Month: February 2006

We (Keston, John, 8, Brain, and I) watched the new D&D movie, The Wrath of the Dragon God. I’d have to say I think it’s more accurate to the D&D universe than the first one, but equally as painful to watch. It was better cause we could make a lot of nerdy jokes about it. Non-D&Ders wouldn’t have that luxury though, so I suggest you stay away from it. Unless you’re Bob, in which case you will spontaneously do a cranial inversion and find it delightful. We (Dimitri, John, 8, and I) also played the same D&D campaign as yesterday for three hours. Went pretty smoothly.

Brain is leaving tomorrow (today).

I did all my calculus homework perfectly according to the answer book, so I was only at the tutor for 1 minute. Kinda sucks because we changed the D&D time to accommodate my going to it. Aw… well.

More London stuff.

1-12-06

Nobody did their reading Dr. Ericksen. You should punish the girls. Girls are weird. Roshelle can be spared the rod. Apparently I’m a tattle tale. Girls are weird. Girls are weird. Girls are weird. Girls are weird. People probably think I’’m actually writing something. Girls are weird. Girls are weird. Girls are weird. Girls are weird. Girls are weird. Girls are weird. It wasn’’t Lorel, it was Nicole. The short one. Girls are weird.

Mike is fast advancing to decrepitude. (He fell down in the shower)

Don’’t forget Soho for blogging.

I just actually heard someone say ““Ah, bollocks.””

Went to the science museum for about 3.5 hours today. On the way out I had to walk through the whole space exhibit I missed. I purposely skipped the ships exhibit, but I never made it to the “4^th“and “5^th“” floors which I‚’d really like to.

It’’s a very nice facility. Lots of beautiful displays and fancy activities plus the building itself is very nice. The speaker system however is not understandable. At least not to someone unaccustomed to the accent.

I saw three separate instances of make-up application on the “tube” today. I have always found it ironic that people regularly spend time, money, and energy to mask superficial flaws when that same masking broadcasts, character flaws. At least flaws in my opinion. Vanity, pride, self involvement, insecurity… etc.

Poor Ericksen, he’’s going to feel bad when he sees me here on the end. Hehehe… Nm.

The Soho thing is just that I wondered through Soho when I was lost on my way to STOMP that one time, and another time in the middle of the night. So on this day, Ericksen was going to have us walk through Soho to get somewhere, at like 11 am, but he still warned us about the sex stuff and told us people would try to pull is down into their sex dens and stuff. It was made funny cause Mike pointed out that I’d been there the night before, all alone. I told the class that nobody actually physically pulled me down into a sex den. I sorta implied they didn’t have to pull. Of course, I didn’t actually go down into the evil sex dens, I’m not into spending money on such stuff. Bah… I did see some nice ladies that must have been very cold.

I’m afraid I’m a little tired. Too bad, maybe I would have thought of a more clever way to write the above stuff. /shrug

Another school week starts. Not looking forward to the tests. Who does?

Everyone should download Rumble Box.

Goodnight all.

It’s been a while. I’m a busy boy. Let’s see.

8’s brother is here for the weekend. I have two tests next week. One in Calculus and the other in Cognitive Neuroscience.

I saw Aeon Flux for free a couple hours ago. It’s a pretty crappy movie. Has a lot of cool graphics for their strange tech ideas, and random jumping and flipping. The plot makes sense, but not very well. It’s an action film that tries harder than the rest to be deep. I dunno, my analysis could be missing some things.

Yesterday I saw a comedian/magician guy. Mostly magician. He was voted variety entertainer of the year. He was pretty neat.

A girl down the street got car rammed into. I didn’t see the accident, but I did walk over all the debris. Pretty good crash from the look of her car. Don’t know who the driver of the ramming car was. Don’t really know the girl who’s car was hit either.

Today we restarted a D&D campaign from freshman year. It was an excellent campaign, and now that we’re getting it started up again, it seems promising to me again. We’re very evil. We’re playing tomorrow again I think. 8’s bro is playing, his character is kinda temporary, unless he starts driving up to campus more frequently.

They (by they I mean “the scientists”) are working on a drug that will reduce the amount of sleep required to get a full nights rest by half. They hope that they can eliminate sleep entirely in 10 to 20 years. I’ve been saying they were going to do this, and to you nay sayers, I say, I’m looking righter and righter. Isn’t it about time you start rewriting your memory so that you thought it would happen? If it actually works I’m sure there will be a bagillion people coming up with a bagillion reasons why it’s the most horrible thing ever, but I think I’ll be taking the pills.

Apparently some schools are getting Monday off. Pat wished me a happy 3 day weekend, so that is where I’m getting this idea. Lucky them. I’m relatively certain I have to go to school… tomorrow. Too bad too.

I think a lot of you bloggers have been slacking a little lately. I wonder if it’s something to do with the freezing cold. Most of you I read are in Florida though. Maybe the lack of sunlight. Doesn’t make obvious sense why there would be a correlation. My cog neuro professors husband working on the first version of blogger. I’m very distantly related to a blog celebrity. Read me!

Whatever. I guess I’m done. I’ll do some more London stuff soon.

Teens stump out smoking – Aftenposten.no

Not much happening. Kait isn’t breaking up w/ me even though I didn’t really get her anything for V-day. Lucky me huh. Went to a particle physics lecture… good stuff. The guy went to Reed and then Stanford… so it was kinda complex, but I feel like I got a lot of it.

Yeah, can’t blog. I have to make my valentine happy. Too all you lonely bloggers out there… uh… don’t worry, be happy.

London!

1-11-06
Rest

Today I finished Rasselas. It was a good book, I think. Interesting and important topic and quick read.
I think in the future a form of art will arise that will consist of writing in a truncated manner in such a way as that in several common interpretations the piece will have meaning. This will grow from the internet generation. Hmm… perhaps not. The internet will soon be mostly verbal communication, I suppose.
Today I saw one of the oldest buildings in London and £220 cuff links. Also returned to the British Library. I spent most of my time there in the Nobel Prize winners exhibit. I wish it had more information on the science, but I suppose that wouldn’t appeal to the “publick”. I’m glad the scientists are getting some attention though. Wonder if I wrote that already.
I plan on staying in the room most of today. I came back after the library and don’t plan to attend any shows tonight. I prolly won’t eat dinner either, because I’m cheap. My knee also has been hurting. Dunno why.
I just saw this on TV. A church has a giant “Make Poverty History” banner on their scaffolding for the renovations for their cathedral. Hehe. They’ve completed the renovations and so have no place for the banner.
This log/journal will certainly help me make a big London blog post when I return. I probably won’t have the patience to do a proper job, I suppose.

1-10-06
£4.95 Fish & Chips

Today I saw Sam’s house and pub. The pub was pretty old. Like whoa. I got to flip through a copy of his dictionary. Apparently “boob” wasn’t a word back then.
Seeing Johnson’s living space helps a little in understanding the man and through this makes his writings a little more meaningful. To get a real understanding however, I suspect I should require to read his biography.
Maybe I’ll try to write like Johnson in the journal. That might be fun, though difficult, yet, what joy or felicity can be derived from actions such that require no effort of mind or lib?
Johnson was probably fat because the pub he frequented had such good food, especially the pie.
I should try to think of some words that would sound really funny if spoken w/ a British accent and then ask natives to say them. Hmm… can’t think of any right now… we’ll come back to that.
We found a store called Poon.
Ok, I’m getting too random. Mike and I are going to see Guys and Dolls tonight so we’re going to be going to the theater soon. Maybe I’ll think of something substantial to write about on the way there.
Nope.

Physicist to Present New Exact Solution of Einstein’s Gravitational Field Equation

cool huh?

Yesterday I played Magic. That’s pretty much all I did. I entered a booster draft tournament put on by the LRPC, therefore funded largely by the school. I paid $3 and got 3 booster packs, plus the one I won, and most of a second one I “won”. Good stuff for never making a deck before. Now I have my own 60 card deck that I think is decent, except some of the land isn’t technically mine, but land is easy to come by. I’m a bit of a Magic nerd all of a sudden, which is cool. Especially if I can get cards this cheap.

Here’s some more London Journal.

1-8-06
In a King’s Head

Today was a mixture of wander and planned events. I guess it’s not really over. I’ll write of what’s happened so far, while I have the opportunity.
I’m currently sitting on a low stool in a pub called “The King’s Head”. “Football” is being shown. Mike ordered a “pint” but I’m “teetotal”. Apparently the game is over. My minted lamb pie was pretty good. Rewind some though.
Went to a service at Westminster Abbey. Sat in with the choir. Was cool. I wasn’t the only agnostic.
After the service Mike and I went to the internet and he bought us tickets to the symphony. There were only three seats available when he got to the site so it was a hurried decision. We headed out right after we got the tickets, cause we wanted to explore. Mike lead the exploration, mysteriously, more or less straight to that Harry Potter train spot. After that was wandering. This is the best part.
We walked past the British Library and wandered in. Inside they had a display of their treasures. They had original works by Shakespeare, Jane Austin, Dickens, and a bunch of other cool people. Plus they had Beatles stuff. Especially cool was their science stuff. They had the first book published by Galileo, DiVinci’s notes, books, and letters by Newton, and a letter by Darwin which I could actually read. Very awesome. Then, again more, they had some really old, really impressive bibles, Qu’rans, and other religious texts. It was awesome. Very nice surprise.
Course, then we wandered around the corner and saw their featured Nobel Prize winners exhibit. More great science exhibits and information. Very fun.
Before 4:30 strike started we took the “tube” the rest of the way we needed to go to get to the symphony. We wandered all around they symphony building looking for food, but almost everything was closed. So we settled on this pub. It seems to be pretty much the authentic deal, no tourists here but us. It’s emptied considerably now that the “football” game is over.
Soon we’ll go to the theater and pick up our tickets. We’re sitting apart, but after the show we have to try to get home w/o the “tubes”. Should be fun.
Those symphony people are good. I enjoyed it. The guy in front of me didn’t make it back from intermission, and the guy three seats down fell asleep. Old people. Some of the music did have a very relaxing effect, I’ll give him that, though.
The return journey was simple. I’ve ridden on the top of a double decker bus now. Luckily, the circle line was running, so the last leg of our journey was done on the familiar “tube”.

Well, it’s early in the morning and 8 is still incommunicado. I think I’m going to have to sleep w/o saying good night to her. Hope her friends didn’t get her into trouble. I don’t trust those other people.

I typed up my whole London Journal thing, so you can look forward to more of that. I left out the stuff that was assigned for class, almost all of it anyway. Otherwise it’s just copied straight up. I’ll let you have the day to absorb that first post first though. My conclusion from reading my journal again though, I use the word “though” a lot. I guess it’s a pretty good word though, I mean, if you think about it. At least for someone like me, who likes to state all sides of an issue without ever actually making an opinion known.

Magic tournament tomorrow at 2. I’ve never made a deck before. Should be pretty funny what I come up w/.

but first, a quick talk about today. It was fine. I turned in my first homework assignment on time. Not really anything new for me or anything, but whatever. I’m way ahead in my cognative neurology course, cause I know about cell biology than the prof does I think, and that’s what we’re covering atm. Hope this trend keeps up, will make the class easy. I finished some homework for the weekend, go me. Played a lot of Double Dash w/ John, Dawn, and Dimitri. Used up almost all of my ice cream making everyone milkshakes that they didn’t really even like. I’m not very good at milkshakes. /cry

Now the post from days long ago.

1-7-06

Ramblings on Today’s Adventures

After breakfast I went to the Victoria Albert Museum (or whatever it’s called) w/ about half the class. I wandered around it for only 1.5 hours w/ Mike. We were quite blown away and had a fun time making little quips about the magnificence around. “Psh, just a staircase completed in 1865, who cares? Just passing through.” I’m definitely going back, hopefully w/ Kait. I have to check out the science and natural history museums as well, but I’ll do that alone cause no one else here is all that sciency.

Mike and I continued our wanderings. We found Vaudville, which I was looking for so I could maybe see STOMP. I’m waiting for it to start, so it worked out obviously. Mike’s going to be sorry he didn’t show.

Anyway, we had time to kill so we wandered around. We found a skating rink w/ ice climbing, King’s University, Australia House w/ some protesters I didn’t understand, a stretch hummer, and some good looking restaurants. We might head back that way around dinner time.

Mike and I parted when I thought I should get back to STOMP and he decided to keep wandering. I got lost on the way back and ended up wandering around Leichfield Square (or whatever). I found Chinatown and a big sex district before I decided to go back to near where I needed to be via “tube”. I made it back with plenty of time it look like. Got a good seat and enough writing time to write all of this.

I’m glad someone is taking care of all that art. I’m not much of an art person, but event to me it seems worth it.

Oh, and I bought a smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwich. It’s pretty good although the salmon is raw, I think, which I didn’t really expect. Maybe I’ll try the poached salmon one next time.

I haven’t bought any presents or postcards and I haven’t taken that many pictures. Mom will be mad.

Have much to update, but am not. Been busy w/ homework, and playing DDO (Dungeons & Dragons Online) beta. It’s pretty cool. Hmm… yeah, but the homework thing is mostly the killer.

Well, I’ve been a bad updater lately. I was going to update this morning in computer science class, but there’s something wrong with the computers in there.

8 speaks truth about the 11:20 class thing. That’s pretty much the coolest thing ever.

I’ve been to each of my classes this semester already. I think it looks ok. Calc II could be a little iffy, but I’m pretty solid at math so I’m not worried. Just need to remember stuff from Calc I all those years ago. No homework so far though, so I can’t really say how far behind I am atm. Good prof I think.

Cognitive Neuroscience seems like it will be pretty cool. The professor is seeming good. Might be a bit of work. Have to write some papers and what not. I’ll have some free time though, seeing as how I don’t have any labs.

Comp sci I think will be fine. 8 and Ninja are in the class. Going to be good. Apparently there are these new devices that allow students to input answers and beam their answers to the professor. I don’t know how it works exactly yet, but it’s not just for cs. They’re doing it in gen chem too. Buying the little “clicker” thing is going to put my books to umm… $360 dollars this semester. I think that’s a record. I bought one on Amazon and everything used too. *rolls eyes* Supposedly they’re going to buy that clicker back from me at the end of the year though.

The other “class” I’m taking involves me reading The Physiology of Excitable Cells. I think I’ve mentioned it before. I think it’ll take some time out of my life, but I think it will be interesting enough, and certainly useful.

I got an A in my Samuel Johnson class I took over January. You know, that thing I did while I was in London. I walked past the professor today and he said I could come pick up my journal any time, so I’ll do that tomorrow probably and start gracing you with some of my handwritten wit of last month.

I reprogrammed my binary clock to do true binary and 24 hours time.

The Squakers got robbed I think.

Been drinking a lot of smoothies. That blender thing blends very well. Remember from my Christmas picture? It’s a mega blender. I haven’t quite mastered everything I want to master with it, but I’m working on it. Have to make some soup in it still.

I went to a lecture today for someone applying for a job in the physics department. He had quite a bit of energy. Apparently he worked on trying to make catalysts, and trying to apply them on the nano scale. Pretty interesting stuff. Related to a lecture I saw last year or semester I think, which is good. I knew if I kept going to these things it’d start fitting together.

What else is news…? 2 bonus lectures tomorrow. One’s on hibernation. I’m quite a nerd.

I’ve been propelled back into the stone age by England. They fried my electric toothbrush charger, so I’m going manual. :*( I hope I’m not cursed so for long. ;P

I’m still months behind on my record of things I’ve eaten, things I’ve spent money on, and my steps, so I have to get to work on that on top of my homework. Then I’ll hopefully get some picture from London out to you guys. Maybe I can sneak them in w/ my journal updates.

In Bush’s new tax plan there is a proposal to tax wi-fi. I say we impeach.