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Thursday, January 31, 2002 I've changed the layout. (Actually, the changed layout isn't that drastic.) This is Version 1.2; the above pic is of an astrolabe. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 8:58 PM : I feel like an ignoramous whenever I fall asleep in a lecture class. Sometimes the lecturer is boring, but more often than not, the room is dark because the prof is using a slide projector. I guess I conk out because my brain is thinking "night time". Or maybe it's because I've stayed up the previous night working. I was amused when I ran across this particular personality test. Which Greek Goddess are you? I got Athena. I actually know somebody who's named Athena--although she doesn't look like one. What I found funny is that my name is actually Greek for "goddess"--specifically one of the Titans in mythology--so I've always known which one I was. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 7:12 PM : Wednesday, January 30, 2002 Here are some news links I didn't get to put up yesterday: Texas woman gets life sentence for confining malnourished 8-year-old in closet. I'm never surprised by horror stories anymore. Maybe I've become desensitized through reading, whatever little television that I do watch, and the movies. But that dosen't mean that I don't think this is wrong. I know that the definition for normalcy is a fuzzy line, but for some things, it is obvious. In this case, I see no justification for these people's actions. Because they've abused another human being, they have no right to call themselves human beings, let alone "parents". Unfortunately, there are plenty of other similar cases out there I can do nothing about them. Buttocks Implants for the Small-Seated. Oh, so now women want to enlarge their butts? I don't understand why people have to change themselves to fit current whims on beauty. Why do people place so much importance on outward appearance? I find it empty. Some of the beautiful/handsome people I've met were complete jerks--perhaps because they could get anything they wanted with their looks. Personally, I don't find myself agonizing on whether I'm attractive or not--maybe because I've built up a thick skin from all the insults (direct or subtle) I've gotten--I don't care what others think. On a similar note: What Men Really Love About Women's Bodies. Normally I would ignore these "self-help" articles, but this one reminded me of a comment that bubblehead girl once remarked, "All the guys [at Tech] don't like girls with bigger bones or curves. They all like skinny girls. Or Asian girls." This is a rather hypocritical comment considering that she is currently engaged to an ex-Techer (he graduated two years ago) and has guys hitting on her all the time. I've also been "trolling" around to see what male bloggers think of this article. Basically all I see is, "Women, pay attention to this! We men do like females who are confident about themselves!" Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I think most of them are lying. Perhaps they're just being politically correct in saying that they like women for who they are and not how they look. Or maybe this article written by a hack of a psychologist is trying to give unrealistic confidence to women in the first place. But then of course, I could be over-analyzing everything. Grr. Damn messed up human sociology. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 7:36 PM : We are stuck in the computer lab attempting to finish our senior page for the yearbook. I hate photoshop, especially when on deadlines. However, there are some of our pictures on the web at Parakeet's homepage. Feel free to make fun of us. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 2:35 AM : Tuesday, January 29, 2002 I'm so happy today. I found two (yes, two!) holes in the floor for my cello endpin to rest on. I despise rambling. Especially for the sake of making noise because the rambler can't stand a quiet room. Noise has its place elsewhere, like construction sites or presidential speeches. In other places, I would rather rest my ears than pollute them with senseless racket. So I got the following e-mailed to me today: Stephen King will bow out of writing for publication when five books, including a collection of short stories, are completed, he told an interviewer from the Los Angeles Times. Two of the volumes are scheduled for 2002. Vowing never to go back and rehash material from previous books, he will adhere to the old vaudeville adage of "Always leave them laughing when you say good-bye." I don't understand. Why would a writer just give up writing? Writing, I think, is supposed to be a compulsive terminal disease. You can never get rid of it. If he still wants to write for publication, why doesn't he just switch genres? He could start writing romance novels or children's books. Maybe he could try non-fiction. Better yet, how about cook books? I'd bet he would make great competition--Martha Stewart would start quaking in her boots instead of trying to decorate them. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 2:24 PM : Monday, January 28, 2002 After a really good downpour, everything looks clearer as if I had been watching black and white my whole life and now suddenly my surroundings are in technicolor. The colors themselves are darker, not like the colors when it is twilight (because then the colors are muted and smudged like bad eyeliner) but like the brilliant hues in a painting. The colors are rich like the chocolate death logs the incompetent cafeteria staff pass off as dessert. I look up and find the sky a burgundy ocher because there is cloud cover. Occasionally it breaks and there's a dark gash like a ravine. I don't see stars though. The air is too thick with moisture to see such distant things clearly. I can notice the smell too, very earthy and woodsy. For a few scant moments, I am transported away from the daily drudgery that is called reality. The grass is so green and cold. But that green is naturally muted. It's nothing like the grass on commencement day--because that grass is spray-painted to perfection. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 7:18 PM : Last night it rained. There's something oppressive about water falling from the sky. Is it a sense of drowning that causes a psychological handicap for the rest of the day? Something must be happening; there must be a correlation between pounding headaches and being forced to stay inside to breathe stale uncirculated air. And I wonder, why can't I have more time? I dreamed of schools and school buses and people backing out of parking lots. And it was night. Time wasting links: Names Googlewacking What font are you? Wowie! You are Redensek! You are techy yet cute, and pretty much all around cool. Everyone loves you! You're fun, popular, and can mold yourself to fit right in to any situation. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 9:11 AM : Sunday, January 27, 2002 I am seriously thinking of redesigning this site. I mean, a complete overhaul. Yet I don't have any ideas. Which Care Bear are you? Grumpy Bear [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 5:25 PM : This is really scary. Or maybe I'm just naive. Unfortunately, there's no way to have people to not "judge a book by its cover" or more importantly distinguish what is reality and what is not. It's like my view on cross-dressing. I personally don't care how people dress. Yeah, it may be strange and unconventional, but that doesn't affect who that person is. It's not harming anyone. Writing fiction is the same way. Certain genres or subjects may not sit well with the entrenched beliefs of the reader but that's not hurting anyone. True, it might be stretching your mind a bit, but what's the harm in that? I'm just sorely disappointed that some people can't look further than the icing on the cake--or even worse, find the icing the sole thing that is of importance. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 12:29 AM : Saturday, January 26, 2002 I discovered one of those bargain basement discount bookstores while walking along Lake Avenue. It's called Crowne Books. In fact, it's right next to Borders. I went in, not really expecting anything of interest--for some reason, commercial bookstores have begun to bore me. Everything is predictable and everything is a bestseller. Everything is trash disguised in glossy attractive packaging. So I was very surprised when I found a copy of The Forgetting Room sitting among a pile of discarded hardback fiction. This book is by Nick Bantock, a graphic artist/author who is best known for his Griffin and Sabine trilogy. Now don't go away thinking that this is a children's picture book because it isn't. It's more like a puzzle book for grown-ups. Oh, and did I mention that I got this for five bucks? [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 5:10 PM : Friday, January 25, 2002 Three of the last forty hours have been spent asleep. This means I'm dangerously on the hallucinating side. I've been seeing things for the last couple of hours and being in lab at the same time doesn't help matters much. I saw a dark shadow walking around playing the bagpipes, but that wasn't my imagination since everyone else saw and heard it too. So I'm confused. Why do people think California is Scotland? Or Little Scotland? Does California have a large Scottish community? [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 11:47 PM : I opened my door and found a bunch of Asian guys dressed in identical suits and identical hair cuts. They were holding brochures and meandering around. I had no idea what they were doing, but at least they weren't trying to shove religious propaganda into my hands. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 12:50 PM : Cool link for today: The Secret History. It's hilarious. A Byzantine historian completely trashes the emperor Justinian and his wife. I especially like this one: "Proving That Justinian and Theodora Were Actually Fiends in Human Form". We had a friend take a digital picture of the beaver that we had been torturing lately. Yeah, I know it'll be more appropriate for finals but anyway...  [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 9:33 AM : Thursday, January 24, 2002 The night is a metaphor for the unconscious. The air retains a hint of crispness like a northern fall. In the darkness, people are shadowy figures that ignore my passage. Running water is a slithering monster underfoot. Doors are locked and I must wait outside in the stillness. Some historical references: Ptolemy's Geography The Byzantium Studies Page Medieval Science The Astrolabe [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 10:04 PM : We did some water photos today, most of them with the beaver dangling above the body of water in question. I also took some more random pictures and battled the blades of death in front of Millikan Library. Maybe if we're lucky, I might be able to scan the pictures in this weekend. Hmm. I wonder if I can get to somebody in Timbuktu in Six Degrees of E-mail. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 2:36 PM : Wednesday, January 23, 2002 We got strange looks from passersby as we took pictures this afternoon. Well, we were throwing a stuffed toy off the roof of a building (among other various things). There were several times when we nearly got squished by elevator doors and moving library bookshelves. Security didn't throw us out, but they were making fun of us. And we're still not done. The things we do for "art"... Tonight is the last night that the King of Spoons will be president. Or was. Near the end of dinner he was ousted by a horde of disgruntled off-campus sophomores wearing bright yellow t-shirts bearing the word "LOID" printed in front. They hosed the King of Spoons with super-soakers and the leader of the rebel faction read out a proclaimation for separation that sounded a lot like the Declaration of Independence. Afterwards, I was off to interview one of the authors of Crippling Depression, Tim, for a class assignment. I got rather typical Techer answers until his roommate accused him of being sensitive and his friends dropped by to say that he had an unhealthy obsession with Disney characters. Then he went off on a tangent on his favorite movies and television shows. Since I rarely watched either of those, I was perplexed on how to end the one-sided conversation until he quite effectively just petered out. The interview wasn't a total loss though, he did hand me a pile of papers with detailed commentary on his comic strip. What is your medieval vocational personality? I am a benevolent ruler. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 8:49 PM : We were zooming down the 110 when we saw a car with a lighted sign stuck outside the driver side window. We passed it. The sign said "Sushi Takeout". Last night (or really early this morning if you want to get technical) I found out that we may be able to take out an entire senior page since some other guy volunteered to contribute photos. This other guy happens to be on my roommate's fencing team and is obsessed with wearing all black. Sometimes I think he's stalking my roommate but she doesn't think it's too unusual. Maybe they're having this weird side relationship they're not telling me about. At any rate, I find myself slightly disturbed. Am I insane? Apparently I'm not. Another Insanity Test According to this one I'm about 24.43% insane. And the Cthulhu Coffee Insanity Test They say I'm schizotypal. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 1:08 PM : Tuesday, January 22, 2002 I saw a squirrel the size of a cat sitting in a tree on my way to rehearsal. I'm exasperated that the editors of the Big T only gave us one week to submit our senior pages. Didn't they consider giving us more time? I worked as a historian last year, and from what I recall, the seniors had at least a month, if not more, to work on their pictures--and the yearbook got out on time. Maybe the editors this year are trying to overcompensate. Maybe they're trying to give themselves more leeway. Either way, I hope they don't have a hard drive failure and get half of the yearbook wiped out like two years ago. So last night, my roommate and I were trying to come up with ideas for our section. Finally, we made a list of things that would cause death. We're going to take pictures of ourselves "killing" the Caltech mascot. Why? Because we decided that the best idea would be to vent our bitterness from the preceeding four years.** This morning at the bottom of the list (which we had written outside our room on a whiteboard) someone had added "death by broken heart". Forgive me for sounding callous, but I'm not sympathizing with anyone who's distraught that their love life is in shambles--they should have known better before coming to Tech. We'll just see how the photos turn out. **This, of course, should be taken as our opinion and a metaphor (of undergraduate life at Tech). We are not deranged psychos in need of psychiatric help. No people, animals, or inanimate objects will be harmed during the course of our project. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 3:10 PM : The cleaning people are lazy. It's nearly 10 AM and they still haven't even started on the over-filled trash cans. Then again, some people accumulate dangerous amounts of garbage in just three days. Some interesting links: On the Implausibility of the Death Star's Trash Compactor The Surrealist Compliment Generator: You are as dazzling as a pregnant cow attired in electrical sockets. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 9:57 AM : Monday, January 21, 2002 This is the second year that MLK Day is declared an institute holiday. You would think that with such a diverse community on campus that a day commemorating civil rights and equalities would have been honored earlier. But no, scientists probably don't think much about social holidays. It's just lumped with the all encompassing category of liberal arts. And liberal arts here, to be honest, is dead. Actually, I'm jealous. People get a day off--a longer holiday, a three day weekend. On the other hand, I'm working today. It would take an act of God for me to even have a two day weekend. So you may ask why I'm not working now since this happens to be an entry. It's lunch break, that's why. Some MLK Day links: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 2:35 PM : Sunday, January 20, 2002 I voluntarily got suckered into a sleepover. Bubblehead girl was completely in her element. There was gossip galore--particularly on people who've been promiscuous, drunk or high, or both. I never particularly liked "girl talk". It's always people (usually) bad-mouthing other people and meddling into their lives. I'd rather draw my own conclusions about people due to my own interaction with them. Even if those conclusions are naive. They haven't bothered me so I don't have any impetus to dig in their affairs. But still, I always come away from gossiping sessions with a little more colored view than I began with. Some guys attempted to crash the sleepover by making us fold their laundry. Initially we wanted to shove them out--but we made a deal. They "paid" us with a bottle of bourbon in return for the chore. Of course, right after they left, we dumped their clothes over the balcony. In retaliation, the guys went back to the dorm and strung up all the girl's bathrooms' showerheads in the courtyard. I also got a chance to watch Erin Brockovich which was amazingly funny. Perhaps it was the odd and quirky characters that made some parts almost slapstick. Perhaps it was the way the camera picked up the little "looks" that the characters gave each other. One thing for sure, it was very different from other Julia Roberts movies which I had always rolled my eyes at because they were chick flicks. And when the credits rolled, Bubblehead girl exclaimed at the television screen, "What about George? Where is he? Doesn't she get back together with him?" I could care less about that character, but as it is, she's an incurable romantic. Interesting links: What would your stats be in AD&D? Geek Purity Test Which drink are you? What kind of faery are you? Wallace & Gromit are back! [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 1:41 PM : Saturday, January 19, 2002 Cloning obviously has clear ethical and social implications, and although I have fairly clear opinions about the subject, I'm sort of glad that I'm not one of those people who are currently deciding the policy on this technology. But for this particular issue on NPR, I whole-heartedly agree that cloning should not be used as a tool for reproduction. I don't doubt that somebody will attempt this (and perhaps succeed) but cloning for reproduction is wrong. Of course, you would argue, how about in vitro fertilization? Isn't that another technology subverted for a use that supposed to be happening naturally? Well, yes, but the babies that result from this process are still original. Besides, I'm not an absolutely staunch defender of in vitro fertilization anyway--it has been done--but there are still a lot of naturally born chidren out there who don't even have parents to look after them. This gets into the arena of adoption, but in a way it's a totally different subject and I won't get into it here. Well, you may ask, aren't you even concerned about not propetuating your own genes? Yeah, in theory, but you've got to remember, our species is naturally a society. It's more important to be remembered for your ideas than your procreative fitness. And in case you don't get it, read Huxley's Brave New World. Or maybe we humans should have followed the evolutionary track of yeasts by budding instead of relying on sex. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 11:24 AM : Friday, January 18, 2002 One of the engineering buildings has red lights on top of it. And before you ask, no, they are not Christmas lights. More like warning lights--especially like the ones flashing above closed lab doors indicating that radiation is in use. "Undergraduate research? You suck." I'm not quite sure what to make of the King of Spoons' comment. Perhaps he is remarking upon the fact that all my time is gone due to "my affair with the lab" and that I'm not available to finish the mural that he is always harassing me about. But unlike most other people who do undergraduate research here, I get paid. I never understood why you can't get credit and money at the same time--and I understand even less the requirements for credit (which limits you to only 6 hours in the lab). Perhaps people want free time. Sometimes it's almost obscene that others have four day weekends and nothing productive to show for it. So senior year, you're either a slacker or a sleep-deprived lab rat. And remarkably, you can predict who is which by what their major is. The 100 Acre Personality Quiz Piglet [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 5:44 PM : Thursday, January 17, 2002 Yay! I finally got feedback from the memoir I wrote for the non-fiction class that I'm taking. There's definitely lots to work on, but the prof said that my style reminded her of that guy who did Twin Peaks, weird and dark. In a previous class, the fiction writing prof told me I could give Stephen King a run for his money. Hm. I never thought anything I wrote was really scary, but if that's what's giving people their kicks, I'm all for it. But don't let my occasional pithy comments about writing actually lead you to believe that there's a comprehensive writing curriculum here. If the head of the Lit department, who even freely admits to not understanding modern poetry, had his way all writing classes would be eliminated. As it stands right now, science fiction (or anything related to the topic), is banned. But that doesn't stop anyone from writing it if they wanted too--why, the more well known authors out there from Tech (like David Brin and Larry Niven) are science fiction writers. Which Kevin Smith Female Character Are You? You are Bethany from Dogma! You must really hate yourself. You're cynical and self-loathing, the epitome of the Prozac poster child. No guy in his right mind would touch you with a ten foot pole. You've had some odd adventures in your day and hopefully, in the future one of your strange journeys will lead you to a tiny shred of happiness...or at least a good shrink. Poopy train. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 10:07 PM : Between the hours of 4 to 8 AM, especially if I managed to get to bed before midnight I get into this state that I personally call paralyzed dreaming. I'm not exactly paralyzed, I'm just too tired at the moment to even move. I'm aware that I'm dreaming (and sometimes I'm able to manipulate the events in those dreams) but I can't stop it until the dream itself runs its course. There are also times when I'm confused and I can't tell the difference between reality and dreaming--that's when I wake up and can't tell where I am. Sometimes I wished I could talk in my sleep so I could record what was going on. Actually, better yet, if I could write in my sleep. I'm pretty sure the stuff I would jot down wouldn't make a lick of sense but hey, it'll be great fodder material for other things. Which pumpkin are you? You are James! You are the most likely of the Smashing Pumpkins to lead a happy, normal life. your innate shyness conceals a wicked sense of humour and a fondness for sweet love songs. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 9:54 AM : Wednesday, January 16, 2002 Current geek fashion: Red doilies as hair decorations Sandles with heavy duty winter coats Carrying around plastic light sabers for no apparent reason Pretending to be Inspector Gadget Blue hair Dinner conversation about the Higgs particle Jackets with sleeves cut off Computer monitor tans And last but not least Ultimate frisbee mania The Horrible Affliction Test Rabies [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 4:13 PM : Tuesday, January 15, 2002 The Super Maze, Music, and Others Oxy campus is a hellish place at night, especially if the main exit is blocked by bright orange cones and chains. So why on earth was I at Oxy in the first place? Well, there was the orchestra rehearsal (it's a joint orchestra with Techers and Oxy people, but we might as well have had it at Caltech--the Oxy people are still on winter break). Afterwards, we found our main exit gone so we drove around, with other clueless people tailgating us as well, only to find dead ends and nearly driving off a cliff. Finally, I remembered that there was a hidden driveway where we started and we escaped like psychotic mice from a water maze. In other news, the Chamber music director played for the soundtrack recording of a film called "Death to the Smootchies" (or at least I think it is) which is supposed to be a cross between Barney and the Sopranos. Starring Robin Williams and Danny DeVito, a guy who makes his living dressed in a dinosaur suit is being hunted down by the mob. The soundtrack also includes The Ride of the Valkyries (every Techer's nightmare), The Flying Dutchman, and Madame Butterfly. Remember, you heard it here first! As for silly shenanigans on Tuesday, a Techer ate a plate full (more than a quart?) of ice cream for one dollar. Some people think it's in imitation of some Japanese show called "Iron Stomach". The real truth is, it's a dare concocted by people who watched too many soap operas. And one of my friends says that there's symbolism in the Caltech comic Crippling Depression when one of the characters smiles less and less as the term wears on. However when questioned, the creators of the strip admitted to absolutely having no idea what he's talking about. The Evil Criminal Test Imelda Marcos [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 11:35 PM : This news article I found via Metafilter gave me a pause: Human Remains Fall from the Sky. What struck me was that whoever got themselves cremated did not think of the consequences of how they wanted themselves "scattered to the four winds". It could be quite possible that somebody could have been killed. Talk about reaching out beyond the grave... Some interesting links: M * A * S * H The Blogger Decoder They Fight Crime! QuasiGoth Dead Guy Quiz If I were a dead goth I would be Robert Smith. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 12:40 PM : I'm annoyed when I surf some random sites, minding my own business when a dialogue box pops up proclaiming "Hey don't copy me. Be original!" I'm not even trying to copy them! I just want to scroll down the page. It must be some (javascript?) error where they disabled both the right and left clicks. But hey, it won't deter the most adamant of hackers to get at your stuff. Last night I must have been more woozy than usual because I finally stopped procrastinating and actually got a domain name. I'm probably going to use it to do some other project. I'm too lazy to move anything else. And I finally found an FTP program that didn't confuse me the first time I installed it. FFX Quiz 35, I'm Kimahri. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 7:25 AM : Monday, January 14, 2002 FTP problems at Geocities. I was wondering what was wrong when I couldn't get anything published via Blogger but I've had this Geocities account for over two years now. Hmm...something fishy. Every term I see when my roommate starts her phase-shifting. That is, she sleeps during the day and wakes up for the evening. This term, it's right after the first week of class. Last term, it was probably around the third week in. Odd, I didn't think she had any hardcore classwork this term, but I could be wrong. Or it could just be her body clock. I, on the other hand, just end up short-changing myself on sleep anyway. Some time wasters: Click three points: an interactive showcase Gridcosm Is You Ghetto? 81-100% Ghetto (I'm a Ghettoass mofo!) [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 9:15 AM : Sunday, January 13, 2002 Ho! I have this site reviewed by the ultra-nice kiddies at r-e-v-i-e-w. Remarks about the critique: The last thing I would have thought about this blog would be intimidating. Working with high-brow snobs, now that is intimidating. I'm just one of those people who'll do nothing if criticized. You could say I'm a glutton for punishment. And there's a reason why a link from the archives goes off to nano-land. But if it confuses the hell out of people, I'll be glad to take it out. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 9:52 PM : That's it. I knew something weird was going on when some people carted off bright yellow painted bricks to the Atheneum. When I came back this evening, the whole place had been turned into a neon disco ball. Either the profs are reminiscing about the good ol' days or some wedding people are a little more cracked in the head than usual. My mentor was ranting about Enron (here's another Enron article) this morning. He's pretty political minded--he's not an uber-liberal, but he does despise the Bush administration. I don't blame him. They're a little too conservative for my taste. So my mentor has this conspiracy theory that practically everyone in the current administration is up to their necks deep in some Enron cover-up. I wouldn't be surprised (although the Clinton administration probably has more to do with it). Shocked, maybe, but not surprised. On the other hand, my roommate was all gung-ho when voting for Bush. Back in the day of the messed-up election, she was really hoping he would win because it appeared that Bush was "isolationist" and would be less likely than Gore to send people off to war. My roommate is not the pacifist like the Yellow Biker, but her brother is in some military academy out east. Well, too bad. After 9/11, not sending troops is not an option. Gorillaz Test I'm 2-D. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 8:00 PM : I wish there were some flying squirrels about. It's something that I just don't get. Perpetual sunniness. Perpetual perfection. The trees, the walkways, have to be just so. The maintenence people are always out there in a tour de force to clean everything up. And did I also mention that it was also always sunny? I want a really big thunderstorm, or better yet, a blizzard. I've always thought of January as being cold, which just goes to show I'm in the wrong part of the country. I'm tired. Nostalgia and getting up too early in the morning. Which member of Sloan are you? Andrew Scott [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 8:45 AM : Saturday, January 12, 2002 Musings on a Shopping Expedition Someone must have donated another bus to ARTS. From the looks of it, it's probably an airport shuttle company. I was riding with a bunch of 60+ year old people who kept cracking polygamy jokes when the bus passed by the segment of Orange Grove that was bordered by Colorado (part of the famous Route 66) and Green. Contruction workers were busy pulling down the bleachers from the Rose Parade. Despite my numerous opportunities to have gone, I haven't--and oddly I don't even feel gipped. I guess my criteria of a fulfilled life doesn't include sitting stationary in a bunch of crowded stands just to watch a bunch of floating balloons go by. I bumped into a couple of other Techers while shopping for feminine hygiene products. I wasn't embarrassed...it was just odd. My roommate though, would have been really embarrassed. Other embarrassing things would probably be shopping for underwear, or even worse, condoms. Or maybe it's just society conditioning us to think certain things are embarrassing or "taboo", after all the American founding fathers were Puritans. I just don't understand why people have to make such a big deal with natural bodily functions. More than once, I've noticed that I walk pretty fast. I whizzed by a couple of weird grad students even though I was loaded down with groceries. Or maybe other people just walk slow because I have a pretty short stride. The only thing blocking my "fast walking" was a wedding procession. Yesterday I was thinking to myself, "Wow, this is really abnormal. No wedding people today." But I had forgotten that it had been Friday. Nobody gets married on Friday. But they do get married on Saturday. I was really, really tempted to zoom past and mar the filming in progress. What Pre-1985 Video Game Character Am I? I am a Light Cycle. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 3:43 PM : Southern California is a bad influence. Even international students are beginning to show definite signs of speaking "valley girl". Interesting links: Industorious Clock Binary Clock What is my spirit animal? Mine's a dragon. (via Lindsay) [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 11:04 AM : Friday, January 11, 2002 I don't understand why I'm such a klutz with polyarcrylamide solutions. Or more accurately, I've always had bad luck with it. It's not like I told it to solidify in three seconds. Maybe it's like the old saying of milk curdling in the presence of an ugly person. But I don't think I'm that ugly--I don't have a wart sticking out of my nose or anything--my clumsiness may be due to my own stupidity. At least I wasn't the guy who spilled phenol all over the place. I always find that administrative staff comes in two types: 1) The yuppie. 2) The middle-aged female. In the first case, the people are very nice and are accomodating to whatever you're trying to send off. In the second case, you either get on their good side or get on their bitchy side. More often than not, I end up with the latter. And I swear, I didn't do anything except perhaps ask a stupid question (I'm good at doing those). The quiz that says absolutely nothing about your personality: Their experts have determined that either I have a lot of money or want money, or I like to pretend I have it, or I just want to get high off power and the smell of dollar bills. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 5:40 PM : This is old, but hey, I just found this: Deconstructing 'You've Got Blog': “Jason Kottke... is widely admired among bloggers as a thoughtful critic of Web culture.... Getting blogged by Kottke, or by Meg Hourihan or one of her colleagues at Pyra, is the blog equivalent of having your book featured on Oprah.” Err...I'd rather be an underground cult master, thank you very much. What kind of pokemon are you? If I were a Pokemon, I'd be Mewtwo. You're strong and intelligent, but you're also bitter, pissed off, and have some serious issues with life, the universe, and humanity in general. You're uncatchable, untrainable, and capable of dealing heavy damage to those who cross you. Due to your high stats, lack of weaknesses, and ability to blow shit up with alarming force, few opponents dare challenge you, and even fewer win. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 10:11 AM : Thursday, January 10, 2002 I'm not afraid to admit that I'm a bit self-absorbed. I searched for my (real) name on Google and found someone who had the same, exact name. First and last. It was scary. This person even has the same nationality that I do. But this person is a rabid fan of George Michael. I have absolutely no idea who George Michael is. Also decided to join the bandwagon and gets some codes. Check out my personal blogger and geek codes on my about page. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 8:33 PM : Remember the kid who crashed a plane into the side of a building? His parents are suicidal too. (via Jay) From this month's Harper's Index: Number of U.S. colleges and universities that were asked by law enforcement to release student information last fall: 220 Percentage that released the students' information without informing them: 90 [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 1:30 PM : A Dream I'm in a forest revisiting a favorite branch. Except it has been taken over by caterpillars. Some are huge, as big as my forearm. One was black with a single pearly eye in the middle of its foreheard and it had wings. A couple of them were fat, green, and lazy. And one was white with the consistency of cotton candy. I tried getting rid of them manually, but only with moderate success. Giving up, I wandered down a path past a lake to the center of a small town which was holding a parade and a festival. Some silly test results: Which Brady Bunch kid are you? Bobby Brady Which Radiohead Collective Member are you? Stanley Donwood The Super Mario Brothres Quiz I am Yoshi, the cool dinosaur. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 10:10 AM : Just got back from lab and very tired. I also found out that the Vice-President of Student Affairs Chris Brennen is actually stepping down because he's recovering from a heart attack. Very sad. He's well-liked by the students, and contrary to the ultra-fem ResLife director, he actually listens to students' concerns. I wonder who will be appointed next. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 12:56 AM : Wednesday, January 09, 2002 Y? The National Forum on People's Differences is just one of those sites which is a must read. Some of the questions are funny. Others are just plain disturbing. Take for instance somebody griping about gender-specific toys. In my own experience, people were always giving me dolls when I was younger. I hated them. I tore off Barbie heads. I was deathly afraid of ones that talked, especially the ones that cried, "Mama! Mama!" Instead, I played with legos and crayons and tape recorders with microphones. Yep, I definitely wasn't the nurturing type. So you can imagine my disbelief when I came across this quote by a 22-year-old: Anyway, I think there should be a gender separation in toys. Girls should learn how to be ladies while boys learn how to be gentlemen. There should be a strict hierarchy and distinct separation between the two, as our chromosomes are different. If girls want to play with boys' toys, then they have serious problems, and should be fixed by sending them to a good protocol school. Ideally, I'd like to see young women wearing gloves in public and actually appreciating it when men are holding doors for them, etc. And how about this from a 21-year-old student: I saw a Harry Potter book of spells one day in Target. Although it was meant to provide innocent entertainment to children, it seems to me that Harry Potter promotes witchcraft. Evidently people in my age bracket aren't as open-minded as I thought. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 8:55 PM : The Vice-President of Student Affairs at Caltech is resigning at the end of this month. He was a nice and sympathetic guy, but maybe it had to do with this. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 4:48 PM : How come the only Asian authors I hear about are the ones that mainly write with an Asian slant (i.e. the subject matter is about Asian culture)? Why did they pigeon-hole themselves into an ethnic genre when there's a whole palette of things to choose from? Give me five Asian authors who've solely written novels without Asian culture as the central plot. Five! That's all I ask. (Books with an "Asian" background don't count either.) I'm not trying to say that people should desert their heritage. Oh no, you can cling to your Asian pride as much as you want. I'm not denying my heritage. But that doesn't give you the license to wave your "Asian-ness" around like a neon banner into the faces of unsuspecting passersby. It's not necessary to bring down the whole law enforcement when only a cop would do. Why am I so disgruntled? Well, for one thing, non-Asians have dabbled in writing about Asian culture but I haven't seen the reverse happening. Or maybe I'm just blind. I'll be very happy if someone can point me the way toward authors who are less concerned with filling a niche than with actually writing well. Interesting links that have nothing to do with the above: Fake Dr. Pepper Land Lab Notes on LOTR Weblog Junior High The Awesomemonkeys Test I am Don Lapre. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 9:40 AM : Tuesday, January 08, 2002 A talk show host doing biochemistry? Well, looks like it here. One of the profs I have for this term looks like Geraldo. Instead of a microphone, he wields a piece of chalk. I stumbled across a blog called Star Lines and was staring at the name of the poster. It looked awfully familiar. Turns out I wasn't having hallucinations. The blog belongs to the sci-fi writer S. L. Viehl. I haven't read any of her stuff yet, but I've seen copies of her books in stores. Some people get all huffy when their blog starts interferring with their personal lives. They should have realized early on that if they treated a weblog like a diary, everything they write down would come back to them tenfold. A weblog is on the internet and unless you've devised some sort of password/security system for it, it's public. If you're not an exhibitionist, stay off the web (and away from windows). The Lloyd House Photo Archive has changed its layout thanks to a tireless CS major who has too much time on his hands. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 4:52 PM : Wow, this site has been up for two years as of today. That's a pretty long time come to think of it. So what else happened today? Well, there's Elvis Presley's birthday. It's also Stephen Hawking's. A lot of people have been complaining that even though they think themselves to be interesting, everyone else thinks they're boring. Maybe that's the singular reason that they are boring--people love listening to themselves talk. As a default, people would rather listen about themselves rather than anything else. The only way you could change that would be the way they talk about themselves. Unfortunately, not everyone has the knack or motivation to be creative with words. Which pop icon am I? I'm Chewie, from Star Wars. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 10:31 AM : Monday, January 07, 2002 The King of Spoon's wisdom for the day: There are three types of TAs 1) The ones who can't speak English 2) The ones who answer the question with another question 3) The ones who give you the answer The Yellow Biker then asks, "What about the TAs that hit on frosh women?" Spoon's response: "He doesn't count. There's only one of those." I am the Chicken-Fried Smurf, courtesy The Smurf Name Generator. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 8:39 PM : I just dug out a 500 word memoir I wrote three years ago. It's not pretty. This is funny: The Geek Hierarchy. I believe I fall into the catagory they've neglected to put up: unpublished SF/F writer. That's probably somewhere between published and amateur. I can't say I'm strictly an amateur (one who engages in an activity for a pastime and not a profession) because I'm trying to get published. Cornell's digital library of rare manuscripts The Fantastic in Art and Fiction is today's awesome find. I love reading all this old stuff. I can already tell that I'm going to spend a lot of time here. As for art style you can never go wrong with art noveau. Here are some links from two of my favorite artists: Thomas Canty 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 Alphonse Mucha 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 2:52 PM : The first week of classes. Mostly I have "organizational meetings" so today I only have one class. The writing non-fiction one. Probably one of the few classes that's just simply fun to take, even during finals. So here's some interesting links I've picked up lately: Sodaconstructor Bizarre Stuff You Can Make in Your Kitchen A Skeleton Puppet And people are starting to line up for Star Wars: Episode 2 early. It's crazy. I remember when Episode 1 was coming out. Everyone was downloading the trailer. The same guy who played Britney Spears 24/7 for an entire week (and drove his roommate insane) held a countdown at day 80 and started playing the trailer 24/7. Of course now, a lot of the people around here are more toned down. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 10:08 AM : Sunday, January 06, 2002 A historian is sorry for plagerizing another historian. This is probably why I've always hated writing term papers. The facts are indisputable and there are only so many ways to say it even if you cite the source. And once again, the postal service is planning to increase the rate to 37 cents in June. That means I better get my act together quick and mail everything that needs mailing before then. Am I the only one who knows about this site? I just revisited GlobZ, an awesome flash site with interactive games. They've got some very addictive stuff like Viral Pursuit and Food Frenzy. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 11:37 AM : Saturday, January 05, 2002 Somebody turned the bathroom into a greenhouse. There are plants everywhere. Ivy is literally clinging to the walls. I bet the cleaning lady is going to have a heart attack when she comes in on Monday. Maybe I should be offended that there are also stacks of Victoria's Secret catalogues lying around in the open. Then again, maybe somebody's underwear drawer is too filled with other magazines to fit these in. I've put up a gallery of my previous layouts. Since I know very little HTML and CSS, let alone javascript (which is mostly gibberish to me anyway), there's not much improvement. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 5:49 PM : Previously, I've always gone back to tech before January 1 to avoid the rush. Perhaps I should have done it again. LAX was packed like a can of sardines. I accidentally wacked a small child while attempting to get my suitcase off the luggage belt. I'm thanking my lucky stars the mother didn't even think of suing. Some solicitor tried to get me to buy a self-help book. This was at the baggage claim area where there were no armored guards to kick him out. I think I'm also getting climate-shocked. It was below freezing back at home and now I'm treated to a balmy 70 degrees. So far, I haven't seen any techers around. Maybe they're coming back tomorrow. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 3:19 PM : Friday, January 04, 2002 Should I organize my writing projects by subject? At the moment, they're only "filed" by date. Maybe I should take some time out to sort them all out, but I have the nagging feeling that writers shouldn't be that organized. I could leave stacks and stacks of loose paper on my desk, on the floor, on the shelves. It'll be an impressive mess and I could call it "work". I'll have post-it notes stuck on the computer monitor, and the files on my computer could be so confusing it would be a virtual labyrinth. I could purchase lots of how-to books and stick them really close to the door so any passing visitor could trip over them. If I was also a little absent-minded, people might even start calling me cute. I stumbled on some sites today that give out writing prompts. So if you have no idea what you are going to write about, you could check and see what someone else has come up with. The Art of Writing has what they call "Muse Utilities", a euphemism perhaps for a random word generator. You can use it both for poetry and fiction. Also try Creative Writing Prompts which contains a variety of sources, some of which are updated daily. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 4:28 PM : Thursday, January 03, 2002 You know the news journalists are getting desperate when they have to report on the ex-president's dog's death. Checking up on the weather, so far the snowy weather has missed the Middle Tennessee area. Hopefully, that will mean that my flight won't be delayed. Not that I'm so eager to get back to school, but it'll be a heck of an inconvenience if I'm forced to sleep in an airport. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 6:35 PM : Wednesday, January 02, 2002 An overheard conversation in the fitting room: "I can hardly fit in a seven. Almost can't get in a seven!" "Then why don't you try an eight?" "I can't get any bigger than a seven. You know we'll argue if I get any bigger. I didn't get married to get fat." On another note, writing a personal statement really makes you face your life's priorities. I'm full of self doubt, and that's scary. Someone once told me to follow my heart--but how can I when my brain's in the way? The momentum seems to be snow-balling to only one conclusion and I wonder, will I spend the rest of my working life miserable? Perhaps any sort of doubt should be taken seriously. Perhaps I should start thinking about changing my apparent goals before I stumble into an abyss of regret. Perhaps I should seriously consider why I put a poem into my college applications four years ago because I certainly don't regret that. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 8:15 PM : Tuesday, January 01, 2002 I spent the afternoon rereading the "novel" I wrote during November. I only have one word for it. Ew. It calls, no, is begging for a major rewrite. I can also say that there is no such thing as writer's block, at least not in my case. Just lack of motivation. A kazillion ideas are whizzing in my head at the moment but I just can't find the "omph" to write any of it down. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 6:31 PM : |
