Monday, March 24, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
Tack this guy on to my list of "travel heroes"
Said list currently consists of "Where the hell is" Matt. But read this too:
London to Sydney by public transportation
What a champ.
London to Sydney by public transportation
What a champ.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Who cares a lot?
(That's the title of a Faith No More greatest hits album, apparently.)
I don't!
This semester has seen me transition from college-style work to grad school-style work. I'm not in five classes with weekly assignments; I'm in two classes with projects. And I'm working on this research project on my own, and I'm miserable. I don't have class five days a week; I'm in class for six hours a week. Reading journal or conference articles is impossible! Or, it's possible, but it takes me so goddamn long that I get really sick of it by about page 3. I can't concentrate when I work; I think every hour is about 15 minutes of work and 45 minutes of checking email, reading other websites, getting a snack, reading comics, blogging (hi!), etc.
Am I dumb? Probably not. I'm in the top n% of the class here, honors, etc.
Am I lazy? Maybe. I don't think I work more hours than anyone else. I probably work a lot fewer hours. But I complain more.
Do I have bad work habits? I guess, if that procrastination ratio is any indicator. I'm working at home a lot, and it's driving me nuts. I feel like I'm sitting in a cave and I never see other humans.
Do I really just want to be done with school? YES. I want it to be summer. (Or, not quite, because then a lot of people leave my life, some of them forever, and that's always sad. I want it to be like the week after finals, when everyone's still around, forever. Well, you can't always get what you want.) The point is, I'm really done with all this grad school-style stuff. I don't care about natural language processing and journals and conferences and semantic parsing. It's still all greek to me anyway.
Grad school must be TERRIBLE if you're not into it, and I feel like I'm half in grad school, and I'm really not into it. I'm sorry. I hope that's all it is... I hope I'm not just overall lazy.
Will I be miserable when I get a real job and have to work all the time, and can't look forward to summer? I hope not. Man, I really hope not. I've not had tons of fun at any of my summer internships, and I'm certainly not having fun (work-wise) now, so I don't know why I expect it to be any better, but I really hope it is.
I don't!
This semester has seen me transition from college-style work to grad school-style work. I'm not in five classes with weekly assignments; I'm in two classes with projects. And I'm working on this research project on my own, and I'm miserable. I don't have class five days a week; I'm in class for six hours a week. Reading journal or conference articles is impossible! Or, it's possible, but it takes me so goddamn long that I get really sick of it by about page 3. I can't concentrate when I work; I think every hour is about 15 minutes of work and 45 minutes of checking email, reading other websites, getting a snack, reading comics, blogging (hi!), etc.
Am I dumb? Probably not. I'm in the top n% of the class here, honors, etc.
Am I lazy? Maybe. I don't think I work more hours than anyone else. I probably work a lot fewer hours. But I complain more.
Do I have bad work habits? I guess, if that procrastination ratio is any indicator. I'm working at home a lot, and it's driving me nuts. I feel like I'm sitting in a cave and I never see other humans.
Do I really just want to be done with school? YES. I want it to be summer. (Or, not quite, because then a lot of people leave my life, some of them forever, and that's always sad. I want it to be like the week after finals, when everyone's still around, forever. Well, you can't always get what you want.) The point is, I'm really done with all this grad school-style stuff. I don't care about natural language processing and journals and conferences and semantic parsing. It's still all greek to me anyway.
Grad school must be TERRIBLE if you're not into it, and I feel like I'm half in grad school, and I'm really not into it. I'm sorry. I hope that's all it is... I hope I'm not just overall lazy.
Will I be miserable when I get a real job and have to work all the time, and can't look forward to summer? I hope not. Man, I really hope not. I've not had tons of fun at any of my summer internships, and I'm certainly not having fun (work-wise) now, so I don't know why I expect it to be any better, but I really hope it is.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
I'm, uh, alive...
but more than half of my blood still resides in Ecuador, and I didn't even wake up in a back alley missing a kidney! I'm talking about mosquitoes OW IT ITCHES OW OW OW.
But yeah. I'm back home safe. I will not post a full post now because that will take a while. I will say this: I tried to keep up with OMPW by watching August Rush on the plane. Unfortunately, it sucked a butt. I really tried to stick it out through some wonderfully corny lines and a black kid written by white people, but then this kid started wandering dazed through New York City and conducting a symphony because oh my god all the sounds of the city make the most beaUUUtiful music, and oh please.
But yeah. I'm back home safe. I will not post a full post now because that will take a while. I will say this: I tried to keep up with OMPW by watching August Rush on the plane. Unfortunately, it sucked a butt. I really tried to stick it out through some wonderfully corny lines and a black kid written by white people, but then this kid started wandering dazed through New York City and conducting a symphony because oh my god all the sounds of the city make the most beaUUUtiful music, and oh please.
Monday, March 03, 2008
OMPW
Right on the heels of OLPC and me worrying about work too much, I propose One Movie Per Week. That is, I plan to watch at least one movie per week. I mean movies that I want to watch. Right now the list looks like this:
Blade Runner
Dr. Strangelove
Amelie
but I'm going to start adding to it all the time. I'm retroactively declaring No Country for Old Men as the first OMPW.
How will this work? Once a week, I'll decide I want to watch a movie. I'll send out an email or a text message to invite everyone on the OMPW list. Then, at the time I've chosen, I'll watch the movie I've chosen, whether or not anyone shows up. The primary purpose for this is to give me a bit of a movie education, as I am woefully behind, but hey, if I'm watching a movie, why not do it with friends, right?
So if you want to be on the OMPW list, let me know! The following stipulations apply:
1. You have no rights as a member of the OMPW list. The movie that I have chosen will happen at the time I have chosen. You only have the choice whether to attend or not.
2. You have no responsibilities as a member of the OMPW list. I won't say you're lame for having to do homework or whatever. I won't expect you to show up. But I'll be happy if you do!
Blade Runner
Dr. Strangelove
Amelie
but I'm going to start adding to it all the time. I'm retroactively declaring No Country for Old Men as the first OMPW.
How will this work? Once a week, I'll decide I want to watch a movie. I'll send out an email or a text message to invite everyone on the OMPW list. Then, at the time I've chosen, I'll watch the movie I've chosen, whether or not anyone shows up. The primary purpose for this is to give me a bit of a movie education, as I am woefully behind, but hey, if I'm watching a movie, why not do it with friends, right?
So if you want to be on the OMPW list, let me know! The following stipulations apply:
1. You have no rights as a member of the OMPW list. The movie that I have chosen will happen at the time I have chosen. You only have the choice whether to attend or not.
2. You have no responsibilities as a member of the OMPW list. I won't say you're lame for having to do homework or whatever. I won't expect you to show up. But I'll be happy if you do!
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