Linkstew

One of my goals this semester is to make it to every single class. That might not sound that unreasonable, considering that elementary schools regularly give out "perfect attendance awards" -- hell, I might even have gotten one way back in the day -- I don't really remember...

But when you remember that I'm the guy that went to one half of a CS 170 lecture before deciding not to go for the rest of the semester, you'll hopefully understand why this goal is so "out there."

I just finished week 7 (out of 15) of my last semester at Berkeley, and so far so good. Admittedly, I had to leave one class early one time, and I was late to two other lectures -- but I've been to every lecture so far in some capacity.

Hell, even if I skipped the rest of the semester, I'm pretty sure that 7 weeks of perfect attendance is more classes than I went to in some entire semesters.

I think this might be a sign of a big change my undergraduate career. ;-)

Oh this isn't good: after four years of having the same credit card, I just recalled the number from memory for the first time.

Not only am I suffering writers block, but apparently I'm also kind of busy.

1. cs 170 homework due Wednesday at 4pm.
2. anthro 160 midterm Thursday at 2pm.
3. cs 9e assignments due Friday afternoon.
4. cs 170 homework due next Monday at 4pm.
5. cs 188 homework due next Wednesday at 10 am.
6. cs 188 midterm next Friday at 10 am.
7. more cs 9e assignments and quizzes next friday afternoon.
8. cs 170 homework due next next Monday...

Basically, I've got at least one thing due every other day for the next two weeks (and I haven't even looked beyond that, so who know's what's lurking out there...), not even counting work.

And yet, looking at me right now, you'd never know it. It's almost 2 am and I haven't started the 170 that's due in 14 hours. Though to my credit, I have started studying for the folklore midterm, but that's not worth much, since I've already been to every lecture in the class, and I've already done about half the reading.

I've been going through this semester with my eyes closed, doing as little as possible to get by. I've been lethargic and apathetic and unmotivated and generally lazy. And this applies to not only school, but also to work, and even to the sites.

Translation: I now have more excuses than just "I'm a lazy bum" for not writing a good update.

This "class" thing is something I've often heard about, and occasionally even checked out for myself. I'd say that in a typical semester, I make it to about half of my classes total. So I'm a month into my seventh semester at Berkeley, and how am I doing?

Well, so far I've attended every lecture of Folklore, which is unheard of for me. I'm pretty sure that after the first month, I'd have missed at least two lectures of a normal class. I'm going to try to buck the record here and make it to every lecture for the rest of the semester.

Then there's the middle ground with CS 188, where I was at the first three lectures, then I missed two, made it to one (but slept through it), and then missed the last two, so that puts me at more or less my standard 50%. As far as the discussions go, I went to one and a half out of four, and don't really plan to go back. I might stop by tomorrow night just to confirm that decision, but it's not a good idea to tell me something is "optional."

And then there's CS 170. I went to class on the first day, but I don't think I stayed for more than half the lecture before leaving and not going back. As I told a friend after the TMBG concert, "I'd say I'd see you in 170 tomorrow, but I'd be lying." In the worst case, my attendance record for the class will be doubled come the midterm next Thursday, but I'm considering going to this Thursday's lecture. Considering, mind you. I've got to balance out my Folklore attendance some how. ;-)

Hey, if I move the office AirPort just so, I can get wireless net in, and at the tables in front of, the cafe downstairs. Wow, that was a productive way to spend an hour -- but now I can work from in front of the cafe and write up summaries of ResNet for work while taking advantage of this beautiful Berkeley day.

Of course, I've also got the option of heading over to Wall Berlin and taking advantage of their Surf and Sip participation -- but this is closer, and freer.

Disadvantage of my current location? Smoke. Blech.

It's funny, my teeth have never really bothered me, even when I had cavities. But when I was in Bakersfield, I went to the dentist, and they took their X-Rays, and I found out that I need to have my wisdom teeth out. And as I was looking at the X-Rays, I saw one of the teeth coming in at a 90 degree angle to the other teeth, and another way back by the jaw, and my dentist pointed out an infection I had under the gum above another of the teeth where food got caught... And I thought to myself "Wow, that looks like it should really hurt. Hmm." And my dentist said "You've never felt any discomfort? That's funny, most people with this sort of thing going on feel at least mild discomfort."

And the next day, as if I on cue, I felt like I could feel my teeth being squeezed together. And today, my jaw has been really bothering me -- opening it all the way hurts a fair amount. It's really horrible -- I know that this pain is probably mostly psychological, and yet it still hurts more than anything I've ever felt in my mouth (excepting certain drills I remember distinctly). Stupid mind games.

And so, on Thursday July 19th at 8:45 am I'm scheduled to have my teeth out (assuming all of my insurance things fall into place). Wish me luck -- I'll be sure to write some pain killer induced updates when the time comes. And if you're wondering why my wisdom teeth grew so far in before my dentist decided they should come out, it's because I haven't been to the dentist for a couple of years because of those insurance issues. Ah well, Hindbite is 4/28.

It's such a pity I live a block from Blockbuster Video. Though I hate the place, it always has long lines, it's selection is spotty, their rentals are frequently broken, and they're expensive, the fact that they're a block away is hard to ignore. So instead of walking 5 blocks to Reel The Store, which is better on every count I mentioned above, I get lazy and go to Blockbuster.

So last weekend I went to Blockbuster and rented "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels." When I got it home, I found that part of the tape was folded over on the bottom, so the first few minutes of the movie were unwatchable. I had to pull a fair amount of the tape out to get past the broken section. After watching the movie, I put it on the floor and forgot about it until a day after it was due. Then I took the video back and showed them how the tape was damaged and asked to get a refund or a free rental, but instead, I got the late fee waived.

Blah, Reel The Store probably would have both ignored the late fee and given me another rental. You think I would've learned by now.

As for "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels", it was very good. The last scene of the movie was great, and there were a lot of other really fun twists and turns. Definately at least a 4/5.

I woke up this morning to a splitting headache. I was exhausted. I rolled over a few times, trying to get comfortable. Then I saw the clock. It was noon!

Normally when I wake up with a splitting headache, it's because I didn't sleep very long. And normally when I'm still tired after waking up, it's because I didn't sleep very long. But I went to sleep before midnight! I was exhausted from oversleep! And the headache was from undercaffeination, not exhaustion.

I grabbed my laptop from my desk and started typing this. I'm awake but still in bed. I need some caffeine, but I don't want to get up to get any.