swordBeatsPaper

Exams are over. It’s a strange feeling, since I’ve felt the burden of either assignments, dissertation writing, or exam studying since September. So strange, in fact, that I had to start working on something again. I chose to start reviewing the C++ programming language since I’ll probably be using it in my internship in a couple of weeks.

I’m reviewing it using the problems on Project Euler. It’s a set of math-based problems that are too complex to easily solve on paper or with a simple calculator, and so programming is the best way to go about solving them. One reason people do the problems is to learn new programming languages, and so I thought it would be useful to use. I started doing them a few months ago to learn Python, and got to problem 5. There are over 300 in total. Over the past 24 hours or so, I’ve done the first 5 again in C++. It must be my way of dealing with studying withdrawal. Or perhaps I’m tired of learning theory and am ready to apply my knowledge. Either way, I feel fairly productive and have had fun.

On the left sidebar of my blog you can see a picture from the Project Euler site depicting my progress. I’m not sure how much programming I’ll do over the next few weeks, but you’ll most likely see that number go up over the course of the summer.

Tomorrow morning I leave for the US. I might manage a blog when I have my hopefully pain-free 7 hour layover in Philadelphia.

In 17 hours, I’ll be done with my exams. Yes, I have a countdown. I’ve studied everything at least vaguely, and feel moderately confident about my last exam. I could be wrong, but we’ll see tomorrow. So I’m going to focus on the fun stuff.

Right after the exam, partying will be had, all night. Not sure where or doing what yet but the day will be epic fun. Which means I may have to skip the blog tomorrow if I don’t end up by a computer. Sunday, off to AZ for sun and red rock and reading and writing. Then come back and move to a new flat and start a fun internship. Things are finally going to be good. I just have to concentrate until 3:30pm tomorrow.

When my worries are not studying anymore, I’ll hopefully find it easier to come up with things to blog about.

Intense exam today. Probably got my worst score yet, just because the questions were about such obscure things and didn’t really test us on our overall understanding of the course. Bright side, only one more exam, the day after tomorrow.

I don’t write that much about video games, as I’m afraid it will alienate some of my audience. I’m suddenly inspired to though, from a Kirby pin (which I got at the PAX gaming convention in Seattle last fall) on my bulletin board. I should write about games more often though, since I enjoy them. If you play video games you’ll likely know all this, and can read with nostalgia. If you don’t, these are classic games worth checking out.

Kirby, if you don’t know, is a little creature featured in many Nintendo games. His main ‘power’ (across all games) is sucking air in around him, which in turn makes him swallow nearby enemies and acquire their powers. I first encountered him in the game Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, when I was young and the Nintendo 64 was still popular. My friend owned the console and almost every time I went to visit her we’d play something on it, frequently this game. Kirby has to search for these crystal shards in order to save the world and win the game. Along the way he encounters enemies, which he steals powers from and uses them against other enemies. It had fun minigames too.

That game was probably the reason I choose Kirby so often in the much more recent Super Smash Bros. games. In addition to the power I mentioned, in this game (and possibly others I haven’t played) he can also fly and turn into a rock. These are best utilized by combining the two, and then dropping onto an enemy. This can cause quite a bit of annoyance and frustration to other players. I played Super Smash Bros. Brawl a lot at my dorm in Canada with friends on my Wii. Sadly it’s too bulky to easily bring to Scotland. Perhaps one day.

Finally, one of my three last exams done. Next one tomorrow morning, a day break, and then the last one. Studying has been intense, but stressing even more so. I’m bad for that.

I can’t really be bothered thinking of a proper blog topic. It’s late, and I want to play a game to de-stress before bed. Maybe Team Fortress 2. Found it fun a month or two ago, but haven’t really played it since I started playing League of Legends. Which is rather addicting, even though it only has one map for 5v5 and one for 3v3. Apparently another 5v5 is in production, but it has been for quite a while. Another map, please, we don’t need more champions. There are enough to memorize how to play with and against already.

Sorry to say that’s all I have the energy for tonight. I’ll be more creative next week. My brain is too full of Networked Systems. At least I’m keeping up the daily blog thing.

Item #3 is my mobile phone. It’s a T-Mobile G1, which I got for Christmas last year. It has many defects, for a few reasons. One, it was bought slightly used online, so I had to buy a new battery to replace the old bloated one. Then about a week after I got the phone, I was driving along the road with it on the armrest between the driver and passenger seat, and I had to stop suddenly. It slid forward into a cup-holder containing a mug with about a centimeter of tea. I wasn’t able to take it out of the mug until I came to a complete stop, which was a few seconds. Despite my best intentions at drying it, the keyboard is now mostly unusable, the buttons on the front don’t do what they’re supposed to, and I can’t pick up calls–I have to hang up and call them back.

So far I’ve been able to figure out workarounds to make it do what I want. I can check my emails and various social media sites (though slowly), text fairly well with the on-screen keyboard, and make the very few calls I need. Over time though, its problems are going to grate on me. Android updates are unattainable without hacking, since it’s an old model. I’m going to get tired of having to hang up and call people back. I’m thinking that if my internship this summer doesn’t give me a free mobile phone to work with over the summer, I might just splurge and get a new one. That I know will work.

I’ve learned my lesson. Always keep your phone in a safe place. And drink all of your tea.

A new episode of Doctor Who aired today called The Doctor’s Wife, and I’ve been excited to see it ever since I found out Neil Gaiman was to write it. In a spoiler-free quick review of it, I’d say it was everything I’d expected from Gaiman and more. Intense plot twists and surprises, strange characters, and dark undertones are all big parts of his writing style, and they were all there. I highly recommend it.

For those of you who don’t know, my interest in Doctor Who started a year or two ago, when a friend from UBC introduced me to it. She was so enthusiastic that I couldn’t help watching one or two episodes, and from then on I was hooked. I started with watching the David Tennant episodes, and now consider him “my” Doctor–as in, the actor who was playing the Doctor when I first watched the series. Some people consider Christopher Eccleston “their” Doctor, since he was David Tennant’s predecessor and the first Doctor to be on TV in many years. Since the whole series started in the 60s, and there have now been eleven doctors, people will undoubtedly start watching at different seasons of the show. That’s not to say Matt Smith, the current Doctor, doesn’t play it well. After watching so many episodes now with him in it, I’d say he is a worthy successor to David Tennant.

I was assuming that when I came to Scotland, since it’s in the UK, most of my friends would have heard of Doctor Who and be interested in watching it. I was surprised to find so many people hadn’t seen episodes of it before (though they usually have heard of it), but there are a few in my group of friends who do watch regularly, including my boyfriend, of which I’m very glad. Doctor Who is something that is so compelling and intriguing that it must be shared.

Today I bought two books for Kindle that I’ll take with me on my trip to AZ. I bought Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman, like I said a few days ago, but I decided on something else instead of The Wise Man’s Fear, by Patrick Rothfuss.

I’ve been reading The Wand in the Word, a collection of interviews of 13 fantasy authors (Brian Jacques, Garth Nix, Madeline L’Engle, Tamora Pierce, etc). I don’t think this book was actually mentioned at all, but in the middle of reading the interview of Garth Nix I was reminded that I hadn’t read Stephen King’s On Writing yet. I then looked up reviews of it to see if it would be worth getting. A while ago I picked it up in a bookstore and read the first page, then got turned off of it because it was so much like a memoir, which wasn’t what I was looking for. But the more I read these reviews, I realize the beginning is like this to draw the reader in; funny stories of his childhood that make you want to read more. Later in the book, he does talk about the actual act of writing, in detail: themes, grammar, sentences, and more. I decided this would be a good thing for me to read before editing my book again, and so I got it instead. It was a few dollars less than The Wise Man’s Fear as well, since that one is brand new. I’m very excited to get started on these, though I’ll have to still focus on studying for exams.

On another note, I was remarking to myself how much I love the Kindle store on Amazon. Choose the book, buy it (even easier since I had a gift card), and if your Kindle is connected to a wireless network, the book is instantly downloaded. No need to go to a bookstore or wait for a snail mail delivery. Mind you, I absolutely love bookstores, but these days I go to them more for their atmosphere and for ideas of what to buy than to actually buy books. If I know what book I want, and I want it for Kindle, the Kindle store is perfect.

I’m also interested in how much I’ve changed my opinion on Kindles since I got one for Christmas. Before, I wasn’t sure I’d be comfortable with it. Holding a real book is definitely enjoyable, and there’s nothing like having a bookshelf full of good books. Used books can also be incredibly cheap. However, since I move around and travel so much these days, Kindle books are extremely convenient. Not to mention there’s no need to pry the book open to read the left-hand page.

Another exam done today, which ended up being much easier than I expected. And I expected it to be easy. I was tired afterward though, since it was an early morning exam, and I didn’t want to do all the errands I had–doctor’s, bank, chemist (pharmacy in non-UK English), groceries. Then, though, I was happily surprised: all the people I encountered were kind, energetic, easy to talk to. Including the doctor, which was a relief. Nothing’s worse than a doctor you’re not comfortable talking to. Got everything done, and am now home. A good day overall. There are even thunderstorms predicted for tonight. And my next exam isn’t till Tuesday.

Funny how little things can brighten up your day. I suppose it’s a reminder to focus on those things if your day starts getting worse, or if it’s bad to start with.

That’s all I’ve got right now… I think I’ll go curl up with a good book.

Last song played: Jet – Are You Gonna Be My Girl

All I can really think about is how tired I am of exams.

I’ve done five out of nine now. I had one this morning at 9:30am that lasted for two hours (most of them are one and a half) and I’ve got another one again, tomorrow at 9:30am. At least it’s not two hours. I wish I could console myself by saying the hardest ones are over, but it’s not true. All three of the exams I have next week are tough, and there’s one in particular I want to make sure to do well in. Two of them I haven’t really studied for yet. It’s going to be a tough week.

It’s interesting how some exams are easier to study for than others. Some, like today’s exam, are so formulaic over the years that if you do the past exams as practice and read a few slides as supplementary studying, you’re fine. In other exams, there is so much material that the course covers that it’s completely different every year, and studying past exams won’t necessarily help you, content-wise. Those are the ones I stress about most, when it’s impossible to remember everything, especially when you’ve been studying for the past month and are all burnt out before exams are even over.

Good thing is, there’s just less than nine days left of all this…