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If I keep refreshing the storm closings page, do you think maybe Lincoln-Sudbury will show up?
(no subject)
Mar. 15th, 2004 01:35 pmI'm thinking I'm going to try to clean up and submit this to the Fountain -- so obviously if you're a Fountain person, pretend you didn't see that and don't click, because anonymity and all that jazz. If you're not and have constructive criticism leave a comment and let me know, because I'm not sure if it sucks or not.
In other news: more paranoia!
In other news: more paranoia!
(no subject)
Mar. 14th, 2004 02:14 pm"Did you know?
The MIT Science Fiction Society Library is the world's largest open-shelf collection of science fiction."
Guys, I think I'm in love.
The MIT Science Fiction Society Library is the world's largest open-shelf collection of science fiction."
Guys, I think I'm in love.
I got in. I GOT IN I GOT IN I GOT IN!!! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Yay! Woooooohoo! omgomgomg!!! Hip hip hurrah! I GOT IN!!!! !!!!!!!!11oneoneone!!!! !!!!!
*calms down slightly*
Er. To MIT, that is. *does happy dance* MIT! Dude, this totally validates the last eighteen years of my life. EeeeEEeEeEeeee! *cue noisemakers and confetti and balloons and band and light show*
I totally apologize for inflicting this on everyone's friends page, but. eeeee!
*calms down slightly*
Er. To MIT, that is. *does happy dance* MIT! Dude, this totally validates the last eighteen years of my life. EeeeEEeEeEeeee! *cue noisemakers and confetti and balloons and band and light show*
I totally apologize for inflicting this on everyone's friends page, but. eeeee!
All right, so last night I neglected frantic math test cramming in favor of creative writing homework and sleep. This was a Stupid Idea. Today's CW class is cancelled, and sleep is over-rated, and I accidentially left my calculator at home so I couldn't stick the vital formulae into memory, which I think is only going to make, oh, say a 25 point difference. Maybe more. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh. Needless to say, this test was not pretty. Anyone want to give me advice on how to warn my mom of possible impending warnings without having her revoke all my privileges post-haste? I'm pretty sure I passed. I think. More than that... well, I don't wanna talk about it. *sigh*
Too funny.
Mar. 9th, 2004 07:12 pmAs many of you know, I work at the local library. Granted, as a mere page, involved in mostly the ongoing fight against creative reshelving (you wouldn't believe what kids -- and adults! -- come up with), but I've heard enough from the librarians that this made me laugh. Not to mention this list of gems like "Pokemon Ruby and the Normal Distribution" and "I Know Why the Caged Bird Constructs Inscribed, Cicumscribed and Escribed Circles for a Triangle" and this one of possible library notices from a few places you might recognize. Then there's this beginner's guide to libraries. And if my friend Karen actually read this, this would be where I'd make a witty comment unintelligible to anyone but me and her. And maybe Ann and Dana.
I'll stop now, really, and let anyone who hasn't fled in fear of the geekiness peruse further on their own. :)
Alternatively -- if you're the kind of person who'd rather watch the movie -- I thought this was amusing, and I didn't even *watch* the Oscars...
I'll stop now, really, and let anyone who hasn't fled in fear of the geekiness peruse further on their own. :)
Alternatively -- if you're the kind of person who'd rather watch the movie -- I thought this was amusing, and I didn't even *watch* the Oscars...
reading ramble
Mar. 8th, 2004 08:12 pmSo I saw someone a couple days ago talking about how the barcode tattoo on the cover of Jennifer Government did not, in fact, say what it should. I found this immensely amusing. Then I went and read the book anyways -- got it Thursday evening leaving work and finished it Friday night, because it's one of *those* books. The books where you know you're going to be a total zombie in school the next day, but it's okay if you can just finish this one more chapter before your eyelids lose the battle against gravity and sink shut.
I ended up reading a lot of the press on the afore-linked site before actually reading the book, including a couple deleted scenes -- it didn't mess with my enjoyment of the book or the twists of the plot much, if at all, except for the first one which is pretty spoileriffic. Anyways, it definitely piqued my appetite, so I highly recommend that you do the same. Er, the book? Oh yeah. I think the author puts it as "alternate present" -- not high-tech science fiction, but a time like now except for the minor detail that the world is ruled by corporations -- capitalism to the extreme. The plot is quick-moving and intriguing and all that jazz, and the author's cynical, satirical sense of humor is all over the place Reminded me of Paranoia occasionally.
Possibly even better is Max -- excuse me, Maxx -- Barry's other book, Syrup. It's a send-up of the marketing industry, ridiculous and sharp and hilarious, and everyone should read it now. My little sister is reading it at the moment, also finding it funny though she's not quite as cynical as I am. And, er, I'd give it the credit it deserves, but I kinda have homework to do, and I wanted to ramble briefly about one more thing.
I'm still in the middle of Gregory Maguire's Lost, and it's not grabbing me so much. Though it's full of wry insight and interesting turns of phrase, though the plot is at least a bit intriguing, I've been trying to drag it out because I'm writing about it for an English project thingie, and that's really detracting from my enjoyment of it. :/ I think I'll just finish it soon and then try to write all the assignments before every page vanishes totally from my mind... in theory, at least. It's not bad, and I haven't read any of Maguire's other books (which I'm told are excellent), but it's not quite what I expected upon picking it up and it's not quite what I'm used to, and oh the pain of expanding one's horizons. :P
I ended up reading a lot of the press on the afore-linked site before actually reading the book, including a couple deleted scenes -- it didn't mess with my enjoyment of the book or the twists of the plot much, if at all, except for the first one which is pretty spoileriffic. Anyways, it definitely piqued my appetite, so I highly recommend that you do the same. Er, the book? Oh yeah. I think the author puts it as "alternate present" -- not high-tech science fiction, but a time like now except for the minor detail that the world is ruled by corporations -- capitalism to the extreme. The plot is quick-moving and intriguing and all that jazz, and the author's cynical, satirical sense of humor is all over the place Reminded me of Paranoia occasionally.
Possibly even better is Max -- excuse me, Maxx -- Barry's other book, Syrup. It's a send-up of the marketing industry, ridiculous and sharp and hilarious, and everyone should read it now. My little sister is reading it at the moment, also finding it funny though she's not quite as cynical as I am. And, er, I'd give it the credit it deserves, but I kinda have homework to do, and I wanted to ramble briefly about one more thing.
I'm still in the middle of Gregory Maguire's Lost, and it's not grabbing me so much. Though it's full of wry insight and interesting turns of phrase, though the plot is at least a bit intriguing, I've been trying to drag it out because I'm writing about it for an English project thingie, and that's really detracting from my enjoyment of it. :/ I think I'll just finish it soon and then try to write all the assignments before every page vanishes totally from my mind... in theory, at least. It's not bad, and I haven't read any of Maguire's other books (which I'm told are excellent), but it's not quite what I expected upon picking it up and it's not quite what I'm used to, and oh the pain of expanding one's horizons. :P
Fun from creative writing class
Mar. 4th, 2004 07:47 pmWhee!
Following (and lj-cut for your friends-list skimming pleasure) are a couple short fiction (mostly) snippets from Creative Writing. Your life won't be complete till you read them. Really. But if you only want your life to be a little bit complete (or have just five minutes before you have to go to dinner or class or something) read the second one; IMHO, it sucks the least. Though feel free to argue with me about that. Feedback more than welcome, though I don't think these are gonna go anywhere further. I was thinking about polishing and submitting #2 to the Fountain, because we really need more prose, but... nah. In any event, there were five, but one is terrible and another redundant, so you get three. (Though if I feel particularly vengeful tomorrow you may yet get the others. Dave, if you're reading this, for the terrible one, the assignment was "a freshman-year memory"...) Enjoy, or else. :D
( assignment: a crush (431 words) )
( assignment: semifictionalized autobiographical bit (524 words) )
( assignment: a childhood revelation (655 words) )
Following (and lj-cut for your friends-list skimming pleasure) are a couple short fiction (mostly) snippets from Creative Writing. Your life won't be complete till you read them. Really. But if you only want your life to be a little bit complete (or have just five minutes before you have to go to dinner or class or something) read the second one; IMHO, it sucks the least. Though feel free to argue with me about that. Feedback more than welcome, though I don't think these are gonna go anywhere further. I was thinking about polishing and submitting #2 to the Fountain, because we really need more prose, but... nah. In any event, there were five, but one is terrible and another redundant, so you get three. (Though if I feel particularly vengeful tomorrow you may yet get the others. Dave, if you're reading this, for the terrible one, the assignment was "a freshman-year memory"...) Enjoy, or else. :D
( assignment: a crush (431 words) )
( assignment: semifictionalized autobiographical bit (524 words) )
( assignment: a childhood revelation (655 words) )
excuse me while I lie down and die now
Feb. 28th, 2004 07:01 pmFor some reason, this week has been two to three times the length of a normal week. I blame it on being the week after vacation, on senioritis, and on March (my least favorite month) being just around the corner.
The reason I don't like March is of course this very thing: the weeks drag on and on like the last class on Friday afternoon, past any reasonable limit, and then you realize it's only Tuesday. And it's never bright enough or warm enough, it's stormy and wet, although sometimes you do get that nice brisk pre-spring weather, which is one of the few up-sides to the month.
Anyways, I got up at six this morning to go to school to carpool into Boston for the HMMT -- yes, I was at school at seven on a Saturday morning to go do math all day. No, I don't understand why either. A deeply hidden penchant for pain? Anyways. It was at Harvard this year, and during the lunch break and such we got to go wander around the campus, and since today was one of the aforementioned beautiful days (though just a little cold) it was very nice and a lot of fun. I was on the B team (*sobs*) but we totally kicked the A team's rears anyways, especially on the Guts round, so it was okay. This in spite of our freshmen, who make me think that some people really shouldn't be allowed to have opinions. Got home at maybe six thirty, and I am utterly exhausted. I know I have to do laundry and clean my room and a host of other things but I just can't bring myself to turn off my laptop and get off this warm, comfortable, bed... zzzzzz...
Huh? Where was I? Oh yeah. We did terribly but had some fun doing it, which actually seems to be a common theme in the competitions I've been in lately. Ah, well.
The reason I don't like March is of course this very thing: the weeks drag on and on like the last class on Friday afternoon, past any reasonable limit, and then you realize it's only Tuesday. And it's never bright enough or warm enough, it's stormy and wet, although sometimes you do get that nice brisk pre-spring weather, which is one of the few up-sides to the month.
Anyways, I got up at six this morning to go to school to carpool into Boston for the HMMT -- yes, I was at school at seven on a Saturday morning to go do math all day. No, I don't understand why either. A deeply hidden penchant for pain? Anyways. It was at Harvard this year, and during the lunch break and such we got to go wander around the campus, and since today was one of the aforementioned beautiful days (though just a little cold) it was very nice and a lot of fun. I was on the B team (*sobs*) but we totally kicked the A team's rears anyways, especially on the Guts round, so it was okay. This in spite of our freshmen, who make me think that some people really shouldn't be allowed to have opinions. Got home at maybe six thirty, and I am utterly exhausted. I know I have to do laundry and clean my room and a host of other things but I just can't bring myself to turn off my laptop and get off this warm, comfortable, bed... zzzzzz...
Huh? Where was I? Oh yeah. We did terribly but had some fun doing it, which actually seems to be a common theme in the competitions I've been in lately. Ah, well.
Yay! Evidently Paranoia has been bought by some company called Mongoose Publishing, and they're revamping it and publishing more Stuff. Not only that, but they're blogging about it as they do it -- and if you click only one link here, make it that last one. The following made me laugh too: U R A TR8R!
From the second site linked:
"Player: Is PARANOIA XP still about living in an underground city of the future ruled by an insane Computer?
The Computer: The Computer is not "insane." Traitors lurk everywhere. In the old days, The Computer's loyal Troubleshooters only worried about Commie subversion, secret society sabotage, unregistered mutants, robot liberators, feuding High Programmers, tainted drugs, exploding food vats, nuclear hand grenades, and the occasional giant atomic cockroach. How naive! Now your clone family faces not only these persistent threats, but a new host of looming dangers such as viral licenses, closed-source genetic retooling, identity rentals, subconscious post-hypnotic brain-spam, Infrared-market WMD auction sites, and filesharing."
The point being that all these questions about terrorism and equality and freedom and piracy and technology ethics and so on offer an unsurpassed opportunity for satire, for amusement and commentary on today's society. And you thought tabletop RPGs had no redeeming value.
From the second site linked:
"Player: Is PARANOIA XP still about living in an underground city of the future ruled by an insane Computer?
The Computer: The Computer is not "insane." Traitors lurk everywhere. In the old days, The Computer's loyal Troubleshooters only worried about Commie subversion, secret society sabotage, unregistered mutants, robot liberators, feuding High Programmers, tainted drugs, exploding food vats, nuclear hand grenades, and the occasional giant atomic cockroach. How naive! Now your clone family faces not only these persistent threats, but a new host of looming dangers such as viral licenses, closed-source genetic retooling, identity rentals, subconscious post-hypnotic brain-spam, Infrared-market WMD auction sites, and filesharing."
The point being that all these questions about terrorism and equality and freedom and piracy and technology ethics and so on offer an unsurpassed opportunity for satire, for amusement and commentary on today's society. And you thought tabletop RPGs had no redeeming value.
*clears throat ostentatiously*
Feb. 20th, 2004 10:48 pmHappy Birthday to Me,
Happy Birthday to Me,
Happy Birthday dear meeeeeeeeeee,
Happy Birthday to Me!
... I'm so subtle, huh? :D
Happy Birthday to Me,
Happy Birthday dear meeeeeeeeeee,
Happy Birthday to Me!
... I'm so subtle, huh? :D
I heart my parents.
Celebrated my birthday with my mom tonight -- it's not till tomorrow, but I'm with dad then so we went for it. She and I and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rockopowder and Denise went out and saw Triplets of Belleville and took goofy photo booth pictures and criticized Mom's perfume choices and I found the second Sandman book which I've been searching for for ages and it was enjoyable and entertaining and generally satisfying.
Then I came home, and opened presents, and got new guitar strings and a book about chess and really delicious looking chocolates and (drumroll, please) a shiny new laptop!! (Thus the eee of the subject.) It's a Dell Inspiron 5100, all kinds of fast with lots of disk space and memory and a superdrive, and it makes me feel that warm and fuzzy glow of possession and deliciously spoiled. Yay!
All done gloating now. No, there's not going to be a redeeming factor to this entry. You may now return to your regularly-scheduled friends-page perusal.
Celebrated my birthday with my mom tonight -- it's not till tomorrow, but I'm with dad then so we went for it. She and I and
rockopowder and Denise went out and saw Triplets of Belleville and took goofy photo booth pictures and criticized Mom's perfume choices and I found the second Sandman book which I've been searching for for ages and it was enjoyable and entertaining and generally satisfying. Then I came home, and opened presents, and got new guitar strings and a book about chess and really delicious looking chocolates and (drumroll, please) a shiny new laptop!! (Thus the eee of the subject.) It's a Dell Inspiron 5100, all kinds of fast with lots of disk space and memory and a superdrive, and it makes me feel that warm and fuzzy glow of possession and deliciously spoiled. Yay!
All done gloating now. No, there's not going to be a redeeming factor to this entry. You may now return to your regularly-scheduled friends-page perusal.
Ah, the glories of reshelving. My local library, I've discovered, has the They Might Be Giants - Direct From Brooklyn DVD! (*cue eeeeeeeee!'s*) As well they should, seeing as John and John went to the town high school. I've been making my way through the music videos, most of which I haven't seen except off their website in a size not much bigger than a LJ icon, so I'm psyched. And I'd never seen "(She Was A) Hotel Detective" before (or a few others), and it's great.
I'm told once upon a time TMBG were staples of MTV. If they still were, maybe the channel wouldn't suck. Er. Let me rephrase with slightly less cynicism. This is already more interesting, entertaining, and funnier than the last DVD I watched, and I haven't even gotten to the end of the videos yet, let alone the special features (which include, among other things, the Tiny Toons TMBG videos). Granted, the last DVD I watched was "The Sweetest Thing" (don't even ask) -- but still. The videos are hilarious and creative and innovative and utterly about the music.
To summarize, all you Sudburians should rush to the Goodnow and get this. As soon as I'm done with it, that is. The rest of you, to amazon.com!
I'm told once upon a time TMBG were staples of MTV. If they still were, maybe the channel wouldn't suck. Er. Let me rephrase with slightly less cynicism. This is already more interesting, entertaining, and funnier than the last DVD I watched, and I haven't even gotten to the end of the videos yet, let alone the special features (which include, among other things, the Tiny Toons TMBG videos). Granted, the last DVD I watched was "The Sweetest Thing" (don't even ask) -- but still. The videos are hilarious and creative and innovative and utterly about the music.
To summarize, all you Sudburians should rush to the Goodnow and get this. As soon as I'm done with it, that is. The rest of you, to amazon.com!
(no subject)
Feb. 17th, 2004 08:14 amSo I finally got my hands on the new Eve 6 CD. (OK, it's probably not new any more, but it's newer, at least.) Thus far it hasn't been quite as good as I was hoping/expecting. It lacks a lot of the clever wordplay in the lyrics that I've really enjoyed in their past releases -- and for goodness sake, "breathless"? "restless"? Two syllables, guys. Not three. In "Bring The Night On" it sounds like breath-a-less. Huh?
Maybe it'll grow on me, though. I'm liking some of the songs later on the CD better than the earlier ones, thus far, on first hearing. Nothing as catchy as "Inside Out", nothing I like as much as "Showerhead", nothing like "Superhero Girl" or "Nightmare" or "Open Road Song" or "Promise" or "Rescue", and the slow songs don't measure up to "Here's To The Nights" -- and I've obviously listened to their first two releases far too often. Which probably contributes to the possibly unrealistically high expectations I had for this CD.
You know what it is? They've matured or something. I don't think they do mature quite as well as angry teenage emotion and running away songs. Or else I wasn't prepared to listen to mature, to songs comforting friends and affirming life. Stupid as it sounds, I wanted angst, I wanted rebellion, I wanted anger and passion and and none of this positivity. Somewhere, catchy and addictive turned to singsongy. Of course, I'm typing this as I listen to the CD for the first time, and have a few songs to hear yet, and I often like songs better on second or third hearing, so we'll see.
And they do get points in my book for the line "she tests me like a scantron". I laughed, at least.
Maybe it'll grow on me, though. I'm liking some of the songs later on the CD better than the earlier ones, thus far, on first hearing. Nothing as catchy as "Inside Out", nothing I like as much as "Showerhead", nothing like "Superhero Girl" or "Nightmare" or "Open Road Song" or "Promise" or "Rescue", and the slow songs don't measure up to "Here's To The Nights" -- and I've obviously listened to their first two releases far too often. Which probably contributes to the possibly unrealistically high expectations I had for this CD.
You know what it is? They've matured or something. I don't think they do mature quite as well as angry teenage emotion and running away songs. Or else I wasn't prepared to listen to mature, to songs comforting friends and affirming life. Stupid as it sounds, I wanted angst, I wanted rebellion, I wanted anger and passion and and none of this positivity. Somewhere, catchy and addictive turned to singsongy. Of course, I'm typing this as I listen to the CD for the first time, and have a few songs to hear yet, and I often like songs better on second or third hearing, so we'll see.
And they do get points in my book for the line "she tests me like a scantron". I laughed, at least.
More abuse of penguins
Feb. 14th, 2004 02:06 pmhttp://games.coolegames.com/ysp2.swf
My highest single was 82.2 and my highest total 427... probably could have done better but I don't like this one as much and can't be bothered to play again.
... That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
My highest single was 82.2 and my highest total 427... probably could have done better but I don't like this one as much and can't be bothered to play again.
... That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
(no subject)
Feb. 13th, 2004 11:46 amI spent most of yesterday utterly convinced at some deep level that it was Friday, so I'm not quite sure what I'm doing at school today.
It's been possibly the most low-key Valentine's Day I've seen in high school, which may have something to do with it not actually being Valentine's Day, but rather the last school day before it. No candy grams, no roses, no ridiculous quantities of red and pink walking around the school. That sounds vaguely bitter, but it's not. Just an observation. Anyways, it's making it difficult to summon up the quantities of angst necessary for my annual v-day poem. *sigh* My life is full of trials, I tell you.
So today during creative writing class the teacher sent us out on a ten-minute hall wander in search of inspiration & story starters. I strolled down the hallway (what has that boy done to get kicked out of class?) and past the annex (whose apology is written on the Fountain sign and why?). Then I stood and stared out at a courtyard, where a subtle plaque declares the space "a quiet and enduring tribute to life", in memory of a young woman who would be fifty now, were she still alive. It also says the place was "designed by L-S students". And of all the people I passed and all the notes on signs and lockers and scraps of paper discarded on the flat carpet, ( I thought I'd most like to write about that. )
And of course I could ramble for ages, I could write that story right now, but I have to go try to fix my Towers of Hanoi program. Recursive algorithms are wicked cool but a pain in the neck to implement.
It's been possibly the most low-key Valentine's Day I've seen in high school, which may have something to do with it not actually being Valentine's Day, but rather the last school day before it. No candy grams, no roses, no ridiculous quantities of red and pink walking around the school. That sounds vaguely bitter, but it's not. Just an observation. Anyways, it's making it difficult to summon up the quantities of angst necessary for my annual v-day poem. *sigh* My life is full of trials, I tell you.
So today during creative writing class the teacher sent us out on a ten-minute hall wander in search of inspiration & story starters. I strolled down the hallway (what has that boy done to get kicked out of class?) and past the annex (whose apology is written on the Fountain sign and why?). Then I stood and stared out at a courtyard, where a subtle plaque declares the space "a quiet and enduring tribute to life", in memory of a young woman who would be fifty now, were she still alive. It also says the place was "designed by L-S students". And of all the people I passed and all the notes on signs and lockers and scraps of paper discarded on the flat carpet, ( I thought I'd most like to write about that. )
And of course I could ramble for ages, I could write that story right now, but I have to go try to fix my Towers of Hanoi program. Recursive algorithms are wicked cool but a pain in the neck to implement.
Feeling pretty guilty about my last entry, and realizing that instead of whining I really should do something about it. But how does one politely say, "Hey, listen, it's obvious you're in desperate need of a halfway competent proofreader, and if you've no one else then I'll even do it, just for the sake of preventing the pain in the collective eyeballs of the school."
I suppose if I'm aiming for tact I should probably start by chopping off the whole last clause (or whatever it is) hanging off the tail end of that sentence...
In other news, while reshelving today I ran across the lovely book "Are The Kids All Right?" The subtitle on the cover was "The rock generation and its hidden death wish!" The exclamation point is my favorite part. From 1981, it's got all sorts of good stories about how sex and drugs and rock and roll corrupted my parents. Plus, it's from the author of "The Interrupted Journey: Two Lost Hours Aboard A Flying Saucer"! (And since it had to be reshelved, obviously someone else has taken it out lately. Huh.) Read a fair amount during the hour I was waiting to be picked up from work this afternoon. Evidently the reason my ride didn't show was that when my brother said he was leaving the robotics meeting to come get me, someone else said they'd do it. This someone else, who shall remain nameless, tells me they couldn't find the library because of some issues they were having with (quote) "the space-time continuum." Gotta say, that's one I haven't heard before...
I suppose if I'm aiming for tact I should probably start by chopping off the whole last clause (or whatever it is) hanging off the tail end of that sentence...
In other news, while reshelving today I ran across the lovely book "Are The Kids All Right?" The subtitle on the cover was "The rock generation and its hidden death wish!" The exclamation point is my favorite part. From 1981, it's got all sorts of good stories about how sex and drugs and rock and roll corrupted my parents. Plus, it's from the author of "The Interrupted Journey: Two Lost Hours Aboard A Flying Saucer"! (And since it had to be reshelved, obviously someone else has taken it out lately. Huh.) Read a fair amount during the hour I was waiting to be picked up from work this afternoon. Evidently the reason my ride didn't show was that when my brother said he was leaving the robotics meeting to come get me, someone else said they'd do it. This someone else, who shall remain nameless, tells me they couldn't find the library because of some issues they were having with (quote) "the space-time continuum." Gotta say, that's one I haven't heard before...
