I’m not dead

Sorry guys - two midterms on Wednesday. It’s been a little hectic.

I’ll be back on Thursday.

March 10, 2009 @ 8:12 am . Comments (4)

General — Tags: school

Senioritis

A picture to remind me that there’s more to Austin than campus

It’s no secret that I desperately want to get out of school. I’m tired of the culture more than anything - parties, immaturity, people staying up until five in the morning so that when you call at eleven to see what they’re doing for the day, you feel guilty because you woke them up. I’m tired of people still acting like they need their mommies to be able to function at all. I’m tired of people spending their student loans on going out to eat every day because they’re too lazy to boil some water for noodles. I can’t wait to be out of this little tiny apartment and into an actual house where I’ll have the room to move my computer and little television set out of my bedroom. The cats are tired of being here too, already. They’re bored and they hate being limited to my bedroom, a living room, and the bathroom.

I think it’s mostly just walking around and hearing people act like we did back in high school. We all just have cabin fever. This morning Augustus has been whining at the top of his lungs and I have no idea why. Letting him look out the kitchen window helped for awhile but every time someone walks by he gets terrified and jumps down, and then can’t get back up. Sata has been just laying listlessly under my bed, and I know he’s bored and wants to go outside but I can’t let him because of all the weirdos who hang around here and the non-neutered cats who are aggressive and spray all over the place.

And me? I will be very glad when I’m completely done with pop quizzes and dirty carpets and leaky faucets in the bathroom and lack of windows. I always thought I’d love to live in apartments, moving from place to place, never tied down. Then I actually began living in one and it’s killing me (not really - I’m dramatic).

I guess I’m just tired of living the student life. I don’t want to settle down, but I’d like to get out of this area, out of school, and get on with my life. University students, especially the ones here, are so pushy, rude, immature, and self-centered. I get off a city bus and everyone who gets off with me is thanking the bus driver, saying “have a nice day” and all that. I get of a university shuttle and it’s silence. People will yell at a bus driver and then never once say “thank you.” It’s ridiculous. I’m so ready to be done with it. They push in front of you when you’re walking and never excuse themselves, or they bump into you and never say they’re sorry. They’ll talk loudly on their cell phones in quiet areas and expect you to just deal with it.

It doesn’t help that there’s 30,000 of us here. This is a huge university, and you can easily be anonymous or get involved, whichever you want. But either way, you can’t avoid the crowds of girls in shorts and t-shirts and flip-flops, yapping on their cell phone and pushing through, or the frat boys with the stupid polo shirts who walk really closely behind you when there’s no one else around. And it doesn’t help that the university has taken on three major construction projects, cutting off most access routes to the buildings, which increases the crowds along one of the roads so much that you can’t even hear yourself think.

tl;dr? I’m tired. I’m ready to be out of here. Senioritis for the lose.

February 24, 2009 @ 11:32 am . Comments (8)

General — Tags: annoyance, cats, Future, living, school

The last first day of school

It doesn’t even feel real. You’re used to waking up and dragging your butt out of bed and walking/biking/riding the bus to school every single morning for the past fifteen and a half years. And then suddenly you wake up and you realize, “Today is the last first day of school in possibly my entire life.”

I’m so ready to be done with all of this, but on the other hand it’s a little sad. I think this semester is going to be filled with a lot of moments like that. There are parts about school that I hate (like doing a project or staying up late studying), but I will miss these moments all the same. It’s weird looking back and seeing an entire schooling behind you, and look at how far you’ve come.

One of the classes I’m taking this semester is a class most people take either sophomore or junior year. I had put it off for awhile and it’s strange just how easy it all seems. I look back and I realize just how much I’ve learned - I’ve learned to program, I’ve learned how an operating system works, I’ve learned how little voltages create an entire huge system. I’ve learned about gates and Turing Machines and regular expressions and I’ve even proven that the set of all numbers is infinite.

And now it’s almost over. It doesn’t mean that I will stop learning. It just means that things will change. I’m excited. It’s no secret that I seriously hate school. But there’s also something so familiar about it all that will soon be gone.

January 22, 2009 @ 9:51 am . Comments (7)

Future — Tags: change, computer science, Future, school

Yayyyy!

School is over! Done! Finished for the semester! Only one semester left forever! My life can go back to normal! I can write blog posts again! I can write, I can read, I can play DDR (it has been seriously forever - my muscles are all gone), I can (finally) play Half Life 2: Episode 2. I hate finals so much just because they’re so spread out - I’d much rather get them all over with, but at the university we have three dead days (plus the weekend) after classes are over, and then finals start, but finals are spread out over a week (including Saturday). So you could potentially have two finals, and one is on the first day of finals and the other is a week later. I suppose all that time is good for studying, but c’mon, we don’t seriously study. I mean, we do, but it’s like … goof off until a day or two before the final, but with that feeling of dread that you have a final coming up and should be studying. Two days before we sort of look at our notes over again or read a few chapters. Then the real studying starts just one day before the final exam.

So you can’t properly enjoy the time you have or study during it either. It sucks. But now that it’s over I seriously feel like I’m having a tough time settling down and just relaxing. That’s what happens when you’ve been working your brains out for an entire semester, harder than you’ve ever worked before. No, seriously. This is the busiest semester I’ve ever had. I don’t remember what it’s like to actually have free time. I’ve had some crummy semesters before, and I wouldn’t say this one tops it, but I would say that this is definitely the busiest. It’s been fun, though.

I was looking back, thinking about all that’s happened in my life, and I realized that high school feels like a dream now. It feels like it almost didn’t happen. So much has happened since high school that it’s hard to think back. I remember doing some really stupid stuff but beyond that … I dunno, it’s weird.

So, I think I’m going to maybe start Final Fantasy 8 again, or start Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines (best first-person shooter ever. Seriously. Play it.). Either way, I desperately need to just … chill for awhile.

Oh, and by the way, since the URL of my blog changed (from just lunsh.net to tasty.lunsh.net) you may have to subscribe to the feed again (not quite sure - someone let me know if you have to do this).

December 15, 2008 @ 12:05 pm . Comments (4)

General — Tags: relaxing, school, stress

Working hard

I caved - I totally bought a Power Plant which I blogged about here. I don’t have any seeds and I’m still trying to decide what to grow, but the side of the box claims I can grow things like peppers and soybeans. My original plan was something safe, like basil, but now I’m overwhelmed with possibilities!

This weekend was altogether amazingly good in general. I stayed away from the Internet, I actually had taken Friday off from work. My weekend consisted of pretty much a lot of writing, drawing, playing Okami, tons of reading, and staring off into space, which was NICE. I really needed it, trust me. I also went for cold, late-night walks with J, drank tons of tea and coffee, and spent lots of nice quality time with my parents. It was so relaxing, let me tell you, and now I feel completely and totally prepared for this coming week.

You know, I think sometimes that people really underestimate how hard it is to be a university student. I think a lot of people look at all the partying and stuff that goes on and thinks that we just goof off, but that can’t be farther than the truth for a lot of people. Of course, it all really depends on your major, and I KNOW computer science at my school is worse than almost every other major, but still - colleges and universities are tough. If you don’t work while going to school, relish it - you don’t know what it’s like to have to work and go to school at the same time.

So it’s the little things - you take what you can get, right? You have to take a little bit of time for yourself every once in awhile or you’ll go insane.

Also, as a note, Nanowrimo is coming up in a few days. Any fellow Nano’ers?

October 29, 2008 @ 9:01 am . Comments (6)

General — Tags: computer science, nanowrimo, relaxing, school, writing

Too tired

I’m not dead. I’ve spent the past several days wanting to write a post so bad but physically haven’t had the time. Like, I haven’t even had time to make dinner. Or eat. I know everyone says that, but literally, my week is waking up at 6:30 to get to class or work by 8, and staying there until 5, getting home at 5:30-6, and then working on projects at my group member’s house until 10, when I have to get to sleep so I can be up by 6:30 the next day to do it all again.

And now that I have time, I don’t have the ENERGY to write the post I’ve been dying to write.

The world hates me.

I’m going to bed at 9:03, which is early, even for me. I’m a morning person in every sense of the word (goes to bed early, wakes up early - even on weekends). But it’s a rare day that I’m going to bed at 9. I am really, REALLY tired (and I still have a lot to do this week!).

In other news, it’s supposed to rain and cool off. Guess what the temperatures are going to be? Mid 80s. Texas fails at autumn.

October 13, 2008 @ 8:05 pm . Comments (2)

General — Tags: annoyance, school

Annoying Things About University

Continuing with my Back to School series, I thought I’d write about the most annoying things I encounter in university. Most universities in my experience offer classes either on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, or Tuesday and Thursday. Yesterday was the first day of school, but today’s the day I’ve finally taken all my classes for the first time. It’s funny how when you live in the same place as your school, you grow to really love the quiet that summers there bring. Then when everyone gets back, you realize you’d forgotten all those little annoyances.

1. People EVERYWHERE! Okay, I go to a REALLY Big School. Big enough to be its own city with over 50,000 people and its own electricity plants and stuff! But there’s still a million people around - no corner of my (also large) campus is safe. And they’re loud. The worst is the people who stop in the middle of a crowded sidewalk to talk with their friends.
2. Teachers who give pop quizzes. What are we, in seventh grade? Seriously, guys, if we don’t do the readings, we’re going to screw up on your tests. That’s punishment enough in my book. Book, readings … get it? Ha! Hahaha! … heh.
3. Teachers who take roll. Again, are we in high school? It feels like more and more teachers are adopting the Taking Roll Method as a way of getting us to attempt suicide. I took a class where I didn’t show up to a single lecture except on test days - and made an easy A. Why are these teachers forcing us to attend their class? To ensure they’re not lecturing to an empty room? Please. Make your class more interesting (or harder, I guess), and your attendance will be much better.
4. People so rich and spoiled that their parents buy them EVERYTHING. I was heading to school this morning on my bike. When I say my bike, I mean my $40 garage sale treasure that sounds like it’s about to fall apart when I bike too hard (think sound of metal clanging against metal in an unnerving way) and it squeaks when I petal when the air is dry, despite tons of WD-40. Oh, and did I mention I bought it myself? I love my bike to death - it’s the perfect bike - but as I was heading along at a lightning fast 3 mph, I see this girl whip around on a scooter. She was dressed in heavy makeup, lots of jewelry, and the typical sorority getup, which features athletic shorts and a t-shirt, and she kept weaving around, trying to pass cars by getting in the bike lane. I know I’m drawing unfair conclusions as a result of my jealousy (I want a scooter!), but I bet her mum and dad bought it for her to cruise around campus with. Most of us have bikes, or we walk or take the bus. My parents didn’t even buy me my $40 bike. They didn’t buy me a car, either, and I pay for my apartment out of my pocket. Stupid Sorority Wench.
5. People who can’t part with their parents. You have no idea how many people I’ve met or seen who can’t let go of their parents. I used to know a guy whose parents came into town every so often, and when they did, he’d stay in their hotel room with them. Now, I dunno about you, but I think that’s a little weird when you’re twenty-years-old and have a perfectly good place to sleep. His parents would buy him all his favorite treats to stock up his dorm room, and they would mail him cookies every other week or so. That’s cute, but how long is it going to last? Are they going to send him cookies for the rest of his life?

Keep in mind I do enjoy university - I like my classes in general, I love meeting new people, and there’s always something to see or do. But every good thing has its downsides, too. What do you hate about university?

August 28, 2008 @ 4:30 pm . Comments (2)

General — Tags: school

Lessons

I don’t have much time for a full entry, as I’ve got to head over to a friend’s for a party, but today was the first day of school and it didn’t even feel like it. I’m so ready to be done with all this - university was boring, annoying at best, and stressful at worst. I remember when people would tell me how the university years would fly by, and how they would be the best years of my life, and so on and so forth. I can truthfully say that neither of these really happened, but coming here was very important.

I learned a lot, and not just about how fast a processor is compared to a hard drive. I learned about relationships, and people, and becoming independent. I learned a lot of things I wish I had known when I began. I learned that it’s easier for someone to break your heart than you realize, and I learned I’m capable of some pretty awesome things.

I learned that most people are dumb, which is cynical but true. I learned that most people follow trends unnecessarily without even realizing it. I learned that you can’t always be friends with everyone and you can’t always make everyone happy, no matter how good of a person you may be. I learned that some people don’t care about you or me or anyone else but themselves and it’s not the fault of you or me or anyone else but them.

I learned that some of the craziest things you do are the things you remember the most fondly, and most of the time people love you because you’re willing to be silly and to be yourself. I learned how to get outside and how to stay inside. I also learned to love rain.

Most importantly of all, I learned that the most important thing is to do whatever it is you feel like you need to do to make yourself feel whole. Once you truly understand that - truly - you need nothing else.

August 27, 2008 @ 7:02 pm . Comments (2)

General — Tags: lessons, real life, school

Back to School

With school starting, I’ve started to notice a lot of back-to-school posts. A lot of people are going back to school, but some are going to school for the first time. Either way, it’s never too late to learn tricks about university life in general. Now that I’m going into my last year of university, I decided to devote this post to things that I think people don’t realize and things that I wish people had told me.

1. First, early classes are nice. Annoying, but nice - they tend to be emptier, the mornings during that time are quieter, and you have a better chance of getting a better schedule if you’re okay with taking morning classes. Personally, I find them much nicer than evening classes anyway - evening classes take away time that you could spend studying or hanging out with friends, while morning classes might just require you to get up an hour earlier*.
2. Don’t go home every weekend, but go home when you can. Your parents love you and you’re not going to have many years left living with them. I was fortunate enough to spend the last three years still living with mine full-time, so I got to see them almost every day. Obviously, spend some time making connections or doing crazy things on the weekend, but go see your family, too. I’m often told I took too long to move out, but I don’t regret it for the world. And if you can’t see your family, call them on a regular basis, even if it’s just to say hi.
3. Explore your city. I’ve met tons of people going into their second or third year at the university who don’t know Austin at all. They know Sixth Street because they get wasted on weekends, but that’s about it - they can’t navigate around the city to save their souls. Some cities suck and there’s not much to do, but I think you’d be surprised if you took the time to explore around. Get to know the bus system or buy a really cheap bike and spend a day just exploring.
4. Live in an apartment for at least one year. When I went to school and people found out I was just going to be living at home since it was so close, I had a lot of people tell me that I should live in a dormitory for at least a year. I’ve never lived in one, but I dated a guy for a year who did and I think they’re really overrated. They’re cramped, stuffy, loud, and expensive, and their showers are abysmal and their cafeterias can be even worse. I don’t think it’s worth it - sure, it can “force” you to make friends, but so can university clubs or organizations or even class. With an apartment you have to learn to make your own food, do your own dishes, and keep the entire place tidy, not just your side of the room. You can still get that “roommate” experience, but still have privacy too, because you can shut the door to your bedroom and no one will bother you. And you can usually find apartment complexes very close to campus.
5. Take notes. Write down everything the professor says that is important because if you question it later, you will want a reference. Take more notes rather than less because it helps you out. Also, take seriously every single assignment you are given, no matter how small it may seem. I’ve often heard my (very smart) classmates say things like, “Oh, no, I didn’t do the homework, it’s only like 2% of my final grade.” 2% can add up quick. The harder you work on each individual assignment, and the more assignments you do, the higher your grade will be and the less you have to study for the tests. Think of it as a safety blanket, too. If you run into a really hard project down the line, you’ll have all those other good grades to fall back on.
6. This brings me to my next point. If you are unable to stay off Facebook, AIM, Youtube, or websites, don’t take notes with a laptop.
7. Finally, form study groups, join clubs, be social. Not all the time, not every day, but find something you’re interested in and find other people that are too. I can’t even begin to tell you how many friends I made simply by visiting the arcade every day. I started going because I needed a place to go to kill time in between classes and while waiting for the bus, and because I love DDR. I met so many amazing people there and have so many good memories of that place. I even met people that don’t attend the university and people still in high school. Obviously not everyone’s into arcades, but there are study groups, study sessions, and organizations within the school that will help make you lots of friends.

And so ends my Tips for People Going to University. I hope this helps at least someone. Also, these are just my opinion - some people make the most out of school by doing other things. Just make sure you’re doing the things you want to do and you aren’t holding yourself back.

* - Okay, maybe more than an hour earlier, depending on the kind of person you are. It sure does help your sleeping habits though, and forces you to go to sleep earlier and wake up earlier. And if you’ve got to wake up sometime, it might as well be earlier, right? Maybe?

August 20, 2008 @ 5:56 pm . Comments (4)

General — Tags: school

Schedule

School starts in less than two weeks. I feel like this summer needs to last awhile longer, which is odd, because usually by the end of most summers I start feeling like it’s time to go back to school. I’m really not looking forward to the fall, but I’ve only got two semesters left, so who am I to complain? I’ve gone through so much crap just to get the schedule I want - it’s ridiculous.

Dealing with the school’s bureaucracy crap is the stupidest thing a student ever has to go through. My advisors were great - they did what they could. But the rest of it was like DO YOU GUYS EVER THINK THIS THROUGH?! So, the state of Texas looked at the number of students who actually graduate in four years and it was insanely low, so they said, “Man, those kids sure are slacking. They’re probably taking useless classes they don’t even need. Let’s give them a financial incentive so they can get their butts into gear!”

Guess what happened? Despite the thousand or so dollars you get for graduating in four years, the numbers haven’t picked up. I guess we weren’t slacking after all.

No, they like to screw you over in the worst way possible. You’re unable to get into a class you need due to some stupid nonsense, like a section was canceled. So you’re all, “Okay, whatever, I’ll get into it next semester.”

Next semester, you try. But it turns out that class that you weren’t planning on taking conflicts with another class you WERE planning on taking! What do you do? They’re both required and this is your planned last semester before graduation. There’s nothing you CAN do at this point. You have to take another semester, delaying, or perhaps even ruining, all your plans for getting a job (maybe you got one already and now have to turn it down) or moving (you’ve got to delay that now) or traveling (you’ve got to try to trade in your tickets or maybe return them) or going to grad school (you have to somehow delay this by a semester or decline the admission).

I realized a few weeks ago I might run into this situation due to the lack of teachers in the computer science department - the waitlist for these classes were stretching to forty, even fifty people. I managed to get into both the classes I needed through a lot of thinking and stressing and figuring things out and living on the course schedule. But what if I couldn’t? It’s such a stupid system.

I realized a lot of people don’t graduate on time through no fault of their own. Now if only the state of Texas would realize that too …

August 19, 2008 @ 8:52 pm . Comments (2)

General — Tags: computer science, Future, school