9-26-03 12:50 PM

It finally happened. The activists finally got to me.

So I'm walking back to my dorm, and this girl wearing a yellow Greenpeace shirt steps into my path, and asks, "Do you have a minute for Greenpeace?"

My response, without missing a beat, is "Greenpeace are terrorists." ... and I just walked right past her. She indignantly started yelling about how Greenpeace is responsible for the clean air that I breath, so to prove her wrong I died of breathing too much diesel exhaust. So that's it, I'm dead.

9-25-03 11:18 AM

Well, it's good to have thing back to their natural state of affairs.

What do I mean by this? Well, you see, my entire physics class now hates me. Why? Because I just proved the entire class and the TA wrong (in my weakest area of physics, waves), because I am God.

See, it doesn't matter that I got all of my HW wrong because I can't add and subtract. Today we were going over conceptual problems, which don't have numbers in them. And I owned. I'm God.

I still have yet to meet the person that understands physics as intuitively as I do. I'm God. I love me. I win. I am God.

And now, since I'm skipping my Calc lecture, I'm going to go see if DDR is open in Chinatown, and then play to celebrate the fact that I am God.

Goodbye,

God.

9-23-03 2:21 AM

This is stupid.

I have become, John T. You see, I did my calc homework. It was horrible. I've never done so much math in my life. Cumulatively.

And then to add to the amazing-ness, I did my Con. West homework A DAY EARLY. OH MY FUCKING GOD!

Yeah, so even after you miss two weeks of class, college is easier than high school. Fuck high school. And badly, not so that bitch likes it. I want high school to have rectal bleeding for a month after I'm done with it. O wait, I am done with it. I love being me.

Sleep is also stupid, or apparently my body thinks so, because I can't fall asleep anymore. Or that might have something to do with the fact that I need caffeine all the time, and willingly partake. Oh well.

Oh, and I'm going to fail physics. WHAT? Yes .. you heard right. You see, we are doing things like SHM and waves, and I hate these things. And on top of that, we are now using partial derivatives, which - in my incredible mathematical ignorance - I have never used. So I'm fucked. Oh, and I still haven't gone to a single lab or recitation for the class, so .. yeah .. I'm fucked more surely than a catholic choir boy. Oops.

At least my other classes are a joke. I can always switch my major to something stupid because I'm too much of a fucking pussy to learn anything hard like math. Eh ... maybe I'll become a mechanic.

O yeah, I forgot to tell you. Apparently, while I was in EB, a kid here killed himself by jumping off of the INSIDE of the library. If you are familiar with its design, you can understand how this is both possible and amazing. Now Jedwin has to find another way of killing himself, as not to be a copy cat. Fear not Jedwin, help is on the way. Mwahahahaha.

And just before I finish: one of the best quotes ever from tuckermax.com ... "She was so dumb, the smartest thing to ever come out of her mouth was my penis."

Fucking amazing.

Gnight.

9-21-03 8:37 PM

Well, I'm finally comfortable enough to make a full-length update.

The reason for this is that I'm attacking my medical problems at their source. My back ache has been brought under some sort of control by buying a comfortable chair to replace the medieval nightmare that I was sitting on before. I can now look at my computer screen without causing extreme pain. I guess now buying a LCD panel was overkill, since my CRT is now fine, but oh well, I can use the extra desk space.

As for my headaches, they seem to be controllable with the lovely nectar of the Gods: caffeine. My suite-mate Muhammad made me some really strong coffee, and it worked like a charm, so that was great.

Anyways, enough blogging. Time for a post. I'll return to my favorite topic to bitch about, other than me: religion.

I had to read Genesis, Exodus, and Mathew. And while attempting to read it, I realized that, in the Jedwinean adaptation of the English language, "The bible is suck!"

That means that it sucks, if you're slow. Anyways, obviously my interpretation is superficial and uninformed, but still, the thing is stupid. I mean really ... Hamm accidentally sees his father naked, so he and all of his descendants are cursed to be "the lowest of slaves"? What the fuck is that?  It makes no sense. That's about as far as I got in my reading before I gave up on this shit, and just read the summaries online.

And you know what doesn't suck: Grado SR-60s. The hype is true; they own your sphincter.

Anyways, bye.

9-20-03 12:49 AM

Yeah, so I need earplugs.

I want to sleep, but the people in another room somewhere have other ideas, and would rather blast their music. And it's not really THAT late, so I can't even say anything.

College sucks, at least in this respect. On the other hand, at home I was constantly getting woken up by my brother in the morning, so that was almost as bad.

And my back hurts from using this stupid anti-ergonomic chair.

9-19-03 9:00 PM

Well, I'm finally back in NYC.

Nobody knows what's wrong with me, but that's ok, because the pain isn't that bad anymore.

Also, I bought an mp3 player and grado sr-60s. Mmmmmmmmm.... diversion.

Out.

9-16-03 4:53 PM

Well, I'm alive ...

The lumbar puncture caused some side-affects, including debilitating back pain, which made me go to the ER twice. It basically left me crippled. Good news is that I finally seem to be getting better, I think.

Whatever.

9-11-03 8:35 PM

So apparently now I have to go to the ER tomorrow morning and get a CAT scan and a lumbar puncture. Fuck. I think I'd rather deal with the headaches than waking up in the morning to get irradiated and then get a needle shoved into my spine.

Fuck.

9-11-03 12:44 PM

Well, for those of you that don't know, I'm in EB again. The reason: that same headache I talked about in the last few posts. It was getting worse, so I felt that - after a week of pain - I needed medical attention. On top of that, I developed (possibly unrelated) fever and vomiting, so I felt that it was unsafe for me to remain on my own.

The fever and vomiting went away, and the headache is now being treated with Fioricet, a combination of a barbiturate, Tylenol, and caffeine. Good stuff. My neurologist had to find out his DEA ID before he could even prescribe it. It numbs away most of the pain, so that I can function, at least.

Also, I got an MRI and MRA done, and have the slides with me at home. I couldn't find any huge tumor or anything, but I'll leave it up to my radiologist and neurologist to make the final conclusions.

Anyways, I'll probably be returning to NY sometime before Monday, being that I have an unholy amount of work to make up. Whatever. I don't care, as long as they figure out how to get rid of this headache. Because it really sucks. And at least I got to spend some unexpected time with Ilona; that was a huge plus to my day / week / month / year / life. She's great.

Well, bye. I'm going to try and visit the school after school today, unless my doctor calls and says that I need a brain-ectomy. Whatever.

9-6-03 3:40 PM

Hello. I'm writing this update from my dad's computer at home, in EB. Well, the first bit of news that I'd like to relay is that the headache I talked about in the last post is still here. It's the longest lasting headache I've ever had. It's very very interesting. You see, under normal conditions, it's just a mild throbbing pain the back of my head. However, if I exert myself physically, the mild throbbing pain turns into a debilitating, crushing agony in the back of my head which is so strong as to be accompanied by nausea, shaking, and disorientation. So basically, I think there is something seriously wrong with me. I'm going to see the NYU medical center when I get back to school.

Everything in East Brunswick is very small and green. I'm not sure if I like it better than NYC. I don't think I do, but I haven't lived in NYC long enough to know for sure.

Well, that's all. O, and if you haven't read Jedwin's latest post, do so now, because the kid is a genius.

Later.

9-4-03 5:41 AM

New York is a lot different when you are wandering around it in the middle of the night, in the rain, with a horrible headache that just won't go away.

I left my dorm at around 3:00 AM, due to the fact that I had (and still have) a headache that makes me want to simultaneously faint and call 911. Luckily, or perhaps foolishly, I did neither. Well, being that it had been many hours since I last ate, the very first thing I did was procured some sustenance. Of course, my choices where limited at the unconventional hour of my pursuit, so I was forced to pay an exorbitant amount of money for a cheeseburger at the local diner. Having satiated my hunger, I now turned my attention to the primary goal of my escapade: to alleviate my headache. Being that I know that this type of headache - centered at the back of my head - does not respond to any medication that I am aware of, my only recourse was to attempt to ameliorate my condition with the all-curing salve: time.

Towards this end, I decided to take a walk to times square, due to that fact that it was the only location I could think of that still had a modicum of activity even during nocturnal hours. While walking there, I had some interesting experiences. First of all, I witnessed how NYC prepares for the coming day. The night, while almost devoid of pedestrian activity, is abuzz with such daily services as garbage disposal, flower and newspaper delivery, and street cleaning. While these activities are admittedly prosaic, it was nevertheless interesting to observe them in the context of the city that never sleeps.

Another consequence of the streets' relative emptiness was relative quiet. For example, for the first time, I realized that the boxes that control the traffic lights make dulled clicking sounds when the lights change. I suspect that this is due to the action of the relays contained in these boxes. While this noise is an inevitable result of these boxes' constructions, I had always assumed them to be silent, based on the fact that the constant background noise of daytime New York drowned these noises out.

Yet another consequence of the time at which I took this walk was a change in both the quantity and the quality of the beggars. While most beggars use the night to sleep, the more industrious ones use the scarcity of both competition and people as an opportunity to prosper. Case in point: while I was walking, a woman came running up to me in an apparent state of duress. She claimed that the people she thought were here friends had left her stranded without here purse, and that she needed the subway toll to get back to her apartment in Brooklyn. Being in a state of duress myself - due to the excruciating pain in the back of my head - I gave her $2 despite knowing with almost complete certainty that her story was a farce.

Finally, I reached times square. Unsurprisingly, it was as bright as ever, despite there being a marked lack of people to view the luminous advertisements. Turning back, I decided to stop at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, in order to buy my bus ticket for Friday, thereby avoiding the hassle of waiting on line for one. Both inconveniently and amusingly, the building was closed, and under heavy police guard. There was many weary, jaded traveler waiting outside, in a state of knowing disregard; I therefore assume that the building always closes at night.

Adding to the peculiarity of my night, I walked into a McDonalds near times square which proudly advertised that it was "Open 24 Hours" with a large neon banner. However, when I entered, with the intent of buying fries and using the bathroom, I was sternly informed that the store was closed. When I enquired about the large sign, I was dismissed with an assurance that they were going to turn the sign off. Apparently, "24 hours" actually means "whenever we are open" ; therefore, this McDonalds is conveniently open whenever it is open.

Being that I was now acutely aware of my need to use a bathroom, I decided to take the subway back. However, in my naiveté about nighttime NYC, I failed to realize that most platforms are closed during the night. Therefore, I walked in the general direction of home for many blocks before finding a platform that was open. Not counting the platforms that the Q train I took skipped, I rode the subway for one stop before exiting at the Union Square platform, and walked a few blocks home.

Unfortunately for me, my headache has gone nowhere, and still keeps me awake with its torment as I write this. Good Night.

9-3-03 10:19 PM

Well, it's the second day of class, and I already have assignments in all my classes. Great.

Let's see. My actual physics professor is stuck in China, so I have a substitute. If the real teacher is like the substitute, then the class is going to be just like Charanis's, because I'm already lost in the math. He was doing some crap about nth order linear differential equations, and I just zonked out. Whatever.

Calc is going to be exactly what I though ... difficult and annoying, yet brutally critical.

Conversations of the West is taught by the guy who's in charge of the humanities portion of the MAP requirement, so it's going to be hardcore. I have to read a book and write a paper about it by Monday. I think I'll like it though, because it's philosophy, which is always good.

And then there's my Freshman Honors Seminar on Genomics. What a joke. Basically the entire grade is based on class participation, and the reading is basically optional. Score. And I'm going to return the $80 book I had to buy for that class, because we don't use it. Go figure.

So those are my classes. I think I'll survive. Maybe.

In other news, I brutally hacked my mp3 player to bits, so I need to buy the Zen NX and Grado SR-60's. I am so fucking broke. O well.

Later.

9-1-03 9:05 PM

Skating to central park, doing the six mile central park loop, and skating back is fun. Especially in the rain.

And that's actually all I did today. Well, classes start tomorrow, which should be interesting. I'm simultaneously looking forward to and dreading the event, being that I want to meet the other physics students, but I don't want to do shit. O well, it's not like I have a choice.

Anyway, since everyone else is doing it, I've posted my schedule here. Enjoy.

Additionally, I'd just like to let anyone who cares know that I'm coming back to EB on Friday in the afternoon, and probably staying a day or two. My time, however, is reserved for Ilona, so don't bother me.

Bye.