Disparate Discourse

Tagged as Personal

Written on 2009-01-22 04:42:03

Before I bore you, I should mention something worth reading. There was an interview with Clay Shirky I read that I thought was just excellent. It's on the response to technological change and some of the effects of the change (the newspaper industry esp.). It's in 2 parts and it's definitely worth it. Check it out: Part 1 and Part 2. Also, if you've ever wondered about the people who write adware, here's an interview with one. There's a little bit of geek speak but it's not too bad and he certainly has some interesting things to say.

I've had a lot on my mind I've wanted to mention here but I've been distracted by real life lately. You know, school, keeping up the house, budgeting, exercise, a small social life, etc. It's been a big January. Obama got inaugurated and seems to be taking his first steps well. EA Blackbox disappointed me by not including Custom Soundtracks, one of the few features I cared about, in the PS3 version of Skate 2. And wouldn't you know it, I'm just loving SPSU. I can't explain why. I especially don't know when I found it so miserable last time. The classes aren't more challenging (except for maybe my programming course) but I'm just enjoying myself a lot more. Maybe that year off really did benefit me. I'm also really loving the public transit I take two days a week to get there. If I can get through the next 30 years without a car, I'm liable to try.

My 2 school days, Tuesday and Thursday, are both 13+ hour days. I leave at 7:30 and get back home around 9:00. It's worth having the rest of the week off though. My first class is Technical Writing which I at first hated and still think is pretty dumb. Thankfully, it's the sort of class where if you just keep your head down and do what you're told you'll do well. I'm normally not good at that but I'm managing so far and it's been getting a little easier as I've gotten less afraid the teacher will grade my work arbitrarily.

The really odd thing which I don't know how to relate is that I'm making friends at SPSU. Last time I made a point of going to class and back to my dorm. I spoke to few (or no) people in my classes and was this ghost guy that happened to live on campus but spent most of his time at work or his Oglethorpe girlfriend's dorm. I'm still near Oglethorpe and I still see the folks I care about, particulary that girl. That said, I run into people constantly throughout the day and they want to talk or hang out with me. The lunchroom, the hallways, just walking around. It bothered me a little initially because I was used to sitting around people watching and reflecting during that time and people kept coming up to me. It seems that people my age don't really reflect much to me for some reason. Anyway, it was weird getting approached all the time at first but it's fun now.

I have a Global Issues class which is sort of politics and probably should've been covered by a bit of Core 3 but I'm signed up for the 2nd of something like 6 debates and mine is on the issue of population control. I'm all about that and I've been thinking a bit about sustainability and anomie lately. I still don't have anything smart to say though. I have a Discrete Math class in which I actually adore the professor. Literally. She's precious. She bounces all over the damn room because she has ADD so bad she can't hold still. Or she's just that excited about Discrete Math. She specializes in Extremal Graph Theory after all. Anyway, her enthusiasm makes all the difference. I've sort of made the class fun for myself additionally by picking up LaTeX to typeset all my math homework. It all ends up looking like $\forall x \in Z^+ p | \sim p \to (q \lor r)$ or some such. God bless the almighty Emacs. I (almost) live in there. If you want to understand why someone would subject themselves to such a thing instead of just using a Word Processor like MS Word, read this.

I've got a few programs I need to write. I need to write an application to help me keep up with my budget and I need to write a cookbook application to help me store and keep track of my favorite recipes. I'm definitely writing the cookbook app in Chicken Scheme and may or may not write the budget app in Common Lisp. By the way, I'm looking for a simple but stellar Chili recipe. Anybody have one they're willing to share?

Part of my recent joy has been that I'm less concerned about changing the world with my life. It's sad to me quite often but the amount of effort required to not be an ordinary person is tremendous and the sacrifices great. I'll try to explain that in more detail later but in short I'd like to spend my life with a loved one quietly but intently. It's hard in some sense not to end up sleepwalking through your life and going with the flow. Anyway, for now I've got to get this posted and get to bed in the next 10 minutes so I'll be well rested for my 14 hour day tomorrow. Good night.

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