Comment and I shall (attempt to):

1. Tell you why I friended you.
2. Associate you with something - fandom, a song, a colour, a photo, etc.
3. Tell you something I like about you.
4. Tell you a memory I have of you.
5. Associate you with a character/pairing.
6. Ask something I've always wanted to know about you.
7. Tell you my favorite user pic of yours.
8. In return, you must post this in your LJ.

Current Mood: tired

I work too much. 9AM-2AM today (plus travelling times) is a very effing long day. Yesterday, I worked 12 hours at one job, then took a break, then another two hours at another job. It's funny to think that I've worked close to 30 hours in two days, but even funnier when I don't mind it at all; Safeway is very soothing and gives me time to think about some of the unforunate events of the last few weeks. I can't get enough of my University job; I wish I was able to work there more :/ On the positive side, it's very close to the sort of work I'll be doing after I graduate. That thought makes me happy; I'm going to be doing work that I really want to be doing. So, I suppose the career part of my life is going well.

I lost the sight of life's beauty for a few weeks, but the first rays of sunshine started to poke through today. Chances are it won't last, but the fact that a few came through gives me a sort of strange hope; things are going to get better. I cannot let tragedy stand in the way of my life, and I have to be here for others that have problems or share the problems with me.

Tomorrow I need to go for a walk or something. It will do me a world of good right now...

I should also make a longer entry when I'm not dead tired. I just had some random things to say I guess.

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Science/Math Nerd   (Absolute Insane Laughter as you pour toxic chemicals into a foaming tub of death!) Well, maybe you aren't this extreme, but you're in league with the crazy scientists/mathmeticians of today. Very few people have the talent of math and science is something takes a lot of brains as well. Thank whosever God you worship, or don't worship, so thank no deity whatsoever in your case, for you people! Most of us would have died off without your help.
Gamer/Computer Nerd
Literature Nerd
Social Nerd
Artistic Nerd
Anime Nerd
Musician
Drama Nerd
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace

Not bad. Computer closer to gamer though

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: My Girl - Nekromantix

Not much to say about life right now except it's better than it's ever been. So many good things happening.

I just registered for all my classes. Here is what I'm taking next year, straight from the website:


YEAR 3
Term 5
EE 280 (3-0-3/2) Introduction to Digital Logic Design
EE 340 (3-1s-3/2) Electronic Devices
EE 457 (2-0-2) Microfabrication and Devices
MATH 311 (3-0-0) Theory of Functions of a Complex Variable
PHYS 311 (3-0-0) Statistical Physics I
PHYS 362 (3-0-0) Optics and Lasers

Term 6
EE 323 (3-1s-0) Analytical Methods of Electrical Engineering
EE 350 (3-1s-3/2) Analogue Electronics
EE 459 (3-0-0) Introduction to Nanotechnology
PHYS 372 (3-0-0) Quantum Mechanics A
PHYS 381 (3-0-0) Electromagnetic Theory I
PHYS 397 (0-0-6) Projects in Experimental Physics

Those two 400 level courses are going to be insanely awesome. I'll finally get into what I'm actually doing! Math 311 and EE 323 will be fun and easy since they're basically math courses, and I find math courses to be pretty easy. EE 280 should be neat. I think it has to do with computer logic. EE 340/350 I think are continuation circuit courses. The neat thing is that the labs tell you what you have to build, but you need to design all the circuits to do it! Only two labs per course though, and you go into a ton of depth. Should be quite interesting. Phys 311 and 362 I could do without. Neither of them strikes me as that interesting, though Statistical Physics might prove to be somewhat interesting. Also, 362 has lasers, so you never know! Pys 372 and 381 are both my favorite branches of physics, so I'm like "YES! Insane semster there." Lastly, projects in Experimental Physics is basically a super intense lab course. Three experiments all term in total, but you have to take in account that I spend six hours of week in the lab. You have to design and perform your experiments all on your own. You basically get an outline and equipment. Should be a fun experience (or maybe an awful one. Time will tell there).

And here it is all schedulized:



No more 8AM every day! Eat it tiredness! Sleep: let's have sex, k? Also, I get to go home at 2:00 on a lot of days, which is VERY nice. Ugh, so excited for it all! Also: ONLY SIX COURSES PER TERM! It's like a paradise of time and interesting courses. God, school really does get better as the years go by!

Also, buying new car instead of moving out now. Will wait two years to move out when I will be more financially stable. No sense going into debt I guess, and I can take more trips! If you want me to come visit you this summer, just post and ask! My job will be flexible for that sort of thing!

Much love for everyone.

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: The Party in Your Head - Reverend Horton Heat

It occurred to me today as I was sitting upon my couch today, not another human being in site that I must do what everyman has done in years past. I must successfully spank it to “murder she wrote”. The odious task at hand proved far more difficult than first anticipated. At first the thought of murder got me going, but the lack of blood and carnality destroyed the mood. Then there’s the old lady, who always solves the murder. I mean, what the fuck is with her? It’s a small fucking town and there’s like a billion fucking murders in it. What gives? This place is worse than Gotham City and Serre Leon combined. Fuck that place. Seriously. Secondly, it’s a small fucking town. How hard is it to solve a god damn murder? Evidently it’s too hard for the stellar law enforcement officers of where ever the fuck that show takes place, because the put an old lady in their employ. Seriously, get off your fat, mustache having, cop asses and solve the mystery yourself. God, I couldn’t even spank it out of anger, because I was too damn angry. Fuck murder she wrote, fuck its eyes out. Also, fuck Agatha Christie. Her murder mysteries aren’t hot at all. She could stand to throw in a sexy vampire or maybe a girl with no legs, but noooooo their all like we’re old timey sons of bitches we’re on the orient express. Fuck that train. I hope it gets cancer. I think everyone should stop reading murder mysteries because they make it hard to have a party of five. Instead people should spend more time writing novels about Fabio. Not because I want to spank it to Fabio, I simply believe there are not enough novels written about him. Also, Fabio should be a pirate. On another note I wrote poem today, because live journals are filled with people’s poetry. It’s a haiku.

            The wind blows gently

            The Sky Swirls with deep emotion

            Fuck murder she wrote

 

Current Location: Basement
Current Mood: Mufasa
Current Music: Pirate Jenny

This was pretty cool:

Post here and:

1. I'll respond with something random about you.
2. I'll challenge you to try something.
3. I'll pick a colour that I associate with you.
4. I'll tell you something I like about you.
5. I'll tell you my first/clearest memory of you.
6. I'll tell you what animal you remind me of.
7. I'll ask you something I've always wanted to ask you.
8. If I do this for you, you must post this in your journal.

So, life is good right now. I'm feeling really happy for so many reasons!

First, my last formal report in my lab course is done; I may be running on very little sleep today, but it's done and submitted. Only three more short reports and I'm done! I want to count the total number of pages I will have done in labs, but I'm sure that it will be approximately 150 pages when I'm done. The report today was I think 22 pages! It feels good when it's done, but it's so painful when you're doing it. I'll have to do some "real" writing tonight so I can feel both types of satisfaction!

Next, my midterms are over and I have my final grades back. The last one worried me a bit for awhile. I'm enrolled in a course on classical physics, Phys 244. It's easily the most difficult class I've ever taken. The professor is too intelligent to teach undergrads and the assignments and midterm are just insanely difficult. If I hadn't taken honors calculus I would have been totally lost when meeting all of this analysis! Anyway, the midterm was the hardest I've ever encountered and I wrote it the Wednesday before reading week. We had the option to talk to him after class on the day before the break to get our grades (it was multiple choice, 50 questions of pure anal rape though). He told me I got 18/50. The average was 25 with a standard deviation of 5ish, so that basically meant I was fucked and in danger of failing. However, I went home and figured out that I had to have gotten a higher grade since there were at least that many that I KNEW I got right. So, today the official marks were posted online, and I ended up with 34/50, or 68%. It was actually in the 10 grades in the class; the highest was still only 37/50, haha. So, I was quite happy with that result. I also owned the rest of my midterms which means that I'm in good shape for the rest of the year. I can relax a little!

Anyway, summary of midterms:
Phys 244: 68% (actually good when you consider the curve)
Phys 271: 97% (could have been 100% but I wrote 0.9927 instead of 0.9972 :/ )
E E 231: 90% (sort of shitty since everyone did good. I made a calculator booboo! )
E E 238: 88% (really good; it was a difficult exam. I would have gotten 95%ish on it if it wasn't an 8:00AM midterm though! Morning exams are not my cup of tea. Yes, I did say that sin|t| was periodic, haha.)
E E 250: 95% (silly mistake; I wrote s instead of 1 for the initial condition on the inductor when I transformed the circuit to the frequency domain)
Ch E 243: 96% (another silly mistake since I couldn't read my writing! I was still happy with the result though)

So, if it weren't for stupid mistakes, I could have gotten 100% on three exams! Perfection continues to elude me!

I just realized how this sounds like Nima posting ITG scores.

Again, the best thing about these grades is the fact that I can be a bit less stressed out for the remainder of the semester. None of my classes are dependant on a good final exam grade, which is a nice change from having two classes like that last term (oh low carbon steel, how I still loathe thee!)

Today, I received a message in the mailbox telling me that I received an NSERC scholarship (aka, my summer reasearch internship job thingy). So, it's official: I am working in nanoelectronics this summer. It's so good to be able to say that and now that it's certain! So, the first step has come together quite well. Next, I just need to be accepted for housing, but I won't get notification for another month or so. I did call a few weeks back and they said that my chances were very good! I would hate to have to cancel some of my summer plans at this stage, so I really want this. :/ I'm looking forward to everything that's being planned!

Um, I guess the last thing that's really good in my life are my friends. My reading week trip to Calgary and Medicine Hat was absolutely amazing and everyoe was just amazing. Joel and Adrian were fun to hang out with; they get such a bad rap but they're both good people overall. It was nice to spend time with them again, like it used to be before life got busy. Additionally, an old friend from elementary school contacted me and we're going to go hang out next week I think; she was in a smart kids class with me and it turns out that she decided to go into engineering too after all this time! Hooray for people you sort of remember! Finally, I'm making more new close friends. It's such a refreshing feeling; I absolutely love it.

People are truly what make life special.

Sure, there are some shitty things in my life, but they're being overpowered by all of the positives. There is no sense in focusing on negativity, and by focusing on the positives, everything I do now feels amazing.

Current Mood: refreshed
Current Music: The Girl in Blue - Reverend Horton Heat

Ooh boy, what a fun, fun time I've had the last few days. There's an interesting timeline here, and I might as well start from the beginning.

1. Poor lab scheduling

Certain labs are scheduled so that two labs can occupy the same timeslot, and you alternate between the two labs on a weekly basis. I decided to do this on Tuesday mornings for my EE250 and EE231 labs, but these labs were incompatible so I had to move EE231 to Thursday mornings at 8 (ouch, really crappy time :/ ). So, yesterday was one of my early labs. I was done super-early since I know how to program (it was a MATLAB lab, so programming to solve numerical problems) so I finished the lab before it was half done, and half of that was spent on an introduction. So, I did a lab designed for 2-2.5 hours in 45 minutes. I didn't feel like wasting the drive in, so I played DDR for an hour or so. My stamina is dead; I played my traditional stamina whore set (PSMO, LoM, MaxX, Max 300, and Sakura), but I was tired by the end of the first few songs so I did so bad on the rest. It's almost embarassing how bad I've gotten, heh.

Anyway, I was done just before 11 I believe, so there tends to be an influx of people to the U of A at that time since there are a ton of classes and labs that start at this time. I had my textbook and a post-DDR drink with me, so my arms were full, and it was taking some time to get my keys out and get everything settled (I have to unlock from the passenger's side since my door is busted due to a failure of a car thief :/ ). So, I 'm doing all of this, and some girl has the nerve to honk at me because she wanted my parking spot (most open spots at that time are on the 10th floor or the roof). So, I'm like, whatever, and get in my car to warm it up. She honks again, so I get a bit annoyed at her impatience. Thus, I decide to read my textbook a bit and turn on the light. She eventually speeds past. I laughed.

2. Lack of van

So, I drive a white van (not quite a pedophile white van, but if I put an ice cream cone decal on the side and added some bars, it would be pretty damned close!), and since there were a whole bunch of people meeting up to go to West Ed, I offered to drive everyone there from the U of A since I have a ton of space in there. Of course, when I get up this morning, it turns out that my battery is dead. The cause? The light I left on all day and night after turning it on to own that girl :/ I was only about five minutes late since I got my mom to drive me. Later, I was late meeting up with everyone at the U of A since I needed to go get my dad's vehicle for the evening.

3. Lack of seating

The seating capacity for my fav is seven, while it's five for my dad's vehicle. There were six people at the U of A going to West Ed. Of course, this was a problem. Nobody wanted to bus, so I elected to take two trips of people from the U of A to the mall. First, I drove Sami, Juju, and Steven to the mall, then took Steven back with me and added Nima and Rich. It was sort of lame, but I guess it was sort of my fault since I said I would have sufficient space :/

4. Stupid people

On 178th street/100 ave, a person started crossing the crosswalk while their light was red. Of course, not wanting to hit them, I started to slow down even though I would technically be in the right for hitting them since they were jaywalking :/ Anyway, I start slowing down, and the light changes to yellow anyway, so I slow down a bit more. Some stupid woman behind me skids her car right into my rear end. She wasn't paying attention (I found out later that she had recently been involved in another accident :/ ). Not a whole ton of damage to my dad's vehicle, but her front end got absolutely raped. Without lube. I phoned my parents who told me the correct procedures, and we ended up exchanging our information and went to the police station. Nothing really come of it though, but we shall get the damage assessed later to see how much she owes.

It was pretty lame overall. Of course, it was caused by two trips which was caused by my van not starting which was caused by having to go to school on Thursday by myself which was caused by the shitty lab scheduling at the U of A. Of course, I could continue this process forever, but I find it fun to think like this. It distracts me from the bit of fear that was instilled in me tonight, heh.

The rest of the night was awesome. I got to meet Edmonton Mike. He was a super nice guy. I also got to hang out with a ton of the Edmonton community, and I met Juju and Steph for the first time and I got to see Sami. It sort of bites that they couldn't stick around longer, but it happens like that sometimes. Perhaps I will have to make my way out there at some time, or perhaps their next trip will be slightly longer.

Um, next week is going to be effing horrid. Six midterms over three days is not my idea of fun :/ I will have to study like mad the next few days. One course is mad easy, and I could own it. I should have been a Chemical Engineer since the course is so easy and I could just coast through then graduate to a hefty starting salary at an oil company. Of course, it would be boring as hell, so I'm sticking with this course. Three are borderline, but a bit of studying on each will push me into the confident range. One is just stupid, but I am curved way ahead in assignemnts (90%+ compared to a ton below 40%), so it will probably carry into the midterm like that. I'll still study hard for it. The last one is just awful. I basically need to memorize the textbook and assignment solutions since the midterms are supposedly retardedly hard and specific. Oh joy! Physics shouldn't be about memorization, it should be about physical understanding and analysis of problems, but this shows neither. The assignments are ridiculous too; they're designed so that a PhD student in physics would have difficulty solving them!

Finally, I had a few Legendary conversations. It feels so good when you have a really good conversation or exchange with someone Legendary. Those are the types of friendships that you really cherish I guess since they make you feel like a better person.

Current Mood: calm
Current Music: P.D.A. - John Legend

Today, we encountered a ton of traffic on the way into Edmonton. In fact, by the time we reached the city limits, a traffic report told us that it was lined up all the way back into Spruce Grove. Now, we assumed that there was some big accident, and hey, that happens. It turns out there was an accident, except in the opposite direction on a divided highway. As soon as we passed the accident, the flow of traffic returned to a steady pace. Yes, the congestion was caused by rubbernecking. The same thing happened on the way home; our lane was slow, but the accident was in the lane travelling the opposite direction.

It's a fairly common occurance, usually with someone in the ditch, but today was both the worst and the runner-up for the worst. The best thing was that one day there was a person who was on the shoulder with his emergency lights flashing. The traffic didn't slow down at all. I mean, this was a time when someone was in actual danger, but nobody cared. Some people's children.

Today was alright; my classes were all somewhat interesting, espectially my circuit analysis class. It's just amazing to see different types of mathematics come together and be unified and having an abstract mathematical concept have real physical significance. I suppose it makes a lot of sense considering that many forms of mathematics were developed to solve physical problems.

I also got to talk to my boss for the summer a bit as he wants me to come and talk to him occasionally. He's a nice person, and I think working with him will make for a good summer. I also met the graduate student that I will be working with; again, he seemed like a really chill person. Something funny is that they are going to set me up with his old computer to work with over the summer since he needs a new one. This old computer is too slow and doesn't have enough ram. It's a common reason for upgrading, but not usually if he already has 2GB! I guess he needs to solve some partial differential equation and the software that they need requires an assload of memory, something like 64GB.

Nothing else is that interesting, though I'm still interested in ideas for some sort of project to work on or a recommendation for a good digital camera!

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: Save Room - John Legend

Reason to move out #315432: It rains indoors.

There is a problem with the piping that causes water to leak from upstairs whenever the kitchen sink or dishwasher is used. The result? Water leaks downstairs where my desk is, right on top of my monitor and the location where I store the assignments I work on. My dad refuses to fix it, so I have to sit here and put towels over everything here whenever the dishwasher or sink is used. It sort of bites :S

Just a quick vent I guess. This is 10 kinds of annoying :/