I just ordered a new computer from the HP online store. Roughly the same specs as last time, except crappy speakers this time and no flashing light. =( Well, let's just hope this one doesn't disappoint like the last. *fingers crossed like hell* Yea, so I purchased the computer "for education" so they cut me a discount of like 80 bucks or so. And toss in free shipping and a $150 processor rebate, and it's a pretty sweet deal- coming in at just under $1000.

Oh, but I get PC Magazine these days, and it says that the reason HP is so cheap compared to other leading brands (comparable specs at Gateway or Dell would cost about double) is that they skimp on the motherboard and the RAM. I think they use like the oldest compatible motherboards, and they use like the slowest variation of SDRAM that can still be called DDR. So in actuality, the same processor/video card specs get less performance than they would on a Dell. But hey, I wasn't really looking to spend over a thousand bucks; I figger the less I spend now, the less guilty I'll feel when I wanna buy a newer, faster comp to replace this one.

Hah, my mom said she thought I was 17, hahah. I mean, I think it's pretty normal for your dad not to always remember, but you kinda expect your mom to remember your age, right? Hah, I dunno. I'm gonna make a point to remember these kinds of things when I'm older...

Man, what's the deal with friends who say they wanna do something and that they'll call you, then never call? You end up sitting around at home... waiting, doing nothing, cuz you're all like oh, I bet they're gonna call any minute now. And then before you know it, it's getting late, and you're still sitting there... doing nothing. =/ So yea, spent the vast majority of the night sitting idly in front of my computer. Eventually, I went out and played some midnight mahjong with Cali.

Oh, and one of my cousins is getting married today over in Taiwan. Man, dang it, it's weird this time, cuz I've actually chilled with this cousin and her fiance/husband before. But still, arrggg, sometimes it's frustrating, thinking about how little I actually know all my cousins. It's cuz of the whole language barrier thing; I mean, we can make small talk and stuff, but I'll probably never get to discuss any remotely deep philosophical thoughts or ideas with them. Hell, I can't even write most of their names, gragghhhh... frustrating.

*One of the benefits of being off at college is your parents don't nag you to go to bed. I'm used to (for the most part) sleeping whenever the hell I feel like it now. So I was walking down the upstairs hallway in my house; the lights were off so it was really dark, and I see this figure 15ft away approaching. I'm totally like freaking out in my mind for a sec, until I finally realize it's my mom. Of course, she's coming to nag me about sleep. Man, but seriously, I was like 5 steps away from kung fu-ing my mom, hahaha.

Wow, Thanksgiving dinner was phenomenal. We opted to be nontraditional this year and forgo the turkey. Instead, we had a ribeye roast, lobster, and Dungeness crab. Mmmmmmmboy... I'd choose this surf & turf feast over turkey any day. Yowsa, it was great- I think a new tradition has just been set in my family, haha.

Man, it sure woulda made a perfect end to the evening if the Mavericks had won though. Man, they were so close to tying the opening win record or whatever. Yea, what a disappointment. =/

*You know, it's funny, most people don't know what a maverick really is. Judging by the Dallas Mavericks logo, you'd think it was like a horse or something, right? Nope! It's like an orphaned/unbranded calf, which is a COW. Who woulda thunk it, right? When I first found out, I was shocked; it was like, WHAT? You mean that guy in Top Gun is "baby cow"??? Yup, maverick is roughly synonymous with dogie, as in "Get along little dogie!" Hah, the Dallas Dogies...

Ahhh, the simple pleasures of being home. There are so many things that you take for granted until you go off to college. And I realize that it's the small things that make you appreciate when you're finally home. It's so relaxing to be able to take a shower barefooted; hell, even just walking around the house barefoot is pretty nice. And being able to sit directly on the toilet seat without laying down toilet paper first, hahah. Ummm... yea.

So I'm back home, and the first major task I do is to reformat a computer for my dad, haha. Man, I've sure had to do this a lot of times these last few months. Yea, and in my mom's rearranging fit, a couple installation CD's managed to disappear. Good thing the major hardware makers let you download drivers and stuff online- what a life saver.

So this is my first time back home since school started. Wow, so much has changed. It's like, where AM I? My mom's done some hardcore redecorating around the house, I hardly even recognized it as home! It was like uhhh, ok, too much HGTV for you, Mom! Hah, no, but seriously, she changed like EVERYthing. My room doesn't look anything like the way I left it; she removed all my "personal effects" and whatnot- all those keepsakes from my childhood, stashed away in boxes somewhere. Man, I guess it's true, parents get kinda crazy after all their kids go off to college and leave the house.

Man, what's with those bastard professors who don't cancel class when all the others do?? Aggghhh... jerks. Yea, statics, my last class of the day, wasn't cancelled. So I ended up skipping for the first time in my life! =O I felt so guilty, but hey, when you're going home, nothing can keep you. I still went to my morning classes though. Man, campus was like a ghost town! Hah, it woulda been so fitting if there'd been some tumbleweeds rolling about. All my classes were like practically empty.

So now I'm done with class and about to leave like any minute now. Trying to remember to turn everything off and pack everything I need. Oh yea, and I'm frantically eating off all the perishable food too, haha. Despite that I had a pretty hefty lunch just over an hour ago.

Today was the Rice Bowl, the football tournament between the different Asian student organizations. TASA (Taiwanese) played alongside VSA (Vietnamese) as a team. Man, I hadn't really ever played tackle football for real before in my life, so I was pretty clueless. I played offensive (and occasionally defensive) line, which are supposed to take the least brains/strategy/knowledge of the game. I thought that worked out pretty nicely considering my relative physical size. Hah, oooooohh boy...

I got to the field on game day, and I swear, I've never seen that many BIG Asians before in my life, hahaha. I barely managed to hold my own. I thought I was geting pushed around all over the place, but afterwards a team mate told me good job for never letting anyone break through my side of the line. Huh, so I guess I didn't do so bad after all. But yea, we played 3 games in total- first against the FSA (Filipino) which we lost, then against the KSA (Korean) which we won, and a championship against the FSA again that we lost. =/ Well, it was fun anyways. What a workout; my arms had never felt that dead before. Props to Andy for showing me how to hit.

Afterwards, TASA had Hot Pot Night. We all gathered at someone's house and had Chinese hot pot. mmmm... good. I ate a TON; I was sooooo full. Didn't stay for the after party.

Man, last night was the worst night's sleep I've had since I got to campus. I got back to my room around 3:00AM. Nien had turned off the A/C and the air purifier, and taken the batteries out of my wall clock. No hum of computer fans or anything; it was dead silent. I could NOT sleep. I like a certain bit of ambient noise when I'm trying to sleep; it's like a monotonous droning lullaby to me. White noise is soothing to my brain. So yea, I had a hell of a time trying to catch some z's last night.

I was tired as hell today in all of my classes. I fell asleep in all three of my afternoon classes. I was so mad at myself for falling asleep in statics- that class always holds my interest. Uggghhh... I felt so guilty about it.

I don't know if I was just grumpy due to lack sleep or what, but I woke up quite pissed at Nien this morning. I didn't even want to talk to him or see his face. I've been in my dorm for like a total of less than an hour all of today. I know I can't keep this up, but arrgg... I just don't wanna deal with this right now. I know I can't talk to him without saying something I'll regret later. I don't even know if he's mad at me also, or if he's noticed that I'm avoiding him. Man, aggghhh, I don't even wanna think about this, but it keeps pressing on my mind... I need a chance to cool down.

*But yea, while I'm on the subject of things that piss me off... he also doesn't let me run my air freshener. I had the same scent (Glade Hawaiian Breeze) cranking in my room back in Plano 24-7, so whenever I smell it, it reminds me of home. But yea, Nien read something that apparently had "air freshener" and "cancer" in the same sentence, and he's been paranoid about anything nice-smelling ever since. GEEZ! I mean, I'm sure if air fresheners were that dangerous, they'd have Surgeon General's warnings on 'em or something.

And he also has problems not scattering his shoes/sandals across the floor. He's a little bit better off about it now than before, but it still bothers me sometimes. We have a carpet in our room, and in true Oriental style, we have a no-shoes-on-the-carpet policy (not strongly enforced) which causes a bunch of shoes to accumulate near the door. Man, I even had my parents bring down a shoe rack just to house his many many pairs, to reclaim some space in the closet and around the door. It's only working 75% as well as I'd hoped.

Oh, and one of the first things that ticked me off... Nien claimed all the good real estate in the room. He moved in the day before me and got the better desk location and the bottom bunk. I mean, I guess I couldn't help the desk thing, but we'd talked before we came down, and I coulda sworn we'd agreed that I was getting the bottom bunk. Yea... climbing up to the top (without a ladder) is a pain in the butt, especially in the pitch black. =/ Oh well, what can I do, right?

I'm at the library now. Uggghhh... long story. Well, basically, I got kicked out of my room. I had a feeling that there'd eventually be a confrontation over our (me & Nien's) differing sleep schedules, I just didn't know when he'd finally crack. It pretty much came down to a final admittance of the fact that our sleeping habits aren't meshing. He says he can't sleep when I'm running my computer late at night. He basically asked me to shut it off or take it outside. And there was brief mention of a compromise, like maybe him getting earplugs and an eye cover, but no specifics or anything. The immediate solution at hand was just for me to get out, so I did what I had to.

I dunno, I mean, I accept the fact that he needs sleep, but dang it, am I really the bad guy here? We had discussed it even before we got to campus and realized that we tend to sleep different hours, but he had said that he can tolerate a little sound when he's trying to sleep. Well, turns out he was wrong, huh? So yea, he suggested that maybe I should sleep earlier, but that's asking me to change a pretty big part of my lifestyle. I've always been nocturnal, thinking more clearly at night. But I'm sure if we brought our parents or any other adults into this, they'd most certainly side with Nien, and tell me I'm the cause of the problem for not going to bed earlier. But seriously, who sleeps at midnight (esp. in college)???

Man, I just feel really frustrated, cuz it's not like I hadn't realized the problem before and tried to accommodate him. I tried using headphones to listen to my music, but he says he can still hear it. I use as few lights as possible, reading and writing in poor lighting. I don't brush my teeth at night for fear of waking him up. I drink soup cold at night cuz I'm afraid that using the microwave would be too noisy. And I stopped my late-night exercise regimen (which probably contributed significantly to my getting so out of shape as of late). I've already changed a lot about how I live my life, but asking me to give up late night computer hours is crossing the line.

I mean, ok, seriously? I'll be the first to admit that I'm not always being productive and doing actual "work" when I'm on the computer. In fact, 90% of the time, I'm not. A lot of the time, I'm just chatting on AIM. But the thing is, I don't have a very functional social life; instant messaging IS my human interaction. Normal people talk on the phone or go hang out with their friends in person... I have AIM. Do I have a social disorder? ...it's quite possible. I definitely have my antisocial qualities.

Oh well, so anyways, here I am at the library with my laptop. I'm gonna have to work at it to make this into a habit...

I got a refund on that P.o.S. computer of mine, so my parents came to pick up the system & send it back. I transferred all my "important" files (mostly movies) over to Nien's computer using AIM; you can get around 1Mb/s transfer rates on AIM transfers between UT ResNet users... SWEET! Well, anyways, now I'm back on my mom's laptop... Man, I miss the awesome computing power. Everything seems so sloooowww now, blehhh. And the fact that it's got Chinese Windows on it doesn't help things. Most of the time I'm too lazy to read/translate... good thing I know most error messages that pop up without reading, haha. My former computer has trained me well. =P

I went down to Galveston this weekend with Kevin and competed in the Sigma Xi student research conference. We had quite a bit of [trouble] getting down there... ummm... yea. Several other guys from UT went also, and the kids from the PISD were there too. But man, we got such a cold reception from the PISD bunch, it was like they hardly even knew us. I mean, I guess I can't expect them to treat us like we're still associated with them, but geez, they really coulda been a little nicer. *sigh* It just makes me realize how everything changes once you go off to college; you're not who/what you used to be in high school, and you can't expect other people to treat you as such. =/

Well, anyways, we ended up getting 3rd place, which isn't bad, but only first place gets money- all we get is a certificate. Yea, but I guess I didn't really expect to win; we didn't really review our "act" before putting it on again. So I ended up giving the absolute most lay of layman's explanations- as watered down as I could make things and still convey a point. It seemed to work out; the judges walked away acting like they really understood what we were doing, which usually isn't the case.

On Saturday night, we ate at Joe's Crab Shack (which was a lot worse than I expected, considering the proximity to the sea). Well, we ended up having like an hour-long conversation with a cop (; we weren't in trouble or anything). Learned quite a bit.

On Sunday morning, we had planned to stop off in Houston on the way back for lunch. So I got directions from H-Town Daniel, but there was a huge miscommunication, and we missed our exit by like 30 minutes!

We started working on our project for drafting class tonight. It's supposed to take like 3 weeks, and my group has basically finished it in one night, haha. What a joke. But anyways, then I left the classroom and got all the way back to my dorm before I realized that I forgot to turn in my hw! Arrggg... so I walk all the way back to the classroom, but the professor had already put all the hw up in his office and locked it up. He said I could drop it off tomorrow, but he's kinda weird- don't know if he can be trusted.

Hey kiddos, I'm not up at this hour cuz I decided to wake up early, I'm up cuz I just finished my paper for P.E. a sec ago, haha. Yup, that's right... hardcore! Haha, man, dang it, it ended up being a much better paper than I anticipated, which is ironic cuz it's basically a completion grade. But yea, I realized tonight that when quality doesn't matter, you shouldn't choose to write a paper about anything you're actually interested in. You get too into it, and start losing yourself in the research. Man, seriously, if I hadn't hit the page limit, I could have been writing for like at least 5 more hours or so. Well, anyways, since I didn't get to anything else, my paper ended up being about the origins of martial arts and how their role in society changes with the times.

Ever start writing a paper (esp. the night before it's due) and have no idea where you're gonna go with it? Hah, I've got no thesis or particular points I want to make. Dang it, these papers with no predefined topic can be tough sometimes. Hah, yea, so I figger I'll write until I'm up to the page limit, then try and tie it all together somehow. Heh, surprisingly, that's how I come up with some of my best work... we'll see what happens. =P

* Here's one of the more interesting articles I came across in my research. It's about how martial arts have largely transitioned from fighting to sport. I think it's really true. The "California backfist" and slapping roundhouse kicks are like staples of my fighting style. Man, I'm such a tournament fighter, blehhhh... =(

I went to class today in my pajamas for the first time. Man, it was so comfy; I could really make a habit of this, heheh.

*I ended up going through the entire day in pajamas the next day, so I was in my pj's for like 30+ hours.

**Man, check out this game SnowCraft. It's so addicting. (link via Andrew) But man, I'm convinced that level 7 wasn't meant to be beaten... the enemy's like lined up against you in firing squad formation at point blank range... But nevertheless, I shall beat them... mwahahaha.

***I finally succeeded in beating 7 (on 11/20/02) and the rest of the game! I am INVINCIBLE!!! MWAHAHAHA! But yea, level 7 took the longest to figure out how to beat, but the Bonus Round is probably the hardest overall.

Everyone gets mad at their roommate sometimes. That's normal, right? Yea, man, the tensions starting to get thick between me & Nien. Our sleeping habits just don't seem to coincide well. He likes it completely dark and completely silent when he's trying to sleep, which doesn't work out so well cuz I stay up late on the computer.

Well, last night, I got semi-chased out of the room so that Nien could sleep. I think we're still in the phase where we're still trying to be polite to each other, so we don't say exactly what's on our minds, but rather just hint at it. Yea, I caught the hint: get off your dang computer, I'm trying to sleep! Since I wasn't remotely sleepy at all, I decided to go outside for awhile rather than hit the sack. I did a little laundry and then chilled across the hall at Victor & Fulbert's and watched them play Battlefield 1942; it seems really cool.

*Oh yea, and Nien said he needed to borrow a straight edge, so I told him to get one of the triangles out of my drafting kit. I look over a bit later and see him using the engineer's scale (like a deluxe ruler) to draw straight lines. Nyaaagggg... I mean, I guess the average person wouldn't know, but that's like using Excalibur to chop trees or something equally horrendous. You just don't use your good tools for such mundane tasks. I remember on the first real day of drafting class, the professor was like, "Using the scale as a straight edge is like engineering heresy!" Heh, so yea, I guess next time I better actually hand him one of the triangles.

Man, tonight at dinner, I accidentally handed the cafeteria worker my driver's license instead of my student ID (which doubles as the meal card). Haha, I was so embarassed. I dunno, it just gets to be so mechanical: pulling the card out of your pocket, and handing it to them, getting it swiped, and putting it back in the pocket. It's like such a well-rehearsed drill that you usually don't even have to look. You'd never think anything would go wrong, especially if you've got a specific spot in your pocket (or wallet) that you always put your ID card in. It's kinda like getting into your car & buckling up, only to realize you left your keys in the house, haha. (Which I might add, used to happen to me aaaallllllll the time, haha... so I guess it's really not that similar, but I felt like bringing it up anyways.) Heh, yea, I'm pretty scatterbrained sometimes; man, I'm gonna be wack when I get old. I think it kinda runs in the family, haha, so better watch out for me when I start losing it.

*Hey, and speaking of UT dining, check out this review of college dining halls. (link via Ruth) UT: 1 star! "The food here was easily the worst we encountered on our college tour." Haha, yea, that sounds about right.

Man, I stayed up late last night cramming for my statics test today, and I ended up having a nightmare about the test! Usually, the tests are like 3 or 4 questions; and I dreamed that I'd spent a really long time on the first problem and thought that was it. I handed in the test and walked out of the building. Like 100 yards out, I realize that there are more problems, and I sprint back to the classroom. I find the professor and explain to him my situation, and of course he's all Gestapo like, "No, I can't let you have test back. You turn it in already." (The bad grammar was intentional, cuz the professor's foreign and he speaks with an accent.) So like I get down on my knees and beg him, but he won't cave. And I end up completely throwing myself down at his feet, head bowed down, grabbing onto his pant leg, crying and begging for forgiveness. And finally he caves, and he tosses this packet down on the floor. Overjoyed, I grab it and run back to my desk and start working; like 30 seconds later, I realize that I'm working a chemistry test, and it's like wtf??? That bastard of a professor tricked me! Graaggghhhh...

* (Ok, to clarify, the above portion was all part of my dream. My professor's not that mean.)

So yea, now I don't like the professor so much anymore, hahah. I guess part of this also stems from the fact that just recently we started to do stuff that requires double integrals, despite the fact that several students haven't learned it yet. And he's like (in real life now), "That's not my problem. It's your fault if you don't know it. What are you doing in my class? I suggest you figure it out soon." grrrrrrrr... It's not my fault my math professor hasn't taught it to me!!!! =(

I've got this semi-hobby of collecting the fortunes inside fortune cookies. I don't keep the ones that are like actual fortunes, telling you that you're gonna have good luck or whatever. But I keep the ones that have proverbs, oddball sayings, or other bits of "ancient Chinese wisdom." Hey, what ever happened to those ones that preceded the actual message with "Confucius say:" ? Haha, those were classic. But yea, the weirdest fortune I've ever got had the message, "You will receive another fortune cookie." !!! Man... amazing! Its truth and utter simplicity blow the mind, hahaha.

Here are some I got tonight; ponder these:
"Birds are entangled by their feet and men by their tongues."
"The eyes believe themselves; the ears believe other people."

*Oh, and my friend, who's a senior in high school now, told me today that one of my papers from last year was used as the teachers' example of a superb paper. Haha, wow... and it's one that I don't even recall writing. I dunno, I don't pride myself on spectacular imagery or fancy language or anything; I like to think that if anything, I manage to introduce a couple whimsical unexplored concepts or even an occasional profound idea. Moments of brilliance amongst heaps of garbage, haha. Yea... not winning any awards here for style or vocab... or heck, even grammar. Heh, I'm a sucker for run-on sentences, hahaha. Too much to say, too few periods.

Last night was the Omega's infamous Pimps & Hoes party. Costumes were optional I guess; I thought the majority of people would be dressed up, so I made a medium effort, but when I arrived, I found myself in the minority. Well, it was pretty fun(ny) getting dressed up anyways. I rented a zebra stripe pimp hat (complete with feather) and bought myself a feather boa, but due to lack of foresight or something, I neglected the obligatory *bling bling*, heheh. =/ But yea, it was fun, but the dang feather boa kept sluffing off feathers, so by the end of the night I was covered with fluff. Oh, and props to Kent & David (T.) for hooking it up with admission to this pseudo-exclusive event.

Well, anyways, there were several cops at the place keeping the ol' eye on things (; obviously this party has quite the reputation). Yea, I found it particularly amusing how they put on the ruse of checking ID's and marking hands at the door to appease the cops, despite the very obvious fact that everyone was gonna be drinking anyways. But yea, I got drunker than I've ever been before at this party. And I knoooowww it seems like I'm saying that phrase an awful lot these days, but seriously- new levels of intoxication were reached last night, it was crazy. I think it was the jello shots that put me over the top; I'd never had them before and didn't realize that they take a little longer to kick in, so you don't realize how drunk you will be. Ummm, yea, also, this is the first time where I woke up and couldn't remember a lot of what happened the previous night; there's like huge gaps in my memory. I do remember getting semi-dragged out of there by my friends and eventually tossing my cookies at Taco Cabana later on. Oh, and I don't recall posing for pictures, but I was obviously aware of it at the time, as evidenced by my ability to make the Fob peace sign. Man, I think I need to stop writing about how drunk I get, this is distressing.

Ok, well, for what I remember, I do remember that it was a really fun party. And I definitely recommend going to all those people who backed out and chose not to go. Next year though... have to go.

I just watched Steven Spielburg's A.I. I really liked it. I got quite emotional. Umm, yea... 'nuff said...

Aw FUDGEsicles! GRAAAAGGGHHHH!!! I just remembered I forgot to submit the chem hw for this week! And the deadline passed 4 hours ago, blehhhh... DANG it! Suckage!

I got a flu shot today... for the first time in my life that I can remember.

*My previous entry sparked a pretty extensive debate between me & a friend over the nature of religion. I'm pretty agnostic about this kind of stuff (as opposed to straight-up atheist). But if you really put me on the spot, like "Does God exist or not? Yes or no!?!?" I'd have to say no. One of the things that's always bugged me a lot was, why do bad things happen to good people? I read this poem (via Sleepy again) awhile back and really liked it but never had an occasion to bring it up:

"It must be troubling for the god who loves you
To ponder how much happier you'd be today
Had you been able to glimpse your many futures.
It must be painful for him to watch you on Friday evenings
Driving home from the office, content with your week--
Three fine houses sold to deserving families--
Knowing as he does exactly what would have happened
Had you gone to your second choice for college,
Knowing the roommate you'd have been allotted
Whose ardent opinions on painting and music
Would have kindled in you a lifelong passion.
A life thirty points above the life you're living
On any scale of satisfaction. And every point
A thorn in the side of the god who loves you.
You don't want that, a large-souled man like you
Who tries to withhold from your wife the day's disappointments
So she can save her empathy for the children.
And would you want this god to compare your wife
With the woman you were destined to meet on the other campus?
It hurts you to think of him ranking the conversation
You'd have enjoyed over there higher in insight
Than the conversation you're used to.
And think how this loving god would feel
Knowing that the man next in line for your wife
Would have pleased her more than you ever will
Even on your best days, when you really try.
Can you sleep at night believing a god like that
Is pacing his cloudy bedroom, harassed by alternatives
You're spared by ignorance? The difference between what is
And what could have been will remain alive for him
Even after you cease existing, after you catch a chill
Running out in the snow for the morning paper,
Losing eleven years that the god who loves you
Will feel compelled to imagine scene by scene
Unless you come to the rescue by imagining him
No wiser than you are, no god at all, only a friend
No closer than the actual friend you made at college,
The one you haven't written in months. Sit down tonight
And write him about the life you can talk about
With a claim to authority, the life you've witnessed,
Which for all you know is the life you've chosen."
~Carl Dennis, "The God Who Loves You"

The Religion of Math.

Some time back, I read (skimmed, actually) a document written by some Christian in the early 1900's trying to disprove evolution using "scientific reasoning." (It's really long and boring, but the loopy logic is good for a couple laughs.) His arguments were pretty absurd and didn't hold water, probably cuz he used over-simplified numerical approximations for complex situations. But he did say one thing I liked, and that was that "mathematics will not lie even at the demand of liars."

Well, I was thinking recently about how absolute the control of math is over the universe. Mathematical relationships govern all (e.g. the Conservation of Energy/Mass/Momentum) and explains the seemingly unexplainable. The way I think of it, everything in the world can be explained by math/science (even if we don't yet have the knowledge to do so). Chaotic situations, upon closer inspection, can often be quantified and mathematically rationalized; so you could kinda say that math brings "order from chaos."

After thinking about it some more, I got to thinking, hmmmm... what do you call something that governs all? I'd probably call it something like 'God.' I mean, I'm not gonna go out worshipping math or anything, but I think several parallels can be drawn. With each great leap forward, we're one step closer to understanding our universe. It's like Euclid, Newton, Leibnitz, etc. are the prophets with "divinely" inspired revelations, and books like the Principia are the testaments helping us to understand the will of our "lord." Math is omnipresent; you cannot escape it's grasp. Just try to jump up and not fall at 9.8 m/s^2 (on Earth, at sea level). Math & science can be used to predict the behavior of objects (; so you might say that math "knows the future"). And the ultimate fate of the universe, whether it be Closed or Open Universe Theory, will be in accordance with mathematical relationships (; so you can say that the universe will end in accordance with math's whims).

And then there's the concept of infinity. On several occasions, I've sat pondering infinity, and been like, nyaaagggg... too.. much... to handle! It's greatness is too much for me to comprehend! Haha, I'm serious! But yea, don't religious folk get that kind of feeling sometimes when they ponder too much about their God(s)?

But then again, I've heard more than once that math is nothing more than a human created tool- for our own convenience in explaining things. Hey, not to point the finger or anything, but *ahem* hasn't the same thing been said about religion a couple times? (On a personal note, in the question of "Did God create man, or did man create God?" I hold to the latter.) But yea, even if we didn't find ways of expressing math, would that change the fact that it exists? Ok, let's say that a rock placed next to another rock is the same thing as a couple of rocks already next to each other. Even if we were too stupid to express this situation numerically, does that change the fact that 1+1=2? Math exists out there, regardless of whether or not people understand it or want to admit it. (Man, I bet that same statement has been said about God a time or two.)


(DANG it! I forgot half the stuff I was gonna talk about... I'll fill this in some time when I remember)

But yea, wouldn't it be funny if one day, you were walking down the street with one of those cross necklaces on and someone stops you and is all like, "hey, I didn't know you were Christian." And you'd say, "naw, man, it's not a cross, it's a plus sign!" Hahah, ok, well, I think it'd be funny.

*I recalled that document I linked basically cuz one of the quirkiest things I remembered from it was that the guy tried to attribute all sorts of numerical perfections and large calculations to the infinite wisdom of God. (HAH!)

**Note: Yes, I'm aware of the fact that many/most famous scientists & mathematicians were Christian.

Man, I feel so guilty. This country's going to hell in a handbasket! The GOP controls the presidency, the House, and the Senate. These warmongers will bring World War III upon us. Uuuggghhh... seriously, if there's one issue I don't agree with right now, it's the "war on terrorism." Gives them a reason to infringe upon civil liberties and strike or imprison suspects without due process. Have we not become the terrorists? Dang it... I wish I'd voted. =(

You know, I got to thinking tonight... I got into aerospace/science with the lofty ideal of forwarding the human race, of making scientific breakthroughs, and "boldly going where no man has gone before." But great science has had a history of being utilized for war and destruction. Just in aerospace, planes have been used to drop bombs, and rockets are used to carry warheads. Nuclear power was developed to create a bomb. Technology is a double-edged sword.

I like to dream about the future. I like to think of a day when we'll travel among the stars, with distant colonies stretched across the solar system, galaxy, and beyond. Going by the life cycle of a star, we've got about 5 billion years to get out of this solar system- which seems like plenty of time for scientific advances and whatnot. But like I was thinking about earlier, with the destructive nature of man, will we really make it 5 billion years? I think the real worry is that we'll be the cause of our own extinction. To get to the nearest star takes a tremendous amount of energy. That kind of energy could surely be harnessed into a fearsome weapon- one very capable of destroying the Earth. *sigh* I feel that mankind is doomed to wipe itself out. How depressing... =/

graggghhhh... and the Republicans grow ever stronger... I worry for the future of this country.

Man, I wanted to be a good citizen and do my "civic duty" by voting, but like a fool, I went and registered at home instead of here at college. I showed up at the polling place a couple days ago, and they were all like, "Uhhhh, wrong county." Yea. =/ I'll hafta get that changed before the next elections.

*Oh hey, and check this out, it's pretty amusing: True Porn Clerk Stories... don't worry, it's just writing. =P (link via Sleepy)

Man, I got introduced to the card game "Set" tonight. OMG... I'm addicted! It was like a Mensa game of the month or something, I hear. You pair up sets of 3 cards by similarities & differences of the shapes on the cards. You can get a taste of the action at Setgame.com, but it's not intense like when you're playing against other people, and you only get to do 12 cards. But yea, I assure you that the actual card game is hardcore! I chose to play this game over mahjong! That's how fun this game is.

*Ok, I couldn't get this game out of my head, so I decided to do some probability calculations on it. Haha, yea, I know I'm a dork. =P But I forgot like everything I learned in statistics class, so it took me awhile, and I'm kinda iffy about my results, but here they are: The deck consists of 81 unique cards, with 4 attributes to be matched. There are 1080 favorable outcomes out of a possible 85320 (81 nCr 3) combinations. Therefore, if you picked 3 random cards out of the deck, there's approximately a 1.27% chance that it's a set.

...Seems a little bit off, and the numbers don't seem right when I use them to calculate other probabilities. I checked my work though and I can't find any mistakes. Feel free to check me: Each of the 4 qualities has 3 possibilities (3^4 = 81 cards). A set can be formed by having every quality be completely Same (S) or completely Different (D). Each character place in the 4-character sequence represents one of the four qualities. The number of ways to win, with corresponding qualities is: {SSSS=Ø, SSSD=27, SSDS=27, SSDD=54, SDSS=27, SDSD=54, SDDS=54, SDDD=108, DSSS=27, DSSD=54, DSDS=54, DSDD=108, DDSS=54, DDSD=108, DDDS=108, DDDD=216}
This was working on the assumption that every time you add a quality, the number of favorable outcomes is multiplied by 3 for Similar and 6 for Different. For example, if there were only 3 qualities, there would be 9 combinations of SSD; using the formula, there are 27 combinations of SSDS and 54 combinations of SSDD, etc. Ok, so starting with the most simple possible setup, a 9 card deck of 2 qualities (3^2), our winning outcomes would be: {SD= {A1,A2,A3; B1,B2,B3; C1,C2,C3} =3, DS= {A1,B1,C1; A2,B2,C2; A3,B3,C3} =3; DD= {A1,B2,C3; A1,B3,C2; A2,B1,C3; A2,B3,C1; A3,B1,C2; A3,B2,C1} =6}


**Oh wait, they linked to another guy's partial mathematical calculations on the site, and they seem to agree with mine. So maybe I wasn't off after all. Man, and his way was so much easier too, grrr... 81*80*1/6 =1080

Hey UT students, I found out about ClassGrabber last night. You tell it the classes you want and keep like a bot running, and it automatically registers for you when your registration period comes. My brother says it worked great for him. I tried it out, and everything looked to be running smoothly, but then I restarted my comp and tried to run the program again and it wouldn't load up. *sigh* Yet another of the million things my computer can't do. =/

Do you ever have one of those times when someone asks you what time it is, and you automatically look at your wrist despite the fact that you're not wearing a watch? But like, if you've looked at a clock right beforehand, you're still able to tell them the time. Now, normally, people are satisfied just having been told the time, and all is well. But occasionally, people will call you out and be like, "Heeeeeeeey, you're not even wearing a watch! What are you trying to pull here?" Hah, umm... yeah. Then you feel really stupid. =P I speak from experience.

But yea, I read some time back about some hospital patients who stay there a really long time, and they get like little clocks embedded under the skin on their arm. That'd be pretty awesome, I think. But I think for all that effort, they coulda just stuck a clock up on the wall, ya know? haha. But anyways, I was thinking, I bet when these hospital patients try to tell people the time, they always get called out on it. Then they have to be all like, "No, wait, I can explain! Look, I've got a watch embedded in my arm!" Hahahah, maybe I'll try saying that next time I get called out for glancing at my wrist, just to see if people fall for it. =P

AWWWW CRAPPIT!!! In going out clubbing yesterday night, I forgot about & missed my time slot for registering for classes next semester. Graaaaggghhhh... so pissed. Now 2 of the classes I wanna be in are full. wtf? =(