The Long Road

Archives: December 2003

Wednesday, December 31, 2003

Start doing cardio regularly
Bulk up to 150 lbs (8 pounds to go!)
Meet at least 1 new person a week
Become a better artist
Use my computer less
Be a better student
learn to read spanish

That's all I can think of at the moment.
Happy New Year!

Posted by Rayne @ 08:10 PM EST [Link] [9 comments]

Friday, December 26, 2003

There is a state of mind in between sleeping and awake where all my limbs and numb and my mind is clouded by a haze that keeps throughts from condensing. It isn't every night that I recognize being in this sstate, but when I do it seems like I like to linger there, to watch ideas slowly start to take form and then dissipate into nothingness before they can take shape.

In this state, I can feel all kinds of random thoughts wash over me, some more well-formed than others butnone strong enough to require conscious contemplation. It happens every once in a while that a thought creeps to the edges of my consciousness so bright that try as I might, I can't look away. Once I grab a hold of it and it grabs a hold of me, I'm dragged kicking and screaming from under the bubble of haze so my consciousness can devote itself to exploring this thought.

Everytime this happens, I'll look at the clock once the thought has run its course and find that I've lost precious hours of sleep to it.

Posted by Rayne @ 06:54 PM EST [Link] [10 comments]

Thursday, December 25, 2003

Happy Christmas!

Posted by Rayne @ 03:30 AM EST [Link]

Wednesday, December 24, 2003

Seems to me like most people hate malls during X-Mas shopping season, some people just hate malls all the time. Well, I love them! You can either choose to loathe and boycott these bastions of consumerism or, like me, choose to embrace them. In particular, malls during X-Mas are the bomb because they're open so late and if you have nothing to do, you can just go to the mall and loiter till midnight or so. When I want something, I usually know exactly what it is and just head into a store, grab, pay, and leave. But when I'm just cruising to lay down some of the money that's burning a hole in my pockets, I really enjoy walking around a mall and looking at stuff and getting tempted.

I like how you can spend a whole day in one mall looking at all the different stores with their similar yet slightly different products, and being able to grab something to eat if you're hungry without going outside into the cold. I like how I'll always inevitably run into someone I know but don't keep in touch with and small talk to them without making any kind of commitment. I like seeing all these great deals everywhere and knowing that in a few days when everyone's bought what they have to buy, prices will be even lower. I like contemplating whether or not to buy something for myself and then asking if I REALLY need it or not, and then buying it regadless!

Now if only they could do something about those long lines and that dreadful music.

Posted by Rayne @ 02:33 AM EST [Link] [1 Comment]

Saturday, December 20, 2003

At the risk of offending some people’s semantics, the Lord of the Rings is the best trilogy of films ever made.

The battle of Pelennor Fields seemed like it came out of nowhere, I wasn’t quite expecting it to happen so soon. In TTT, the battle for Helm’s Deep took a very long time to build up; there was so much suspense and anxiety that when it finally came it was a huge relief. They obviously can’t do that same build up twice though since it would be extremely redundant in a 12 hour viewing. The battle itself was fantastic. Never has there been a battle so large and so well realized in any movie. The standoff at The Black Gates seemed very small in comparison to the Battle of Pelennor Fields, almost anti-climactic.

What’s wrong with humans and not being able to win any battles on their own? At Helm’s Deep, they were saved by the elves, Pelennor Fields by ghosts, and at the Black Gate by Hobbits. So useless.

Weta really outdid itself again on the effects. They have definitely become the best effects house around. Better than ILM and Digital Domain. The giant orc and human armies were absolutely seamless. Gollum is the best looking CG character yet. Gollum’s believability would make or break these films and it shows that the filmmakers knew that from the very beginning. All the CG creatures were really well done as well, from the Fell Beasts, to the oliphaunts, the giant spider, and ogres. The only effects shot that looked obviously fake was the one where Legolas mounted an oliphaunt to kill it. It was still a great scene though! “Legolas, see that thousand ton beast over there with dozens of men on its back? Take care of it” and Legolas just sorta shrugs and goes off to do it.

Sam didn’t have a “I’ll make you cry, if that’s the last thing I do” speech this time, but I think, more than Frodo, Sam is fo’sho the hero of the story. Frodo wouldn’t have gotten very far if it wasn’t for Sam.

Minas Tirith was such a beautiful creation; it looked a lot like Thomas Moore’s Utopia. After he got out of his Ranger outfit, Aragorn had the best looking costumes in the whole movie.

Though the ending(s) was very long, I wish there was a bit more to it, we never get to see goodbyes from Legolas or Gimli, which would have been nice. Maybe in the extended edition. I think Stephen cried at the end.

For three years now we’ve had a Rings movie to look forward to and now that we’ve seen the end, left the characters for good it feels a little strange. I’d like to see more. Know more about the world they live in, the background of their lives, what happens to them afterwards. I guess I’ll have to finally read the books, but not for a while. I’ll have to not have the movies so fresh in my memory first.

Overall, I think I liked The Two Towers most out of the trilogy. It felt the most complete of the three; it had a really nice build-up, an exciting climax and a denouement. Fellowship seemed way too slow and I only appreciated it after having seen the extended edition. But really, picking a favorite out of these three films seems a little pointless since they are made to be one film.

I hope there’ll be more movies like this made but the odds of that happening are so low. We’ll never see another studio give a talented director 300 million dollars and stay out of his way. The convergence of such great scripts, actors, direction, visual effects, and the fact that no one messed it up on the way to the final product is so unlikely that we should be happy that it’s happened at all. We’ll be very lucky if we ever see another movie of this grandeur and scope again. Like the passing of the elves, the end of Return of the King really feels like the end of an era.

Posted by Rayne @ 05:17 AM EST [Link] [25 comments]

Friday, December 19, 2003

Thoughts on 24, The Simple Life and Survivor.
This is the last installment of this weekly "feature" for at least the next 2 weeks as I'll be home where the cable isn't.

[more]

Posted by Rayne @ 09:03 PM EST [Link] [2 comments]

It didn’t feel all that great right after the 370 exam, not because I didn’t do well it just hadn’t totally sunk in that it was the last exam. It’s never really that great of a relief to finish your last exam anyways. When I really felt it though was when I woke up on Thursday around 2:30 and realized that I had absolutely nothing that I HAD to do. I could choose, for the first time in a very long time, to lie in bed for as long as I wanted and not feel a single ounce of guilt about it. At all. A totally unmatched sensation. I look forward to about two more weeks of this.

I found out something that I’ve been somewhat dreading (and wanting, oddly enough) to confirm yesterday. All the clues had been pointing to it so I knew to expect it but it’s always hard to predict how you’ll react to something like this. So I asked, got my answer and it didn’t affect me near as much as I thought it would have. Good.

Posted by Rayne @ 04:26 AM EST [Link] [3 comments]

Thursday, December 18, 2003

Well, that was that. 3b CS come and gone or at least I hope it’s gone. I’m still holding onto the thought that I may be one of those few unfortunate 17 people who failed cs341. As I have mentioned in a post or two previously, this term has definitely been the most difficult one yet and has most likely shot my 4 term streak of increasing averages to bits and pieces.

All this because of cs341 which had the toughest material, toughest assignments, toughest midterm, AND toughest final I have ever seen. It seems like quite a few others have felt the same way based on the large amount of complaining and discussion on the course newsgroup.

Anyways, exams are the bane of my, and your, existence. Not only are they incredibly high-pressure situations but a bad exam can throw off a whole term’s worth of good marks and a good exam can negate little-to-no work done for the course. Then there’s also the fact that most students have learnt to “study to the exam”. Just look at old exams, memorize some of the problems you’ve done on your assignments and hope that those same problems will show up on the exam you’re writing. More often than not, this seems to work because there’re only a limited number of questions they can ask based on the material that was taught. So really, get lucky enough and you don’t have to know any of the concepts behind your classes, just memorize some meaningless facts and write ‘em down. So much of an exam is based on luck, like if you did a practice question that gets asked again, or if you happen go to a review session where an exam question happens to be taken up and you happen to bring that solution in on your fact sheet. There must be a better way to assign marks, just seems like no one’s found one yet. I was about to say something about NP-complete with regards to that…oh well.

Posted by Rayne @ 04:04 AM EST [Link] [8 comments]

Wednesday, December 17, 2003

Everybody cheer!

Posted by Rayne @ 09:54 PM EST [Link] [7 comments]

Monday, December 15, 2003

I would:

Invest at least 200 000$
Pay off my parents’ mortgage
Get a nice yet reasonable car, like a Corvette
Buy a room full of comics
Have an amazing home theater in my basement
Own all seven seasons of DS9 on DVD
Take separate groups of friends on trips through Europe, Asia, and South America
Go on a cruise
Eat out at fancy French restaurants constantly
Get no-limit air miles credit card and rack up a ridiculously large amount of points
Own enough clothes to do laundry only once a month
Have someone else do my laundry
Sit at the high-rollers’ table for 30 minutes
Purchase an insane computer with something like 9 LCD monitors. Use said computer for instant messaging and web-browsing
Burn a thousand-dollar bill
Buy a 1000$ lotto 6/49 ticket to see the look on the girl's face
Be even MORE materialistic
Hire a personal trainer
Say “have your people call my people” and mean it
Own one of every game console ever made – and maybe some games
Throw my weight around
Always win at Monopoly
Contemplate if having a million dollars makes one happier and tell you the answer
Still not buy music
Imitate certain rich people by denying my wealth and lamenting about how financially downtrodden I am
Buy your love

Posted by Rayne @ 06:13 AM EST [Link] [18 comments]

Sunday, December 14, 2003

Guest Column by someone else who whishes to remain anonymous. It's a little different this time as its a paper.

Got something to say? Email me and I'll put it up next Sunday.

[more]

Posted by Rayne @ 06:14 PM EST [Link] [3 comments]

Friday, December 12, 2003

Thoughts on this week's Survivor, Twenty-Four, and The Simple Life.
Lots of spoilers.

I also started getting into some DS9 again this week, it is such a wonderfully good show. Brings back great memories. [more]

Posted by Rayne @ 06:44 PM EST [Link] [1 Comment]

Thursday, December 11, 2003

There’s just no arguing with some people. Some people are just so absolutely convinced of their positions, whether they know what they’re talking about or whether you know what you’re talking about, that any kind of argument beyond smiling and nodding is meaningless. These are the same people who instinctively think that being louder also makes what they’re saying right. What’s the point of talking to someone who’s either yelling at you or thinking about how good their argument sounded?

My reaction tends to be backing off, basking in my own right-ness, nodding and smiling while quietly laughing inside because there’s not much else to do in such a situation. Unless you’ve got some kind of paper signed by The Pope, The President, The Dean and God himself you’ll never convince this person of your correctness, and even then they’ll make up something about how they were almost right or close to right or could have been right had such and such been some other way. These people don’t eat crow very well.

I try to never raise my voice in an argument because to me that’s like stooping to the lowest common denominator but at the same time it’s really hard to not sound like you’re losing when the other person’s so loud. Even when I have a vested interest in winning an argument I always find it’s not worth it and simply assume that whoever’s listening will have enough common sense to know that I’m right and the other person is wrong. Of course this never works out because my Number One rule always holds true: People are Stupid.

Anyways, one day I’m certain I’ll run into someone who’ll think my dad’s name is Bob and try as I might, I’ll never be able to convince him/her otherwise because they know better. When that day comes, I’ll nod and smile and run to the nearest internet terminal and write about it.

Posted by Rayne @ 09:57 PM EST [Link] [3 comments]

Wednesday, December 10, 2003

I was never an active kid. Didn’t play sports, was generally lazy and TV-bound. All that inactivity has really caught up because not long ago I realized how much weaker I was than most people and that I couldn’t run for any significant amount of time – a typical CS student. I don’t remember what exactly was the catalyst for it, but I started to do a bit of exercise regularly at the PAC back in 3A; it was just mostly upper body weight lifting. By the end of the term I was going 3 days a week come wind, rain, hail, fire, and even exams. Exercise is a great way to relief stress and to get your mind off things like Finals for an hour or so.

The interesting thing is that as I worked out more, I added more and more exercises to my routine. I began doing sit-ups and back exercises which have now become a permanent staple. One of my biggest fears is one day be middle aged with a big gut hanging over my pants. My goal is to eventually have Brad Pitt like abs, but right now I’m somewhere between that and…not that. During the summer I began to jog on off-days but I pretty much gave that up when the (school) shit started hitting the fan in late October. I plan on resuming some form of cardiovascular exercise during the winter term and I’ve already begun doing lower body exercises as well as upper body.

What’s strangest I find is that I now care about what it is I’m eating. I’m not yet to the point where I’ll not eat something unhealthy that’s put in front of me, but I’m actively looking at what I’m eating and going for healthier options if they're available.

Anyways, the point is you don’t get enough exercise. If all you do is walk to and from school everyday then you’re in sore need of some kind of physical activity. If I, a 3B CS student can find 4 hours a week to go to the gym then so can you. So go out and start small and I’m certain that if you’re dedicated enough to exercise until you notice some improvement, you’ll want to do more and more exercise and one day your body will thank you for it. Just don’t jog, one day your body will curse you for it if you start jogging.

Posted by Rayne @ 09:07 PM EST [Link] [12 comments]

Monday, December 8, 2003

Web logs are nice. They allow you to voice your opinions, thoughts, fears, and feelings to those who will listen. They’re a place to vent all your frustrations or announce what great news you have, to write indiscriminately for and to yourself. Ay, but there’s the rub! People read each other’s web logs so there should always be some prudence to what it is you decide to write down. There are some things that should definitely stay out of a public forum.

Grievances against your friends should fo'sho stay offline, especially if you’ve never brought it up to them in person. Its okay if you’re complaining about someone you don’t care about and who’ll never read your web lob in the first place. Your friends; however should be afforded a little more discretion. Airing dirty laundry you have with one of your friends for others to judge this person is not nice. They have no way to defend themselves and it is probably the first time they even realize that such issues even exist. Some people like to have their entire lives detailed out somewhere and that’s fine but not everyone likes to see that things they’ve done will be known to everyone, especially if these things could give people a negative opinion of him/her.

Posted by Rayne @ 10:33 PM EST [Link] [2 comments]

Friday, December 5, 2003

Thoughts on this week’s episodes of 24 and Survivor.

Enterprise and Smallville are both on an 8 week hiatus, so instead you get to read about the wonderful Paris Hilton Show aka The Simple Life.

here's [more]

Posted by Rayne @ 07:24 PM EST [Link] [7 comments]

Thursday, December 4, 2003

Its that time of year again when every is scrambling to find the True Spirit of Christmas by receiving things they've always wanted.

Through the power of the Internet, I've decided to make it easier on everyone and compiled a nice list (in XML, just because) of everything I would like to get under the X-Mas tree this December 25th.

Here then is my wishlist and my unending list of wanted comics.

Posted by Rayne @ 06:18 PM EST [Link]

Wednesday, December 3, 2003

There's something I've been thinking about lately and I think I've finally found a way to say it without giving too much away. So here goes.

Reality: 010
Desire: 011 || 000

Posted by Rayne @ 11:43 PM EST [Link] [7 comments]

Tuesday, December 2, 2003

Snow. Snow is so cool, its like a magical substance that falls from the sky every year at that time when snow is supposed to come down. Rain and hail are cool, but not MAGICAL. Rain is just evaporated water that's condensed in the clouds and hail is frozen rain...but snow, I have no clue how snow works. Snow is like magic to me and I'd much rather have it that way. I love going to sleep one night with the world looking normal and waking up the next morning (ie: afternoon) to see everything covered in a beautiful layer of pure white.

Snow makes me want to go run outside not wearing a jacket and roll around on the ground, build forts, throw snowballs and come back in shivering with a mug of hot chocolate. I haven't done any of that in a long time but sometimes the desire to do it is still there.

Snow brings up wonderful visions of being curled up in a blanker beside a fireplace with a good book or chatting with others because its too cold to go outside.

Snow also brings back memories of ski trips with my friends which I haven't gone on in a LONG time. Its been years since I've gone skiing, I think I'll definately try to go once or twice this year if I can. Hopefully I remember how and knees and ankles will be able to take the strain!

More than anything, I think snow reminds me of school being closed and long lazy mornings lying in bed doing nothing. Ah, those are always good memories.

Posted by Rayne @ 02:44 PM EST [Link] [5 comments]

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