The Topic of Great Randomness

[Lazy Leopard]

I expect there's a link between new folks turning up and new books being published. There hasn't been a new book in a while, and even DD's blog has been quiet for a while. I expect it doesn't help that this is a time of year often given over to exams, either.

[magicalmike]

One word Yr(i dont know how many people this applies to but it does to me) FINALS. Already studying. Well ill try to get a post in

first of all i survived my sixteenth birthday. it was kinda bad. I felt like a trained monkey bieng put on display by my parents. They also didnt understand that i didnt want a party or lots of preasents. Ok that sounds realy bad about me gripping about how my parents were trying to be nice and im not apricative so ill stop.

school wise my schedule for next year looks like barrels of fun. Im attempting to break a scool record in classes so what do t=you expect? Our school has bio chem and physics and then their Ap partners. The basic bio chem and physics are required but outside that nothing else is. I plan to be the first student to take all of the regualr and advanced sciences. Suffice to say i now have no free time and im begaining to wonder what i was thinking.( or what i wasent )

Outside of schoolnothing realy, just finals till school lets out and then off to work and and SAT courses FUN. Probably gonna end up bussing at a resturant.

Ok time to study now. bye.

[EricG1793]

I got my computer back yesterday!! It runs perfectly, just like it had been before the screen stopped coming on.... The report said that the motherboard was replaced (good thing it was under warranty! ).

YR, yes, it does seem to be slowing down to me.... I used to get quite aggravated and somewhat worried whenever that happened, but I've seen a few cycles, let's call them, go back and forth, so I'm familiar with them now.

The Science teacher is being very nuts again. We're jumping back and forth between lab 7, an Earth and Solar System time line, sound and sound waves, and rockets. One day, I'm writing an objective and procedure for lab 7, the next I'm interrupting that with the time line notes, then I have to go to the next page and write "continuation of hypothesis for lab 7..." and then somehow squeeze in the stuff about sound.... In the meantime, my notebook is full.

Other than that, things are going pretty well in school for me.

**Sorry for not putting that in the School! thread, but that's all I have to talk about in terms of school, and I know how certain people get about "one-liners in spirit"...**

[Emi]

Well, yeah I've seen that too. I'm on spring break right now, so I come on here lately to find there hasn't been a lot of posting to respond to, or I really have nothing new to add so I don't want to waste a post!

This Saturday is SAT day! Yay! Haha. I'm so nervous. I don't want to do the essay. PSAT's don't help you for the essays!! My sister keeps telling me not to stress about it, but that's kind of hard.

Um, let's think.... oh! I get to help my sister's film club at her college make a silent film on Saturday as well. I think I might get to act in it? That'll be cool to add to my "brag sheet" (college resume). Oh that's another question!

Did anyone (when they're juniors) make a college resume? For like applications to colleges or when you apply for scholarships? It's like also when you go to an interview or a tour and you meet the "dean of the school you want to go to" you can give that to them. I haven't started on mine, but I was wondering if anyone else did that? Is it necessary?

Alright I'm done.

[Dragon Writer]

My schools...the same as normal. A bit rushed, but if anything, i'm mostly getting less work beacuse we have less time to linger on a subject. Science is giving us more, but that's just because of regents. (Standerdized test that only has any importance whatsoever in New York)

[eowyngirl]

magicalmike: Yeah, it's finals for me too. I have a U.S. Constitution test and a Missouri Constitution test coming up, both of which I have to pass to graduate high school, and then all my finals: Physical Science, English, Geometry, and American History (no, the Constitution tests aren't finals). So that should be fun.

Emi: You're on spring break???? My spring break ended weeks ago. The silent film thing sounds like a lot of fun, completely aside from looking good on a resume. I don't know if you need to have a college resume, seeing as I'm only a freshman, but it's probably a good idea.

Sadly, there's nothing going on in my life right now except school, so I'll wander on over there.

[Emi]

Yeah, it's called April Vacation where we live but it's like our Spring Break. Cuz our last week long vaca was in Feb. and it's not springy.

Aside from that my Finals aren't until June... That's when I get out. Kind of stinks.

[eowyngirl]

Yeah, growing up I thought that all schools got out in May and came back in August, because that's how all the schools in southern Missouri do it. We're getting out two weeks later this year because of bad weather, though--we missed pretty much all of February, a week in January, and a few days in March. April was the first month in the second semester that we didn't miss any school...kinda sad, really.

[Tuttle]

Yeah, the activity goes up and down, there's not been anything new for a while, its around finals for all college students, its getting late in the year even for high schoolers where grades start mattering more. I think its a good thing it is currently not that active, because there's much more we all need to do than sit around online.

Talking about finals. I finished finals tuesday, got kicked out of the dorms thursday at noon. Need to finish a big project paper (these papers are usually around 60 pages per group (my group is 4 people) by May 20th, but otherwise done. That'll be fun. I probably have about another 10 pages to write.

I've totally been depressed lately, its rather annoying. Stress from not doing well in school is making me not do well. Jono is emailing my parents and explaining that to them, hopefully that'll mean they don't care about my grades this term (as long as I passed) because I totally bombed all my finals. Like I got all C's all because of bombing finals (Like say getting a 51 after getting a 91 on the midterm and otherwise probably getting an A in the class (though after taking the final I was thinking it might have dropped to a B because I only expected an 80 on the final).

But yeah, its really an annoying cycle stressed because you're not doing well making you not do well. I just really hope now that I get a better grade on my project than a C. Especially the whole project grade (it was over 3.5 terms so each term has a grade and the project has a grade otherwise).

On the whole chat thing. I really prefer in many ways the IRC channel. I've not been around much, but that's because of the whole depression plus school thing. I should be back though I think. It really works better on a bunch of computers and if people want to be in IRC anyways... I don't mind not having the chat because of the amount of extra work for the admins. I do need to remember a bunch of the more complicated IRC commands though seeing as I'm one of the ops in the channel 'cause was one of them who was pushing for an IRC channel (though really a bunch was PM's fault in many ways.) All this talk of chat lately is making me miss him again. It's been a while, but I still remember the sadness of LL coming into #callahans and mentioning what happened...

Life's been weird. That's all really works as a word. And I'm really going to miss being around people all summer, but be so glad I'm not in a city if I'm back with my family. Though I have an apartment to move into June 1st, and may be back for a bunch of the time then.

My apartment next year is going to be shiny. It'll be me, Jono (I know there are problems with living with person you're dating, but we figured out that if we break up it'll likely not be bad, and we'll be friends after. Especially 'cause his family has basically decided that I'm like extended family (because his family doesn't have extended family close, some friends of people just fit well enough with the family they are effectively extended family. Only one of these people really showed up to Christmas and stuff (other than me, but that was 'cause of the dating him thing.) But yeah, we basically worked it out and it was best for us to live in the same apartment.), and two friends of ours who are also math majors. (One grad, one senior). And all who'd stay up all night talking about random math, or playing strategy games, it'll be fun. We totally have a group of us who make a bunch of the cooperative strategy games harder because we play them so much, 4 of the 5 main people will be living in the same place next year. And very mathy. It'll be so much fun. And it's also an awesome apartment. Very shiny apartment. In more than one way. And the building has people in all 3 apartments people from the science fiction society. That means it'll be the place for Friday Gaming over the summer. Again shiny.

Final Fantasy 12- Jono's been playing it so much lately. His apartment mate owns it and is also playing it. Meaning I've been watching it so much. A few days ago I had the Rabanaster music stuck in my head. It was sad when I realized this and I told him he's been playing too much ffXII. He's totally overleveling for plot, and then running hunts at like 5-10 levels lower than you should. It's interesting to watch. He's fighting things that he has 2 characters healing constantly, one hitting always and having the "attack me not them" status, and its letting him fight like 3 big thing each of get him 1000 EXP (each for 3 characters in the party). It's amusing to watch. That's what I'm doing while writing this.

I can't think of anything else. Ah, right, I should mention...My dad's laptop is broken. Randomly restarting every so often (not a Windows problem, that's been checked, one of my systems is in there currently, also not memory problem, we ran a memtest. Also Patina doesn't reboot on a kernel panic, (at least I don't think she does.) So I'm trying to think of other things it could be. I got a noticable way through reading dmesg without finding anything wrong too. Should probably do that some more, but it rebooted last time I was reading it since I was only half paying attention and half watching ff12.

I think that really is all now. People have probably posted some places since I started writing this which I find amusing. It's even a short Tuttle-post . I'm still amused at the giant one that was my one a few years ago. It's still impressive to me to notice how long I've been here. It doesn't feel so long half the time and the other half it feels like I'm all oldbie-like 'cause a good amount of the oldbies left. It makes me sad. I miss all those people who've gone. That's why I'm sad about chat leaving. So many people haven't been showing up since. And then because some haven't the others haven't either. Some of them are talk-to-able through aim and such though. But its still sad. Others like wf definitely are in the IRC room a bunch too through, which is good at least.

I can't think of anything else again. I'll go back to watching Jono mow down skeletons on the way to another Level V Mark at level 36 at this point.

-Tuttle

[seabiscuit1009]

Well, no one's posted here in awhile, so I supposed I will. What's happened lately...well, I finally got a date for prom today, very last minute thing since ticket orders are due in...two days? I'm taking an old friend from elementary school...he's a nice guy. He'll be at the same college that I'm at next year, so hopefully nothing awkward ends up happening. I don't know...you know, it is just prom, is what I'm realizing. I'm not a girl that guys ask out on dates; ergo, prom is not going to be some romantic cheesey affair like in the movies. Ergo, it's not going to be romantic at all, it's going to probably be one of the goofiest nights of my life. We're having a chocolate fountain at prom. 'Nough said. XD

Finally done with my AP tests though. I only took AP Gov and English Lit. I'm feeling pretty confident about the English Lit, since I've always done well on the practice exams; like, gotten the best grade out of both of the AP English classes at my school well. So I'm not too worried about it. Government...well, I know I completely got one of the essays wrong. But I figure I may be able to pull off a 4 anyway.

I've got 13 days left of high school (not counting weekends, of course.) It's so weird to think about...how can I already be graduating? I mean, there's less than a month until my 18th birthday, so there's even less time until graduation, where I get to where my shiny purple gown and mortarboard (the technical name for the funny graduation caps. Yes, I know what they're called, don't ask how.) I...I don't even know what to think about graduation. It's scary.

We got our second bathroom back! It is all nice and shiny and redone now...the walls are purple, which is kind of weird, but Mom wanted purple walls. I can't wait...now I get to wake up half an hour later on school days, since we'll have double the bathrooms! Yes, this is a big deal for me. I like to sleep a lot and having to wake up early for no reason other than to use the bathroom for 5 minutes is kind of a pointless reason to wake up.

Track's finally over; I got to run in one weekend meet, which was good. Usually only fast runners go to weekend meets; I'm not one of the faster runners, but I have run track for 4 years, so I think coach just felt that he'd let me run in one once. It was kind of fun, and I think I ended the season on a good note.

Well, I think that's about it...other than track, AP tests, and worrying about prom, not much has gone on in my life. I got a haircut, most exciting thing that happened in the last week. XD I live a boring life.

[Emi]

Yeah, I haven't seen this up lately. Huh, weird.

So... did I mention earlier that I had a boyfriend? Yeah, he's pretty sweet. He's like a perfect gentleman. And I'm really happy because, he's like my first boyfriend so it's really great. But some of my friends don't even know because they'd laugh. He isn't the "popular" or "jock" type. And a lot of my friends are like that. So... yeah. Anywho, that means I have a prom date too! So, I'm wicked happy about that. But, my friends aren't going on the limo... so I don't want to go because I really don't know the others as well as my friends.

I really wanted a limo.

Mother's day was today.. and well my bf's parents left him home alone today so my mom was like "let's bring him to dinner with us!" So he basically hung out with us all day. It was nice. My dad seems to like him so that's a plus. Right?

My allergies are acting up. And I have to sing tomorrow. Funny huh? Like I said, this always happens to me.

Alright, I'm gone.

[Gryphon]

Score! I remembered my password

Anyway, here's the update for my life. Well, lately, my most treasured computer has been making these really awful noises... and with such diversity! It almost rivals my kitty Skittle's croak. Well, anyway, the harddrive ended up being replaced (my monitor is doing its death rattle at the moment too -- gets too much abuse), so all of my bookmarks, etc, are gone. I have a backup drive, so I have all of my things saved, but I haven't accessed it yet. Well, and so I guess that leads up to my password explanation. I never really typed it in because my cookies remembered it for me. :P

Anyway!! We're in the middle of AP weeks! Last Wednesday was calc BC for me... it was a breeze. Last year, when I took AB, I sincerely believed I had failed (actually, that wasn't true, but it was agonizing because I had absolutely no idea how I had done, and the potential for failing was pretty high). I got a five, which is the best score. This year round, I have a better teacher, spent an entire month preparing, and I know what to expect, so I can say with confidence that I am gonna get a five (we don't get our results until summer). For example, to get the top score, you only need to get 62/108 points (that's the scoring for the 2003 BC exam, at least). If that were a final for a course, it wouldn't even be a passing grade, but a five is actually incredibly hard to achieve (by national standards)-- well, again, it depends on how you learned, and what your teacher was like, etc, so it could be a breeze. The _gyms_ at my school were filled with tables to accommodate the number of students who were taking the calc exam. Afterwards, I went with some friends out to lunch and then slept.

I just finished this book called Battle Royale. Written by a Japaneses author. It was awesome :O and I loved the ending. However, due to the brutality of this book, I don't want anyone under the age of 16 to read this. If you cannot stand graphic violence, stay away.

I'm going to Skidmore College! It's in Saratoga Springs, New York. Originally, it wasn't one of my top choices, but after I was accepted into multiple schools, and I did a little extra visiting, I fell in love. It doesn't hurt that it's one of the "new Ivies." Also, no sorority/fraternities or major football team, and they're in division III sports. Their food kicks ass, too. <3 <3 <3 Also, I spend my first semester in London which'll be fun But it'll also be super expensive which means I'm not spending any money, and I'll be mooching food from trash cans.

o ya ya, I should finish this up quick because I need to slip. Kinda sniffy and sick this weekend :/ Disappointed cuz I had things I needed to do. Anyway, much love, all! Sorry, I didn't get to read any posts, but I promise I will!

[Garrett Fitzgerald]

Gryph, I haven't read Battle Royale, but I've seen a movie of the same name that sounds like it was based on the book (or vice versa?)

After finally watching the Torchwood Season 2 finale, I think I've added Russell T. Davies to my writers-to-hate list, prominently featured alongside Joss Whedon.

I'm starting in on Doctor Who Season 4: we just watched "Planet of the Ood", and it did a wonderful job expanding on the race first met in "The Impossible Planet"/"The Satan Pit". (TIP scored 6 out of 5 on the BBC's Fear Forecast: I agree. That ep was freaking terrifying!) If you've seen S4 or "The Runaway Bride", you need to check out Tennant and Tate on Red Nose Day. "D'ya fancy Billie Piper, sir?"

[alla]

Garrett: Doctor Who series 4 just gets better from there I watched 'The Doctor's Daughter' last night, and its awesome. Definitely one of the better eps of the new series so far ; and next week is an episode with Agatha Christie!!! I can't wait (neither can my friends). I love that clip. I watched it ages ago - when it was first put up on youtube, but its always worth watching again, and again, and again

Gryph: Congrats. I hope you have fun at the college - and in London! Sounds awesome

[Tuttle]

The relief from getting in a draft of a big paper is immense. I mean, we still need to get the paper to its final form for next week, but most of that editing is going to be from professors comments (though not all). The parts that aren't at this point have initial versions written in such ways that they'll be easy to edit. In general, right now is like, collapse, stop thinking.

I just got in the last draft before the final paper of the 50 page report for a group project (4 people writing this). I spent almost all today getting the bibliography and all the citations right, and then wrote up a few paragraphs on the history of printing.

At this point I am actually curious how much of the report is my work. Counting the bibliography (which I totally count, because it took a lot of work to get all the parts of the paper to be cited done), I have 16 of the pages.

I had other stuff to say, but I'm too exhausted now from so much non-stop writing to think of anything.

Yay for people with dates to the prom and stuff like that. And college. And boyfriends. And all that. The girls of here seem to get boyfriends more often than the boys get girlfriends. I think this has to do with ages mostly, but its weird to notice.

I'll write something another day (or edit later) when I'm less about to collapse. But I had to brag about that. Because it puts me in a good mood to finally get it in.