Somewhat annoying

It is somewhat annoying to spend several days on a problem, conclude that it is impossible, finally use the internet, and see that I am correct and it is impossible. I have spent the past few days trying to construct a magic cube. A magic cube is a three dimensional model of something like this:

8	1	6
3	5	7
4	9	2

Notice that every row, column, and diagonal adds up to 15. Also note that every number from 1 to 9 is used once and only once. This is called a magic square, and I spent a part of my childhood being fascinated by them. I think the largest magic square I ever created was a 15x15 one. Everything added up to 1,695.

Anyway, a week ago it occurred to me that magic cubes should exist. So I set to work trying to come up with a 3x3x3 magic cube. Today, I began using intelligence instead of guesswork. I actually used an augmented matrix, and figured out that the centre entry in every single square absolutely had to be 14. This would mean 7 entries that were 14, which is flat-out against the rules. However, I had actually used math to prove it, so I felt there was no reason to work more at the problem. So I looked on the internet, and it turns out the smallest possible magic cube is 5x5x5.

I guess it is good that I was right, but still. I don't want to be right, I just want a magic cube that is 3x3x3. I mean, 5x5x5 is ridiculous and not as impressive. One reason I did not show you my 15x15 square is because it is not impressive. You waste too much time doing addition to appreciate the beauty of any one much larger than 3. I mean, look at this 5x5 one:

17	24	1	8	15
23	5	7	14	16
4	6	13	20	22
10	12	19	21	3
11	18	25	2	9

It is cool maybe, but only after squinting at it for a while. It really is too bad that there can't be a 3x3x3 magic cube. What a shame.

My first French entry

Je viens de faire mes devoirs français. C'était très ennuyeux parce que mon professeur de français a dit «les activités sont pour jeudi,» mais sur dimanche, elle a écrit un lettre électronique qui a dit «les activités sont pour demain.» Donc maintenant je suis fatigué et j'ai un mal humeur.

I proved Euler's formula

I am proud of me. I just decided that I felt like actually proving Euler's formula, to see if I could do it. After a couple hours, I figured it out. I did have to take out the old Calculus book to remind myself what a Taylor expansion was.

If you take the Taylor series of sinx, you get x - x^3/3! + x^5/5! - ...
If you take the Taylor series of cosx, you get 1 - x^2/2! + x^4/4! - ...
If you take the Taylor series of e^ix, you get 1 + ix - x^2/2! - ix^3/3! + x^4/4! + ix^5/5! - ...
Therefore, e^ix = cosx + isinx. If you substitute π for x, you get cosπ + isinπ. cosπ is -1, and sinπ (and therefore isinπ) is 0.
Therefore, e^iπ = -1 which can be changed to the more fun version:

e^iπ + 1 = 0

Cooking advice from me

Look, you don't have to use a whole bunch of spices when you cook a meal. In fact, unless you know what you are doing, you shouldn't use much spices. Spices are something you have to get good at with experience, and there are only two ways to do that. One is the apprenticeship method, where you cook with someone who already knows what they are doing, and figure it out. The other is with recipes that tell you specific spices. After making a million recipes, you will have a good idea of what spice goes with what food, and you will be able to take a recipe and say, "I bet this would be better with this spice."

Cooking is like any art, in that you first learn the boring rules, and then you start having fun. It is like a big science experiment where the product is something delicious. This brings me to my main point. The idea of food is that it is delicious. So do not be pretentious with food. If you like red wine with fish, drink red wine with fish. If you like your fillet mignon with ketchup, use ketchup. And when you are the one preparing the meal, keep in mind that different people like different kinds of food. Let people eat what they want to eat.

Back to spices, when cooking, do keep in mind that there is a reason that salt and pepper are on every table on the planet. It is because they are the two best spices. For some reason, many people seem to think that they are not spices, and think of them as inferior to, say, cilantro. These people are wrong. Salt and pepper are superior to cilantro, basil, oregano, turmeric, and any other spice you can throw my way. Not to say less of other spices, but they are not as versatile at all. You can put salt in almost anything. Even cookies use salt.

Pepper is less versatile than salt, but still a great crutch if you aren't sure of the best spices. Just throw in some pepper and people will think that the food you made tastes good. The idea is that salt brings out the actual flavour of the food and makes it "tastier," while pepper gives the spiced feel to food, making it "spicier." Use these two wonderful spices in everything you make, and you will be a god among chefs.

Not to say you shouldn't use other spices. I'm just saying to not underestimate the power of the top two. When you first start cooking, it is exciting to see all the millions of spices you can use, so by all means, use them. However, you will inevitably realise that your food is tastier if you just use salt. Totally use a bunch of salts and figure out which ones taste good. Sometimes, you will taste some of your food and think to yourself, "something is missing." 99.9% of the time, you should add salt, but sometimes you need something different.

To summarise, use salt and pepper a lot, don't use other spices if you don't know what you are doing, and always make non-pretentious food that has a delicious taste that you love.

My day today

Lots of mixed feelings today. I started off at work, where I spent four hours alone peeling carrots and onions. 35 kilograms of carrots and 50 kilos of onions. By the time this was over, my attitude toward everyone was "the hell you leave me alone". Unfortunately, I was placed as a server, which is probably the most social customer-service-oriented job they have. I mean, I did a good job, but I was so not in the mood. Also I noted that hummus was being served in mass quantities (foreshadowing). When I finally did get to go and do the job I signed up for (dishing), I was really happy. I did so much of loading the machine, and then running to the other side and catching the clean stuff (this is my favourite thing to do in the dishroom).

So, to continue the story, the cafeteria closes at 6:00 on Saturdays, and we start pulling the food at 6:15. Today, as usual, a mass of people came in at 5:55, except this mass was much larger than usual. We didn't pull until 6:30 because people kept getting food. People weren't gone until 7:00, except for the one guy that stayed until fucking 7:15. THE CAFETERIA HAS BEEN CLOSED FOR 75 MINUTES ASSHOLE. I WANT TO GO HOME. I WANT YOU TO GO HOME. GO HOME.

Also there was SO MUCH HUMMUS in the dishroom. I didn't get off work until 7:30. Whose fault was all this? The hummus.

After that I went to go eat dinner with Nora's family at the Gandy Dancer. When she said it was at the Gandy Dancer, I was all "SHIT". Anyway, her family is, I mean, it is a family and they have fun. I don't really get first-impressions of people at all, so, I mean, I don't have a lot to say. I mean, I had fun, and I could totally spend more time with her family. I guess that is good.

Wait, I definitely do get first-impressions of people. But no I don't. I guess that is another thing that changed since the monastery that I didn't notice until just now. I don't really judge people much anymore. I used to be pretty judgemental. Now I guess I am not. That is very cool. By the way Gynelle, I am tired and I do not want to go to your party. Good night.

Does this make me definitely horrible?

I hear the sounds of planes, and see them in the sky, with advertisements trailing behind them. All I can think of is how wonderful it would be if two or three of them collided in the air.

My eyes glaze over as I picture the smoking mass of two planes falling toward the Earth, landing on the spectators of the football game who, packed like cattle, are unable to escape their demise.

HOW IS MATT VOTING IN THE ELECTION!!

Probably wherever I say N/A I am going to vote for a democrat. I usually find that this is a good idea.

Governor
Jennifer Granholm
Secretary of State
N/A
Attorney General
N/A
US Senator
Debbie Stabenow
US Representative
John Dingell
—
State Senator
Liz Brater
State Representative
Rebekah Warren
Board of Education
N/A
N/A
UM Regent
N/A
N/A
MSU Trustee
N/A
N/A
WSU Governor
N/A
N/A
—
County Commissioner
Conan Smith
Mayor
Tom Wall
Council-member
Ronald Suarez
—
WCC Trustee
Diana McKnight Morton
Richard J. Landeau
WCC Partial Trustee
Mike Marotta
—
Proposal 1
No
Proposal 2
No
Proposal 3
No
Proposal 4
Yes
Proposal 5
Yes
—
Proposal A
Yes
Proposal B
Yes

Also this Thanksgiving we will eat Turducken. If you don't know what Turducken is, think of it as the epitome of "for every animal you don't eat, I will eat three."

OH SHIT SHIT SHIT

PAPER PAPER PAPER

How to know you really like a person

Man, I am writing a paper that I really need to finish. Yet I find myself really hoping that Nora will happen to visit. If she does, I will tell her that I need to finish this paper and she needs to leave. But even knowing that, I just want to see her for the couple seconds that would entail. As Dr. Sockolopolus would say, "LOVE IS BEAUTIFUL!"

Anyway, as if in response to my just finishing this paragraph, Nora just got here, and proposed the wonderful solution of studying together. Bye.

Haircut

I cut my hair just now, and I think it looks pretty all right. If I had a digital camera I would show you a picture, but I don't have a camera. I will not show you a picture.

French

I am doing hell of wonderful work in my French class. Basically I am doing "excellent" in everything except oral conversation. In conversation, I am subsatisfactory for fluency, and only satisfactory for accuracy, pronunciation, and comprehending conversation. Also I am not quite excellent with the fluidity of my writing. The actual comments are quite positive, and basically say "wow Matt you are doing great except that you never talk; talk more."

In short, nothing I don't know, but it's nice to know that my teachers agree with me on how I am doing in the class. It shows that I am right.

Also I did really fucking well on the reading comprehension (24.5/25). Heh, I am doing so much better now that I am actually putting some effort into it. In my writing class I am getting A's on everything, and in math, well, I hate that class because it is so easy.

I got a phone call from a church today, and apparently I am going to give a talk to some high schoolers about Buddhism. This should prove fun. I do enjoy doing this. I guess I need to start thinking about the kinds of things to say. I find that the best talks start off with basic debunking and fun facts, then some interesting stuff that is unexplained, and then a long period for questions. Thanks to part one, people have learned basic stuff. Thanks to part two, people have things to ask during part three. Thanks to that, people get warmed up and have an easier time asking questions they actually want the answers to.

I hate it when it's like, "so any questions?" and nobody has any, because the entire thing has been explained. Whereas, if you cleverly lay down some questions in the talk, listeners have something to go on. I will let you know how this works. You never know, I may well be laying down the foundation for how all great talks will be organised.

I just gave a bunch of my music lower more accurate ratings. I now have 551 songs that have 3 stars (awesome) or higher (4=outstanding, 5=favourite ever). I have 105 4-stars and 5 5 stars. Now I have a better base to build on for future ratings. Earlier, I knew this was my rating system, but I would still rate stuff one or two stars too high just because 2 stars would seem too low, even though it means "very good song." One day I will go through my 508 2-star songs and sort out the ones that should be one star, but that is a task for another day. (I will actually have to listen to them, because I don't know most of them by title like I do with the 3+ stars).

GOODBYE! MATT!

Ties are sexy

I think they just are. The specific situation is that a girl I know is dressed as a schoolgirl (woohoo for creativity.) but just with a rather unbuttoned shirt. I lent her my tie from my Embley Park days, and she is now about 8 times as sexy. I wonder if the loose tie just has a lot of sexual implications? I really don't know. Still though, the simple addition of a tie should not have made such a difference.

Also in general, all ties are always great on everybody all the time. That's what this world needs. More ties.

Best French Teacher

My French teacher is the best French teacher. Well, pretty awesome anyway. Basically, she left in the middle of class and a random guy came in and stole all her stuff and then she came back and gave us the in-class assignment of writing a police report in French. (The guy was actually a friend of hers and this was planned.) Probably one of the best assignments I have yet had. Kudos, Emily.

Too many people

Have not seen the Bollywood version of Thriller.

Violin

I jammed with Tom just now, and, having not played for a month, I sounded like utter crap. That said, I don't really care and I had a hella good time. I am going to start practising again once Adam gives me my electric back.

Good and bad

My physical body feels so happy right now and my brain feels completely gypped. I'll explain.

Today, I utilised my extra hour to wake up an hour earlier than usual (ie the same time) and work out for an hour. I really pushed myself to the limit and I haven't worked out for more than a year. It was GREAT. I am SO wiped out right now. Physically, that is. Walking up or down stairs or just in general hurts, it hurts to move my arms let alone carry books, and oh man I love it. The cool thing about weight training is that it will always be like that because I keep upping the weight. I am excited at my future. I am going to sleep beautifully tonight.

After working out and eating breakfast, I went to math class, where we learned a new concept. The geometric multiplicity of an eigenspace. GUESS WHAT. IT IS THE SAME THING I HAVE BEEN DOING FOR THE LAST FIVE CHAPTERS. THAT IS THE STORY OF LINEAR ALGEBRA. I REALLY HATE THIS CLASS SO MUCH. IT IS LIKE, LET'S TAKE ONE CONCEPT AND GIVE IT AN ENTIRE TEXTBOOK WORTH OF TERMINOLOGY. GOOD IDEA! WE'LL CALL IT MATH 217. OKAY I'm done.

Then in French we spent the whole time going over the imperfect tense. It is not something I already had a clear grasp of, but I got a clear grasp of it before class technically started after glancing at the handout. I feel like I have wasted the past two hours of my life. But at least the hour a couple hours before that was well-spent. Next semester I hope I have hard classes. Seriously, I don't get why so many people are constantly having a really hard time and they have the same classes as me. Either I am doing something wrong or everybody is. Whtvr.

Matt OUT.

Zombies

I am doing that zombie RPG and I am kind of excited. I talked to Matt Hampel about it, and he will do it too. We will be a team. We've got a cool story started.

A war is brewing.

WISE and the RC can only live in the same building for so long. MRC will have to pick a side, and the real engineers will definitely be with the RC. It is on.

Friends?

Garnet and I might be friends.

Also I saw Chris Thile. And Bryan Sutton. And Gabe Witcher.

Groups

So I have been thinking about hanging out with groups. Most often, when I hang out with a group, I come out of it feeling all mega-depressed. And I finally started wondering (a) why and (b) why there are exceptions. Well, I think that two different situations arise when I am in a group. One is that I will hang out with one or two people in the group. When I do this, I don't get depressed, and I have a bunch of fun. However, I think it happens far more that I find that impossible (either because of activities that involve everybody, or because it is not my group of friends so that all the individuals know other people better than they know me).

Whenever I am in this situation, I act like someone I am not. This causes depression. See there, I've figured it out. I hate acting like someone I am not, so I come out of it feeling like shit. Now, the reason that "act like myself" is not a solution is that if I did just act like I normally would, I would be quiet and sit in the corner and do nothing. So the same solution remains: avoid groups whenever possible. If it is not avoidable, then there are more important things than my own momentary happiness, so it's all good.

The grass is greener

I think the reason people think the grass looks greener on "the other side" is because they are driven by some desire to get something they don't have. Instead, why not be happy with what you have and strive to do better? That way a person can look at the grass they have with gratitude, and the greener grass as a goal. This person is probably having a lot more fun. Give them a few years, and they will probably be happily munching on edible food that isn't even grass.

Also, poets suck at describing love. I'm not saying I can do it, but still, it is not a burning flame inside me or anything lame like that. I mean what the hell poets. Please do a better job.

Pet problem

I really don't like how our culture puts so much emphasis on apologising for dumb things and not apologising for things that demand an apology. For example, if you bump into a person, that person will apologise. What the hell. You bumped into them. Or when your relative dies, the proper response is "I'm sorry." What the hell. Yes I know that is short for "I am sorry to hear that," but why should the person be sorry to hear that. They shouldn't be. They should be glad you consider them friend enough to tell them.

On the other hand, when you actually fuck up, the proper response is to have an excuse. What the hell. Just what the HELL people.

In other news, Nora made a really fucking good mix for me, and one song was Mr. Blue Sky, and I was going crazy for a while trying to remember where I had heard the song. She suggested Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and I may indeed remember it from there, but I did not like that movie at all. And then I remembered.

Taste-o-meter

I feel so cool to be one of the last.fm beta testers. Anyway the taste-o-meter feature they have is very cool. The idea is that on every user page there is this bar that shows how compatible you are with them. For example, I am completely not compatible with BJ, I am "high" compatible (a little over half) with James, and "super" (all the way) with Anneka.

…

It looks like "eat that disgusting hotdog" was one of the seven search strings that led people to my web page. Thank you, disgusting hotdog.

Social Experiment

I just signed onto facebook and changed my political beliefs to "Very Conservative." Technically, this is actually true, but I am only conservative by the century-old definition. The current definition of conservative seems to be fundamentalist, and I am not that. Anyway, I am curious to see how many people meet me in real life, friend me on facebook, see that I am very conservative, and then make a bunch of judgements about me based on that. I find this kind of thing fascinating.

Also, by the way, for those of you who are wondering what the old definition of conservative is, I am talking about small government that does not meddle with people, low taxes, and, most importantly, very slow changes. It seems like current "conservative" thought is nothing along these lines, but in actuality I am very old-school conservative. If you disagree with my views on this, then, I mean, whatever. I'm right.

Okay that does it

Dr. Mrs. Vandertramp is the pneumonic device that sucks.

Also, I am going to start working out. I have created a solid ~45 minute plan using mostly free-weights, because they are more versatile than machinery (meaning I will be able to continue my routine during times when I am not allowed in the CCRB). Also I will be doing running as a more official thing instead of a for-fun thing. This starts tomorrow. I know that when making goals like this it is best to be accountable to someone, so I am being accountable to my blog.

Basically the reason I want to do this is that I have been having more and more trouble sleeping, and I know for a fact that working out is about the best thing I can do to sleep better. I also know that working out in the afternoon is the healthiest, but my afternoons vary (ie I have work sometimes). Mornings are going to have to get the job done. Plus the CCRB is not crazy in the morning. Also if I work out early enough, I can eat breakfast after working out before class, and be all hell of energised.

The other reason to do this is because it is good to be strong. It is good for my masculinity, and also healthy in general. I mean, I guess I don't really need to explain why I want to work out. It is one of those things that everybody knows will make you live a happier and longer life.

It's late at night!

Hey now!

About me

In case other people agree with what Gynelle thinks about me, I would like to clarify something about who I am. I like changing my opinions, and I like being very adamant about my new opinions, no matter how likely I am to change them. This is one of the things that I like about who I am. I do this on purpose. For a long time, I have been of several opinions. One is that it is a good idea to hold fast to what you believe in. Hence my strong seemly unmovable opinions. The other is that it is a good idea to change your opinion when you find a better one. Hence my constant flip-flopping.

If this annoys you, sorry, but you shouldn't be reading about my life. I like changing my opinion in extreme ways, because it tends to move me toward a happy middle in the end. The problem with starting in the middle is that you have to know where the middle actually is, and I am figuring that out. So seriously, if you don't like the way my brain works, you should maybe get over it?

Nora again

For those that are curious, yes I am dating Nora now, although we have yet to go on a date. I am hell of busy right now though, so it probably won't happen for a week. I dunno, I am in to the whole taking the lady out to dinner thing when you are dating. I think that there are few things more hardcore than straight-up being a gentleman, and also dinner is awesome.

But yes, we are tied together in a bond of love now. Also I just talked to Gynelle, and that was awesome. We had a crazy-cool conversation, and when we were done I talked to Wilson briefly. He was the nicest he has ever been to me and, after remembering that it is Thursday night (glee club night), I think he is somewhat drunk.

Facebook again

So I'm thinking I should get back on facebook, but basically use it about as much as I am using Funky Man (ie, not much information save contact info). Basically, I'm thinking I should accept that facebook is the basic database of information that everybody uses. The difference is that I will not use such as the wall, or really even use facebook. I will just have an account that is there for people who want to see it. Thoughts?

Fire alarm

The fire alarm went off, so I proceeded to walk back inside, go to my room, acquire some gummy bears, and then go back outside. The fire alarm picnic buddies is the best idea ever. It is the idea so good that it will kill me one day.

My focus is crocus

I just can't focus on anything right now. It really sucks. Going to the temple this weekend will be dang good for me. I'm like, "hey brain, do this work," and my brain is all, "blabblegabbascraplable." I'm going to go outside for a few minutes.

Cave Story again

It is funny how I am faster at getting to Ballos with three health than I was with 55. I guess I did take a lot of time picking up health, but still, I am usually there in 8-9 minutes. Also I maintain that the area with the falling rocks is the hardest, even harder than Ballos. This is because I die there 95 times out of 100, yet I improve greatly on Ballos each time.

Art

I am beginning to work on art for the three people who replied. I am kind of looking forward to this. I am not actually sure if I am devoid of artistic talent; I've just never given it a try. Or actually do suck. I guess we will find out. Either way, I am having a bunch of fun, and there are still a couple spaces left if anybody wants some of the incredibly rare art by me. Seriously, think about how rare it is to have art by me. I do not make art. These five things may be the only art I ever do. If I grow up to be famous, which I will, these will all be worth millions of dollars, which they will. What an opportunity!

A comprehensive review of buy.com

Okay, so this site seems to always have the lowest prices all the time, and I always get the cheapest (free) shipping that predicts more than a week, and I always get it 2 days after I make the order. I am thinking that this is the best store to buy things on the internet.

Nora

There is a girl named Nora that I am probably going to start dating. I did make a promise to myself that I would not date anyone until after I had been good friends with them for at least 3 months, and I told her that. But I just realised that my approach here is silly. What we should wait on is the sex. Going out and such just gives us an excuse to hang out like 8 times as often and become really awesome friends. She's in Chicago right now, but I'll talk to her about this tomorrow.

Risk fucking 2210!

I just won an INTENSE game of risk. Also I feel really awake. I don't think I am going to forget any of this, because I feel awake. It has been a theory of mine that my memory is tied somehow to my cognitive abilities, of which I have none at night. Playing Risk, I kept my thinking going, and thus stayed awake. Let's see if I remember. I will let you know.

Empathy

DISCLAIMER: This post makes ridiculous generalisations, and also assumes that everybody is straight.

Why do men and women have such a difficult time understanding each other? You hear so many men saying that women are way too complicated to understand, and women tend to think guys are so simple that they are stupid. I mean, neither of these are true. The difference between men and women is that when a girl talks, she means a hella lot more than what she says, and when a guy talks, he just says what he means.

Guys have a hard time understanding girls because they aren't used to communicating so subtly, and girls have a hard time communicating with guys because they over-interpret what a guy says. But there's no reason for that. All you have to do is know that. If a guy knows that girls imply things, he can get a lot more out of a conversation. Likewise, if a girl knows that guys don't imply things, she can safely know that the guy is not saying anything that he isn't saying.

People make it out like relationships are so hard because girls and boys are so different, but they aren't. Relationships shouldn't be hard. With empathy, communication is easy (especially with empathy from both sides). Therefore, what is so hard about the relationship. If a relationship is hard, that probably means it is not working out.

So men: stop saying women are crazy-hard to understand. They aren't. And women: stop thinking men are dumb. We aren't. The reason we don't think so much about what we say is because we don't have to. And the reason we have trouble understanding what you say is because we don't try using empathy.

Continuing the thought, but going into attraction, I think some clarification is needed. First of all, an informative point for the nice guy. Have you ever been talking to a girl you like, and she has broken up with a jerk, and is talking about what a jerk he was, and then she looks at you and says, "why can't guys be like you?" And then she proceeds to go out with another jerk. Typically, when I detail this scenario to guys I know, I get an excited "YES. WHY." as a response. Well here is why.

Girls are attracted to, surprise, masculinity. Think about this: how often do men talk about their feelings or their relationships? MAYBE you can get two guys talking about their feelings in a very rare situation. But three? Hell no. This is not something that guys do. On the other hand, girls talk about these things a lot. So, nice guy. When you are talking with your female friends about relationships and feelings, guess who you are being. You are being a girl. All those friends of yours are not going to be attracted to you when, sociologically, you are a girl.

It is a similar thing to tomboys. Generally, when there is a girl who does stuff with the guys and acts like the guys, guys do not get attracted to her, but it is quite likely that she will be attracted to all of them. Don't be confused, by the way. If she acts like a girl in all the situations with the guys, the attraction will probably go both ways. But, sociologically, she is a guy, and the guys will not be attracted to a guy.

Back to nice guys. Why do girls keep going out with all those fucking jerks. Why doesn't she learn? Here's why: you can't control who you are attracted to, and guess why girls are attracted to jerks. It's because jerks are an example of pure masculinity. They have confidence, so they act like the leader of the pack, even if they aren't. They always just say what they mean, and are generally assholes, so they say things that are difficult for many people to say (an example of confidence). It is true that they are jerks, but when you are attracted to someone, that is that.

Here's the cool thing. You can take the confidence of the jerk and mix it with the niceness of you, and create a dream guy. It is easy to do. I mean, there are probably a billion million guides on the internet on how to do this, so I'm not going to explain it. It is very basic. As for girls, I find that society favours the female side a lot, and so you rarely have much trouble acting like a girl. If you are a tomboy and you are wondering why guys are not attracted to you, it is because men are not attracted to men. I haven't really looked into this much, because I don't think it happens much. Some comments on what makes a woman attractive to a man would be appreciated.

I have to go study, but I do have more to say on this subject if people are interested.

Art made by me

The first five people to respond to this get art from me. I do not have artistic talents to speak of, but I promise to put a lot of effort into whatever I do. Also I will not do the same thing for any two people. My concept of art ranges from drawing to a mixtape. The only catch is that if you comment you have to post this on your blog as well.

I signed up for someone else's art because I thought this was a basically awesome idea. And I want her art. If you make an anonymous comment, it does not count as one of those five, because I do not know who you are. Also don't expect your art soon. The deadline I am making for myself is Winter Break, but I don't plan on taking that long. We shall see.

EDIT: You don't have to like copy the exact text. The idea is that you make art for five people that post on your blog.

Got math exams back

I got a 92 out of 100 (the average was 84?). I made two stupid mistakes on it. I confused one-to-one and onto, and didn't recognise that a square matrix is either both one-to-one and onto or neither, respectively docking me 3 and 5 points. Honestly, those were some stupid mistakes, and I pretty much deserve to have lost 8 points. Otherwise, I got all the difficult stuff on the exam right. Kinda proud of that. Yep. Pretty proud.

I just noticed

That I have a mobile phone. Huh. I was wondering if I would use it more than I thought I would, but I actually haven't turned it on since when I got it those days ago. I mean, I was planning on turning it on once a day and all that, and I simply don't care. Yeah, call my dorm phone.

Who just got back from playing mafia

I feel the answer to this question is obvious.

Funky Man is all that's left

Facebook deleted Oscar Wilde, so my only tie to facebook now is Funky Man. I hope they do not delete Funky Man. Deleting Funky Man would not be cool at all. Then again, I would have absolutely no ties to facebook, and that would be cool. Also I found a group of people that has picnics during fire drills. That is basically awesome. I joined. Also I have a math exam tomorrow. Night.

Who has a new mobile phone

I have a new mobile phone. I am honestly not sure how I feel about it. I guess it is good because I can make long distance calls to the people that live in the same building as me. Apparently it is free if I call after 7:00pm or on weekends. I am not really sure at what time phone calls stop being free. Using what information I have, I would assume 7-midnight, but that would not make a lot of sense. It seems like it would stop around 4 or 5. I guess it does not really make a difference.

Anyway I will probably turn on my phone and check such as voice messages sometime after 7:00. Weekends will basically be unpredictable. I guess what I am saying is that you should not call my mobile phone unless you have already called my dorm phone and it didn't work. I would rather have messages on my gorgeous answering machine than on my strange voicemail system. Both phones are in the same 734 area code so neither phone is more or less convenient to call. My dorm phone is 565.7870 and my mobile phone is 330.0591. There is absolutely no advantage to calling my mobile phone because I will probably not pick it up. I mean if I am expecting a call I will pick up but otherwise I will not.

Call my dorm phone.

I have LAME FRIENDS

They are all leaving messages saying "Matt we are going to play Capture the Flag in the Arb you should come" and then I call them and they are telling me "we are not doing it anymore" and I am saying to them "how about we get other people and play tag" and they are all "no I am tired" or "no I am lazy" or "I have homework." FUCK YOU.

Anyway I found a bunch of video game music totalling 107 songs that make up two CD's. It's an exciting time.

Ohhhhh ouai

I made it to right before the Heavy Press in Hell. Got arrow'd right before getting in. Oh well. That was like my second try though. I am so much better at Cave Story than I used to be.

Apology to everyone in East Quad

The fire alarm was my fault. I just got back from class, and East Quad was very happy to see me. The fire alarm was its way of saying WELCOME BACK MATT I MISSED YOU. Sorry you all had to suffer for that.

Speakers!

I got the new speaker system that I ordered. It is called 5.1 (five speakers that surround you and one subwoofer that can basically go anywhere because it is a subwoofer), but it should be called either 1.5 or 5.HUGE. I mean it. The woofer is about 2 cubic feet. That may not sound huge, but if you think about it it really is. It takes up half the space under my desk, and it has a heat sink on the back. The two are not related, but it does have a heat sink. The speakers themselves are great. It is sometimes hard to tell that the sound is coming from speakers and is not real. If you couldn't see the speakers, locating them would be pretty difficult. These are some nice fucking speakers!

I made some new friends yesterday and that is pretty cool. I am still facing the undead core. I am now going to drink hell of water, and do some serious mathematics. The first midterm is on Wednesday, and if it is anything like the practise midterm, it will not be a problem at all.

Speaking of Math, I just checked the concentration requirements. Basically, I am on the right track. It is a good thing I did not take differential equations and instead went for linear algebra, because that is exactly what they say to do. I should then take a more-advanced differential equations course this winter. After that, I need to take at least 7 more math courses. Also I need to take a non-math course that is on the list they gave me. One of them is Game Theory (Econ 409). This sounds like hella fun. Basically, that is all I need to do to have a math major. Also they recommend that I take a couple physics courses and computer programming, which I will probably do. I mean, they sound fun.

Anyway, I designed next semester's schedule based on Winter 2006 (because '07 isn't up yet) and it looks like everything fits all right. I got Math 317, French 290, and Econ 101. I have all three on Mondays and Wednesdays which will kind of suck, but whatever. Not that much. Also I scheduled an appointment with a guy at the math department to see how I should go about my crazy decision to double-major in Business and Mathematics while remaining in the RC.

Time to study hell of mathematics.

Fever

Does anybody know how to take your own temperature without a thermometer and without going to UHS? I am really really hot and dehydrated right now, even though I have been drinking (and peeing back out) hell of water for the past few hours. I guess I don't need a thermometer to tell me that I have a fever. I guess the only reason I am making this post is because I do not like having a fever. Also I feel really faint, like I will pass out any second. It really sucks for getting work done. Especially what with my math homework, French exam, and neuropsychology paper all for tomorrow. UGULBUGLMUGTUGBUGFUGGUK

Fire Alarm

The fire alarm went off around 4:40. Man, I am not even going to go back to sleep at this point. It's like, that's a solid more-than-six hours of sleep. Not quite enough, but not bad either. I'm not really upset at the alarm at all. I think that this supports my claim that going to bed and waking up early leads to a happier existence.

RRRRRRRRAAAAARRRGGHHHH!

For the first time so far, I am really tired and stressed out. It is mostly because of my attempts to completely defy physics with my crazy schedule. Never again. It was better when I was bored and did extra studying. I hope to reach that point again soon. But for now, OH SHIT SCHOOLWORK THEN WORK THEN SCHOOLWORK AGAIN.

Who is going to get hella sleep tonight?

Me, I have earplugs.

I have a new next-door neighbour

The room next to mine was empty until a couple days ago. And now I hate that quiet hours do not start until 11:00. I guess if this keeps up I will knock on her door and tell her that I am usually in bed around 10:00 and it would be cool if she did not have parties in her room at that point. I think they are having sex in there right now.

UNDEAD CORE

About a month and a half after restarting my 3-health run of Cave Story, I have made it to the Undead Core. Also, I am better at the game than I was last time, because I am using more difficult strategies on the Doctor, and when I faced the Core, well, I beat it so fast. I am completely ready to go to hell.

Also I haven't shaved for a week and I got all these tiny little hairs growing on my face. It's like, I take a shower, and then I say to myself, man, I ain't want to shave right now I want to go to bed. So that's what I do. The worst thing is that I don't look good with stubble. There are some dudes who look extremely raw with stubble, and I am not one of them. I look like a disgusting college student who does not take showers or do homework. Let alone shave. "Ha! Shaving." That is what someone looking like me might say.

Picture

I would like to put up a new picture of myself. But I don't have any pictures that I like. If anybody has good pictures of me, let me know. Otherwise, today I just got off work and I started working around 10. Je suis trop fatigué!

Working in the cafeteria COMPLETELY pays off

Sometimes. Like tonight. They baked a bunch of cookies and gave an entire tray of them to the dishroom to eat. The cookies are so good when they are just baked. I can still feel them in my stomach and my stomach is glad that they are there. Also I signed up for another shift in the cafeteria. I am now working Tuesday nights from 4:45-8:30-ish. Serving hell of food to students. Also today is pay day. Yessssss. At the rate I am going, it will take me 12-15 weeks before I am able to execute the financial plan I would like to follow (it involves opening up a more-expensive bank account). Wooo! Also I am going to hold off on being a captain. I'd rather do it when I am completely awesome at work.

My blog's new look

Google updated Blogger to make it more convenient I guess. Anyway, I decided that as simplistic as my old layout was, it was kinda ugly. So I made a more spruced up layout with more colours and such. If anybody just hates the hell out of it, tell me, and I'll see if I feel like accommodating your concern.

The CCRB was kinda disappointing. I didn't really like it. I don't really want to ever go there. Bummer. We'll see what happens with this.

I would be going to a Buddhist Seminary meeting tonight, but in my effort to create a bat-shit crazy work schedule for myself, I completely forgot about it and I have work tonight until like 8:30 and tomorrow I think at 10. Basically meaning that if I did go to the meeting, I would not be there for most of it and I would miss the actual meeting.

People at work are trying to get me to become a captain, and I don't even know if I want to. It's like, I definitely do, but right now? I'm not real experienced and being a captain implies hella responsibility, and I am not sure if I want that. I mean, it is also an awesome job (or seems like it) and it pays more, but again, I don't really want to do it if I am not ready, you know? I'll have to ask someone how difficult the learning curve really is. I guess I will.

To be honest, I kind of want to be a captain, just because I've watched them and thought, "dang, I want to be that." But I've also thought, "dang, they have been working here for a really long time and you can tell by the way they do stuff." With me it is like, I have not been here a really long time. I want to be a captain, but I probably shouldn't. I'm going to go do some homework

I don't want to live for a long time

Continuing my argument for having fun while sick, what is the idea behind babying your body as you get older? Well, the idea is that you will live longer. That way, we can live to be old and broken to the point where we get a bruise from knocking on a door. Why live that long? Seriously. You could just shorten your life expectancy by taxing your system all the time. In fact, that will probably make you live longer. Only one way to find out, eh?

Anyway, I am looking into free running. It looks like a really awesome thing to do. So I am going to start going to the gym I guess. Maybe lift weights. Maybe run a lot. Maybe learn the basic free running stuff really well. Then when winter is over I might start actually doing it. I think it would just be a really cool way to keep in shape. Right now the only working out I do is occasional runs in the morning, and pull ups in my room. You know what? I'm gonna head over to the CCRB right now. Check it out. Maybe see what it is like.

Yeah, working out is always a good idea. Also does anybody know what you can do with a repetitive motion injury? I have this hella painful muscle around my right shoulder-blade that I think is caused by loading dishes into the machine at work. I think that because as soon as I finish loading dishes into the machine, it is suddenly like OH GOD THE PAIN. This is my first repetitive motion injury, and the only thing people have told me to do is take aspirin because that makes the pain stop and the muscle relax. And I am like no I am not going to take aspirin. I have never taken that kind of thing before, and I am not going to break my drug virginity with aspirin for a repetitive motion injury.

I will break my drug injury maybe when I have broken all of my bones in three different places and there is more dirt in my body than there is blood. Then I will take pain drugs. But seriously. Repetitive motion injury? Aspirin? Come on.

Anybody know anything else about them? I guess I can ask the internet.

FUCK the INTERNET.

Just kidding. Not really. I'm not actually kidding. Useful as the internet is, all I can see is how it basically sucks.

Just occurred to me, and I wish I had a person to talk to rather than a blog to write in

Why do I care about humans so much? I think I am completely a materialist at this point, all believing that humans evolved just like the rest of animals. I mean, it makes sense. In the past few thousand years, humans have developed remarkably, but we are after all just a race of animals in a meaningless universe. Why do I feel the need to help them out?

Seriously, I'm not going to go on about how bad humans are, because if we are all animals, what are we bad compared to? We just have a lot of power, and we aren't good at wielding it. What's so wrong with that? Nothing. But what makes them worth "saving" or helping? Nothing. If it's all meaningless, why do I care?

I guess it's because I am a part of the human race. I am a human, therefore it is my responsibility to further my race as best I can. As far as what is best for the universe, I don't think there is such a thing as good or bad, as it is all relative. What if we destroy Earth and ourselves and all life on Earth? So what? Is it a shame? What if we are the only life in the universe and we destroy ourselves? If a tree falls in a forest with no one to hear or see it, who cares? I am a human, so I will do what I will.

Also, what is real? I mean, we have our five senses, but does anybody ever feel that they are lacking? I do. On other occasions, I will feel other people's presence in a more "real" way. But what is real other than what we perceive? Each of us has our own perception of the world. We aren't right or wrong, we're just permanently subjective. How can we be objective when we only know what we can see, smell, hear, taste, touch, and think?

To answer all of my questions, we cannot be objective, we do not matter in any "big scheme of things," and there is no objective right or wrong. But we do have personal goals and visions. And they have plenty of personal meanings. And they are real.

In other news, college is disappointingly easy. I also found all the episodes of Look Around You on YouTube. I would link you to them, but they are not hard to find. Anyway, I hate how people procrastinate, and keep doing it and then when you ask if they can hang out they say no because they have all this work, but you know that they are just going to keep procrastinating, so they may as well hang out with you. Bye.

Whaaaat

Man I am getting all of these just crazy telephone calls today where a person asks me if I want to work for them and I tell them that I do not. If you are calling me and I do not know who you are, I do not want to work for you and also I have a job already. Do not call me. Also I am getting these phone calls where the phone rings and I pick it up and there is a little noise and then there is a dial tone which is weird.

Argh

You know how there is always that guy who just has to play devil's advocate no matter what, even when the point has already been made and everybody agrees on it? The guy that has to always bring up the 0.001%-of-the-time exception? The guy that was probably brought up thinking that there really is no such thing as a stupid question? I hate this guy.

Hey! Morning

Waking up at four
And my teeth are chattering
Putting on more clothes.

Bored.

The French lunch table starts in 25 minutes. I don't have any work right now (I mean, there are larger things, but they aren't really worth opening if I'm not going to spend 2-3 hours on them). I already read all the comics I usually read. I worked some on my language. I checked the websites I check. I mean, what can I do right now. I had a lot of fruits for breakfast today (2 nectarines and a banana), so I am full of fructose, and I need to do something about it.

Also we played Diplomacy yesterday, and it is my first game of Diplomacy ever where I am not being completely crushed by everybody who is surrounding me. I'd go on saying vague things about it so that you feel left out for not having been there, but I mean, that is what a dumb person does.

Well that killed 8 minutes.

Also

Also I am getting into the Shins. They seem kind of like a cross between the Barenaked Ladies and the Decemberists, but quite a bit better than both of them.

Ugh

Broke a plate in dishroom today while scraping, and got my hands and arms all scratched up (only a few actual cuts). So now it looks like I cut myself. Long sleeves!

Also I fucking HATE hummus. Seriously. Hummus is horrible. People put it all over their plates and it does not come off of the plates and I hate it and I really fucking hate hummus in fact if that plate were not covered in hummus I would not have broken it I HATE YOU HUMMUS. SCREW YOU HUMMUS, FUCK YOU!

Being sick

I mean don't get worried or anything I just have a cold and I'm on the recovery end of it now. Anyway, not liking emergen-C, being sick means you have to basically let your body heal you. What I find odd however is that everybody has advice for what I should do to get better, and I will never follow any of the advice. Even if it's good advice, which it usually is.

The advice is typically something along the lines of "drink lots of water (this I do anyway), get lots of rest, don't go outside, lay down a lot, etc." Basically, "don't have fun." Guys, if you have a bunch of fun jumping around in the cold rain outside while you are sick, all that will happen is that you will be sick for a few days longer. Seriously, would you rather be sick for 5 days of no fun, or be sick for 8 days with plenty of fun.

I mean, some sicknesses really do require you to not do anything all the time, but the common cold is not that kind of sickness. Seriously.

Logic Puzzle

This is what I have been working on for the past two hours:

There are three gods, named Truth, Lie, and Random. Truth will always tell the truth, Lie will always lie, and Random will unpredictably change back and forth between telling the truth or a lie. Also, they will (of course) only answer yes-or-no questions, and they will answer only in their own language with either "da" or "ja." You do not know which word means yes, and which means no.

You may ask any number of questions, and being gods, they are all-knowing.

Also I got the solution, and it is actually possible.

Cool

I am getting some damn fine grades in all my classes. So far, I have received the highest possible grades on absolutely every single thing I have done (and I have done every single thing I was instructed to do). Man, this is so much better than last year. Plus I have friends.

Oh man.

I just took a really good dump. Like, seriously. I feel so good right now. I love it when that happens. It happens like 1 in a couple hundred dumps, and I am just like, "YES."

6 bags for $56 is pretty tempting

I mean, like that would be 5+ pounds of Daim chocolate.

Right now I am tired and sick. I don't really like that I am tired and sick. Anyway, I'm thinking about death right now. Not about what happens after death, but death itself. I am wondering why people have to die.

I mean, think about it. Why can't we keep generating fresh tissue, like when we were born. Why do we grow old and weak. I mean, it doesn't have to be that way. The only reason it is that way is because, well, it is that way. But look, there was a time when we were just one cell that started dividing. If one cell can become a human, why can't a human stay a human? It seems like each cell could have the ability to create new cells. I know that some do, but some don't.

In case anybody is misinterpreting this, I will clarify that I think death is a good thing. For one thing, I don't really want to live forever. And for another thing, if everybody lived forever, there would be no room for new-borns. What I don't understand is why nobody has come up with a way to maintain youth forever by re-growing tissue. I guess it is just way more complicated than I think it is. But I mean, if one cell is able to become a body over a few months, why can't we look at how it does that? Or I guess we already have.

I don't know. It seems to me that it shouldn't be too hard a thing to change. I'm glad it's harder than I think it is, because, as I said, I like death. But still. Weird. Does anybody know specific reasons for this? Other than lame "tradition" explanations saying things like "biological matter is imperfect." That isn't an explanation. That's just a cop-out. Please spare me.

By the way, if you are thinking "but Matt, it is imperfect," I want you to know that I already know that. However, I don't see why it can't be perfect. I see that it isn't, but that's because we were created by evolution, not by intelligence. We now in theory have the power to evolve intelligently, whether we want to use that power or not. Therefore, why is it considered impossible for us to be perfect?

Actually, in general, I kind of have a problem with perfection. I realise that this is a complete tangent to what I was saying earlier, but I want to say it. Everybody says that nobody is perfect. And I understand that, yes indeed, nobody is perfect. But why? Why can't we be perfect. After all, is perfection anything other than constant mindfulness? I mean, if you are completely mindful of everything you do, you don't make mistakes (unless you don't know what you are doing). Maybe the reason is because no one can possibly always know what they are doing 100%. But then, why not. Everything has a limit. I think perfection is a finite, attainable thing. Just with a lot of difficulty.

Prove me wrong!

Guys, Daim.

Does anybody know where I can buy these. THEY ARE SO GOOD.

I'm serious

If someone knows a place where I can get a Daim bar, they need to tell me.

It needs to be said

William Beckett may be the sexiest man alive right now. Seriously, look at him. It is like, people should not be that attractive. Or maybe everybody should be that attractive. I don't even know. Either way, I would fuck him, and I am not even gay.

Also, the Daim chocolate bar from Norway is really fucking good.

I will also quote Nice Pete at this time.

Hello Google
Please read my words Google
Computer Computer Google
Who invented you Google
You beautiful thing

Always good to end the day with a quote

"Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without an accordion."
~General Schwartzkoph

Meaning of life?

Like many people, I've been thinking about the meaning of life and all that. I don't think there is any meaning of life. I don't think there is any deep purpose, or universal goal. I'm not saying this as a negative thing, and I'm not saying that makes individual purposes and goals any less special. I'm not even depressed about it. I just don't think anything matters in the big scheme of things. Humans are animals with overdeveloped brains. Blame God, blame fate, don't blame anything, whatever. I think the only thing that is real is that I am here, and you are here. The idea is that I help your life become easier, and you help mine do the same. In helping each other out, we all have better, happier lives.

Need it be more complicated than this?

Actually I just hate new iTunes

Really. I hate that it won't let me quit without immediately restarting, I hate that I can't give songs album artwork any way other than one-at-a-time, I hate that I cannot look at the program icon without crying a little.

Apple, your new iTunes has made the hate-list.

Man the new iTunes icon is really ugly.

I hate it. Get Info!

New iTunes

Apple is running out of ideas. The coolest thing about the new version of iTunes is that you can set tracks to play with no gap (such as Pink Floyd). Which is something they should have done a long time ago, and does not warrant a major release. The box on the left is hell of ugly, and the makeover is just slightly different, not better. I liked the radioactive burn button. The new ways to view music with album art are silly. They look cool, but I do not see myself ever using them. I also think the green music note looked much better than the blue one. It also looked better than the old purple one. The green music note was a good idea. All in all, I don't really care because the update was free, and the only things I miss are the burn button and the green music note, and they are worth it for the continuous play option.

My Night Memory

Before going to bed last night I made a note to myself. Here it is:

My memory is much better at night. I talked with Brian about religion.

Apparently, at night my memory is better. I guess that means I can probably remember more stuff when I'm tired, or something. Ah, irony. Also the second sentence is pretty self-explanitory.

Anyway, this was an experiment to see if writing stuff down jogged my memories. It didn't, but there is a thing similar to déjà vu or something, like when you know something, but you can't find it. Next time I stay up late, I'll make a point of writing stuff down. Also, last night we went to an asylum.

People are loud

Just in general. People should be quieter.

Martial art kind of stuff

I was doing Godai Ninpo Ninjutsu last year, but I found out recently that it is not actually very good. However there is a different Ninjutsu group called Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu. It costs about a quarter the price, meets three times a week instead of once, and is better apparently. So um, now I am doing Bujinkan. I can actually only make it once a week anyway, but it is still $100 per semester. So, um, I am doing it.

French

Want to know what French word sucks for a native English speaker to say? Réfrigérateur. It looks harmless, but keep in mind that a French "r" is roughly equivalent to a Yiddish "ch". So a better way to write it might be Chéfchigéchateuch. I hate this word.

Markers.

There is rampant marker theft going on in my hall. Most of the whiteboards at this point do not have markers (in fact, one of these has "Mark my words, the next marker will be POISONED" written on it). I, along with a couple others, have purchased a new marker and duct-taped it to the door. This solved the problem for a while, but now, guess what. There are no caps on our markers. WHAT. WHY WOULD A PERSON DO THIS. Seriously, markers could be anything, but marker caps? That is just saying "hey I am being an asshole for no reason."

Dear thief. Fuck you. You are the kind of person who should not exist. Nobody likes you, and all your friends say bad things about you when you are not around. In fact, everybody hates you. Suicide is the only way out. Remember—down the block twice, and then cross the street at your elbow. (In case you are an idiot, I am telling you to drag a razor down your arm twice, and then across. It is pretty basic information, and I normally would not clarify, but I want to make sure you understand.) Your pal, Matt.

Ch'uis très occupé maintenant.

For serious. I am dang busy right now. But I love it. It's really cool to be busy when it is because you have a lot to do and not because you have a lot to do that you should have done a week ago. C'est très cool!

An observation: I've been noticing that most of the students I see here think of themselves as high school students. They seem to think that they are in classes because they have to be, and that they are studying because they have to. This is not the case. If you hate all your classes, you should maybe think about why you took them. If you took it to fulfil a requirement, at least remember that you are paying something like $65 per hour of class, so you may as well try to find a way to enjoy it. Even if the only way is that it is a step towards graduating.

I think the development of the undecided major is in part to blame. People go in with the intention of continuing their high school experience and to take a diverse amount of interesting classes. Problem is, this is not what a university is for. Now that I actually have an idea of what I want to do "when I grow up," I can look at each of my classes and think to myself, "this class will help me with this, and that class will really help me to do this." This way, I am more like a man with goals, who is seeking the help of a university.

I don't really see many people like me in that respect. I imagine that about half the students here are here because "college is what comes after high school." I mean, that's why I went a year ago, and look where it got me. Well, it got me into a monastery, which was admittedly pretty awesome. But I should have gone to the monastery from the start, because I didn't have any idea what I wanted to do.

I dunno. I used to think of the "know your life plan" approach as boring and old-fashioned, but now that I'm taking it, I can really see its advantages. Plus, there are way too many 17-year-olds in college right now. But seriously, having a lifetime goal is the shit. I am basically inspired to do all my work all the time. Even if the work is boring, I can see my end goal, and see that it is attainable if I do the boring work, and then for that reason the work becomes interesting.

Guys, totally figure out what you want to do with your life. Your life will become completely awesome. I mean, even if what you want to do is ridiculous, don't let that be a reason to quell it. If it's what you want to do, then there ain't no one who can tell you to stop wanting to do it.

Plus you will seriously enjoy every aspect of life. I mean, my whole thing even gives me a reason to go out of my way to make a lot of friends. It's fucking awesome! Anyway I have one thousand homeworks and not a lot of time. Don't expect many updates for a while. Then again, things might let up a little. We'll see.

Yeah no more Decemberists.

Sorry everybody. I don't like The Decemberists. Do not talk to me about the Decemberists because I do not care and I do not like them.

Today has been another damn good day. I like today.

Dangit

I cut my thumb while shaving.

The Decemberists

I like their music whenever the guy is not singing. When he starts singing, a part of me wants to turn off the music. I hope I just get used to it. I guess a lot of their music is about the lyrics. I don't really listen to music for the lyrics. I like music to sound good, and I start to notice the lyrics after I've listened to a song about 10 times. The only exception I can think of is Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life. Otherwise, listening to lyrics takes way too much effort for me to want to do it. And I don't really like The Decemberists. I mean, I'll try harder to like them, but that is my current feeling. I mostly HATE how the singer inserts the sound "ay" instead of "ee" (keepayng instead of keeping, speakayng instead of speaking). That's really all I hear when I listen to it right now.

Also, while coming back to my room, I noticed a guy leaving a dorm room wearing only a towel. This is of course a common site, as guys do need to get to the shower. What I didn't realise until I was in my room was that he was coming out of a room in Cooley House, which is reserved for WISE (Women In Science & Engineering). There are no guys in WISE.

Not important or anything. I just noticed it and it made me laugh to myself, so I thought it'd be worth typing. Like the time the Ninja Hunters knocked on a door and it was answered by an angry guy in a bathrobe who was definitely in the middle of sex when we got there.

Guess who has finished ALL THE WORK

Me! I am doing so much better this semester than last semester. I mean, the first week is hardly evidence to show anything, but my attitude and everything is exactly where it should be. But yeah, I just finished all the French work due tomorrow (which I started Friday, after receiving the assignment Thursday). There was actually a lot of French work. Yesterday I finished the math homework due Wednesday. Now I can enjoy today knowing that I have NO WORK AT ALL to do. I have not had this feeling since, um, well, I think there were a couple times in high school where I bothered to finish my work ahead of time and it felt like this. Dang. Today is going to be so great.

As for the broader perspective of my life, I am doing really well. I am making friends now, for example. It is not very hard to make friends. Actually it is really easy to make friends. It just takes some effort, and then you have to visit people and stuff, and not wait for them to initiate anything. I used to always leave it to other people to initiate stuff, and I would get all depressed when no one did, thinking that everyone must hate me. In truth, people basically are too lazy, or they barely know me, or they are doing the same thing I am doing. In each circumstance, initiating stuff is the answer.

This is pretty basic stuff, and I've probably known that, but I finally started doing it. Exciting time. Also, I've realised that while I cannot directly control my emotions, it is easy to indirectly control them. Exempli gratia, I get depressed. Instead of wallowing (more on this later), I figure out why I am depressed. Say it is because I don't think people care about me. I then go hang out with someone who definitely cares with me. Actually the solution to depression is usually hanging out with someone (for me anyway), but it is typically a pretty specific type of someone. When it comes to the point where I am depressed and don't want to think about it, I go for a run. For at least 15 minutes. This ALWAYS HELPS.

My dad used to say something like, "mix up your chemicals; don't add new ones." The idea is to promote running as a "bestitute" for drugs. I think there's something to that. When I run for 15 minutes, my mind feels clearer, and more open. It certainly doesn't remove such as depression, but it gives me a better angle on what's going on, and the will to solve the problem at hand.

Anyway, my room is clean, my work is done, my previously dirty clothing is being laundered, I have friends, and today I am going to celebrate my dad's birthday. For me, my life is at the highest point it's been at in years. And it's looking like it'll keep going up for a good while. Great!

Also, I am liking Inara George more and more. I like it more as background music than as active listening music, but I really like it a lot as background music. It is really good for doing homework without being distracting. I'm like, "daaaaang!"

I'm thinking a lot about the language I'm making right now. I wish I knew a linguist. Or hell, anybody who knows the basics of language and has the free time to help me with this.

A meditation on toilet seats

For the majority of my life, I have been in the "toilet seat AND cover both go down when you are done" camp. When there is no cover, I put down the seat. I feel this is a good habit. However, now that the dorm bathroom is actually a women's bathroom that says "MEN" on the door (basically meaning there are no urinals), guys all use normal toilets for everything. Now, I am beginning to appreciate the idea of leaving the seat up. If the seat is up, it signifies that there will be no urine on it if you have to take a dump. If it is down, then you just don't know. Now, when I need to unload the day's rations, I first see if any toilets have the seat up. It is much easier than entering the stall and inspecting the seat to make sure.

I mean, or you could just sit in a puddle of some dude's pee. It's up to you.

GOD my legs hurt

Ow!

I like sandwiches!

A good time

I am eating a sandwich while reading The Great Outdoor Fight.

Today is going to be great.

I am going to jam with Tom Goss in the afternoon maybe with a bunch of people. Also, starting at 9 or 10, I am going to hunt some ninja. I went to Acme Mercantile and bought new FUTURE GOGGLES and five tiny water pistols. Also a FUTURE GUN. We will probably be hunting ninjas, because, as Anneka said, it is our first time in months, and we want people to see us and think to themselves, "daaaaang."

I mentioned Ninja Hunting to Ewan, and he said he had been told about that during orientation. Someone from East Quad was talking about group opportunities, and they finished the list with "we even have ninja hunters," and a few people were apparently very impressed by this news. I hope we do not let them down and that instead we measure up to their golden standard of what a ninja hunter should be like.

Actually I just hope they join. Eventually, our ninja hunting group will be so huge that we will be too big for East Quad and will have to spread to South Quad and West Quad. Then we will begin leeching into Hill Campus, and finally North Campus. Then we will annex other colleges with our Ninja Hunting. It is going to be so great.

Is pretty great, to not be on facebook

One of the things I thought would be a problem is that I now cannot view the contact information of a lot of people I got in touch with over facebook. What I realise is that being facebook friends with someone does not make me any more "in touch" with them. It just gives me the secure feeling that I am. Being off facebook, I have to write down the contact information of people I actually WANT to be in touch with, and if anyone wants to know anything about me, they have to meet me. Also vice versa. I can't go read someone's profile and suddenly know everything about them anymore. I now have to go back to the old fashioned method of hanging out.

It is kinda weird though. It's like, I've been on facebook for a year and a half, and suddenly it's gone. This is something like what I would imagine it would be like to quit smoking. But probably to a much lesser degree. It's like, whoa, that is not a part of my life.

On the other hand, I feel really awesome. Kind of in the same way that indie-listeners probably feel awesome. Back when I first joined facebook, I was part of a small-ish group of people who were discovering a cool network of people. While I was on it, it evolved into a disgusting but glossed-over MySpace. The whole News Feed thing was what made me consider leaving, and then I was like "but that's a little extreme," but then I was like "well actually I've kinda been looking for an excuse for a while now. This is a good one."

So the newsfeed is the scapegoat (did you know that once a year, Jews blame all their sins on a goat? Shoshana told me this. It is apparently where the word "scapegoat" came from. Learning things like this is a cool thing to do) for why I left, but really I kinda stopped liking facebook around May or so. Maybe before then. It might have been before I left. Actually I still think they should have left the walls the way they used to be. When they changed the walls, I guess a seed was planted.

Anyway, leaving facebook does not count as a full blog post really. Other information about what I am doing: I met a girl named Angela yesterday, and it turns out I have known her for more than a year and a half, from an interfaith religious conference I went to those years ago. Also I moved her into her room, and somehow we both forgot that. This actually sounds like a much less weird revelation than it was at the time. At the time we were like "SHIIIIIIT." Also she has my umbrella. It's been a while since I've been separated from my brolly for this long. I want it back. Just kidding. I mean, I do want it back, but I don't want it so urgently that italics were necessary or anything.

She said that I should read Pride and Prejudice. I guess I should. But it goes on the bottom of my list, and considering that Gödel, Escher, Bach and House Of Leaves are both on the list above it, I probably won't get around to reading it for a good couple years, if I'm quick.

I'm listening to a lot of Звери today. I probably shouldn't like them as much as I do, but I do like them exactly that much, so fuck you.

Anyway I am going to go shopping for new Ninja-Hunting / Billionaires for Bush gear. Goodbye.

-Matt

facebook

The only things keeping me on facebook are my "Let's Unite the Planet" groups. Wait, I can set up a forum on the internet. That would make SO MUCH MORE SENSE. Facebook, goodbye.

THE DECADE OF THE BRAIN

Apparently this is how one could choose to refer to the 1990's. I don't really know whose idea this was. Anyway college is pretty cool and this is my ten minute break in between 5 hours of classes. I have class in 5 minutes, so bye.

Hahaha!

This is a somewhat good one.

A letter to a girl

This is a letter to a girl who definitely reads this blog.

Dear Girl: You will be pleased to know that I have finally thrown out the futon cover that I have had for more than one year. It has been replaced completely with a new futon cover, and I assure you that there is no way that anything displeasing could have already entered into this new cover. You can now feel safe and comfortable whenever you sit on my futon. Your pal, Matt.

I guess this is also a letter to anyone who went ninja hunting with me on a certain night when we decided to barge into a certain room to see a certain futon cover that had certain actions happening on it when we came in. You know who you are. Also the girl that this letter is to is Anneka.

For the rest of my post, I am going to talk about my life at this point.

After pausing for about 1 and a half minutes, I realise that I have a lot that happened, and not a lot to say about any of it. Thank you. -Matt