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there and back again
Apr. 25th, 2004 10:12 pmSo. Owatonna, Minnesota. Home of, um, Taco John's, Owatonna Concrete, the Village of Yesteryear , and, uh, not a ton else, just like ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kantayra said. Surprisingly, though, the weather was pretty nice except for the rain Saturday night -- not that I saw a whole lot of weather, having spent almost all of the four days inside a huge concrete-floored room at the Four Seasons center, at the BBIQ competition. The flipper bot sucked a lot, losing its first two matches and getting immediately bumped out of the double-elimination tournament, whereas the wedge sucked less, winning two matches before, er, losing two matches. The overall winner was an absolutely incredible bot with a spinning drum on the front (ironically just like the one my brother had wanted our team to build) that wreaked total havoc on everything it went up against. Bright shiny sparks, flying pieces of metal, the works. It was great. We didn't get to hit the Mall of America, though we went briefly to redneck heaven -- er, I mean Cabela's.
In fact, really we did no touristy things at all, which was okay. We (by which I mean I) had fun anyways, and actually I kinda wish we could have stayed in Minnesota longer, and there is a sentence I never thought I'd say in my life. ( Obscure in-jokes of the weekend that nobody who reads this will understand, but that I'm including for personal reminiscence later. )
And I swear I used the word "sketchy" at least twenty times as much this weekend than I ever have before, and still I had the time of my life, even though it was Minnesota and not Hawaii like we hoped. ( Me getting sappy. )
kantayra said. Surprisingly, though, the weather was pretty nice except for the rain Saturday night -- not that I saw a whole lot of weather, having spent almost all of the four days inside a huge concrete-floored room at the Four Seasons center, at the BBIQ competition. The flipper bot sucked a lot, losing its first two matches and getting immediately bumped out of the double-elimination tournament, whereas the wedge sucked less, winning two matches before, er, losing two matches. The overall winner was an absolutely incredible bot with a spinning drum on the front (ironically just like the one my brother had wanted our team to build) that wreaked total havoc on everything it went up against. Bright shiny sparks, flying pieces of metal, the works. It was great. We didn't get to hit the Mall of America, though we went briefly to redneck heaven -- er, I mean Cabela's. In fact, really we did no touristy things at all, which was okay. We (by which I mean I) had fun anyways, and actually I kinda wish we could have stayed in Minnesota longer, and there is a sentence I never thought I'd say in my life. ( Obscure in-jokes of the weekend that nobody who reads this will understand, but that I'm including for personal reminiscence later. )
And I swear I used the word "sketchy" at least twenty times as much this weekend than I ever have before, and still I had the time of my life, even though it was Minnesota and not Hawaii like we hoped. ( Me getting sappy. )
the way to baker house
Apr. 19th, 2004 10:54 pmDid the mall and movie thing with faerie16 today. Managed to find that one purple dress in the right size, and discovered that the Ella Enchanted movie has absolutely nothing to do with the book, but is decent nonetheless. I'm way too lazy to give the whole rundown since she already did, so if you're really curious, you know what to do...
Also, ( leftover poetry from the other evening. )
I swear I didn't mean to make it rhyme at all.
faerie16 today. Managed to find that one purple dress in the right size, and discovered that the Ella Enchanted movie has absolutely nothing to do with the book, but is decent nonetheless. I'm way too lazy to give the whole rundown since she already did, so if you're really curious, you know what to do...Also, ( leftover poetry from the other evening. )
I swear I didn't mean to make it rhyme at all.
i'm baaaaaack...
Apr. 18th, 2004 06:04 pmMIT was very cool, and pretty convincing. Though if they were trying to convince us that everyday life there is like Campus Preview Weekend, I'm definitely too cynical to buy it.
I hit a bunch of classes on Thursday and Friday -- was pretty impressed by the non-sciencey classes, as represented by Anthropology 21A.230J: The Contemporary American Family and Music & Theater Arts 21M.301: Harmony & Counterpoint I. Oddly, I had less luck in the less-squishy subjects -- y'know, those other classes that a couple people have heard of the Institute for? :P My attempts at vaguely computer science related classes were foiled by a test and a class that just mysteriously wasn't in 34-101 like my pretty red booklet insisted it was. Go figure. The physics class I went to was just people doing problems sets, and, um, 18.03: Differential Equations was mind-numbingly boring, probably because I had little idea what was going on. :P
I also did a fair amount of just wandering 'round campus, getting a feel for the place, getting lost a couple times and slowly working out how. It's huge, of course, especially since I'm a small-school girl, but strangely manageable. I think. Okay, I spent all weekend utterly overwhelmed, but in a more or less good way.
Almost accidentially, I ended up on the Tangerine Tour, which was incredible. Between my weird sense of humor and having grown up in the Boston area, I've been fascinated with their hacks since I can remember. And it was still very very strange and also wicked cool to beup on the rooftops where ummmm, I mean not doing anything illegal and going to bed far, far earlier than three in the morning.
Oh yeah, and there were, like, other pre-frosh and stuff, and I socialized, really I did. Yup. And went to see the incredible a capella groups perform, checked out the model railroad tracks, watched The Last Samurai (in stereo!), saw MIT's Battlebots entry, almost went to Patrol but my feet weren't up to it, so saw a Gilbert and Sullivan thing instead, went to the new Krispy Kreme at the Prudential, and all sorts of neat things. So in conclusion? Overwhelming, yes, but definitely fun nevertheless.
I hit a bunch of classes on Thursday and Friday -- was pretty impressed by the non-sciencey classes, as represented by Anthropology 21A.230J: The Contemporary American Family and Music & Theater Arts 21M.301: Harmony & Counterpoint I. Oddly, I had less luck in the less-squishy subjects -- y'know, those other classes that a couple people have heard of the Institute for? :P My attempts at vaguely computer science related classes were foiled by a test and a class that just mysteriously wasn't in 34-101 like my pretty red booklet insisted it was. Go figure. The physics class I went to was just people doing problems sets, and, um, 18.03: Differential Equations was mind-numbingly boring, probably because I had little idea what was going on. :P
I also did a fair amount of just wandering 'round campus, getting a feel for the place, getting lost a couple times and slowly working out how. It's huge, of course, especially since I'm a small-school girl, but strangely manageable. I think. Okay, I spent all weekend utterly overwhelmed, but in a more or less good way.
Almost accidentially, I ended up on the Tangerine Tour, which was incredible. Between my weird sense of humor and having grown up in the Boston area, I've been fascinated with their hacks since I can remember. And it was still very very strange and also wicked cool to be
Oh yeah, and there were, like, other pre-frosh and stuff, and I socialized, really I did. Yup. And went to see the incredible a capella groups perform, checked out the model railroad tracks, watched The Last Samurai (in stereo!), saw MIT's Battlebots entry, almost went to Patrol but my feet weren't up to it, so saw a Gilbert and Sullivan thing instead, went to the new Krispy Kreme at the Prudential, and all sorts of neat things. So in conclusion? Overwhelming, yes, but definitely fun nevertheless.
All the cool kids were doing it.
Apr. 14th, 2004 04:49 pmThat one meme:
I want everyone who reads this to ask me 3 questions, no more no less. Ask me anything you want (though I reserve the right to not answer, or to answer evasively). Then I want you to go to your journal, copy and paste this allowing your friends (including me) to ask you anything.
Though I'm off to MIT tomorrow, so there's a chance I won't get back to this until Sunday or so.
Also (if anyone who hasn't seen already was curious) I did go back and stick the pictures in that entry from the other day.
I want everyone who reads this to ask me 3 questions, no more no less. Ask me anything you want (though I reserve the right to not answer, or to answer evasively). Then I want you to go to your journal, copy and paste this allowing your friends (including me) to ask you anything.
Though I'm off to MIT tomorrow, so there's a chance I won't get back to this until Sunday or so.
Also (if anyone who hasn't seen already was curious) I did go back and stick the pictures in that entry from the other day.
learning to be spontaneous
Apr. 13th, 2004 09:39 pmBeen putting off posting this for a while so that I wouldn't have to do the silly custom-security rigmarole to prevent Fountain folks from seeing it before the meeting. :P I'm actually a little surprised you didn't all go, "okay, alison, give up the pretense that you don't know who wrote this, it's obviously yours." Because it kinda is, or so I thought. In any event.
learning to be spontaneous
learning to be spontaneous
- pick wildflowers
place them on the hood of a black car. - scrawl ‘i love you’
in pastel chalks on city sidewalks. - leave obscure, quirky novels
on back tables in starbucks. - climb pine trees
till my hands cling to the bark, covered in sap. - draw wings
on fashion ads. - cut class
in favor of sprawling and soaking in spring. - talk
to you.
(no subject)
Apr. 11th, 2004 06:41 pmHappy Easter!
I'd forgotten how much harder it is for me (and, I'd imagine, most people) to write structured poetry -- your villanelles or pantoums or whatever. I was going to post an old villanelle I wrote ages and ages ago so we could all laugh at it but evidently I lost it somewhere along the line. I think it was creatively titled "Evil-lanelle", because I was writing it for an assignment and getting very frustrated with the form. But I will pound out something structured that works, soon, really.
In other news, the poetry slam's cancelled due to lack of interest, and I can't quite bring myself to post that information on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
lincolnsudbury because I secretly want to believe that it's really going to happen after all. Blargh. But really, say each poem read was going to be five minutes -- which is very, very generous; my realistic estimate would be more like two. Eight readers is forty minutes, which doesn't seem like enough to bother for. Bah.
Linkage -- this article, entitled "Smells Like Teen Spirituality", is pretty interesting, especially the end, though I've seen one of the four TV shows (which share the common theme of Teen Girls Whom God Talks To) mentioned, once. That's supposed to be 'whom', right? Not who? I can never get that straight. You do have to watch an ad to get to it, but it's worth it.
And finally, a random anecdote. The BBIQ competition is the weekend after this one, and recently I got an email addressed to all the participants talking about AP cram sessions during the tournament. I responded saying I was interested, and the guy vaguely in charge of it said "oh, good" and then some stuff about how it was such a great competition and I'd be pleasantly surprised at the number of girls there. Well, yeah, I know, I've gone for the last two years. He then said that he himself was bringing nine (!) all-girl teams. Which is all well and good and hurrah for girls being involved in male-dominated activities, but I narrowly avoided telling him that really, I'd be even more excited if he said he was bringing nine teams of straight, single male models. :P
I'd forgotten how much harder it is for me (and, I'd imagine, most people) to write structured poetry -- your villanelles or pantoums or whatever. I was going to post an old villanelle I wrote ages and ages ago so we could all laugh at it but evidently I lost it somewhere along the line. I think it was creatively titled "Evil-lanelle", because I was writing it for an assignment and getting very frustrated with the form. But I will pound out something structured that works, soon, really.
In other news, the poetry slam's cancelled due to lack of interest, and I can't quite bring myself to post that information on
lincolnsudbury because I secretly want to believe that it's really going to happen after all. Blargh. But really, say each poem read was going to be five minutes -- which is very, very generous; my realistic estimate would be more like two. Eight readers is forty minutes, which doesn't seem like enough to bother for. Bah.Linkage -- this article, entitled "Smells Like Teen Spirituality", is pretty interesting, especially the end, though I've seen one of the four TV shows (which share the common theme of Teen Girls Whom God Talks To) mentioned, once. That's supposed to be 'whom', right? Not who? I can never get that straight. You do have to watch an ad to get to it, but it's worth it.
And finally, a random anecdote. The BBIQ competition is the weekend after this one, and recently I got an email addressed to all the participants talking about AP cram sessions during the tournament. I responded saying I was interested, and the guy vaguely in charge of it said "oh, good" and then some stuff about how it was such a great competition and I'd be pleasantly surprised at the number of girls there. Well, yeah, I know, I've gone for the last two years. He then said that he himself was bringing nine (!) all-girl teams. Which is all well and good and hurrah for girls being involved in male-dominated activities, but I narrowly avoided telling him that really, I'd be even more excited if he said he was bringing nine teams of straight, single male models. :P
The weather's beautiful, I have the day off, vacation's coming up, the wedge robot is running (more or less) and the flipper one is getting there, I'm taking my pick of my top-choice colleges (or if the money doesn't work, other appealing colleges that'll give me scholarships just for being this cool) and I asked That Guy to the prom and he said yes.
Sometimes my life doesn't suck at all. :D
Sometimes my life doesn't suck at all. :D
(no subject)
Apr. 4th, 2004 11:21 amI hate Daylight Savings Time. It's still ten o'clock in MY universe.
Also ... I had something vital to follow that also with. At least, it was vital to me. Then I got distracted (oooh shiny) and can no longer remember what it was. I hate that too.
Finished watching Neverwhere, which I did not hate, except in the sense of "now I want more, how come it's over?" I couldn't persuade myself (and my sister) to stretch out the neatness a little longer. So: wicked cool, though I thought ( spoiler ) I had such a tough time going back down to the (fluorescent lit) basement after that. Yes, I'm a wimp. I giggled at the frog thing, though, which I think might make me a pretty sick person. But it was funny!
Also ... I had something vital to follow that also with. At least, it was vital to me. Then I got distracted (oooh shiny) and can no longer remember what it was. I hate that too.
Finished watching Neverwhere, which I did not hate, except in the sense of "now I want more, how come it's over?" I couldn't persuade myself (and my sister) to stretch out the neatness a little longer. So: wicked cool, though I thought ( spoiler ) I had such a tough time going back down to the (fluorescent lit) basement after that. Yes, I'm a wimp. I giggled at the frog thing, though, which I think might make me a pretty sick person. But it was funny!
The envelope, please...
Apr. 1st, 2004 07:46 pmThick letter from Brown (yay!) and thin from Harvard. The latter was a wait-listing, not an outright rejection, but it's all okay because they can't keep me out anyways. Hello, MIT/Harvard cross-registering classes! ... Okay, kidding. Really not that heartbroken here. I'm psyched about getting into Brown, though, and I do want to visit even if odds are I'm going to end up at MIT (or WPI if the financial aid doesn't come through right). It seems like such a neat school. Unfortunately, it's looking like their big check-out-Brown program, A Day on College Hill, is on April 20th-21st, the latter of which I'm going to be spending mostly on a plane heading to Minnesota and Battlebots IQ. Blargh. (Sorry, hecatehatesthat...) I'm going to try to work out an overnight, I think -- it'll have to be really soon, though, and if I were really bright I'd get on that right now, huh? :P
In other news, ThinkGeek has extremely amusing April Fool's Day items, particularly this one. And I was terribly disappointed to have missed this morning's (last night's? not quite sure) livejournal one.
hecatehatesthat...) I'm going to try to work out an overnight, I think -- it'll have to be really soon, though, and if I were really bright I'd get on that right now, huh? :PIn other news, ThinkGeek has extremely amusing April Fool's Day items, particularly this one. And I was terribly disappointed to have missed this morning's (last night's? not quite sure) livejournal one.
(no subject)
Mar. 31st, 2004 08:32 pmStill haven't got the nerve (or opportunity) for progress on the Crush front. Why do I suck so much?
Got wait-listed at Amherst, where I wasn't really planning to go anyway, but still a blow to the ever-fragile ego. *sobs* So now I'm six or maybe six and a half for seven. Nothing to whine about, really, but I do love whining.
The power went out at school today -- a fact I felt less silly making a point of back when it happened when I didn't have L-Sers on my friends list. I was in the computer lab, and realized yet again how weird it is to watch a whole room of shiny bright screens go fwump. There's a poem there, but it probably doesn't involve the word "fwump" as much. Which is a pity, because "fwump" is a great word. Expressive.
I am now going to make a point of mentioning Jason. There. Now he can search for his name on this page and inflate his ego further, even though he's a jerk and won't tell me HIS livejournal username. Bah. Uh, and I'd add some juicy gossip and incriminating details, except I don't have any. Sorry.
My little sister's stalker is back, she tells me, and her pet sprout Jerome is falling off her lawn ornament Bunny. Go figure.
Got wait-listed at Amherst, where I wasn't really planning to go anyway, but still a blow to the ever-fragile ego. *sobs* So now I'm six or maybe six and a half for seven. Nothing to whine about, really, but I do love whining.
The power went out at school today -- a fact I felt less silly making a point of back when it happened when I didn't have L-Sers on my friends list. I was in the computer lab, and realized yet again how weird it is to watch a whole room of shiny bright screens go fwump. There's a poem there, but it probably doesn't involve the word "fwump" as much. Which is a pity, because "fwump" is a great word. Expressive.
I am now going to make a point of mentioning Jason. There. Now he can search for his name on this page and inflate his ego further, even though he's a jerk and won't tell me HIS livejournal username. Bah. Uh, and I'd add some juicy gossip and incriminating details, except I don't have any. Sorry.
My little sister's stalker is back, she tells me, and her pet sprout Jerome is falling off her lawn ornament Bunny. Go figure.
whee poetry
Mar. 28th, 2004 05:27 pmI'm actually rather fond of this one. Really really looking for constructive feedback, if anyone's got some to offer. :)
( fair counsel )
( fair counsel )
I made cookies from scratch this afternoon, instead of cleaning or studying or exercising or doing anything at all actually useful. Butterscotch - chocolate chip cookies of DOOM, specifically.
I burned my finger doing so -- this was about five o'clock. Still hurts. (Why am I typing if I'm in such pain? Because I'm a masochist, probably.)
The cookies were worth it, though. Possibly the best thing I've ever baked, not that that takes much -- I tasted the batter before putting on the cookie sheets, of course, and was astonished to find it delicious. And the things are addictive, I'm telling you. Mmm. I want another.
Yes, these cookies are the most exciting thing to happen to me all day. The next entry will be more interesting, I promise.
I burned my finger doing so -- this was about five o'clock. Still hurts. (Why am I typing if I'm in such pain? Because I'm a masochist, probably.)
The cookies were worth it, though. Possibly the best thing I've ever baked, not that that takes much -- I tasted the batter before putting on the cookie sheets, of course, and was astonished to find it delicious. And the things are addictive, I'm telling you. Mmm. I want another.
Yes, these cookies are the most exciting thing to happen to me all day. The next entry will be more interesting, I promise.
You know, kind of like baggage, kind of like bragging... I don't know, it was funny in my head.
The entire point of this post is to do the happy dance because I'm six for six so far as colleges go: besides MIT (hurrah again!) I'm into WPI, RIT (but I think I've mentioned that one already as well), Carnegie Mellon, BU and Wellesley. Yay! Of course, if the money numbers come out right this doesn't actually matter as MIT's pretty much the first choice, but I wanted to make an ego post anyways. :D So far WPI wins the give-me-money contest, trailed by Carnegie Mellon, trailed by everyone else who doesn't want to give me merit scholarship money. Oh wait, maybe I got something from RIT and forgot about it -- yeah, I think I did. Anyways. Still waiting on Harvard (hah), Bowdoin, Amherst and Brown. I find out Brown and Harvard on April first, Bowdoin in "early April", and Amherst mails out letters April first. Whee!
In the category of utterly random, while reshelving books by an author with the last name of "Crumb" I could have sworn I saw "Crackers" on the next book over. It was actually "Cracken" or something, but I thought crackers and crumbs would have been funny. In conclusion, I have not gotten enough sleep lately.
The entire point of this post is to do the happy dance because I'm six for six so far as colleges go: besides MIT (hurrah again!) I'm into WPI, RIT (but I think I've mentioned that one already as well), Carnegie Mellon, BU and Wellesley. Yay! Of course, if the money numbers come out right this doesn't actually matter as MIT's pretty much the first choice, but I wanted to make an ego post anyways. :D So far WPI wins the give-me-money contest, trailed by Carnegie Mellon, trailed by everyone else who doesn't want to give me merit scholarship money. Oh wait, maybe I got something from RIT and forgot about it -- yeah, I think I did. Anyways. Still waiting on Harvard (hah), Bowdoin, Amherst and Brown. I find out Brown and Harvard on April first, Bowdoin in "early April", and Amherst mails out letters April first. Whee!
In the category of utterly random, while reshelving books by an author with the last name of "Crumb" I could have sworn I saw "Crackers" on the next book over. It was actually "Cracken" or something, but I thought crackers and crumbs would have been funny. In conclusion, I have not gotten enough sleep lately.
because I have nothing better to post
Mar. 24th, 2004 02:51 pmAnd I'm feeling -- I don't know, insecure or something, about the blank days on my calendar -- must spam friends page -- I present for your amusement the Creative Writing Story of Doom.
Oddly, the first three lines have been in my head for ages and ages, mostly sticking there because I've been wondering if "were" or "was" was correct in the first sentence. I'll leave it a mystery (and a reason to click the cut-tag) as to which I opted for. :P But if anyone's postive which one's correct, I wouldn't be averse to knowing. Sure, I thought they were kinda interesting plot-wise too, but the grammar point fascinated me most. :P That's two :P's in one paragraph -- oh look, three! ... Moving on, before this gets too Monty Python...
Disclaimer for those of y'all who somehow don't know: I'm a Ren faire geek and totally in love with KRF, and, as usual, nothing should be taken seriously. Also, constructive criticism is always welcome, and this was six pages one-and-a-half spaced, which may be massive or not depending on what you're comparing to. Don't say I didn't warn you. :P (Knights of Ni voice -- "I typed it again!")
( And without further ado... )
Oddly, the first three lines have been in my head for ages and ages, mostly sticking there because I've been wondering if "were" or "was" was correct in the first sentence. I'll leave it a mystery (and a reason to click the cut-tag) as to which I opted for. :P But if anyone's postive which one's correct, I wouldn't be averse to knowing. Sure, I thought they were kinda interesting plot-wise too, but the grammar point fascinated me most. :P That's two :P's in one paragraph -- oh look, three! ... Moving on, before this gets too Monty Python...
Disclaimer for those of y'all who somehow don't know: I'm a Ren faire geek and totally in love with KRF, and, as usual, nothing should be taken seriously. Also, constructive criticism is always welcome, and this was six pages one-and-a-half spaced, which may be massive or not depending on what you're comparing to. Don't say I didn't warn you. :P (Knights of Ni voice -- "I typed it again!")
( And without further ado... )
Silly crush poetry, cut for slight Fountain potential. Very slight. Delusions, mostly, you Fountain people can probably go ahead and read it anyway if you're in the mood for utter fluff, and of course the rest of y'all were going to read it all along, right? ... Right? *listens to echoes* Argh.
( my god, it RHYMES, someone call the newspapers )
( and once more with feeling )
What these poems are REALLY saying is that I feel guilty about not being at work on physics homework right now.
( my god, it RHYMES, someone call the newspapers )
( and once more with feeling )
What these poems are REALLY saying is that I feel guilty about not being at work on physics homework right now.
... Look, a buffet of LJ-cuts!
( whee poetry )
( a better second stanza? )
( links! )
( watch me whine )
( whee poetry )
( a better second stanza? )
( links! )
( watch me whine )
