Cranky. Old. Man?

So, I wanted to do some stuff for three_weeks_for_dw, but since work is MAD BUSY and I've been entering lots of data into spreadsheets (if my job is anything it is extremely varying work, because we are a small company, so sometimes I have grunt work, but so does everyone) I'm just going to do a couple entries here and there!

Since I'm currently designing some teaching points for our game (that are used outside of the game narrative and just using the mechanics), I thought, "hey, how about I talk about some things I'm trying to help teach kids". This particular project is very dear to me, because it's teaching engineering skills in particular. So I'm going to talk about the very fundamental basis of engineering work here. I'm sure a lot of you, since you're somewhere near or above my age have a good grasp, but I like explaining things. XD

( let's talk about problem solving )

If there are any other subjects related engineering, science, gaming, or education that you'd like me to ramble about, explain, or given an opinion of, feel free to let me know. If I have no idea about something, I'll opt out, unless it's quick research or I can find something I know that is close. XD I like rambling about these things and don't often have the opportunity to outside of work, or a bar.

But a fun Monday, for the most part. Prolly because I haven't gotten all my test scores back yet. XD

So things!

- Yuletide signups! I participated for the first time last year, and ah, all my prompts got filled (because I'm awesome) and I got write something I was totally unprepared for, but it still turned out a little awesome. So I offered more this year (mostly movies... I watch too many movies) and requested some really random stuff. So we'll see!

- Failed my math test. Well. I'm still not entirely fucked, considering that I might have a few more points I can talk the prof into for a D. Which is better. I hate math. All I need to do is pass and I can be done with it. Oy.

- It's warm! WONDERFULLY WARM. I am all dapper to match the wonderfulness of the warm.

- I'm attempting to keep up with some level of readingness, so when I found an mp3 of the audiobook for The Perks of Being a Wallflower I decided to download it. I'll link anyone else who's interested.

- I am debating whether or not to review several albums that have come into my possession recently. I mean, my opinion is just one thing. Hrm. Oh, well, if you want to skip over them, you can, I suppose.

- I have gathered stuff for several of the tiny packages I'm sending out to people! Which is excellent. I should have everything together soon, depending on how school treats me.

- Home of my Nano project. Which as I mentioned before isn't a story in any traditional sense, but an epic poem. Because I'm weird like that.

- I have awesome instrumental music to go with my poem. I don't know why this is so exciting, but it is.

Word Count: N/A!
Outline Quality: Uh, sorta have an outline. I suppose it's somewhat useful.

Scene Worked On Most Recently: I: Thelonius II, Pawn of Black
Scene to be Worked On Next: The end of this "scene" and then II: Sela, Bishop of White
"Research" of the Day: I had to recall a specific chess move or two, so ended up reading too much. XD
Quote of the Day:
Pike in hand, he marches with the sons and daughters
Peasant-folk of sturdy character
Laid down their plows and their trowels
To sharpen axes instead.
Novel Poem I Think I'm Unconsciously Channeling In Terms Of Style And Exposition: "The Waste Land" by T.S. Eliot, or probably some Blake. I'm really into them. XD

Character I'm Eager to Write: The White Queen.
Character I'm Finding Difficult: No one thus far. Then again.
City Much More Lifelike Than I Expected: N/A. I haven't gotten into that yet.
Best Thing I've Been Able To Meta With Today: The nature of pawns. I think I may have to come back to them again and again, because I quite adore the pawn structure I have going.

Today's Goal: Finish Part I. I think it's doable. Particularly considering where I've left poor Thelonius II.

~Cendri

I think I've gotten back to a level of fitness. Because I just did the Engineering Lab Report Dash.

Now, the lab where I have made my home is in a building that's not my aero building. But it's not that far. Decent little walk. Takes about five minutes. Now, I had to turn in my lab report by 5:00 pm, likely before because the secretary for our department likes to close the office doors as soon as she can, because she's a lose that likes to go home early. Sure, manning a desk can be boring, but PUT IN YOUR EIGHT HOURS, DAMMIT. At least on Tuesdays.

Anyway, I just finish up, realize it's 4:50. Since I was in an engineering lab and most people wouldn't even notice I was gone, I grab my report off the printer, staple, throw it in a folder and make a mad dash out the building. I also had an umbrella because hey, lookit, IT'S RAINING.

I sprint the entire way there, through the aero building lobby (and incidentally past some kind of shindig, and I thought dressing like a ninja got me weird looks), up to the THIRD FLOOR and make it just as Cranky Secretary is locking up. She gives me a little attitude about omg, having to close up right that minute, but my lab report is safely in the drop box and I can breathe.

Oh yeah, I'm in prime condition for this. XD

Now to figure out how to grab some food and not lose my spot in lab. I think this means I'm leaving some papers here and making it look like I just went to the bathroom. Which is allowed. I think.

And today isn't even close to finished. Still got a group meeting and my aerodynamics to finish.

~Cendri

Oy... fuck math class. I'm so utterly frustrated with that BS. Someday, tests won't mean what they do and we'll find a way to honestly track understanding--because I'm not dumb, it wasn't like I didn't put the work in, I'm just really bad at tests. Thermo was around the average. Aerodynamics was just below the average. I'm alright in those classes, then. Just need to keep it up.

Haven't gotten my Dynamics test back yet, not sure if I want to. XD No, I'll find out eventually. I know the average was crappy, so chances are I'm alright.

It just pisses me off some days how much of my skills are judged by arbitrary numbers based on tests of skill that actually have nothing to do with the profession at all.

So how about some good things, to balance this out, because hell if I'm going to let this gnaw at me:

- I got behind on my Gunnerkrigg Court, due to school and just flipping very quickly through my RSS feeds, but I caught up today. GAMMA AND ZIMMY ARE BACK. They're some of my favorite minor characters from that comic, so. Also, Kat. Kat is fab. I actually can't think of anyone I don't like in that comic and the plot's continuing to be twisty without being frustratingly so. I needed that today.

- Old Man's War killed off my favorite, but I knew he was going, because of probility. Still, ;_;. I hope you get to see your constellations. I should know better than to read in the dining hall, I have a tendency of yelling at stories while I'm reading them. Way to go Scalzi, for avoiding most of what was starting to frustrate me about science fiction. Also, it's nice to mostly have characters that are mentally over sixty; the hangups of people my age and younger in narrative wear on me a little. I am not youth obsessed. I'll take an Auschenbach (sp?) over a Luke Skywalker any day.

- Got an email this morning, appears that Caricature is going in indianconundrum (well, it's getting handed to an editor at least, I think this means I'm in). And I get an illustrator (well, they all do, but my inability to draw ALWAYS makes me excited, since how I write is much like plotting out movie scenes). I've got four chapters, and judging by the release times, it'll be a while before they need any from me, so I have plenty of time to work out the issues with my Paladin chapter, etc. Considering that this was my first serious attempt at an original universe of any sort, I'm a little excited. XD I'm also freaking nervous, as generally two people read my own stuff, so.

- I need to make more time in the day so I can read more. Almost done with Mrs. Dalloway and 3/4 through Old Man's War actually finished that one, and have "Wine in the Wilderness" (that's not even a book, it's a PLAY) to finish. Plus the last half of The Time Traveler's Wife. Can't I just suspend everything so I can fucking read for a while? Honestly. Or can I just skip the next ten years and get to the good part? *sigh*

I need some more sunlight. Going outside. I'll be less bummed then.

Oh my god, my schedule next year is going to suck no matter what I do. I'm down to two lingering stupid required classes (Diff Eq II, and Thermo-fucking-dynamics), one lab (controls! :<), a propulsion requirement (also :<), and of course my senior design. The rest are "electives" which means whatever Structures or Dynamics classes I want to take that will hopefully not kill me. I may take some rocket classes just cause rocket/space dynamics is simpler than air vehicle dynamics (do you want to deal with wings or not, basically). I managed to find a Structures elective that will prolly not suck, as I've taken a class with this guy before and managed a B (which is fucking amazing in engineering for me) because he's probably the oldest guy in the department. Also that course said nothing about math. Which is good. The other elective I'm trying to take is Principles of Dynamics which translates as "wobbly things with some math!" but since I rather like that professor (he was my first Dynamics prof and I generally understood what he was about) I'm willing to give it a shot.

This is all dependent on my adviser looking at my proposed Plan of Study and telling me if I'm psycho or not. I'm trying to overload this first semester slightly to account for a possible failing of my math class (considering my track record with that, this is necessary). Since I've got so few credits left (28!!! OMG ONLY 28!!!) the worst that can happen is I go on probation again. You have to be on probation for a couple semesters before the dropping happens, so ha. Even if I got an extra semester, that ain't happening. So really, my goal is simply to pass my damn classes and see how it goes. Having a job already makes me less stressed out about this, as they honestly don't care what my graduating GPA is, merely that I do graduate. My dad recommends I do interviews at other places, as it's easier to turn down a job after an interview than for your company to suddenly go belly up and you go begging for a job. Since engineering companies are slightly bastards about GPAs these days (I'll spare you the rant about how ridiculous that is) I'm probably not likely to get many offers. But then again, I have more experience than about 85% of the department (our school is really bad at setting up co-ops and jobs). I can always tell them that I have minions at this job and they want to make an action figure of me.

Future talk is crazy, basically. I'll admit to eying certain apartment complexes near my work building, because I'm about 98% likely to keep working here, full-time, and make salary after working for about 6 months to a year. Since I don't plan on having a car (hence the eying of the apartment complexes NEARBY) or cable, or anything really besides the basic utilities and of course, internet, I might not need too much of a raise. I figure since they do seem rather enthusiastic about keeping me working here, possibly on more projects and liasonning between companies at some point that I can negotiate a good wage. I don't want to be greedy, just be able to feed myself more than ramen. XD We'll see when it comes, I guess. Main goal is to graduate school already. SIX YEARS IS ENOUGH DAMN TIME.

And this is totally why I took the summer off. Working is awesome, school, not so much. I hope I haven't gotten dumber and suddenly won't understand this stuff. There might be bugging of the few grad students I know that are crazy and hanging around the department. Also, TAs.

Oh god, I'm dreading going back already. Why am I not one of those genius kids?

~Cendri

P.S. So I stumbled upon a college forum when I was looking around for class descriptions (because course numbers change sometimes) and I came across this entry:

Fortunately, I've been accepted to [name of my school]'s First Year Engineering Program. How is it (are there lots of weeding-out classes)? IF I do plan to attend [school] this year, do you think majoring in aerospace engineering ([my school's rank]) is worth my time and money? How's majoring in aerospace engineering, in future prospect? I've heard that not many students major in aerospace during their undergraduate degree; why is this? I also have a strong desire to study business/economics but I'm not sure whether I should or not. Do you think it's wise to major in aerospace engineering for undergraduate and go to MBA after few years of experience?

Many questions but I hope you can help me out. Thanks.

And maybe this is indicative of how long I've been in school, but I laughed uncontrollably. Especially at the "there's not many in there". No, there's not many in my major because you have to be a little out of your mind. XD

P.P.S. BEHOLD A POLL! Because all the cool kids are doing it and I'm slightly bored.

Today was gorgeous, decided to put on a dress because it's never warm enough to wear a dress when I want to. XD So glad I sewed the missing buttons back on only a week ago.

So I promised a recap of the highlights from this weekend. Here goes. I'm breaking it up by section as this will be long.

( on ASN, socialization with boys, and doom )

( on antiquing, the historic downtown area, river smelling, and the best weather ever )

( on movies, or the international buffet of viewing pleasure )

tl;dr version: Drank with Aeros, have hat, watched movies. Weather is good.

Also, cool links:

- Documentary fetishism in Battlestar Galactica
- Surf Jams Joker
- Cheap goggles for steampunking

~Cendri

Did not sleep last night, slept this afternoon after class instead. I need to kick my sleeping schedule back to normal, because I haven't worked out in a couple days due to when I crash. I would like to be with the working out again! Gra. Stupid insomnia.

Results of insomnia:

- Wrote a Veld/Tifa in which Tifa meets his daughter and I play around with taboo a little.

- ICONS. Oh god, I forgot how much I loved photoshop. Some FF4, and some random silly Project Runway ones because I realized I needed some.

- Made a spoony_bards mirror on IJ, here, because I know some of you don't write on LJ anymore. I will be even lazier than Sev with it. As part of the deal, I now have a Lucrecia claim set to David Bowie's "Reality" album. XD I should know that enabling people always backfires.

- Watched half of His Girl Friday, had to stop because I went to class and then crashed.

Things still to do:

- Prelab for VB class.

- ESSAY for Dynamics class. Words cannot describe my GLEE than for an engineering class we have an ESSAY. I LOVE ESSAYS. EEEE. I'm probably typing mine, because I will likely ramble a bit, so I might share when it's done.

Alright, time to buckle down.

~Cendri

P.S. Sometime it feels as if my RSS reader is talking to me.

P.P.S. X-MEN FANS! The rumors are true.

Warmth!

Omg WARMTH!

Sure, there's still snow on the ground, and it was melting, which meant lots of puddles, and there was fog because the ground was cold, but the AIR was WARM and that's ALL THAT MATTERS. To celebrate this, I decided to wear a skirt.

Note to self: buy more high waisted skirts. Because yeah. I'm rocking this look.

I also dressed up a little more than usual because I woke up later than I intended and had to do my workout during midday break, which was starting to make me cranky, so yeah. Don't ask me why it helps, it just does. I'm foppish like that.

Also, hilarity on the track (because you go around noonish and all the treadmills are taken)! I was feeling self conscious about being the only walker on the track (as opposed to the EXTREME RUNNERS OMG), and then this incredibly old (at least he looked it) guy started snailing around. And I mean snailing. I walk fast.

But the main lesson of the day is when I get a derivation problem, if you defend your steps enough, you get lots of credit! Considering that I was making it up as I go along and hoping the math went with my semi-logical basis, this is good!

Oh, and I have Andy Hunter's Life album finally. I don't know why I didn't look for it before, considering the song "Wonderful" pops up on my Pandora playlist all the time. It's great workout music that is happy (as I realized a lot of my techno was dark and kind of defeats the sort of on crack mood you have to be in when you're working out).

Alright, dinnertime. Still have to do Monday Updates for ff_fanlisting. It's on like, all three of my reminder things, so I will not forget.

~Cendri

P.S. Also, new love, The Quantic Soul Orchestra has brought the funk back to my playlist. Never ever close down, music blogs!

P.P.S. Saw a boy today in a black shirt with white stripes and a white tie. Was half tempted to stop him and tell him how proud I was to see a boy that could dress himself, but I thought that would be weird, even for me.