9-30-04 1:19 AM

Well, I've finally participating in the NYU "physics community" if such a thing exists. I've been talking to some of the other physics majors, and amazingly, there are some seriously smart people among them. There is even a kid who is double majoring in physics and math. (So it is possible). Perhaps the best part of it is that every Wednesday, I will now get free pizza at weekly meeting of the Society of Physics Students. Coincidentally, the kids who attend those meetings are fucking insane. They spent most of the meeting laughing about some other physics major who tried to commit suicide last year. It was great. A lot of them remind me of me ... which is always a good thing. On the other hand, one of the kids said that I reminded him of Sasha ... I'm unsure how I feel about that comparison.

Speaking of physics, Dynamics is far and away the hardest physics class I have every had, ever. Because it is so mathematically rigorous - and because I am so mathematically under-prepared, having never taken the prerequisites for the class - every problem usually involves me scrambling back to an old math textbook for techniques. I think that by the end of the semester I will be better at every area of math that I have every attempted. So that's good.

Well, I'm obviously babbling at this point, so I think I'll stop. Bye.

9-24-04 1:07 AM

Happy Birthday, Ilona!

In other news, I just lost at chess to Sasha's drunken, stoned friend. I suck.

Later

9-16-04 5:52 PM

Yeah, so I fucking dropped World Cultures: China and added Dynamics to my schedule. Now it fucking rocks ass. Physics, Physics, Physics, and Math. I rule. No really. Plus I spoke to some professors and they say I can do undergraduate research next semester.

So yeah, it's going to be amazing. Ordinary Differential Equations are a prerequisite for Dynamic, and I'm only taking them now. So by Monday, I have to learn A LOT of it on my own. Fun!

As you can tell, I've decided to take some initiative in my education. I'm just tired of being bored; I figure lots of extra work will help with that, and constructively too.

This should all be a lot of fun.

Bye.

9-13-04 8:43 AM - 9-14-04 12:31 AM

"Current presidential candidate Ralph Nader had said as a consumer advocate that power windows pose a threat to kids as they were 'callously designed to thrust upward with cruel force.'" ~ CNN.

CALLOUSLY DESIGNED TO THRUST UPWARD WITH CRUEL FORCE! For god's sake, he is talking about the power windows on a car. Isn't that what they are supposed to do? Would Mr. Nader have preferred is the power windows in his car instead meagerly limped upward with geriatric feebleness? Jesus H Christ.

Well, at any other time in my life, that would have been the end of the update.  But today, I'm in a different mode. Reading The Progress Paradox by Gregg Easterbrook has enlightened, or rather, informed my views on such statements. While the stupidity of demonizing power windows remains self-evident, there is something worth celebrating therein. Can you imagine how far our society has come if power windows are now an evil worthy of such enthused hatred?

I love being alive these days.

In other news, I wore my new shirt today (thanks Ilona). It says "Kerry for President of France." It pisses the pinkos off. And because the right feels like a repressed minority here (because they are) at least 10 people commented on my shirt. A few people asked where I got it. An older couple gave me thumbs up. It was great. Fucking NYC. A bunch of clove-smoking hippies. Like Sasha. He actually smokes cloves. They smell really good.

Anyway, this is pointless. I'm going to go work.

(Wow .. I just found out that today is my parent's 20 year wedding anniversary. Insanity. Congratulations Mom and Dad, not that you read this.)

9-6-04 2:49 AM

Well, now I am actually living in college again.

Let's see ... I think I'm really going to like this year. Cooking is fucking great. It's so much cheaper, better, tastier, and just generally more satisfying than buying pre-made food that it's absurd. I'm pretty sure that by the end of this year, I'm going to be amazing at cooking. I'll be glad to add another item to the roster of things I'm amazing at.

Ok, I don't feel like making a good segue here, so: the next topic is Sasha. He's great .... on our first night living together we managed to discover that we have fundamentally irreconcilable differences of opinion about basically everything. Our philosophical outlooks on life clash at such a fundamental level that, practically, we can't even explain to each other exactly from were our beliefs stem. We stayed up until about 7 am arguing. The partial chronicles of that discussion can be found on his website.

At this point, I'm kind of curious to see how much of the coolness of my situation will remain after class starts ... o well, I guess I'll find out soon enough.

9-5-04 1:20 AM

Well, I moved back to NYC.

My room is incredible. You should all the painfully jealous, because it is undoubtedly and invariably better than yours.

Pictures have been taken, but I just don't feel like posting them now, because I just don't care.

I though my roommate Sasha was smart, but he proved me wrong by hating Pink Floyd. Luckily, he will now get to wake up every morning to the sight of my glaringly enormous Pink Floyd poster, so all is right in the world.