. Their different play styles also add a lot of variety to the mix. My biggest problem with the game is probably my shaky hands. It's hard to perform a surgery or cut bones properly with shaky hands. >___>. Also, the music in the game is surprisingly good and matches the situations that you're thrown into. And surprisingly, this game was long: it took me around 26ish hours to beat.

And.. you know... too much Tetris.

OriginPro7 Data Crunch

So this is what I basically did for 10+ hours:

1. Ctrl+K
2. Select data set
3. PgDn x 5
4. Highlight first 3 columns
5. End
6. Shift + click
7. Ctrl+x
8. Right Click
9. D
10. Add new column
11. Home
12. Paste (automatically adds two columns, saves two presses)
13. Highlight first line of column 4-6
14. Right click
15. D
16. High light column 4-6
17. Select Line graph
18. Minimize graph
19. Select first 3 columns from x=0.01
20. End
21. Shift + click
22. Ctrl + y (pulls up scatter line graph + fitting menu, saves a click)
23. Double click x-axis
24. Change to Log10
25. Start at '0.01'
26. Ok
27. 1Iter
28. 100Iter
29. Copy D1
30. Alt+Tab
31. Paste
32. Alt+Tab
33. Copy D2
34. Alt+Tab
35. Paste
36. Alt+Tab
37. Select coordinates cursor
38. Click lower y-intercept
39. Right click + copy coordinates
40. Alt + Tab
41. Paste
42. Alt + Tab
43. Click upper y-intercept
44. Right click + copy coordinates
45. Alt + Tab
46. Paste
47. Alt + Tab
48. Close fitting window
49. Ctrl + s
50. Click old file
51. Double click number
52. Enter new file number
53. Enter
54. Ctrl + O
55. Enter
56. Repeat steps 1-53.

Slight alterations to procedures if lab partner forgets to average cross correlation data. At Step 19, you must select first two columns, paste into excel, grab their average data, paste it back in OriginPro7 into a new column. Then select only columns 1 and 4 instead of 1 through 3. Of course, you'd only need one D and one Y-intercept value.

Short cuts include opening a previous file in the folder you want to save in so every time you save a new file you'll automatically jump there!

Save time by inputting all file names into excel before hand so you can spend less time in lab!

Lol, at some point this was at slightly more than one data set per minute? That's more than 60 APM!

Too bad I don't play Starcraft.

I also hope I don't get Carpal.

Double Blegh

The lack of posting often reflects the amount of time I've placed into other endeavors.

Sadly, being sick is one of them. Studying, midterms, a presentation, and data crunching took up the bulk of the other bits of time.

That, and gaming. Possibly just a bit too much Tetris. But also Dead Nation. And... I think there was something else? Although it escapes my mind at the moment. (Ah! It was Dead Space: Extraction.)

I'll delve into all of these in due time.

Firstly, academics stuff.

The two midterms last week reminded me of a few things. The timing of how I study is rather important. Although I got my sociology readings done a head of time, come time to review the materials, most of it seemed rather unfamiliar. That is not good. My grades on the midterms also remind me that I'm rather not that good at biochemistry. It's a sad thought, but I'm not going to back out of the course not. It is rather interesting despite its difficulties.

For Zool, me and my buddy's presentations have already passed as well. Having to submit the presentation 48 hours beforehand, and starting at 10pm Saturday, I basically had 11.5 hours to force something out. Luckily, things turned out alright, presentation and questions and all. It's surprising how useful the Nans599 (seminar giving course) was. The whole process, from creating to presenting, from speaking to answering questions, has become much easier? Or perhaps I'm a bit more confident with how to go about making and giving them. Who knows.

As it stands... I'm working on my Zool paper. Can't work on Nans paper till we finish the last week of data next Monday (of which I'll have to crunch afterwards). A Zool lab report that we can't start on till later when we receive all the class data. Then 3 finals to (start) studying for. It's going to be an intense final few weeks to get things done.

*Cough*

*Hack*

*Blows nose*

... Ugh. My nose is stuffy enough without all the mucus. Please go away.

Exuding the Gay Vibe

Apparently, according to one of my friends, they thought that I was gay in first year. Hilarious, I know.

But then taking a step back, I'd have to wonder, what qualities are masculine or feminine? Does a male doing something that we believe is 'feminine' automatically classify them as a person that is gay?

The things that I did that somehow linked me to being gay was:

- I liked to dress nice (coordinating my clothing)

- Something about multiple pens and neat notes

- I knew how to shop for things

- I am 'sensitive' (or whatever that means)

But there's plenty of people that dress nicely and like shape their hair in miraculous ways that I would never have the time nor patience to do so (I'm talking about some of the fobs I see on campus / in high school.

I thought taking good notes was important / crucial to helping me study.

Shopping... I guess so? I do rather enjoy shopping every once in a while, if just to look at things rather than to buy (i.e. window shopping). But I still wouldn't know how this correlates.

Sensitive? Yeah. I guess so?

Actually, I've lost my train of thought. I was just going to talk about it, but now it seems like I'm trying to counter these points to prove that I'm not. Or something like that. But honestly, all you would need to do is ask An-Sis. Right? Right.

While on the pseudo-topic of homosexuality (or I guess what sparked this topic in the first place) was attending the Coming Out Monologues on campus.

It was entertaining and interesting at times. At other points, there were moments where there were tears in my eyes (sensitivity, right?). I can think about their perspective as much as I want, but to be in their shoes? To be experiencing everything they have to experience, all the questions, the social stigmas?

I certainly wouldn't know how to deal with it.

But having people supporting them, knowing that there are people out there that you can rely on? That can help.

March on proudly.

Incumbent

So the 2011 SU Election has just passed and I've been re-elected for the Faculty of Science Representative again *fanfare*.

Of the 6 people running, I placed second with 654 votes, running behind first place by 30 votes and ahead of third by 107 votes. Shocking. My two partners are capable people and it's definitely going to be exciting to be working with them.

That aside, there were obviously a few things working for me:

- Incumbent (i.e. I'm already in office and re-running)

- Bad ass posters (thanks in part to Karebear's awesome skills and them being epic partner posters)

- Other reps had terrible posters (maybe? maybe.)

Basically, our poster campaign consisted of me and Jho making posters with nearly the same pose, same content, and same design. Because we're not both on the same poster, it allowed us to put our posters beside one another. This makes it much easier for our posters to be eye-catching. At the same time, given that the other posters were rather poor, it'd be easier for the population to choose us.

Subsequently, we won. Aw yeah.

It'll be interesting to see what can be done this year. Most of the focus has been shifted towards the faculty associations stuff, so I don't know what else will happen since that should hopefully be dealt with by the end of this semester.

Also, huge voter turn out this year due in part to the epic campaigning of the Mat&Pat slate. According to one of the current Haskayne reps, they've basically been leading up to their running since last year's BSD. That's pretty wicked. Their campaign was so strong that they both had more votes in their favor than did the president position (although the president position still had more votes overall and it was split between two candidates more evenly..).

It was also because of how strong the Mat&Pat campaign was (alongside the ignorance of the student population) combined with being placed earlier that allowed the other Matt to win the VP External position. I've read his platform and seen his campaigns, and I wasn't really impressed. Nor was anyone else for that matter. When his name was announced, barely anyone cheered (and apparently some booed). What happened was that the VP External position came up on the ballot first, and all the people voted for him thinking it was the Matt from Mat&Pat. A truly unfortunate turn of events.

We'll see what happens from here on out. It'll be interesting for sure.

In other news...

Crushing stomach cramps kept me up past 2am last night. The coughing didn't lessen the pain to any extent and just made things worse overall. Ugh. Terrible night. Had great company to keep me going though. Whee.