Entry tags:
The two body problem
I think it's gonna be harder to solve the non-academic case of the two-body problem than I thought but I'm pretty frustrated already. It's been nothing but a series of mostly-long-distance relationships since ~2013 and it's not even like it's that long of a distance, just 120km, but sitting in a car for 3 hours a day does nobody any favours. Sitting in a train for 4 hours a day is marginally better. But not good! Or we could move to Mississauga, a pothole, and be equally miserable.
I want to adopt a cat.
I want to adopt a cat.
$minority_group
On Sunday we ate pizza, did scrabble, and played Cards against Humanity. Shivani and her "babe" kept touching each other. Not "bae", "babe". She kissed him when he played particularly adroit words. I'm happy for them but Scrabble is SERIOUS BUSINESS!
Also, I turned out taller, so I win.
Also, I turned out taller, so I win.
Entry tags:
HAPPY CANADA DAY MY FRIENDS
THE BEAVERBUX IS WORTH MORE THAN 0.77 EAGLEBUX RIGHT NOW, THE PYROTECHNICS ARE EXPLODEY, AND THE STRAWBERRIES ARE RIPE.
Today I picked-my-own strawberries, looked at the goods of sketchy Canada day vendors, and learned the etymology of "blacksmith". My mother appears to like my boyfriend now, we played scrabble with my brother, and my professors have given me the thumbs up to submit my thesis and my conference paper!
Today I picked-my-own strawberries, looked at the goods of sketchy Canada day vendors, and learned the etymology of "blacksmith". My mother appears to like my boyfriend now, we played scrabble with my brother, and my professors have given me the thumbs up to submit my thesis and my conference paper!
Entry tags:
lbrscabe
Lately I've been douching around in the geocaching community. I reported one cache for being on a playground (it legit is against section 4.8, and sometimes people take badly to adults wandering around playgrounds with handheld devices) and passive-aggressively accused a CO of not waiting for their GPS to settle before publishing a cache (the posted coords were 77m off... that's a HUGE error). Also I'm so tired of micros in bushes but I'm going to clear a dozen off my map tomorrow. Only got 4 squares left in my DT matrix (down from 12 at the beginning of the year) and my month-hidden matrix is filling in... slowly (how am I still not done 2009???). I don't think I'll ever make a pilgrimage to find Mingo (May 2001) but my DC pilgrimage helped.
Today I played scrabble with Justin and his mom, I won the first round and Justin won the second.
Fun words "allowed" in the second game:
Today I played scrabble with Justin and his mom, I won the first round and Justin won the second.
Fun words "allowed" in the second game:
- TAURI
- JAAL
- MORON
- SATEDA
- QUAD
Walstad & sunshine
Thought I'd get some of my thoughts down on planted tanks.
Since last time I've changed my mind (big surprise) and decided to go for a 20g planted tank with a pair or trio of honey gouramis and as many harlequin rasboras as the tank can support. I can try my best to get a peaceful betta but it's still a gamble that it won't turn out to be a murder fish and go Liam Neeson on a school of whatever microrasbora I've decided to stock the tank with. And even if it starts peaceful... there's always a chance that something will snap in its fishy brain and it will decide that it not only wants to be the hawttest fish in the tank, it wants to be the ONLY fish in the tank. No thanks. Honey gouramis and harlequins are both said to be gentle fish. Also I like the "feelers" on the gourami, and the harlequins are classic fish often recommended without reservation for the beginner hobbyist.
Also, paradoxically (or not?) larger tanks are easier to maintain than smaller tanks, which are more prone to chemical fluctuations and accidents.
I also plan on using the Walstad soil + sand cap method and buying my tank bits separately rather than in a kit. Tank hood LEDs aren't generally strong enough to grow plants... but sunlight is! In seventh grade I maintained a perfectly OK tank for a science class with hornwort, water hyacinth, and one feeder goldfish. Admittedly the goldfish never got a water change (I was doing it wrong :( ) but he survived until he was moved to a low-light location, at which point the plants died and the fish was soon to follow. This is relevant because sunlight is said to cause algae growth but I never experienced it in my tank. As long as I can get some fast-growing floating plants established I will be able to outcompete algae.
In other news.
The profs have delivered "glowing" praise of my thesis draft, so full steam ahead until it's all done, I guess. I must be nearly almost done now.
The new geocaching.com map shows sad faces for my DNFS so that is nice.
Since last time I've changed my mind (big surprise) and decided to go for a 20g planted tank with a pair or trio of honey gouramis and as many harlequin rasboras as the tank can support. I can try my best to get a peaceful betta but it's still a gamble that it won't turn out to be a murder fish and go Liam Neeson on a school of whatever microrasbora I've decided to stock the tank with. And even if it starts peaceful... there's always a chance that something will snap in its fishy brain and it will decide that it not only wants to be the hawttest fish in the tank, it wants to be the ONLY fish in the tank. No thanks. Honey gouramis and harlequins are both said to be gentle fish. Also I like the "feelers" on the gourami, and the harlequins are classic fish often recommended without reservation for the beginner hobbyist.
Also, paradoxically (or not?) larger tanks are easier to maintain than smaller tanks, which are more prone to chemical fluctuations and accidents.
I also plan on using the Walstad soil + sand cap method and buying my tank bits separately rather than in a kit. Tank hood LEDs aren't generally strong enough to grow plants... but sunlight is! In seventh grade I maintained a perfectly OK tank for a science class with hornwort, water hyacinth, and one feeder goldfish. Admittedly the goldfish never got a water change (I was doing it wrong :( ) but he survived until he was moved to a low-light location, at which point the plants died and the fish was soon to follow. This is relevant because sunlight is said to cause algae growth but I never experienced it in my tank. As long as I can get some fast-growing floating plants established I will be able to outcompete algae.
In other news.
The profs have delivered "glowing" praise of my thesis draft, so full steam ahead until it's all done, I guess. I must be nearly almost done now.
The new geocaching.com map shows sad faces for my DNFS so that is nice.
Entry tags:
the ground was moist and spongy
On Saturday I went geocaching on the bluffs. I climbed maybe 20 or 30m down for one of them and I thought that it wouldn't be too hard to get to the bottom. Boy was I wrong. There was a trail there, but it was slippery and smooth, down to a point where it became spongy and loose. Gross. Would not attempt again.
A few hours after that I was at the STC eating ice cream, and stopped in the Indigo pop-up. There was a security guard chewing up over the phone. "DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR CHILD IS?"
And in the corner was an unfortunately-dressed asian girl, probably 12 or 13, reading. I was like that once. A bookstore employee sat next to her.
The mum showed up.
"Oh I was only gone for half an hour or so!"
"THE BOOKSTORE EMPLOYEES SAY SHE'S BEEN THERE FOR FOUR HOURS AND WE HAVE THE SURVEILLANCE TAPES TOO"
Then she goes to the kid and tells her, in cantonese, "What did you tell them? Tell them you're fine! Did you tell them how long you were here?"
And the kid says "I don't know! I didn't say anything!"
Then the fuzz showed up and despite being all "NOBODY'S GONNA GET IN TROUBLE" I think someone probably got beat when they got home that day.
A few hours after that I was at the STC eating ice cream, and stopped in the Indigo pop-up. There was a security guard chewing up over the phone. "DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR CHILD IS?"
And in the corner was an unfortunately-dressed asian girl, probably 12 or 13, reading. I was like that once. A bookstore employee sat next to her.
The mum showed up.
"Oh I was only gone for half an hour or so!"
"THE BOOKSTORE EMPLOYEES SAY SHE'S BEEN THERE FOR FOUR HOURS AND WE HAVE THE SURVEILLANCE TAPES TOO"
Then she goes to the kid and tells her, in cantonese, "What did you tell them? Tell them you're fine! Did you tell them how long you were here?"
And the kid says "I don't know! I didn't say anything!"
Then the fuzz showed up and despite being all "NOBODY'S GONNA GET IN TROUBLE" I think someone probably got beat when they got home that day.
Dog on the tracks
Today there was a dog on the tracks at Kipling. It delayed the train for about 15 minutes while they crawled under the train and coaxed it out with biscuits.
Also, I think the dog got a guy fired by making him late for work. Literally fired by cell phone.
The dog was small and curly with black hair, anyways.
Also, I think the dog got a guy fired by making him late for work. Literally fired by cell phone.
The dog was small and curly with black hair, anyways.
Riverdale and future fantasy aquariums
Riverdale aired its season finale on Thursday. That was some fantastic trash! I'm kinda excited it'll be returning in September but most of the actors are 20+, how many seasons will Riverdale have before the actors start getting Glee syndrome?
Also, this deleted scene... OMG I'm so glad they didn't keep it, but I wish it had popped up in a previous episode!
Also my thesis is like 23000 words long and I'm very happy that the finish line is in sight now, though I had to reestimate all my models again on Wednesday, but I've been much happier ever since I took out SVMs. They took 10x longer to estimate than all my other models put together.
Also, I want an aquarium. Thinking 15-20g with Java moss, some anubias, a Java fern, a betta, and 6-8 pygmy corys. Ah, but I killed my hornwort in 7th grade, so what do I know?
Also, this deleted scene... OMG I'm so glad they didn't keep it, but I wish it had popped up in a previous episode!
Also my thesis is like 23000 words long and I'm very happy that the finish line is in sight now, though I had to reestimate all my models again on Wednesday, but I've been much happier ever since I took out SVMs. They took 10x longer to estimate than all my other models put together.
Also, I want an aquarium. Thinking 15-20g with Java moss, some anubias, a Java fern, a betta, and 6-8 pygmy corys. Ah, but I killed my hornwort in 7th grade, so what do I know?
I went to a wedding
Justin's brother got married on Saturday.
I cried during the ceremony.
And I danced during the reception.
I thought it was important to mention that part because the boozahol had worn off that point but it was the first time I'd danced like that in 7 years.
I cried during the ceremony.
And I danced during the reception.
I thought it was important to mention that part because the boozahol had worn off that point but it was the first time I'd danced like that in 7 years.
the vending machine
Last week all the snacks were replaced with Munchies snack mix and the bottom flap told me to smoke weed everyday.
Also, Bioshock Infinite was not the game I needed to play last week. Its themes of american exceptionalism and nationalism are, how say, a lot more relevant now than they were in 2013. And I already knew the ending but this time I found it impossibly hopeless and demoralizing because sometimes things never change.
Also, Bioshock Infinite was not the game I needed to play last week. Its themes of american exceptionalism and nationalism are, how say, a lot more relevant now than they were in 2013. And I already knew the ending but this time I found it impossibly hopeless and demoralizing because sometimes things never change.
There are a million million worlds. All different and all similar. Constants and variables. There's always a lighthouse. There's always a man, there's always a city... I can see them through the doors. You...me, Columbia, Songbird... But sometimes, something's different...yet the same.
Entry tags:
More reasons to be sad
- The neighbour cut down their tree in the front yard. There was nothing wrong with it. They just didn't want the roots creating lumps in the driveway.
- Gotta socialize at an industry mixer today. I don't really want to...
- Need to write several pages about machine learning techniques. I'm not qualified to do that. Profs should have hired a fourth-rate CS grad student instead.
- Reyes Vidal.
- Gotta socialize at an industry mixer today. I don't really want to...
- Need to write several pages about machine learning techniques. I'm not qualified to do that. Profs should have hired a fourth-rate CS grad student instead.
- Reyes Vidal.
R
The PNN package for R is a bad package that only works sometimes even if NOTHING HAS CHANGED between runs (potential troubleshooting nightmare) and I am sad
I think I'll use decision trees and KNN instead
I don't understand support vector machines though which also makes me sad
Life is hard and full of pain
--
I think I'll use decision trees and KNN instead
I don't understand support vector machines though which also makes me sad
Life is hard and full of pain
--
Last month
- I went to Cuba and burned the skin on my face off. It was great! Maybe pictures up eventually.
- I installed ~55 Skyrim mods (including Requiem) and have been playing since.
- Today, we met one of Justin's college friends for dinner. It turned out to be a pyramid scheme. I am sad, because she did seem like a lovely person until she started talking about finance and self-employment and I realized that when she asked, "Where do you see yourself in five years?" she wasn't looking for an answer like "on the couch eating dinner, with a cat."
- I think "Call Your Girlfriend" is officially my least favourite song. I hate the condescending tone, the attempt to rationalize that everything is OK, and the lie that she cares. Girl, you know what was gonna happen when you did it... and you did it anyways. You don't really give a shit about her feelings. You care about damage control. Is this song supposed to invoke disgust? But what makes it my least favourite song is that I like the beat and the production. What a fucking waste. Robyn is great. Who green-lit this?
- I installed ~55 Skyrim mods (including Requiem) and have been playing since.
- Today, we met one of Justin's college friends for dinner. It turned out to be a pyramid scheme. I am sad, because she did seem like a lovely person until she started talking about finance and self-employment and I realized that when she asked, "Where do you see yourself in five years?" she wasn't looking for an answer like "on the couch eating dinner, with a cat."
- I think "Call Your Girlfriend" is officially my least favourite song. I hate the condescending tone, the attempt to rationalize that everything is OK, and the lie that she cares. Girl, you know what was gonna happen when you did it... and you did it anyways. You don't really give a shit about her feelings. You care about damage control. Is this song supposed to invoke disgust? But what makes it my least favourite song is that I like the beat and the production. What a fucking waste. Robyn is great. Who green-lit this?
Entry tags:
What I did in the last few weeks
- Got into an argument about fanfiction. Key points:
-- All fanfiction is inherently masturbatory! (A lot stuff is at least a bit self-indulgent or author appeal...)
-- Canon is canon and it's kind of blasphemous to suggest otherwise. E.g. it's a core part of Hermione's personality that she is a heterosexual female. it's a core part of Harry's character that he ends up with Ginny and not, say, Draco. (Alright, but is it so wrong to want to explore the what-ifs?)
-- Anything that deviates significantly from canon (e.g. Zombie AU) should be published as original fiction anyways. (But part of the fun is in seeing what changed... Also, does that make the Riverdale TV show and Afterlife with Archie fit in? As sort of a spin-off? Is it not fanfiction because the authors are getting paid to explore alternate continuities?)
-- Clearly this is a very personal topic for me so I ended up crying and I guess I won't be showing my face around those parties anymore :(
- Got sick. Got better.
- Didn't fill out my script for traveler's shits.
- My IUD renewal is coming up this year. I'm sure it's also the cause of my recurrent, annoying, and mostly-under-control BV. But my IUD has also lightened up my cramps significantly (I don't need the advil anymore) and doubled my cycle length. Also, I'm afraid birth control pills or the implant will make me fat and sad. Yesterday, Sami told a story about how his parents sent him 8 white dress shirts to show their love from Bangladesh and it was so cute I cried. Today, a fellow TA said that her mom was a math teacher and used to cry when she got bad marks in math and it was cute and I cried.
-- Potato volunteered to help pay for it if I didn't have any insurance when I made the appointment (sweet of him) but I will be covered by the university's plan until September.
-- All fanfiction is inherently masturbatory! (A lot stuff is at least a bit self-indulgent or author appeal...)
-- Canon is canon and it's kind of blasphemous to suggest otherwise. E.g. it's a core part of Hermione's personality that she is a heterosexual female. it's a core part of Harry's character that he ends up with Ginny and not, say, Draco. (Alright, but is it so wrong to want to explore the what-ifs?)
-- Anything that deviates significantly from canon (e.g. Zombie AU) should be published as original fiction anyways. (But part of the fun is in seeing what changed... Also, does that make the Riverdale TV show and Afterlife with Archie fit in? As sort of a spin-off? Is it not fanfiction because the authors are getting paid to explore alternate continuities?)
-- Clearly this is a very personal topic for me so I ended up crying and I guess I won't be showing my face around those parties anymore :(
- Got sick. Got better.
- Didn't fill out my script for traveler's shits.
- My IUD renewal is coming up this year. I'm sure it's also the cause of my recurrent, annoying, and mostly-under-control BV. But my IUD has also lightened up my cramps significantly (I don't need the advil anymore) and doubled my cycle length. Also, I'm afraid birth control pills or the implant will make me fat and sad. Yesterday, Sami told a story about how his parents sent him 8 white dress shirts to show their love from Bangladesh and it was so cute I cried. Today, a fellow TA said that her mom was a math teacher and used to cry when she got bad marks in math and it was cute and I cried.
-- Potato volunteered to help pay for it if I didn't have any insurance when I made the appointment (sweet of him) but I will be covered by the university's plan until September.
Entry tags:
- !fan,
- !rl,
- dragon age,
- uni
Things I am doing this week, in order of increasing enjoyability
- Making the training set for my thesis work :(
- Finishing the minor revisions on That One Paper (... There is only one paper)
- Finishing Adam's X-Wing (why won't he try it himself?)
- Visiting Justin and eating Justin's food
- Betaing a Solas/Trevelyan kinkmene fill (It's going to be, like, 10000 words long and it's really good so far!)
- Climbing into probably some SEWER TUNNELS to get a D5/T5 geocache!
- Finishing the minor revisions on That One Paper (... There is only one paper)
- Finishing Adam's X-Wing (why won't he try it himself?)
- Visiting Justin and eating Justin's food
- Betaing a Solas/Trevelyan kinkmene fill (It's going to be, like, 10000 words long and it's really good so far!)
- Climbing into probably some SEWER TUNNELS to get a D5/T5 geocache!
The second reviewer
My paper is mostly accepted after some major revisions (but this time with minor revisions, due in mid-february) and one of the comments included:
The authors did a truly magnificent job in taking so many referee comments into account, and I am completely satisfied that the revised paper is now ready for publication in [journal], indeed as soon as possible. All of the reservations I had on my first review have been extremely well handled by the revisions in this new version. Thus, I strongly recommend publication, as this will be a very useful and interesting review of the [XYZ] literature. And this is a topic that is becoming more and more important [for XYZ reasons]. Many thanks to the authors for having done a truly superb job in making the revisions, and providing such detailed, easy to read responses to all the referee comments. Full speed ahead, as far as I'm concerned. A very good and important review that is sure to be cited often by others.And then all my coauthors said that they had never seen such a glowing second reviewer comment before. So I was very happy, although I still need to do a bit more to address another issue.
School
Last Tuesday I made it to a local newspaper. So that's my 15 minutes of fame there.
Then during the weekend I lay in bed a lot and enjoyed the shit out of the Obsidian Mountain trilogy. I think it's her best series. The characters seem to spend half their time drinking tea and I still wish it was a septology instead. Because, really, one year isn't a lot time of work oneself up an Elven military hierarchy and rally the combined armies of the Light, Knight-mage or not. I'm also a little surprised that there is no map of the world in the book.
Today, I realized that, somehow, my MASC payments had been screwed up - in that I was not getting the RAship payments I should be getting. So I'm dealing with that. And travel vaccinations. Those are expensive.
Then during the weekend I lay in bed a lot and enjoyed the shit out of the Obsidian Mountain trilogy. I think it's her best series. The characters seem to spend half their time drinking tea and I still wish it was a septology instead. Because, really, one year isn't a lot time of work oneself up an Elven military hierarchy and rally the combined armies of the Light, Knight-mage or not. I'm also a little surprised that there is no map of the world in the book.
Today, I realized that, somehow, my MASC payments had been screwed up - in that I was not getting the RAship payments I should be getting. So I'm dealing with that. And travel vaccinations. Those are expensive.
Books!
Sooo for my birthday I woke up at 9AM and went downtown to do a photoshoot for the news article of sadness. Afterwards I told my prof that my chances of doing a phd were about the same as dropping everything and becoming a carpenter and that the odds were not looking good either way. I also said that if I really wanted to do a phd I would not do it on the topic I was working on last winter. I think he took it fine, I guess?
There was a used book shop nearby so I went and bought some books too.
I don't think it's bad necessarily but i am an unadventurous reader and my taste hasn't really changed since high school. I found I liked certain authors and series and genres and haven't been bothered to diversify since, partially because books are expensive new and I don't hang around the library like I used to.
But the ones I did buy, I've always loved. I couldn't find Medalon to complete the Demon Child trilogy. It would be about 8CAD to get a used matching edition online for completions sake (because I do like books 2 and 3 better).
Other books I'm on the lookout for whenever I step into a used bookshop or thrift shop:
( summary of some other things i did in the last couple weeks )
There was a used book shop nearby so I went and bought some books too.
I don't think it's bad necessarily but i am an unadventurous reader and my taste hasn't really changed since high school. I found I liked certain authors and series and genres and haven't been bothered to diversify since, partially because books are expensive new and I don't hang around the library like I used to.
But the ones I did buy, I've always loved. I couldn't find Medalon to complete the Demon Child trilogy. It would be about 8CAD to get a used matching edition online for completions sake (because I do like books 2 and 3 better).
Other books I'm on the lookout for whenever I step into a used bookshop or thrift shop:
- Medalon
- Warrior and Warlord (already own Warrior)
- Arrows of the Queen, Arrow's Flight, Arrow's Fall
( summary of some other things i did in the last couple weeks )