chaz720.net - journal

November 02, 2002

It was a teenage wedding, and the old folks wished them well. You could see that Pierre did truly love the madamoiselle. And now the young monsieur and madame have rung the chapel bell. "C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell. They furnished off an apartment with a two room Roebuck sale. The coolerator was crammed with TV dinners and ginger ale. But when Pierre found work, the little money comin' worked out well. "C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell. They had a hi-fi phono, boy, did they let it blast. Seven hundred little records, all rock, rhythm and jazz. But when the sun went down, the rapid tempo of the music fell. "C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell. They bought a souped-up jitney, 'twas a cherry red '53. They drove it down to Orleans to celebrate the anniversary. It was there that Pierre was married to the lovely madamoiselle. "C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell.

So yeah, just got back from wherever that was helping dave out with a flat tire. Apparently he was going for a short road trip out to Peoria and his tire was getting all funky so he stopped at a station to put some air in it. At which point it blew up and scraped him up. He was more shook up than anything and he looked fine when I saw him. After the arduous task of getting the lugnuts off we were not quite familiar with the "hit the thing with the tire iron and all the fury you can muster" step of getting the tire to come off which a handy local person was happy to demonstrate for us. After that everything went smoothly.

Well actually I just got back from Merry Ann's where I had delicious eggs and hash browns.

Fei stopped by a little while ago cause he needed some help getting an OS on this computer he had from god knows where. I helped him get win2k and drivers on it and let him take it from there. I'm usually always willing to help people out doing stuff like that. Initially he called me and was asking for help over the phone but I'm really terrible at helping people over the phone with computers as I like to point at things if I need to explain something, or if some weird trick needs to be executed just once I'd just assume do it myself. I dunno, that's just the way I am about that.

I beat starfox this morning. I had gotten to the final boss yesterday but failed twice against him cause I wasn't quite sure how to hurt him. But this morning for some reason I just picked it up and beat him right away, maybe I was just tired cause it was really obvious as to what to do this morning, oh well, now I'm thinking about getting Mario Party 4 as the next thing to do. Ah well, as interesting as this is, I'm prolly going to get some sleep soon, long day...

November 04, 2002

This weekend was a lot of fun, despite the horrible conclusion to the Bears game yesterday.

Saturday I saw the Jackass movie. I thought it was hilarious, there were a couple specific things that I could have done without, and the over all level of vomiting was a little high for my tastes, but other then that it was a very good time. Hans points out that Jackass should have been a website and not an MTV series/original movie, and maybe he's right, but despite feeling dumber in the few hours following the movie, I feel justified in spending the $6.25.

Later Saturday night, Andy and I went over to Jesse, Abby, and Jodi's place where they were, as we found out upon arrival, having a party. We played a bunch of the classic card games that are simple to understand but very difficult to be good at whilest drinking the amount of alcohol the game has you drink. The best type of game ever. Anyway, they have a cat whose name, for the life of me, I can't remember. It was running around chasing a superball that I brought for most of the night, so I only found myself sneezing a couple times when I was playing with it and had forgotten I was allergic to the damn things.

Yesterday the bears game was less than stellar. It was pretty miserable outside and I was hoping for a good ending to help warm me up but I had no such luck. Geez, 6 in a row... G'ah, it hurts.

Today I had a microbio test which I'm fairly certain I conquered with a ruthless fist. Thursday I have a cs173 test which should be less than pleasent to endure. As the last two homework assignments (including one due tomorrow that as I type I am putting off finishing :D) are a little sketchy and are by no means as straight forward as most of the stuff I am used to dealing with. I guess I don't really like doing things with math where one of the steps is described as "using a trick we pulled out of our ass we can convert the above to the following". I'd rather be able to work example problems I know can prepare me for the test than rely on my ability to produce solutions from afore mentioned bodily orafice.

November 07, 2002

Soma is what they would take when hard times opened their eyes. Saw pain in a new way, high stakes for a few names. Racing with the sunbeams. Loosing against their dreams. In your eyes... I am stop and go, in your eyes. Let's go. When I saw her for the first time, lips moved as her eyes closed. Heard something in his voice. "And I'll be there," he says and he walks out. Somehow he was trying too hard to be like them. I am stop and go, in your eyes. And I am stop, oh darling let me go. Tried it once and they liked it, They try to hide it. Said, "I've been doing this twenty-five years," well I'm not listening no more. And his friends, they keep asking for more, oh yeah. Oh but that's it.

Well sadly I have no news on the microbio test. It is graded and we could get them back today, but rather than hand them back in class or something, in an orginized fashion, we were all supposed to file over to the office in a building nearby. This resulted in a line that actually went out the building to get the test back. And really, it's microbio... c'mon, I'm not waiting in line in the cold for a stinking test grade. All my other classes just use the campus gradebook system and you can find out all the information about all your grades in the class, distributions on tests, and you can get to it all on the web, makes it nice and easy. And certainly no waiting in the cold. Ah well, I'll just stop by the office friday or something and pick it up.

So I went to this review session for the cs173 test tomorrow, and not all that surprisingly, it was a trainwreck. The TA was actually pretty cool and was willing to answer questions but the idiots were barely letting him finish his sentence before asking some other question. You could tell he was getting frustrated. I guess that's what you get with a class with that many freshmen in it.

I think I would go insane trying to teach a class of freshmen computer science majors, it would be hell. 90% of them are all hopped up on AP tests thinking they are the shit. Plus the whole room giggles when the TA says, "okay so lets say you have 'n' balls you need to sort". I was about ready to sucker punch someone. Ah well, what can you do? I stayed for a minute afterwords and thanked him for his time and he said he appreciated it. As for the test, I'm not too worried about it, the review session kinda boosted the 'ol confidence.

November 09, 2002

High, higher than the sun, you shoot me from a gun, I need you to elevate me here. At the corner of your lips, as the orbit of your hips eclipse, you elevate my soul. I've lost all self-control. Been living like a mole now, going down, excavation. I and I in the sky, you make me feel like I can fly so high, elevation. A star lit up like a cigar, strung out like a guitar, maybe you could educate my mind. Explain all these controls. I can't sing but I've got soul, the goal is elevation. A mole, digging in a hole, digging up my soul. Going down, excavation. I and I in the sky, you make me feel like I can fly. So high, elevation. Love, lift me out of these blues. Won't you tell me something true? I believe in you.

I saw 8 mile last night and it was really good. By the time it was over I was so into it I didn't want it to end. To me that's the way a good biographical movie should be. But Eminem wasn't lying in an interview I saw with him about it, even if you're not a huge fan of hiphop you can probably appreciate the overall message the movie is going for. After the movie you come out feeling really good, like you could tackle just about anything.

Speaking of tackling things, I got the microbio test back yesterday as well, 92. I took the infamous cs173 test which was crazy. There were a lot of hard questions on it but I think I did pretty well, all things considered. There were even a couple questions that were so random and almost had no business being ont he test but those were really easy and I know I got them right. I just hope there wasn't some bass-ackwards way they were supposed to be done, I doubt it though they seemed way too straight forward.

Mario Party 4 is... well... not a very good game. The actual mini-games and set up and idea and all that is a lot of fun, but my god, playing it is like pressing your head against a belt-sander because of the pace. It plays so horrendously slow you want to stab something. Luckily though, I bought the game at EB so I can exchange it within two weeks for a different game, so I'll prolly just get Metroid or the new Resident Evil.

Okay so yeah, speaking of buying that game at EB... I may have mentioned before about how bad people are driving around here, but I'd never been attacked by someone until yesterday. So I'm making a left turn onto Neil St, and I turn into the left lane as a pickup truck passes in the right lane. He's hauling stuff and going kinda slow so as I accelerated up to speed I started to pass by him. When I got to the point where the front of his truck lined up with the back of my door, I heard tires squeal, and I look over and he's swerving at me! Before I even put two and two together I jerked the wheel to the left to avoid him, but he swerved at me all the way across both lanes and the left turn lane of the intersection we were coming up on. I went up over the median into oncoming traffic (they were all able to stop for me) and this pickup truck nailed the curb and then swerved back right again and tore off down Marketview Ave. I got out of my car and tried to get a look at the license plates or at least see if anyone else saw them, but, as I said, it was hauling stuff and the gate was down covering the plates on the back. I kinda motioned to the people that were stopped in front of me asking if they saw anything but they said they didn't get a good look at them it happened to fast.

Needless to say, I was a little bit shook up.

I checked out my car real quick and it looked okay (I double checked later and it is fine), and so I got back in and drove home. I don't really know what to even think about it, but it's made me not a terribly huge fan of driving anywhere for a while.

On a higher note, a ton of people are coming to visit this weekend, and I get to see Atmosphere tonight at the highdive. So I'm going to go do that now.

November 11, 2002

Let me run with you tonight, I'll take you on a moonlight ride. There's someone I used to see, but she don't give a damn for me. But let me get to the point, let's roll another joint, and turn the radio loud. I'm too alone to be proud. You don't know how it feels, you don't know how it feels to be me. People come, people go, some grow young, some grow cold. I woke up in between a memory and a dream. So let's get to the point, let's roll another joint, and let's head on down the road, there's somewhere I gotta go. And you don't know how it feels, you don't know how it feels to be me. My old man was born to rock, he's still tryin' to beat the clock. Think of me what you will, I've got a little space to fill.

This song serves as a reminder of how much I need to make that Tom Petty, Led Zeppelin, Eagles, and Rolling Stones mp3 disc I've been meaning to for my car...

Bears lose to the patriots in what can only be described as a game too painful for words to capture fully.

Atmosphere was excellent in concert, I got to hang out and share a pizza with David and his (and everyone else's, seriously she knows everyone) friend Vivian. The DJs that were there before hand were great so we were kinda disappointed that we decided to not show up til 7, and When Slug was on he ended up freestyling during several parts of the set, oh man, it all was just too much.

Later I met up with the gang who were all in town at this point. It took a while but I pried them from their games of "drinking magic" to go out to Tonic. Sadly the main floor was having what appeared to be some Latin House music night or something which I don't think any of us were feeling while there. It was okay though because we just went downstairs where they had the customary trip/techno music playing that I love tonic for. So all in all it was a pretty fun night, at least for me and, c'mon who are we kidding by thinking about others?

Right now it looks like Hans and I are just gonna get an apartment somewhere that we can just not be concerned about. Really we've decided that as long as it's reasonably close, has a decent parking situation, and is cheap we don't care how nice it is. "Where do I sleep?" and "Where does the TV go?" are going to be the primary concerns when it comes to picking a place now. It's good to just not care about things like this :D

November 14, 2002

I'll be here a while, ain't going nowhere. Far is solace in the maddening pace. Sad state written on my face. Not a tight rope walk, but dance. Uncertain game of chance, but I'll see it through in time. I'll be here a while, ain't going nowhere. And if a person place or thing can deliver, I will quiver with delight. Tempted by the hand that could blind my vision and sight. But at twenty years of age, in frolic and in rage, I will see it through in time. I'll be here a while, ain't going nowhere. But the dawn has come into the endless night, and everything's going to be alright. But at thirty years of age, through frolic and in rage, all regressed and healed in time. I'll be here a while, ain't going nowhere. Said I, said I, said I, I will survive.

I gave up on mario party 4. I now just have a pre-order for metroid prime which comes out wednesday I believe. EB has the great system that protects you from games that are bad. It's almost like renting a different game for a couple weeks while you wait for the one you actually want to come out. However in this case we only played mario party a couple times and then it just had to go, it was inexcusable.

I'm actually in contact with Dave Yeager down in Florida concerning my possible internship down there next summer, details as they come.

Speaking of which I have once again developed my master plan of courses for the rest of my stay here at uiuc. You can see my notes here. There I detail which courses will get me my cs minor and which satisfy various requirements for my major. I've found that there are a number of really cool courses that would deal with the design of acustical devices and things of that nature, and I plan on taking as many as I can. I have a feeling that ece303 will be the course I consider the pinnicle of going to college. All the descriptions and information I read just makes me want to take it more and more, I almost can't wait. I know, I'm a dork.

Got the cs173 test back, I got a 64 on it. Which, to the untrained eye, may appear bad, when it is in fact about one standard deviation above the mean, so that's like an A-. not bad for not attending a single class. I have a problem though in that now I will find myself going into the final with a borderline A/B, and now I feel all obligated and crap to study for it. I was half hoping to lock myself securely into a B such that I could get a huge range of grades on the final and still have a B in the class. No such luck though, I have to try for the A now, it sucks it really does.

No word on living next year yet, I think Hans said sometihng about wanting to work again this winter break and whether he can or not is a big deal in what kind of apartment he wants to get, so we have to wait for that to get figured out now. I'm kinda getting tired of it though, I just want to sign somewhere. I don't care if we undershoot our end allowed price range as long, as I've said, as we get someplace reasonably close. If he's not careful I'll talk to Kristen and Sam and live in the attic of their house next year. :D ... I'm kidding, I'm kidding ... (note: only half kidding)

November 23, 2002

Oh the heads that turn make my back burn. The sparkle in your eyes keeps me alive. And the world, and the world, the world turns around. And the world, and the world, the world drags me down. Oh the heads that turn make my back burn. The fire in your eyes keeps me alive. I'm sure in her you'll find, the sanctuary. And the world, and the world, the world turns around. And the world, and the world, the world drags me down.

Well that was definately a good week to be done with, quick rundown of the results...

nres100 test went well as usual without much studying, ece229 test went -okay- I don't really know for sure but people have been doing nothing but complaining about it so all in all I'm not too worried, cs173 assignment: I actually didn't get pissed at this one thus allowing me to finish it, and finally the matse200 test went rather well, only a couple questions I wasn't sure about. All in all a decent outcome.

A lot of people have gone home already, I guess everyone is in a rush to get as far away from here as possible after all the hell everyone has gone through what with tests and whatnot recently. I can't really say I blame 'em, I just didn't feel like driving today.

So Hans wants to wait until we get back from break to sign any leases and I guess that's cool, there's still a number of places well within the tolerable range of walking, and most of them are actually pretty cheap, yay for cheap!

I'm probably going to try and head home tomorrow sometime, but I might wait until the afternoon so that I can watch the Ohio State game tomorrow which is at 11:15 (that's CT for "correct time" as opposed to ET, or "erroneous time" as I like to call it) I'll have to be careful cause that may land me in the middle of rush hour on I294, oh well I'll see what happens, no need to be steadfast.

Anyhow, yeah... ...Go Bucks.

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