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admiraljello
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Country: United States
State: California
Gender: Male
Interests: Posting on the JC, reading, and sleeping. Oh, and I run.
Expertise: Feeling superior to others. Hah.
Occupation: Student
Industry: Education/Research
Message: message me
Member Since:
9/22/2003
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| These past few days have been pretty awesome. On Tuesday, I went to dinner with my friend Lauren. I haven't seen her since winter, so it was nice to see her again. We had a really fun time eating at this outdoor restaurant thing, and since I didn't feel like going home, we went to a movie afterwards. We had time to talk and catch up before the movie, so it was very enjoyable. It's interesting to talk to people you've known for years and see how different things are in college and the like. Fascinating.
Then on Thursday I went to an Olive Garden with Shawna. I used to *like* her in my freshman year of HS--I actually fell for her (for lack of a better term, not love though) when I first saw her standing in line in front of me at Orientation. I leaned over her shoulder to learn her name by seeing her forms. She knew, of course. It led to a lot of stuff that I won't bother talking about, but it's notable in that it was my last juvenile crush. You know, the sort of immature things that middle schoolers do. So that's interesting.
More interesting is now that said crush has been over for a few years, we're friends now. A few years ago, I couldn't even talk to her (I wasn't very good with girls then) and I so poorly bungled that whole thing. She was kind enough to excuse my idiocy and even gave me her number at the end of the year. I'm glad she put up with that rubbish without snapping. :p
During graduation, I asked her to get a picture with me for the hell of it. At grad night, she asked me to keep in touch and we eventually wound up chatting on AIM. Now we're friends, and I think it's hilariously ironic. I'm totally cool with it, and pleased that I could be friends with someone that I used to be really weird about. The Fates have a sense of humor, but they still let things end up nicely.
So we go to Olive Garden. I was originally worried if she'd forgotten or something since I hadn't spoken with her since we decided the thing, but she didn't forget, of course. She brought one of her friends along, which I didn't mind. It was awkward for me at first since they mostly talked to each other. We cruised the mall waiting for the restaurant to open. There was the usual strangeness of a guy going with girls to the mall, and then the added awkwardness of not knowing all these inside things the two of them were talking about.
Then we ate. Not much to talk about there, it was the usual faire. I did have fun playing 'air hockey' with Shawna using the coasters while her friend thought we were insane. It's okay, because she was insane too. Insanity can be fun.
Then Shawna invited me to the beach with them. She had to take her little brother to some beach thing, and I had time to kill, so I came along. First we went to her friend's house, and then hers. It was another deliciously amusing moment to me, here I was in the house of a girl I used to like. Hah! I can imagine telling my poor self from a few years ago that, and he'd gape. Silly old self.
Shawna and I took one car with the others (her friend and 3 younger kids) took another. That helped break the ice, and we had plenty of time to talk on the long drive to the beach. By the time we got there, I was more than ready to talk away with everyone. While the kids swam and Shawna's friend watched them, Shawna and I walked along the shore to the pier where they had a Rubies' diner. I assumed it was only 1.5 miles away, but it ended up taking nearly two hours to walk there. Partly since we walked on the sand, of course. We were exhausted, but we got to talk plenty and the milkshakes we bought were good. Then we made it back in 30 mins by taking the bike road. We hung out with the others for a while (it was a Boy Scout thing, but apparently some Girl Scouts and British Boy Scouts were meeting with them too... odd little gathering). We then headed back to Troy around 8pm, and then I headed home.
It was a lot of fun, even if it was odd at first. Generally, it's not something I'm used to doing since my little cadre of IB kids were socially stilted from studying all day long. This was the sort of thing most people do quite often, and that was the best thing about it. I should definately be doing things like this--they're fun, and I need to do 'em anyway. So I'm glad that I came along, and I'm glad I'm friends with Shawna now.
All in all, friends are good to have and I strive to have as many as possible. Friendship is a big deal to me, and I'm extremely loyal to those who I do consider friends. As a result, I'm attempting to reach out to as many friends as I can this summer and do things. It's fun, and I truly enjoy doing things with friends, even if involves being accidentally dragged out for 10 hours. I am exhausted and have a quiz tomorrow, but I don't mind a bit. Just meeting up with people that I haven't seen in over a year is worth it. Having fun in the process? I wouldn't miss it.
Oh, and for the record, my 'currently reading' thing is a lie. The book isn't here yet, but by the time I return from school on Friday it ought to be here, so I'm putting it up. | | |
| This is mostly for myself, as the old one went down. Mobile phone uploader. Anyone can use it, of course... | | |
| Well, I figured I needed to make an entry. Y'know, at least once every few months. It's particularly bad when I think that I was still working the last time I made an entry. Yikes!
So let's see. I finished Betrayal. That was pretty neat. Sort of. I think I'm tired of Jedi, and Sith (not that any Sith exist, regardless of what Del Rey says. More on that later... when I decide to go on a massive rant in lumiyam pro imperatore defendenda.) Don't check my declensions on that. I assure you they're wrong. :p
I liked seeing a lot of familiar faces and their families. I didn't like another pointless war and more endless Jedi philosophizing. Honestly, they should all sit down in one long Socratic dialogue and then shut up. Because it's getting old. And non-Force users are cooler anyway.
My birthday is coming the Saturday after next! I'm turning 19, which is really anticlimactic. Nothing really happens. At 18, I got to vote. At 17 I got to watch R-rated movies. At 16 I got to drive. At 20, I can at least say I'm not a teen. 19 doesn't even have that much. It's been suggested I go to Canada since I can drink at 19. I would, but alcohol doesn't interest me. Though we're going to Napa Valley at the end of summer... some of the world's best wine sounds nice. And cheese. Can't forget cheese.
Oh, I also bought a TV tuner thing. It's tiny, and it lets you plug in video sources into a laptop and display TV/game consoles/other stuff through a PIP. That's pretty cool!
I'm still in school, which sucks. I want summer to come. Well, sort of. My parents want me to go on this trip that I don't exactly want to go on. Boo.
Okay, so I only mentioned one toy and there's only one legacy of one force. Sue me. | | |
| Odd subject line, isn't it?
Anyway, first things first. Work today was interesting. I got asked for
change so many times it wasn't even funny--guess it's what happens when
you're at a photo booth. I was going to work at the Star TRader, but
the shift conflicted with a midterm, so I got bumped down to a later
shift at Autopia. Oh well.
During my shift, a party of four girls (I talk about girls, children,
Star Wars, and school a lot--get used to it) aged maybe eleven to
thirteen approached me for lots of change. I gave it to them, and they
took pictures for their autopia driver's licenses--basically, for those
unfamiliar with the attraction--after driving your cars through the
ride, you get a paper license and can purchase a set of 16 stickers to
put your face on them. They were really getting into it, getting a
sticker with all three of them on it and then filling out the name,
height, weight, etc data on it and asking me for help on points. It was
fascinating. They were also engaging me in conversation and telling me
funny stories about their friends. They liked talking--they're young
girls--so it wasn't anything special, but it did fascinate me. At that
age, I was taciturn and talked--sure--but only to people I knew. I was
a little more talkative before and after that age, but not during it.
Yet these kids didn't have any trouble chatting ten minutes away with
me, and it makes you realize--people are social animals. It doesn't
matter if you think people don't want to talk, they do--all
you have to do is approach them. Or be approached, in this instance. I
guess this job is good for me, it's making me more sociable. Senior
year really did that too, but mostly in my HS group--which I really
really wanted to get involved with that last year. Amusingly, in the
dorms, I've acquired this reputation for being this amazingly
unperturbable individual. I don't know where I got it, since I interact
tons, but I guess it's just that fact that I had a different mentality
in HS and don't go for the hedonistic Epicurean mentality that they do.
One of my "friends" there is actually growing weed in his closet, and
most of 'em smoke it--even the "nice" kids to. I mean, good grief. If
not wanting to smoke a joint makes me cold and inhuman, so be it. My HS
friends and co-workers don't think so. :-p
On another note, I walked in on someone describing me at work today at
the check-in area. They said that I was by far the most brilliant
person they knew. That was nice to hear, especially considering I've
only interacted with that person a few times. I like giving off that
impression. *ego-trip*
Oh, don't worry, I'll pop it right now! Let's continue...
Two midterms today. Chem was pretty easy. Everyone else thought it was
hard. Good sign. Especially since I didn't even know what we had been
covering at all until this Tuesday. Hah!
Math was a little tougher. Okay, a lot tougher. But I answered 3/5
questions, for a hopefully 70/100--with the curve, it should be a high
B. Not bad for someone who discovered how to do a double integral just
30 mins before the test, huh?
I'm pretty sure I aced the maxs/mins parts, after spending like a third
of my entire test time fixing my critical points. Ugh. I also somehow
got the question right about maximizing the volume of a rectangular box
if the total costs were to be 1500, with the bottom and top being 30/sq
foot, sides at 20/sq foot, and front and back at 10/sq foot. Not an
easy problem, but simple once you get to it.
But... the other problem might kill me. You see, I did a typical Jello
thing. I have my eye set on the grand scale, and get tripped up on the
details. What do I refer to? A negative sign. I always make sign
errors. It's frustrating. Especially since I forgot a negative sign on
my negative sin. It adds a deliciously ironic twist to it--but a bitter
one.
The problem, for those with an obscene interest in it? I had to find
the volume of a region whose shadow lied over the area bounded by the
lines x =0, y= 0, x = pi/2, and y = 2cosx. So ,after graphing the
region, I determined that 0 <= x <= pi/2 and 0 <= y <=
2cosx. Easy so far, right?
Well, here's the problem. Literally: f(x, y) = ysinx Now, I
assume the problem could be easily solved using polar coordinate
geometry, but I didn't feel like doing that since I had just read that
a few minutes ago and wasn't too sure on it. So, insanely, I tried to
tackle double-integration of transcendental functions head-on. Not
terribly difficult, mind you, but time-consuming--and I'd wasted most
of my time on the other problems. You see, when you're me and you don't
go to class, you have to think out problems. Usually I can grasp just
about any of them, but the problem is, despite the fact that I think
very quickly--I have to rethink and check my work repeatedly, or suffer
disaster. That's what I should have done at the end, but I digress.
So anyway, I determined that I should solve this problem by using the
integral from 0 to pi/2 of the integral from 0 to 2cosx of
ysinxdydx. So, naturally, I first integrate in terms of y. That's
pretty easy, and I get the outside integral of .5y^2sinxdx over 0 to
2cosx. Whoops, here's my problem. Not only do I have a squared
transcendental function, but a product of two transcendental functions.
Yikes!
So it ends up being that outside integral of 2cos^2(x)sinxdx (for those
of you lost, I basically put in the 2cosx in for y). Now, I have to
integrate in terms of x. Uh-oh. So, I diggggg deep into the recesses of
my mind, where I've buried Troy Calculus after my post-AP/IB revelry
and the long absence of math over the summer and my first quarter of
college. I aced any problem in May of '05, but I erased it all by
June--and this is March of '06. Yikes, long time without higher level
math. But i did a neat u subsititution here.
u = cosx
du = sinxdx
Oooh... that means that I put that in (and of course, changed my
interval to be from 1 to 0) and it became the integral from 1 to 0 of
2u^2du. YAY, an elementary integral. I love that trick. So that's
2/3(u^3) over 1 to zero--which becomes -2/3. The end!
Spotted my error yet? Well, having a NEGATIVE volume should've
tipped me off. But it didn't .Everyone knows that dy/dx(cosx) = -sinx.
Everyone 'cept someone who's been away from math for over 9 months and
thus hasn't memorized tables that ought to be second-nature to anyone.
I was so caught up over defeating that nasty transcendental mess
without having to resort to trig identities or polar coordinates that I
forgot that a volume makes no sense being negative. Whoops.
I hope he doesn't hemmorage me for points because of that. Ugh.
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| Today at work I was approached by two guests... little ones. They were two little children, a boy and a girl. The boy, in the nervous tinny voice of his asked about the little Virtual Magic Kingdom cards that we gave out. I told him that they're given to guests so their characters can have exclusive content in the game. I asked how many they wanted, and the little girl said they wanted four. I told them that we're not supposed to give them unless a shirt is purchased as well, that's the rules of the give-away. But they were adorable little children, and I liked that the kid asked me himself instead of having a parent do it for him. I also was mesmerised by the little girl's expressive little brown eyes. I love children. So naturally, I gave it to them. I told them to promise not to tell anyone, and that it was our little secret. The other people in line were happy that I was nice to them. :D
We had some very difficult people today, too. I have an easy way of handling them: I am inordinately nice to them. It really off-balances people--even the most aggressive ones--because they don't know how to handle it. THey're expecting a fight, are ready for a fight, and want a fight. If you through a wrench into that, they're confused and don't know what to do. It's the number one rule of warfare--outflank the enemy and keep them guessing. It's also a potent form of sarcasm, I think. | | |
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