Busy day
I have been PRODUCTIVE today. Yay! I woke up, yet again, too early. This time it was a friend who called at around 12:30. Too early? Noon and a half too early, you ask? Well, yes. When you go to bed at 7:30, it is. Go to bed at 7:30, you ask? Yeah, I blogged around six. And then decided to stay awake more than an hour more. For some reason that seems to be the time that musical inspiration hits me most. So I did some recording. It's not ready yet, don't get TOO excited. But new music is on its way.

So I was yet again awakened a little earlier than I would have liked, but it's okay. I woke up to do some more work, finish up the last bit, which I have finally got working nicely. Apparently the deadline is now extended until next week, so I'm going to take a break from it for a little while. A break from THAT project and start work on the school project. Which I have started, amazingly enough. We'll see how nasty this one is. Done some basic initial work, but the guts of it will probably happen tomorrow.

If that's all I've done, then how could I be so productive? Because I did WORK stuff. I was going to go apartment shopping, but I decided that might not be as important as JOB shopping. So I redid the resume, it's looking very snazzy now. Rather impressive. Reduced the school stuff so it's now at the bottom of the resume, and it only has my degrees listed, and my Mortarboard membership mentioned. Instead of all the other details of what languages I learned and grade point and such. The rest of the two pages is FULL of job experiences (since '95, baby) and certification details. And I'm starting with some cover letters, which makes it even more impressive. Hopefully that's what the people who I send it to will think. I've started already, so I might find out as early as tomorrow, but I won't get overly optimistic.

So now that the resume revision is done, that's mostly taken care of. Now it's just send it to good places and handle interviews. The next step is finding a good place to live. I have to pick a COOL one. Since I'll be living there, I might actually have to deal with this decision on a regular basis. Perhaps even daily. Gosh! Daily! And the pressure is on.

I still have kung fu on the brain. I finally stopped my mad working, and my mind gravitated a bit towards mental revision of my latest form (Gung Gee Fook Fu). It's a sweet form. I want to get very good at it. I think repeated practice of it will also improve my already crazy hard arms. And horse stance capabilities. Which are both good things. It takes a long time, and it wears you down, if you do it right. I'm hoping I can get good enough with it that I can go through it and still be fresh. Even more energetic, perhaps.

Speaking of kung fu, I think it's time to view a Jet Li movie I picked up while at Wally World. Sadly, I found Jet on a "bargain" shelf. For less than ten dollars. But hey, it's okay. Romeo Must Die, a different take on the Romeo and Juliet story. Jet's still a bad mamajama. I think I will spend some time with Jet kicking some booty, whilst sipping gently at a Cherry Pepsi. Maybe a little bit of reheated pizza. Sadly, no P'Zone. It's being phased out. I'm sad that P'Zones are going away. But I got a new buffalo wing pizza thing. Hot stuff! Pretty good, actually. Even though I'm half Polish and half Mexican, I can't handle spices that well. So the buffalo wing pizza is just right. I could only eat the first three pieces before I had to refrain from consumption to allow recovery of the taste buds, so I wouldn't do permanent damage to the olfactory senses. Mmm, good.

So it's time for pizza and Pepsi and kung fu! A great combination, trust me. So here, have a random link, since I can't give you pizza and Pepsi. This one is a very very random one. Just to keep the random of the random link consistent. (And a bonus random link. These are pretty much all random.)
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 2:04 AM | 0 comments

 
I'm TIRED
It's late. I'm tired. It's been a busy day. But good. You see, it all began when I awoke to multiple phone calls. The first one being my sister because she was afraid of a spider. Yes, she really woke me up because of a freakin' SPIDER. Maybe I should call her right now. Shriek out and say, "There's no sun outside!" Yeah, that might be good. Anyway, after pretty much hanging up on her for that, it was time to get ready and go take care of financial issues. Yes, financial issues! Good ones. I now have a Roth IRA. Yay! It's the beginning of some major investment. I think it will turn out nicely. Take some time to do it, but it'll be good. Kind of like laying an egg. Maybe that's why they call them nest eggs. As opposed to frying pan eggs, I guess.

So that was good. Then to work! And I worked. After going to Friday's for some food, where the flirting continued. I guess I just have some extra mojo lately. Probably from the whole glowing at the idea of FINALLY GRADUATING. That, and finishing my Phase 1 test. Either way, I'm not complaining. Work was slow, I had to trade messages with the developers of the software I was trying to figure out. Sadly, I only got it fully working around 11 tonight. But I did get it working!

And more kung fu, always good. Sparring was okay, although we (sadly) didn't have too many people around. Justin and I practiced some new moves. We're doing them slowly, but if we can get it practiced, it would be excellent. It seems as though we're actually using real kung fu for fighting, looking almost staged, but it's not. I'm working on being more solid, not bouncing around as much. While fun, it kind of wears you down.

From kung fu back to work. Remotely. And I got a lot done. Although I've been working until now. I did get a movie break! For a little taste of the Fifth Element. I do like that movie quite a bit. I'm sad, though, because I wasn't fully awake through the whole thing this time. For some reason I was tired. Maybe it's because I've been working ALL DAY.

I didn't get a chance to do the apartment shopping, but I think that will happen tomorrow. Go and peruse the different apartments I have picked out, see which ones I actually want to LIVE in, and then plunk down the initial payment. The job search continues. Nothing solid yet, although I have a few possibilities. And the project I'm working on now looks like it'll actually happen. The guy I'm doing it for is getting rather excited about it, it's fun to watch him get all giddy. I do hope it does as well as he thinks it will. If it does, I may not have to worry about another job for a while.

Ah, but I need to sleep. My creativity tonight isn't too up there, so I won't make flailing efforts at being amusing. But I will give a random link. This is something I found related to work, and I thought it was just cool. There's a limitation of sixty "tests" per day per network, so don't go too crazy on this.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 5:46 AM | 0 comments

 
Big busy blog entry
A lot's happened. Hang on to your butt. Okay - so first, Sunday. It was the culmination of my kung fu weekend. Wake up earlier than normal AGAIN and go to the kwoon for Sifu's workshop. Which was quite cool. An exploration of chi kung exercises as used in the ultimate Hung Gar form, Tid Sin Kuen. This form is one that used to be secret, and only taught to specialized students who were seen fit to learn it. It still is, pretty much - not very many people know it. I aspire to reach that point. It's a crazy form - Sifu only showed us a taste of parts of it (and didn't specifically mention the form, I don't think), but in reality, it takes a good twenty-five minutes to properly do the whole form. For me, that form is still VERY far away. For now, I'm working on one called Gung Gee Fook Fu - it's the first true Hung Gar form, and very difficult. Although it only takes about three minutes to do, not quite twenty-something. Although it's three very difficult minutes. I need to start practicing it daily - I know the whole set, although not as well as I'd like to. Much practice left to do.

So yes, Sifu's workshop. Then lunch, which meant practicing for me and Si-Hing Justin, for our phase tests. We were both rather nervous, because we didn't know what Sigong would make us do. I practiced my six forms, and he went over his major sets that he thought Buck would ask of him. Lunch ended, and Sifu and Sigong show up, and it's time for Sigong's workshop. A lot of people showed up for his, and I think the only other one that had more than one person show was Sifu's, and there were only three at his (including me). His workshop was awesome. He began by talking a lot about kung fu, and how vital it is to properly practice a LOT to even begin to be good. He mentioned how "his boys" at his school (his students) entered all sorts of tournaments. Against karate from Japan, taekwondo from Korea. And more recently, Muay Thai tournaments. Now let me explain something here. Muay Thai fighters are tough. They not only practice a LOT, they practice to hurt people. Lots of elbows, lots of knees, breaking of shins by conditioning their own a crazy amount, that type of thing.

So anyway, lately Sigong's team have been entering Muay Thai tournaments. And winning them. Continuously. I believe they haven't lost one yet. These are rough tournaments, not like our standard soft and happy American karate/taekwondo tournaments, where kicking high and breaking boards is impressive. No, these are where minimal padding is used, and blood is spilled, and people are hurt. But it's a true test of martial arts. And kung fu can PASS that test. Which is why I love it so. Sigong told us about his experience taking his students around, and how they've been winning several competitions. And then he said they went to two actually IN China, where they competed against traditionally trained kung fu practitioners. He smiled, laughed, and said, "They beat the shit out of us." He talked about how they actually trained six to eight hours a day, every day. And Americans can't compete with that. Same thing with Muay Thai fighters that actually stay in Thailand, where they're treasured (when they're good). The schools there adopt children who are orphans and train them from age six. Eight hours a day, two for basic studies of school-type things, and the other six for Muay Thai. And then when they reach eighteen, they're thrown into rings to see if they can pass the test of battle. If not, they're thrown out. They live violence, they don't know how to "play" in tournaments, they fight to hurt.

So considering that, I'm okay with training a few days a week, a few hours at a time. In my peak training periods, I actually have trained as much as twelve hours a week, sometimes more. Which, for an American, is a decent amount. I'm hoping, now that school is over, to get back into a higher level of training, learn how to use the techniques Sigong taught us, and be a decent kung fu student. Maybe even decent by Sigong's standards.

So he told us these stories, and how we can't hope to compete against fighters like that, and how we NEED to practice, practice, practice if we want to do our kung fu well. Once he finished that, he talked about Hung Kuen. Which is basically the Hung Gar motions, all the basic elements (12 of them) necessary to understand fully to truly use Hung Gar in sparring situations. He went through each of them, demonstrating an example (on poor Si-hing, who go smacked a few times) for each. And then we went through about four of them, practicing on each other. I practiced with Nick (he's a couple of months under me, my Si-Dai, although he's had ten previous years of karate), although I don't think he liked that too much, since apparently my arms are kind of hard, and he hasn't conditioned in a while. He still had bruises from Monday when I helped him with HIS first phase test. So I added to them a bit more. And then added some new ones. And jacked his shoulder up a little bit. Pssh - he needs the conditioning, though. It was funny to see, though. I'm a few inches shorter than him and definitely a few pounds less than him, and one of the moves we practiced was a basic block (with one of the elements being focused on) against a punch - when I'd block him, occasionally he'd go flying a good six feet or more. It surprised me that it was THAT effective. But I was grateful for the workshop.

And after that, another brief rest (Sigong got a professional massage for his break), just enough to get crazy butterflies in my stomach about testing. More practice on the forms, chit-chatting about stuff with Nick and Justin. Then test time! We go in, Sigong has a smoke break, and then it's time to start. And of course, I'm first. So I step up, and Buck is sitting in the chair, relaxed (from his massage - thank you, Sifu, for setting him up with that). And he looks at me, smiles (he likes to smile), and says, "I'll make it easy. Just do Lau Gar Kuen." Which is our first form. Eighty-some moves, but I know it well. So I nod, say, "Yes, sir," and begin. I gave it my all, which meant very low, very fierce, strong stances, strong attacks. And I finish, bow, and he smiles. He tells me it was good, and makes a correction on how certain tiger strikes are meant to be thrown (which Sifu has now modified in the set, to teach everyone), and then wants to see a few applications of self-defense. So I go to it with Si-hing, and he seems to be content with it. And I pass! Woo!

Nick went up next, and did Gung Gee Fook Fu. I won't say much about it - I'll just say there was some murmuring about what Sigong thought of it. Nick actually missed one move in the form (which I know well enough to have noticed), and Sigong pointed that out. He asks for some self-defense, which Nick does against Shannon (who's still there to watch us), and then Sigong passes him. And then Justin is up! And Sigong asks him to do the Tiger Crane set, also known as Fu Hok. This is another traditional Hung Gar form. Very long, very difficult. But Justin does it well, keeps very low stances. And he finishes, and Sigong asks for TEN self-defense moves, which I help him with. He does them well (well enough that he actually pops me in the jaw with one), and Sigong is pleased. So we all receive our certifications! Yay! And Sifu reveals that this day, a first has been reached. Si-hing is the first student Sifu has had that has passed the Phase 3 test. Very cool stuff.

So my Phase 1 is over, and I'm happy with how I did, although Sifu told us all we got it EASY. Sifu, when testing us in Phase tests, makes us do EVERY form from that phase, as well as self-defense for each. So yes, we did get it easy. Yay! And afterwards, we go out to dinner at Outback, and the food is good, and the waitress flirts with me (which Si-hing and his grandfather nudge me constantly about, wink wink, etc.), and all is cool. It was a good day.

Today, in comparison, doesn't seem quite as exciting, but it was good. Started with picking a friend up from the airport. She was gracious enough to actually give me a t-shirt, which I really don't deserve, but THANK YOU. It's cool. And then class, to receive our tests back, which I did all right with. Not great, but not bad, either. About average, compared to the class. And some more work, but not quite as crazy busy as Friday. Will be finishing it tomorrow. Then more kung fu! And I'm freshly inspired, so I help teach many of the students as well as I can. In addition to practicing Gung Gee a bit. It was good. I think now that school is going to be FINISHED I'll be studying a bit more of the Chinese martial arts thing. Yay!

Oh, and the Swan I had to watch, of course. Probably the most impressive one yet. I actually thought the woman was already good looking to begin with. If you have any curiosity, this one would be good to check out. Unfortunately, they have a special Tru Calling episode, so the standard rerun won't be seen. Alas. I was impressed, though.

A friend of mine has apparently requested that my blog be readily available for text browsability (to get some Pootenheimer blogging on the run, some people need their fix), so I shall comply. The feed can be found under the e-mail address. If you need it (or can use it) you probably know, so if you're confused, don't worry about messing with it.

Ah, and I might be getting a new guitar! A friend of mine (ahem, AMY) has a boyfriend who needs dinero and has more than one guitar, so he's going to sell one. It's a good guitar, an Ovation acoustic-electric. So I may go ahead and take advantage of the opportunity. AFTER I move into a new place and get a job. I like guitars.

And I went to Wally World for the first time in a long time. Got me some MUNCHIES. Mmm, yes, that sounds good. I think I'll go sample a munchie right now! The variety, the choices. Yes, I found some good stuff. I also found something rather weird. What's wrong with this picture?

Oh, but it's still tasty.

Okay. That's a HUGE blog entry. Lots of kung fu. So much so, you should have some more. Yes, it makes sense. Don't question. So here.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 1:39 AM | 0 comments

 
Tournament finished!
And I'm exhausted. Got up at around 7:30 this morning. After not being able to sleep until three, partly from excitement, partly from being used to staying up until at least three. So I was there at eight in the morning. Busy helping set up, then busy helping Sifu's wife handle registration and money, then busy helping with the lion dance opening, then busy helping with Sifu's part of the demonstration in two areas, then busy competing. I did all right, although my form could have been a lot cleaner. The form was basically pretty shoddy. Although the sparring set was better - I did get a medal for that (Sifu handed out medals instead of trophies, they were rather cool). Although when we competed for the grand champion with the group that did a musical interpretation, my sparring set partner kind of goofed a bit, and I think we might have lost it because of that. But it was okay.

And then sparring came. I competed in the black belt category, since I did once per Sifu's request, and since I did ONCE, I have to every time from now on. There were three people competing. One was Shannon (see earlier blog entries for details on him), the other was a karate guy (I believe) with twenty years experience, fourth degree black belt. Heavyweight. Shannon sparred him, won (barely), then he sparred me, and won (not so barely). Although I heard I actually did quite well, according to several people. I think part of it was that seeing how small I was compared to the other guys they were worried. The main judge requested that I use a helmet, and wanted me only to spar one round, I think he thought I was going to break. But I actually held my own. I landed quite a few on Shannon, he landed a few more on me. So it wasn't too bad. I got a medal there (second, for lightweight). Definitely a learning experience.

Then from there it was help clean EVERYTHING up, cart everything back to the kwoon, and then go out to eat with a few of the Academy students, which was cool. From there, we went back to the kwoon, and ran into an instructor who was going to give a workshop tonight, but nobody signed up (which kinda sucked). So we ended up talking to him for a while. About sparring, that type of thing. It was interesting.

THEN things got random. It's prom night, a ton of people were walking by, crazy stretch limos, all the goods. And a female stopped by the kwoon. To go to the bathroom. Which struck us all as a little strange, when we talked of it in retrospect. Since there are bathrooms EVERYWHERE. Why pick the kwoon, filled with several masculine martial artists? She was going stag, with a friend. So the instructor who was there (Larry) and his student start talking to her. And the student had a camera, and wanted to use up the film to take pictures of us - the girl just happened to walk in at the right time. So we pose, with her there, and get some pictures. And then she goes off. And then all the guys start talking. As chance would have it, I was the only single local guy there. So of course I become the target. And how I should take advantage. It's not often an attractive female presents such a blatant opportunity by walking into YOUR area. So the other student starts laying the mack down for me. Apparently she seemed to be looking in my direction, according to him. Alas, high school seniors are a little young for me, although everyone else said that since she was 18, it was all fair game. Who knows. There's a chance she'll come by the kwoon to check out a class sometime in the near future.

And then I get back at 11 PM, and Nick has a guest, and we watch the Shawshank Redemption. An excellent movie, in MY opinion. And that leads to about now, where I'm VERY tired, and it's almost three again, and I have to get up for more kung fu tomorrow. A couple of workshops (Sifu's and Sigong's workshops), then the phase test. Hopefully I'll make it through the day. Possibly dinner with Sigong afterwards. I need to remember to take my camera, though. It's not every day you get to hang out with Buck Sam Kong. He remembered me, it was cool.

So now, sleepytime. I will hope my fresh bruises (from Shannon) on TOP of my other almost-gone bruise (bruises on bruises are SO fun) will be better tomorrow. And your random link! Going on a trip? This might get you some decent prices. It worked for me.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 2:56 AM | 0 comments

 
Tournament time
I'm finishing some laundry, got some food. But in about 7 hours I'll be at the tournament! Which means I need to go to sleep very soon. I'm getting kind of excited, though. Mental preparation by watching UFC Ultimate Ultimate 96. I keep thinking about the guys I'll be sparring. Mostly black belts. It seems that there are two categories of people who you should worry about. One's the black belts, and the other's the beginner. Surprised? The beginners know enough to do some damage, but don't know enough to have good control. The black belts you have to only worry about if they're just trying to be bad boys, show off, that type of thing. The whole "I'm tougher than you" attitude. We'll see how it goes. If anyone reading this ends up going - consider taking a video camera. It might get interesting.

And work! Dang, I sleep in a lot, and then off to my mom's birthday, which was good. Although my appetite wasn't great, because I've feeling tense from anticipation of the tournament, as well as nerves about trying to get the work stuff done. I didn't quite finish everything, but I was at the office until 11 tonight. I did manage to finish the search engine. The code is gruesome, but functional. A mix of POST and GET, with dynamic database searches being used on each page. And the details pages, which I used JavaScript for, to make a nice pop-up window on clicking. So I was rather happy with the results, hopefully the boss will be, too. I continue working next week after the tournament crazy weekend, to try to get a few other things out of the way before Wednesday. I also need to find work next week, so if you can think of any good suggestions on a cool place to work (using a Master's in computer science), let me know. That, and an apartment. Oh yeah, and my last school project. Kind of important.

Well, I still have to practice my forms for the test on Sunday. Hopefully I'll survive until then. That, and come up with five self-defense moves. Which shouldn't be a problem. If you want to help me practice (muahahaha), let me know.

Ah! And the laundry's done! I shall finish my UFC mental preparation, and go to sleep. So random link time. This is a band I've been listening to lately. A little inspiration for some new recordings.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 1:29 AM | 0 comments

 
Frustration
Oooh, and I'm MAD. Frustrated, by lots of little things going wrong. Even though there is some good stuff going on, as well. But all day long, it's been maddening small things. Starting with me not finding my phone. The cordless one, not cell. "Why don't you call it?" Yes, I WOULD have, if the batteries hadn't already DIED. Dead batteries mean phone doesn't ring. Or respond to pages. So I had no idea where my phone was. And I had to work on this project (employment project) for most of the day, so I'd be at my computer, dealing with the problems THERE... the phone would ring, and that meant if I wanted to answer, I'd have to open the door, dash across the not-so-open-spaced room, and pick up the corded phone. And of course, the phone would ring a lot. And it was never for me. Which made me mad. Wasting precious time answering phone calls that needed not to be answered. LACK OF EFFICIENCY. I don't like it, especially when I need to be efficient.

So there was that, to begin with. And the whole being super-hungry thing didn't help. Fortuntely, that's fixable. Although as soon as I start getting ready to eat, my CELL phone starts ringing. And lots of people need to talk to me. At the same time. Which is the same time that I'm trying to EAT. Grr. I finally get some food in me and feel a little better. And continue with the work thing. I've made some progress, although just now I've come to a block. Not just one, but a few. For some reason, JavaScript just doesn't want to work in the page I'm writing. Yes, I write a basic function with an onChange call to it, but even when I change that value, it decides to be stubborn. Oh, there's no error. It's just not going to do anything. I had it working in other pages, but for some reason, I guess more than one function per page isn't allowed with JavaScript. It's TOO MUCH TO HANDLE. That, and trying to get Perl to work. Which ALSO should work. Yes, doing a print >>x call so that it will print until you get the x line in the code. It normally works. I've done it before, in other scripting languages. But it can't find the x, for some reason. "ERROR: No x before EOF" Because Perl is retarded. Yes, it's there! I can point to it! And I can point to the EOF, which is definitely AFTER the x. But Perl just isn't seeing it. Which means it CAN'T WORK. GRRR. I have one day left to get this thing working, and it's starting to look grim. I have gotten some things working, finally, but not everything. At least I've put in a buttload of hours, so I'll have money to survive a little more.

Although I did get to meet the new kung fu guy today. That was my training for the evening, which I'm very glad I got. He was actually pretty cool - we got along nicely, and I think he liked me okay. Considering what he said about me in his Live Journal. Here, I'll share a bit of it with you:

---

Yeah, so it's all about meeting new people. Especially exceptionally cool people. It's also a plus when said cool people can kick my ass. (I now have a giant bump on my leg, which will probably become a giant bruise by tomorrow morning. However, I think I learned quite a bit tonight, so I'm okay with that.) That's one of the reasons why I want to get out of high school now. I want to meet new people.

---

'Nuff said. It's always fun to find people to share your passions with. And I'm definitely passionate about kung fu. To give him credit, I got a small bruise on my shin, as well. Although there's a very good chance it'll be gone by the tournament. He was a lot of fun, though, and we'll likely keep in contact.

I did also get a nice burger to follow up on that. Mmm, burgers. I'm very glad Wendy's drive-through is open late. Food after exercise is very good stuff. I did also get the final tickets for my upcoming trip to Canada. Yes, to the big kung fu gathering. It shall be epic. Hotel tickets done, although I'm a bit poorer now. Tax return returning now wouldn't hurt. So all in all, the day wasn't a total source of flummoxing. Which is good.

Okay, it's late. Time to try to sleep, so I can work ALL DAY tomorrow, with a short dinner break for my mom's birthday, which is technically today. Happy birthday, Mom! The random link today is sponsored by your local Slashdot. Something plenty of people would be interested in.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 3:24 AM | 0 comments

 
Lightning and thunder
It's storm season! April showers bring May flowers. And May flowers June devours. Spend the hours in low powers. While the scared young child cowers. I'd better stop, I could go on for hours. In towers. With glowers. Aimed at me, most likely.

So ANYway, yes. It's been storming very much so here tonight and last night, for all you not in Tornado Valley. Tornados, even. Tonight was especially raucous. We even had a couple of brownouts, and one seven-second one. But my computer and entertainment center remained on! Yay! I like having UPSs. (For those who don't know - UPS = Uninterruptible Power Supply.) Yes, I have a massive UPS hooked up to all my entertainment center. How massive? Why, if the power went out in the middle of a movie, I could keep watching. For an HOUR and a HALF. Yeah, baby. My roomie was watching TV/a movie with a guest, and they didn't even notice the brownouts. So sweet.

I've done some substantial work at my contract job today. Although I lost connection a few times, which is quite annoying. But I did figure out the one thing that was driving me crazy. Having to do with passing proper values through ASP pages to parse search engine results. But it's done! That part, anyway. Still much more left. I have two days. And nights. Tomorrow I hope to cut it down substantially. The guy I'm working for is going to advertise for it this weekend, which puts the pressure ON.

Speaking of this weekend, the tournament approaches! I didn't get to practice enough today. Which sucks. Maybe I'll throw in a few hundred pushups before bedtime. While going through routines in my head. And I talked to the other kung fu guy today! He was supposed to call me back, but perhaps he does not have my phone number. Apparently he's only been taking since last September. So he's still rather fresh. But he was all for getting together for some sparring, trading of information. I'm psyched. So that'll probably happen tomorrow evening. I'm guessing. He admitted I was probably a better person to instruct the CS person in self-defense, so I won't have to unleash wrath upon him TOO badly. I'll be more cooperative. I can actually be nice and do kung fu at the same time. But he was very excited to hear of the tournament - sounds like there's a good chance he'll compete. He'll qualify as beginner (just past novice level), but he'll definitely get some experience. Ooh, it'll be a good tournament! People coming from all around! And if you'd like to come to see the pain, welcome! Although there might be like a $10 cover, I don't remember for sure. Nothing big, if you're not actually competing. Possibly no cover at all. It'll be at Hicks Park, in the gym. 33rd and Mingo. The good demos start at 10 AM, so if you come, you'll want to be there by then. On Saturday Saturday Saturday! You won't need the whole seat, just the edge of it! All types of martial artists there, not to mention Buck Sam Kong himself. (Sifu's sifu, if you don't remember - he got his training in CHINA, where good kung fu comes from. Not like bad Americanized kung fu.) I'm getting nervous about competing, I always do. Hopefully I can just get in and DO it.

Oh, and it looks like I'll be testing my Phase 1 test directly under Buck's supervision! Which means HE'S testing me. The pressure's on. Although Sifu said he'll only want to see one form, which isn't bad. But five self-defense manuevers from the form. Which is FUN. The other two guys have to come up with ten. Hee hee! I shouldn't laugh, though - they'll probably ask me to be the victim for most of them.

Ah, and I found my old ICQ logs. From forever ago. My looking for them was inspired by a random message from an old friend I met on ICQ, who I haven't actually talked to in SIX YEARS. She didn't seem to think it had been that long, and was surprised when I told her. Anyway, I tried finding some of the people I used to talk to, and actually located a couple of them online. It's crazy! They're all OLDER. Go figure. I haven't talked to any of them yet, I might try contacting them through e-mail or something, though. I had forgotten I was a little ICQ fiend in the late nineties (that sounds weird to say "the nineties", like it was forever ago). Yep, with the random message option on, I would meet new people every day! And some of them were rather insane. I remember one who was foolish, and tried saying naughty things to me. That'd be okay, if they were a female my age. But no, it was a male eight years older than me. So I took revenge on him, computer science style. Which I now find very funny.

And it still feels early! Which is bad. I need to get a normal sleep schedule, and SOON, since I'll have to be at the tournament at 8 AM on Saturday. Ugh. That's just not right. But what IS right is my random link. This might be good for those people who are actually graduating and leaving school to go on to OTHER places.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 2:45 AM | 1 comments

 
Late night work
I'm actually doing work now. As in, to be paid. Remotely, of course. Which is AWESOME. Which is an appropriate end to a rather crazy day.

Crazy, you may ask? Yes, indeed. Woke up later than I wanted to, off to go nab a free lunch. Always good. Then clean up, go off to work for a while. Got some things done, which is good. Then had to come back to help with a big dinner/presentation for our Newman big-wigs. The people that keep the Newman Center running, monetarily. So that meant singing songs, giving them nice food and conversation, and a few talks. Which is cool. Bonus - I got my mom her birthday present, through a perfect coincidence of timing. (Her birthday's the 23rd.) In case someone suspicious is reading, I can't say what it is. Spies are everywhere. At least they're not ninjas.

So that wasn't too crazy, just busy. I come back fairly late, get into crazy online conversations, lots of them. And perusing some Live Journals. Where I find something VERY interesting. Apparently a fellow CS major (female) is going to learn some self-defense from a friend of hers. Why would this friend teach her self-defense, or be qualified to? Apparently, he knows kung fu. So naturally, I become immediately very curious. I figure out this guy is still in high school, loves kung fu, and takes it in town. So that leads me to believe one of two things - he's quite apparently not taking at MY kwoon, so either he's taking from a private instructor, or at the only other place in town that offers kung fu publicly.

This is where things get interesting. Yes, there are two places in town. One of which is the Academy of Self-Defense, where I've been going for a little over four years now. The other is the Thomas Academy, which teaches tai chi and kung fu. The catch is this - this guy Thomas (Rick Thomas, if I remember correctly) learned his kung fu from Sifu. Yes, MY Sifu. I know all about him - Sifu basically doesn't like him so much. I won't get into the details, since a lot of it is personal, but Thomas basically didn't do things quite properly, so Sifu doesn't really support him anymore. The funny thing is that Thomas was at the Academy (Sifu's academy) for a moderately short time, and learned (I think) something like three forms when he began teaching. So, technically, I'm his superior when it comes to kung fu. Since I've been through, oh, eight or nine forms or so.

So that leaves us with where we began. I manage to contact the CS major and ask her about her "sensei" (as she called him, even though that's JAPANESE) in kung fu. And she tells me. Yep, the Thomas Academy. So - this kid who's teaching my fellow CS major self-defense is taking kung fu from an instructor who's my sidai (younger brother) in kung fu. The kid is very excited about it, too, talking in his LJ (Live Journal) a lot like I talk about it in mine. Although a lot of his seems to be more about complaining of painful shins from kicking someone who blocked it. (If I hadn't found out he went to Thomas, I would have wondered if he was one of MY personal victims.) Ooh, and so now I'm VERY excited. See, I have a tournament coming up on Saturday, which you may already be aware of. And I need to practice. So what's a better way to practice, then by sparring an apparent badass in kung fu? So yes, I'm going to spar him, if I can. And THAT makes me very excited. Man, makes my adrenaline flow even NOW, thinking about it. And if he's as good as I suspect he is, maybe I'll be the one teaching my fellow CS major some proper self-defense. Since I go to the Academy of Self-Defense. I'll have to be careful with his shins, though. Muahahahahahaaaa...

Anyway, that's been my excitement, pretty much. It may not get YOU excited, but BOY DOES IT ME. And I think that's plenty of insanity for the blog of this evening. Random link! This was sent to me by a friend. For anyone who codes, they'll appreciate this. Oh, it looks like a normal game. Except the whole thing is UNDER 100KB. If you know why that's impressive, then you know that's hella impressive. Worth seeing.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 3:10 AM | 0 comments

 
Time to blog
I am DONE with tests. I had my test today. How'd it go, you ask? Well, I didn't completely nail every question (since I didn't start studying until about two hours before the test), but I got at least partial credit on everything. So not too bad. Although I'm mad about one, that I was really close to getting perfect, and realized only after I left what the right answer was. Oh well, it's done. Now I have to do the Java project. Pssh, Java. Oh well, won't be TOO bad, I think.

I figured out today why I like the Swan so much. It's not the changes in the women, anything like that. It's seeing them so vulnerable, entrusting themselves completely in other people's hands, and then watching their reaction as they finally see what that trust did to them. I can't imagine what that would be like. Knowing you're different, but only able to see it for yourself months later. And seeing something completely changed. And so far, it's been, in their eyes, for the better. MUCH better, judging from their reactions. In some cases, different enough that they don't even recognize themselves. I guess it's the concept of looking at somebody else, somebody better looking than you, and then coming to grips with the fact that that person is actually you. It's a pretty big thing to handle, and their reactions often reflect that. Which is something I get a kick out of.

Now that all my major work stuff is coming to a close, I'm thinking about getting back into the recording of music. And considering actually adding lyrics, this time. If I can at least get started on a couple of songs with lyrics, I know it'll only get easier from that point on. And then I can actually make a demo disc, which might be cool stuff. I'm just not sure what to write about yet. If you have any ideas, let me know. If it works out, I might even have to give you credit for it, if it's a good/unique enough idea.

Kung fu! Tonight I went into the first night of training. I pushed myself a little more than normal. You know, standard warmup stuff with 70 crunches, 50 pushups, that type of thing. And then moving on to continuous form practice, including sparring sets with other students. One of the students did his Phase 1 test tonight, which I helped him with. Although I think I left some bruises on him... I don't think he's been conditioning lately. And I know I left bruises on one of the other newer students, through full conditioning. But it's part of training! Crazy training. I'll have to do my own private training tomorrow, since I have conflicts with class. Doh. It's okay! I'll be a machine! I'll be extra muscley by the end of the week.

I worked more on the algorithm. Got a successful compilation of a GNU big number function set (on Cygwin), but I realized that my algorithm's requirements are specific enough that it's not actually going to work, as it's built now. So either I have to write my own, modify the GNU version, or modify my algorithm to use the GNU version. Decisions, decisions. I just want to get it working with the faster math to see just HOW much faster it can get. I think it'll be faster by an exponential level of increase. Which would be very, very good. And would bring larger numbers within reach. Must... wait... until next week. Patience is a virtue! This particular virtue is sort of being shoved in my [again, your choice of orifice], since I'd be fine NOT being patient. But I really have no choice this time.

So work starts tomorrow. The part-time thing. Temporarily converted into full/overtime. Which means I'll have money to pay a few more bills, but I still need the big Master's degree influenced employment. Still looking. Full application will start soon. Not this week, though. I do hope I can finish the work project soon, possibly before the end of the week. That would be SWEET. We'll see.

I feel released. Released from school! It's almost over. It makes my head feel almost like it's ready to expand. Expand with KNOWLEDGE. Since I learn more readily by my own volition. For some reason I'm very rebellious when it comes to authority telling me how I should do things. Which my professors haven't been too happy about, I'm sure. The irony of me teaching myself graduate-level mathematics AFTER leaving school is rather twisted. Oh well. Maybe the acceleration of my knowledge advancements is only beginning.

Time for a philosophical exploration. The Philosophy Corner! Why is it that people need people? How is it that we both are our own best avenues for bliss and for emotional downfall? There must be some connection beyond what is known to the average human. I think the intracies of human interaction are complex enough that most of it is on a different level than what we are usually aware of. Even something as simple as a look can carry volumes of meaning. I won't pretend to know a lot about these insane homo sapiens and their often subconscious treasuring of comfortable levels of emotion, but I can sit back and observe with mute interest.

Maybe I should write a song about THAT. It could be mysterious, with sentences that don't always make full sense. "Flutter swiftly... bring the pain." Mmm, yes. That could be the CHORUS. Maybe follow it up with some screaming. With distortion. Or maybe that's a little too NIN. Eh, we'll see.

And my blog today is long enough! That, and I've been writing on it for too long, too. So it's time for random linking. Ooh, and I've got a GOOD one, today! You'll thank me for this one.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 3:48 AM | 0 comments

 
Insanity approaches
Yes, I will soon be insane. For one thing, I have my last test EVER tomorrow. But have I studied? Of course not. It's not until 4:30! So that means I'll start in the morning, crank through it all day. Take the test, be done with it. Then it's one more project to finish (which might be fun, if I can push myself into starting it). And next week it's work all week. Basically, forty hours squeezed into four days. So lovely. And I get to cap the week off with a tournament that Sifu is hosting, which means (being in the position I am at the kwoon) I'll be helping thoroughly. Yep, Saturday from 8 AM to at least 6 PM. I'll be helping, doing demonstrations, and competing. Which means I have to train this week, when I'm not working. So in additional to the mental anguish, physical strain will be added. Doesn't that sound like fun?

The cool thing is that Buck Sam Kong is going to visit and be at the tournament. I'll be phase testing under him on Sunday. There are three phases in kung fu, each one is a major step in progress. I'm close to Phase 2, but I never finished Phase 1, so I need to get that done. Phase 3 is the final phase, and once you're past that, you're instructor level. We'll have one person testing in each phase on Sunday. Justin, of course, being Phase 3. Buck will test us all. I'm a little nervous about that. It means I have to be up on the first six forms, since he's free to ask me to do any of them. Or all of them, if he's feeling particularly cruel. So it's ANOTHER test, just of a different kind. At the end of a grueling week.

Oh, but for fun, I've got oodles of stuff to do. A lot of it involving my algorithm. Naturally. I have only now realized how inefficient the math I'm using is. Sometimes I wonder if I should have a degree in math - I like it more than many undergrads in mathematics. At any rate, it looks as though I'll have to get nice and cozy with Fourier transforms to get this baby rockin' at the rate I want it at. It'll be rewriting EVERYTHING. Although the potential increase in speed is enough to motivate me. So find the most efficient methods of exponentialization, multiplication, base conversion, etc. Then figure out how to code them in array fashion, and efficiently. I'm hoping it will improve the speed enormously. As it is, I've already got potential with the current implementation, but it will need to be distributed to have full appreciation of the capabilities of this thing. Which basically means find a set of machines I can borrow. AFTER I rewrite the math involved. This is a major project. And I actually want to do it! It'll take a substantial amount of time, though, and sadly, I'll have to put it to the side for this week.

Ugh, I do wish I could just sit on my can and play Splinter Cell some more. Maybe online, with a new X-Box, since my current one is retarded. Yes, it seems to be convinced ALL my discs are dirty, since it can't read them half the time. That'd be like somebody reading an eloquently scripted novel, then putting it down after the first paragraph and saying, "I can't read this, it must not be in English." Except worse. Maybe like saying, "I can't make sense of this! The author must be retarded!" Yes, my dumb X-Box. Which can't read discs very often, and forgot how to communicate online. Oh, the link light works. It's a temptation, saying, "See? It looks like I SHOULD work. Just keep trying!" And the software's all updated. But no, it doesn't work. At all. Which means it's time for a replacement. Perhaps I will execute the first X-Box in front of the new one, to set an example. "See what happens with machinery that DOESN'T WORK?" Maybe dissect it, burn a few pieces, microwave a couple more, and then just hammer and icepick for the rest. Mmm, that sounds tempting. But no! I have to wait until I'm nicely employed, settled in, all that. Which is sad.

Hmm - too bad I won't have any more tests. It seems like my creativity (blogwise, at least) gets inspired when I procrastinate from any appropriate timing of studious efforts. At any rate, I should at least get a little sleep tonight. So I think I'll finish my Pepsi, maybe play a little bit more, then crash. But your random link is ready! This is part of my motivation for the algorithm.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 1:26 AM | 2 comments

 
Mmm... I like weekends
Yes, that I do. I had a day full of NOTHING. Even though I should have been working. I just needed to let go for the day. And it was worth every moment. Sleeping in way too much, hitting the snooze button (is that a real word? it looks weird) about for gajillion times. And waking up to make lots of phone calls (important phone calls, I'll have you know). Then having some friends over to watch a movie and play games! Yay! We saw Hero, which now has a trailer out in theaters. I haven't seen the trailer yet, but apparently whoever designed the trailer needs to be fired. It is not accurate at all. It's an excellent movie, though, but I think it fits more in the "artsy" category than action. The reason I have it already is because it was release a couple of years ago in China. And Jet Li is in it. So of course I have it. I personally like it quite a bit, it's not standard Jet Li fare, though.

And the playing was of the Dead or Alive 3 category. It's a rather fun game, especially with four people playing. So it was good stuff. And we only finished about an hour ago, maybe a little less. Yes! Much fun was had by all.

And yes, I'm still working on my thesis project. I had success! I devised a new method of testing it, and found something I had been very interested in finding out. Which is that my method actually has potential to actually compete with the "big boys" of factorization. I haven't gotten into the astronomical category of 100 digit numbers yet (still on 20 or so), but I need thorough testing at lower levels before attempting the bigger ones. If it works as well as I hope it might, it may mean a lot for me. It would be excellent.

Bleah. I found out about my credit issue - basically, I have horrible credit, because I started getting billed for my undergrad loan before I thought I was going to. Since it was sent to my HOUSE and not the apartment, I didn't realize until it was too late, and my credit is now shot. I thought I was going to school half-time, but only found out in this last week that I wasn't. Which is bad. So I'm not sure I know of a way to fix my credit. If YOU can think of a way, please, please let me know. It would help.

That, and the job I had potentially lined up didn't work out. Which is sad, it would have been fun. So I have to start the job hunt very soon, which hopefully won't be too bad, now that I have crazy qualifications added to it. I just want to do something that will be fun. So trying to find an apartment with bad credit and no job isn't going to be quite as easy as I was hoping it could have been. Sucky-POOH. We'll see what kind of miracle I can pull out of [your choice of orifice] for this one.

Until then, I do have the other job, which I'll be working full-time next week, after my test. I have to finish it by the end of the week, which I hope works out. If it works out WELL, I may be okay with the job thing. That would be very nice. We'll just have to wait and see. And work my butt off yet AGAIN, this time for CASH MONEY.

And that is delving into my life, so now I shall give you a departure from all the seriousness of that silly stuff. It's both good and bad, but hey, that's life. So here! The random link! For those of you who like online software of the entertainment variety, this looks pretty freakin' good. Made by a few guys who did some Blizzard stuff previously. Which equals AWESOME.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 4:46 AM | 0 comments

 
Finished en total
I am DONE. It has been turned in, final FINAL copy. I know I'll have a dream about needing to do another revision, but it's actually all finished. Had to run to three different buildings repeatedly to get this paper and that signature and so forth. But I did it! My thesis is FINISHED. Except for my independent testing (yes, I'm still doing it), which I'll do until I unlock the secret to my thesis's potential and become world famous.

I also managed to do some loan counseling requirement thing that was necessary if I wanted to actually get my diploma (which I DO). That was interesting. It was the financial aid office, full of women. And I took the test on the computer there, it was lots of fun. Boy oh boy. To prove I knew the situation with loans, and how you're supposed to pay them back. So apparently you have to pay them back. Good to know.

And then I proceeded to eat fast food and play a bit, some more Fight Night. My champion Russian Ivan is now WORLD CHAMPION. Yes, he's a monster. Quite cool. I honestly think the game has affected my real-life sparring techniques. In a good way. It's interesting, though. I think the sparring on Tuesday was very reflective of some new ideas I had. So gaming can be good for all sorts of things! Even though it makes me want to cuss like mad sometimes, when the computer gets cheap because it knows I'm just too good.

But coming back from Lorton after doing the final thesis stuff and taking care of the last issues before graduation requirements - it felt really weird. I think I'm still in denial of the fact I'm actually leaving campus, not going to school anymore. I've been here forEVER. It feels like. So living somewhere else, without a roommate, not having to worry about keeping tabs on school stuff - it'll be weird. Might actually be cool. I'm interested to find out what it'll be like. That, and it'll be cool to actually have the second degree, plus all my certifications I got to boot. Might actually make some real money, instead of the part-time low-pay thing. We'll have to wait and find out. Yay!

Oh yeah, and taxes. Ugh. I ended up doing mine for the first time on my own - did it online, at TurboTax. Pretty easy - hopefully I did everything right. It was sent on the 14th, so I was even a day early! Woo! And I got a refund, which is always good.

I did get to hang out with somebody new for a change of pace, yesterday. It's cool meeting new people. You get to introduce them to things you had assumed everybody knew (like how good of a restaurant Golden Gate is), see life through someone else's eyes. Maybe I should get another degree. In psychology. That would be splendid. Then, to round it off, a music degree, an English degree, and a philosophy degree. Then I'd have things covered. Maybe I just don't want to leave the school zone yet. I'm a professional student.

There's lots of stuff this weekend! Two movies - Kill Bill Volume 2 and the Punisher, both of which I would like to see. That, and Stomp is in town. Tickets aren't exactly cheap, but they're quite cool. Might be worth it to see them (again). We'll see what the weekend leads to. Aside from studying for my last test EVER. Yep - Monday afternoon. That sounds so ominous - last test EVER. Dun-nuh-nuaah! Then it's working all week on more of a full-time schedule to make me some MONEY and getting the last project finished. Once that project is done, all my requirements for graduation are finished. Yay! Speaking of making MONEY - I find out tomorrow if the job I have lined up for May is going to pan out. I hope so! That would be cool!

Okay, enough rambling without even being INTERESTING today. I'm so sorry. My lack of enthusiasm about a specific topic that has nothing to do with anything else has made this blog entry rather blah. So I apologize. Profusely. Can "profusely" be a sentence in itself? That's probably some sort of poetic conversation starting there, so I'll let it be. But I will do a random link! This is a fun one. Something along the school topic.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 2:36 AM | 0 comments

 
Too much thesis
I actually am posting in the DAY what is going ON. I was up until all hours working on still improving my thesis implementation, even though it's now over. That, and discovering weird quirks with numbers I'd never known about before. I like numbers. Maybe too much. I even passed up Fight Night to do this. I am MAD, I tell you. But happy.

Well, I'm not COMPLETELY done with the thesis - I have to go print the final copy here in a minute. Then it's done done done. And I will be pleased. Although out a bit of cash. Publishing a thesis here isn't exactly cheap.

And since I still have to do that, I think blogging will wait until later tonight. Much later, of course. But I'm still good about random linking. So here! Apparently it's actually supposed to be quite good.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 1:29 PM | 0 comments

 
I can finally breathe
YES, I have turned the thesis into the graduate school office. Which is almost completely done. Only thing left is to get NICE paper (after the grad school okays mine), print the thesis on it at least six times (one for each committee member, one for the grad school, one for the library), and then leave it at the library with a LOT of money to pay for it. I do have to get each copy signed again, which might be a pain. But we'll find out.

Ah! Kung fu again... FINALLY. It was so good. Realized how out of shape I was, but I was loving the irregular pain I normally don't feel. Although I think I need another adjustment at the chiropractor. Lower back is getting out of wack again. Oh well. But I got through class, it was excellent to be back. And sparring I had missed. Although two guys I had previously injured (blocking kicks they threw a little too hard at me) were still injured, and haven't sparred since. Which is at least three weeks, now. I felt kind of bad. I like letting them know they should be cautious when sparring me, but I don't like taking them completely out of sparring ANYBODY. So I loaned one of them a little of my Chinese ointment (Dit Dar Jau) to see if that'll help him get better a little faster. (Oh, and by the way, that's the exact type we use, straight from Buck himself. Who I've met. He's my sigung, AKA Sifu's sifu.) But I did get to spar other people. One of the newest guys seems anxious to spar me. Apparently all the INJURED people haven't warned him. Muahahahahahaa..... So yeah, I laid out a lot of my pent-up frustrations on him. Not completely intentionally, but it was great. I feel so much better. I think he actually liked it a little - I popped him in the nose, thankfully not hard enough to make it bleed, but enough to water his eyes. And left a slight bruise next to his eye, where I got a nice hook punch on him. But I think that was it. Although he did have to readjust his headgear a few times. And even AFTER that, he still challenged me in the continuous sparring, where I was up three times in a row. That can wear you out fast. Especially when the second person is your sihing (older brother), i.e. JUSTIN. That was crazy - I think everyone likes watching us spar. It's fast! It's furious! He sent me across the room with a nice thrusting heel, and I came right back to clock him a few times in the face. He ended up winning two out of three, but it came down to the third round. At least I make him work for it now.

And after that we got a group together to watch Kill Bill, Volume 1. My roommate Nick's new acquisition. It's a fun movie, although moderately violent. The new movie's coming out this Friday, and I'm actually looking forward to it. A few cool movies finally coming out. It's been a while.

Okay, funny story time. I got this from my dad, actually. I found it rather amusing, so I have to post it.

---

An elderly lady did her shopping and, upon return, found four males
in her car. She dropped her shopping bags and drew her handgun,
proceeding to scream at them at the top of her voice that she knows
how to use it and that she will if required:

"SO GET OUT OF THE CAR!!!"

The four men didn't wait around for a second invitation but got out
and ran like mad, whereupon the lady proceeded to load her shopping
bags into the back of the car and get into the driver's seat.

Small problem, her key wouldn't fit the ignition. Her car was
identical, and parked four or five spaces farther down.

She loaded her bags into her car and drove to the police station.
The sergeant to whom she told the story nearly tore himself in two
with laughter and pointed to the other end of the counter. There
stood four pale white males were reporting a carjacking by a mad
elderly white woman.

No charges were filed.

---

Hee hee! Funny stuff.

Okay, time for random link. I have to get up early to take my sister to an important appointment. So I should get at least five hours of sleep. Here's your random link - informative for people curious of denominational things.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 2:27 AM | 0 comments

 
And the program continues running
Yes, I am completely hooked on improving my algorithm. I'm thinking there's got to be some sort of awesome capabilities within. So my poor computer's running calculations all day long. But I'm factoring large numbers! So that's good.

I talked to the head of the department (computer science department, in case you were wondering) today. He's big into algorithms, and he mentioned the possibility of a student possibly taking my algorithm further by using it as a thesis for their project. How cool would that be? Yes, my algorithm would be famous world-wide. If I can get it to factor integers too large for normal computers. If I can factor something over 100 digits, then I'll be good. It'll be a little bit of time, yet.

I tried turning the thesis in today, but it wasn't meant to be. For one, my advisor LEFT the building right before I showed up. I spent a few hours looking for him. In vain. So I'll have to do that tomorrow. That, and he did e-mail me to tell me the algorithm is still a little confusing, the way I have it written. Overly complicated. Yeah, dumping the contents of my brain out on paper in an ordered fashion isn't really a natural thing for me. I mean, just look at this blog, for example! Dang! Ordered like my laundry.

I do need to finish that, get signatures, turn the signed final copy into the grad office, and then go WORK for a day. And then kung fu. Because I didn't actually go today, since I still had a revision left. Bleah. Perhaps it's better that way. Unleashing my frustrations on innocent kung fu people isn't nice. Not that they're all innocent. Since they request the pain of my fists and shins on a regular basis. So they shall receive... tomorrow! If I remember how to properly spar, that is.

And I have a new show I'm (sadly) hooked on. The Swan. Yes, it's FOX. The thing that hooks me is their reactions after the changes are finished. Imagine, wishing you were better on a superficial level. Then going through severe pain, and procedures chosen and administered by people you don't really even know, to change you in drastic ways. Then one day, seeing finally a completely new you. In case you don't know, they don't actually get to see themselves until FOX has decided it's time. Ratings, etc. But it works. There have only been four so far, but it's been impressive. Honestly, the very first one was the one that hooked me, had me actually say, "Wow." It makes me feel bad, though - I really wish people didn't have to be superficial. It's something that I tried denying for a very long time. My first girlfriend I actually started dating before ever seeing her. Yeah, sounds weird, but it's true. I won't go into the specifics, but it made me realize that attraction does matter. You might have weird taste, you might find a person most people think is hideous to be the best looking person on Earth - attraction and "good looks" are relative. But it does matter, at least I've found that to be the case. If you have experience/proof otherwise, please tell me, I'd be very interested to know. It's just too bad that some people seem to think they need to fit a particular mold of attractiveness, and can't accept themselves. I mean, I know I'm rather freaky looking, with my big eyebrows, overly curved back, bubble booty, receding hairline (at least I think it is) - but even with all that, some people out there think I'm attractive. I'm fine with that. Any changes I make are for HEALTH reasons. So in that way, I think some of the changes in the Swan regimen are okay. Because they do actually get healthier. Although the whole cutting and sucking and implanting I'm still iffy about. I'm not sure if I SHOULD like it. But at any rate, I am hooked.

And I'm going to start looking for apartments. Yes, I'm moving off campus for the first time in EIGHT YEARS. I'll probably go through some sort of withdrawal. Although I won't have to worry about windows being penetrated by either bullets or oranges as much. At least I hope not. I just hope I can fix my credit issues soon. It's being a pain.

Enough! Time for random link. Some people are luckier than others.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 2:09 AM | 0 comments

 
Ah, weekend
I finally got an actual weekend. Where I frolicked and played and acted foolhardy! Yay! It's because my work is basically finished. I have one more test (NOT a final) and a big project due. After that thesis, a "big" project sounds like fun. Yay! A big project!

Yes, so I had an actual respite from continuous work. I went and saw Starsky and Hutch (which you should already know). You should see it. Do it. And the playing, which was lovely. And Saturday was a bunch of sleep. Yes! Lots! I slept for twelve hours. I was kind of kidding about it, but I ended up out until about four in the P.M. Yay! And then I rose from sleep to give a guitar lesson. Somebody I just met, actually, who was interested in learning some more guitar - they'd only been playing since December. So there was that, and then some Jackie Chan with Pepsi and a fresh P'Zone. Ooh! And they actually cooked it RIGHT this time! I think I had laid off enough of the mad ordering frequncy that they had time to properly cook it. It was so good. So I had that going for me.

And then it was off to help a friend fix his computer (his power supply has failed SIX times - something about this tells me that's not good). Success! And then it was time for some Splinter Cell. With the sneaking, and the klunking. Almost like a ninja. Maybe a little less blood, though. And a little more of the boxing thing, with my new crazy Russian Ivan "the Iceman". He's a monster! And too much fun. And the thing I used the last random link for.

Yeah, so I did some stuff that wasn't quite so much work as it was play. And I loved every minute of it. Then today was EASTER which is kind of important. So that meant family time, and filling my belly, and playing HAPPY music at church. Yay! And I'm happy Lent's over. Well, kind of. I mean, I don't like being happy things are OVER... sometimes. But it does mean happy fun music at church for a while.

And it's time to finish the thesis tomorrow. Go check the final revision with the committee, get some signatures, turn it in to the graduate office, and then the next day go and get it printed on NICE paper to be bound by the library. Fancy stuff. As well as getting back to work, and doing the last bit of school assignments. And finally, finally back to kung fu! And getting some fresh bruises. Or maybe just leaving some.

So I should get some sleep to have a proper amount of rest when I'm awake in the morning, instead of just staying awake until the morning. And your random link is ready! This is something that's been happening around campus. At least at the Newman Center, anyway. It's intense stuff.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 1:55 AM | 0 comments

 
So it was written, so it is done
I had my defense today! Well, technically yesterday. I went immediately after my roommate, using almost the same committee. Which was funny. We were supposed to fill up twenty minutes, so I was worried I might not have enough information to fill that amount of time. Which made me expand on EVERYTHING. I didn't leave the room until an hour and twenty minutes later. Pretty crazy stuff! Yes, the defense went well, and I am happy. I was told it seemed like I knew what I was talking about quite well, and answered the questions aimed at me nicely. The funny thing is that the title of my thesis was brought under question - it looks like I'll have to change it. Apparently my algorithm is deterministic, NOT non-deterministic. I'm sticking to the divide-and-conquer part of it, although that was also brought under question. I had a decent amount of people attend, which I'm grateful for. And there were lots of questions! Which made me happy, because to ask a question, some semblance of understanding must be there, as well as at least some interest. So if my thesis ended up being even moderately interesting to other people, that makes me pleased.

Yes, I did the defense, finished it, talked to the committee for about half an hour (the guys were waiting outside, starting to get worried) about details, and then I waited outside talking to the guys. The committee members then came out after discussion and shook my hand - I had a successful defense! Woo! There's a few minor edits needed on the paper, mainly to make it a little less cryptic for those trying to understand my algorithm. That, and CHANGING the TITLE. Oh well, I'm not too proud to be only too happy to do that, if it means I'll get my Master's degree. Yay! I'm really psyched I'm getting it! A Master's degree. That just sounds so cool. With five security certificates on top of it, to boot. Yaaay!

So when it was done, then it was time to play! And play hard, of course. So I went out to eat, a very good dinner at Carabba's. Good Italian place. Then off to see Starsky and Hutch, which was pretty good! It's better than I was expecting. And then time to game a bit, with some friends I haven't hung out with in a while. I took Fight Night 2004 over, and we played that a bit. One of my friends made his own character, based off of himself. I never mentioned it here, but there's a VERY detailed create-a-character mode in the game. So I made myself almost perfectly. He's 5'8", 129 lbs, 25 years old (although he'll get older as the game progresses), and he looks scarily like me. His name is, affectionately - Ric Jizzer. Oh yeah. So anyway, my friend made a character for himself, and went through a few fights with him. I had played MANY fights with Ric, so he was substantially more experienced (i.e., better). My friend (Brandon) decided he was ready to take me on! So there was a lot of excitement. The boxers entered the ring, there was some back and forth, I landed some nice ones on him, and about ten seconds into the match - WHAM! A huge right uppercut from me hits him, and he hits the ground. Normally you have to wear someone down before you can take them to the ground, but in this case, it was a surprise takedown. It was pretty funny. So he gets up, and I basically pummel him like crazy, and he hits the ground again. But doesn't get up the second time. It was pretty unfair, but it was hilarious. Good times.

Ah... and then it was time for some Splinter Cell 2, which is very good stuff. I gave them a taste of the multiplayer, and Brandon's roomie Carlos liked the look of it enough that we may be playing it quite soon. Which I'd be cool with. It would require some purchases on both sides. But I think I'd be okay with that. Since I'll have a Master's degree pretty soon here. I hear they help your value in the employment area of things. So maybe I could afford to buy some fun stuff on occasion. I guess we'll wait and see.

But now it's late, and I should sleep. Sleep IN. For twelve hours. Oh yes, if it's twelve hours, then I'll be fine with that. That'd be sweet. Maybe I should turn off my phones. Perhaps. But for you, I have a random link! (Did you like yesterday's? Wasn't it nice?) Today I'll give you some COMPLETELY RANDOM. Well, I had a reason to use it, but I don't know if you will. If you do, I'll be impressed.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 4:17 AM | 0 comments

 
Going to bed at a more reasonable time
Finally. I've done some preliminary work on my presentation, which is set for Friday at 3. When that's done, I can finally relax. Which worries me. I might just collapse in a heap, unconscious for two straight days. It almost happened today. I tried going to work, but since I didn't sleep pretty much at ALL last night, I was worthless there. So I just made it back, and took a brief nap. I thought it'd be brief. But I had to be with choir for the Holy Thursday service today - none of my alarms woke me. I somehow was awakened by the phone (not my cell, but the other) as mass was starting, then realized I had overslept. Bleah. Considering that, the music turned out pretty good.

And why was I up all last night? I made another change to my program. And it made me excited to see how effective it would be. Too excited to sleep. Seriously. That's how much of a nerd I truly am. I haven't been at that level of excitement since Christmas Eve in my pre-teen days. There's just something about being able to make incremental changes to something, when each time it improves. It motivates me, keeps me going. It's also a good model to remember for video game development. Even if you do NOTHING, if you can make incremental improvements to your character or situation, it's the most fun thing EVAR. Don't believe me? Ever heard of... Diablo? Everquest? Final Fantasy 1-3 billion? Even if you haven't played them, they ARE successful. For many reasons, but the secret is out now - small, incremental improvements. That's the real reason.

So I got about an hour and a half of sleep. Not even real sleep. I kept waking up to see if the number I had chosen had been factored yet. I came to my senses a little later. To realize I should start with SMALLER numbers, not just put in the biggest number I could find. So I'm ready to pass out now for a number of hours greater than two. Oh yes, and it will be good. But after Friday's done, I'll be sleeping in on Saturday until, oh, 8. PM. Yeah. That sounds quite nice.

But not before I give you your random link. This is one of the most random things I've put up in a while.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 2:36 AM | 0 comments

 
Dammit, I'm hooked
I can't stop working on my thesis. Even though I'm DONE, I just keep getting drawn to it. I'm just a twisted individual. Why do I want to keep doing it? It's the perfectionist part of me. Dangit! I keep thinking, "I can make this BETTER than anything else." And since I don't know any better, maybe, just maybe, I can. We'll find out. After I win some cash money, then you'll know.

But the thesis is basically done. I do my defense on Friday, at 3. Hee hee. Which means I have to get up in approximately three hours to go turn in copies of this epic thesis to the committee members. Which means I should go to sleep very soon. Bleah.

Okay, I'll be good. And try to stop improving my program. And crash. But random link! For you. Yes, for you. A new sort of technical thing.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 6:05 AM | 0 comments

 
DONE
Yes, I finished at 8 this morning. Well, yesterday morning, I guess. Yeah, I didn't get to sleep before the sun rose, but hey, you do what you have to. It ended up around 57 pages or so, not counting the title pages, table of contents, etc. Not too shabby. I have a fairly large sense of relief. Although I don't want to let myself feel relieved until it's all OVER. So about a week more or so. Then I can relax. And only have to worry about OTHER major projects, a test, and employment.

So my latest acquisition which coincided with the completion of my thesis (just happened to come in on a good day), is Fight Night 2004. I took it to a friend's and we tried it out for a while. It's actually really fun! It's not button mashing anymore, but using the analog sticks to dodge, block and punch. Which makes it a lot more fluid. It's even entertaining just to watch. Takes a little bit of time to get used to it, but it's pretty good. I think it'll get played a bit more in the multiplayer mode.

Ah. And I've been crazy busy, and have only eaten one meal today. And the oven is preheated, so I must away to go cook myself some more food. I'm quite hungry, you see, and eating tends to help that. Although it's only a temporary solution. Sadly, I'm going to have to eat again tomorrow. But I'll worry about that then. Chiken good.

Yes, yes, and so I leave a random link here. It's a touch on some old material I talked about. I found it moderately amusing, though, so you might, as well.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 2:32 AM | 0 comments

 
Okay, one more day
Hopefully this will be the last night to really do work on the thesis. I've talked to my advisor, and it looks like most of the work I need to get done is formatting, touch-up stuff. A little bit more bulk in some areas, but for the most part, it's pretty much done. So today's my last day of all-out crazy work, and then it's on to planning for the defense. I was up all night last night, so hopefully tonight I'll actually go to sleep while it's still dark.

Since the work left is still looming, I have another day my blog will not be as crazy as it often is. Although I do need to mention the kung fu demos. With my metabolism the way it is, getting up in the morning and not eating anything and then trying to do something high-impact is not a good idea. We went to the Con at the Fox center (don't remember exactly what it's called, it was at 27th and Memorial), right across from the Academy. We did a lion dance, some form demos, and some self-defense demos. We did two runs. The first time turned out okay, although I was in NO shape for doing it. I had to stop and kneel after each demo I did (I was involved in three), trying not to ralph. I realized I NEEDED food to function any better, so I grabbed some of the available delicacies (pizza, naturally) and the second time was more than 100% better. It was cool, though - I had one demo I did where we were showing self-defense using the five animals (tiger, crane, snake, leopard and dragon), and I was dragon. My manuever involved blocking a kick and a punch, then basically stepping up and pulling him across my leg as I snap his neck. It got some good "Ooh!"s from the crowd. Justin, as always, got some appreciative glances at his mad skills. That, and we got to finish the whole day with a two-man sparring set, which is fast and ferocious. I think it went well. Even had a couple of people want pictures of us.

The only other thing non-thesis I've done was Palm Sunday mass, which I think is probably important enough to pause the thesis. The music turned out pretty nice, although there was approximately sixty minutes of shrieking from the back row. Somebody I know is uncle to a child with a very impressive set of vocal pipes, although it'd be better if they were used for singing, as opposed to screaming bloody murder.

Anyway, it's back to the thesis to finish it up. I'm wondering how many of the faculty will understand it entirely - my advisor has already said he doesn't really understand it, and he didn't even attempt to look at the code. He's said as long as I'm the most knowledgeable one on the material, I'm good. So I think I'll be okay.

Random link! AaaaHOOOOaaaaa. Excuse me.

Okay, had to make an edit. I found something else I have to add as a random second random link. It is freakin' AWESOME.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 12:56 AM | 0 comments

 
And exhaustion finds me
MAN. For some reason, I'm really tired. Not sure why. Maybe it's because I've cranked on the standard traditional end-of-semester effort on crack switch. It especially happens when something important is on the line. Like, oh, say - graduating. I did it for my undergrad, as well. A little project called Compilers. Normal people do things like that over a period of four or five months. Maybe more. No - not me! I need a week. Sometimes less.

So, in that tradition, it looks like the thesis will be finished on Monday, with perhaps a revision or two left. But that's basically one week. For a moderately large paper and over a thousand lines of code. That actually works. Speaking of, I think I'll leave a decently large number in the machine tonight, see if it's factored in the morning. And how much time it took to do it. I actually picked a number larger than the normal default factoring programs in Unix machines are capable of. (For those curious - Paul Rubin's GNU sh-utils factor program, version 2.0.15.) Considering this is MY PROGRAM 1.0, doing anything like that would be quite good. Future revisions will remove excess calculations, which eats a lot of time. Who knows how fast it might get. It's a new idea, though, which is what matters.

Yeah, I know that's all SO INTERESTING. But I can't talk just about that. Today I finally let myself have some rest time. Grab some food aside from P'zone and Pepsi. The 2-P'zone deal is finally dead, and I am sad. That, and they seem to be losing quality. I think I'm eating them too fast, so their rush to produce them is making the quality a little less than normal. So maybe it's time to change to a different food for a while.

That, and I've been playing some Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow a bit more. It's quite luscious. Yes, that good. And I'm so good. Most of the time, you have an enemy, or two, and considering the large weapon you carry, the easy solution would be to pop a cap in all of 'em. Or snipe from a distance, with your silenced scoped puppy. And if they were in the dark, no one would be the wiser. But NO. I'm not a violent man, so I prefer to either sneak my way around them without them EVEN KNOWING I am there, or else just sneak up behind 'em and KLUNK they are unconscious. Then I can put them somewhere else, where they'll wake up and think, "How'd I get here?" and maybe, "Why am I waking up?" And they would have NO IDEA. Because I'll be long gone. Occasionally, though, I'll use my other (non-lethal) tools at my disposal, if it's better that way. Like the sticky shockers, which just jolts them nicely so they pass out. Just for a while. Or the rings which are soft and expand upon firing, which properly placed, will daze or even completely incapacitate the enemy. So I leave all my unassuming victims alive, just with mild headaches. Except for one time in a secret underground sewer system/lab area. That was just a bad day. It was underground, and there couldn't be any witnesses, so I went ahead and used some ammo. Maybe a lot. It was a little messy, and I prefer not to think about it. Things could have gone better.

Anyway, that's my current form of escapism, which is quite nice to get away from things. Isn't it good to go to a place where you're a BADASS and no one wants to mess with you? Well, maybe that's not everyone's ideal form of escapism, but I certainly find it a good way to do it. That, and guitar.

So! Tomorrow, some kung fu, in the form of demonstration. I've missed a week. Craziness. I'll have to get back to it. Back to that, and work, and other school assignments. Ahh... it'll be so much easier. But the effort's worth it. Dang! I'll have a Master's degree! "So what? You my MASTER now?" Eh, it'll be quite nice. And I'll be working! Maybe even make myself some money, get a place to live aside from school residential areas. What a novel idea. I'm the first of my main group of friends to have a Master's degree, which is kinda cool. Some have just gone straight to the work force, some are pursuing other degrees, some just won't be finished until later. So it's still a foreign idea to me. That's okay! I think I'll be fine with it.

And yes, time to sleep. It'd be nice not to need it, but I do like sleeping. Maybe a little too much. And dreams have more benefits than anyone could possibly know (in today's world), so there's that. So here's your random link! A mix of things I like. Especially right now.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 4:00 AM | 0 comments

 
And it's time to be happy
I spent another day working diligently. But lo and behold, the end of the day comes (or rather, the beginning of the next), and I finally found my last coding bugs! Woo! W00t, even! Yes, they were silly bugs, things that I didn't even realize were wrong until I painfully tracked down the last bits until I found where the math errors were happening. Actually, it was only one bug. But I kept doing small fixes which made things better until I realized what really needed to be done. And now it works! Which means it's time to move onto testing. And seeing what this thing is really capable of doing. Hopefully it'll be good. But yay! A cool thesis! One that's complicated enough to be proud of.

I'll spend tomorrow finishing the body of the paper, writing the implementation section. That, and testing, testing. Then next week it's time for the defense. And when that's done, it's on to other school stuff. Like studying for a test, and trying to finish the other major project that's due. Man, after this algorithm, anything else will be cheesecake. Ooh! And I can't stop playing with the program, now that it works. I'm so happy.

Ah... listening to old music can sometimes be good. Old as in stuff you haven't listened to in a while, not just decrepit recordings. Yes, I'm enjoying some good ol' Depeche Mode. I used to be a huge fan. I especially like their Violator album.

And it's yet again super late. Time for sleep. So I'm going to rest. But it's late enough that I shall leave a very odd random link. Just warning you, potentially offensive material. Have fun!
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 5:01 AM | 0 comments

 
Still hard at work
Yes, yes. I've been fine-tuning my program most of the day. I fixed a few minor bugs, still have one left to find, but it's working well enough I can start testing, which I have. I also wrote a lot more on the paper, it's starting to look good. AND I talked to the head of computer science, and he said he'd be on my committee for the dissertation. AND I got two other people on the committee. The fourth is sort of MIA, so I just have to wait.

But the paper's definitely more than half done, and I may even finish it by the end of the week. Maybe even get back to work next week, for MONEY. Speaking of, I had an interview today with another company. They're very cool. Anyway, I was basically told I have the job, if they get the contract. It's a very large contract, and they're in sort of a bidding war against one other major company, so nobody knows for two weeks. Ironic. I guess we'll find out if I have a DEGREE in two weeks, so everything's up in the air right now. But I'm hoping for the best - this would be a really sweet job.

Still need to take care of other stuff. Like TAXES. Did you remember? Coming soon. Speaking of sucky things, this weekend is daylight saving. The BAD kind. Where we lose time. Have to get up an hour earlier. Pssh, yeah, right. I'll just have to sleep until five, I guess. Five PM. At least my car clock will be on time again.

Ugh, and I'm silly, which means I need to go to sleep. I have many important things to do tomorrow. So I need to hurry up and relax. But first! Random link. You have to expect at least something from me being immersed in all sorts of math, so here you go.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 5:27 AM | 0 comments