Me. In abridged form.

JONSHOUSE.EXE

2008-04-26T16:27:08+01:00

Doing computer projects (known by the atrocious acronym "CATAM", Computer Aided Teaching of All Mathematics) does strange things to your mind. Much as though I find thrilling mathematical concepts such as Percolation and the Invasion process very exciting in small doses, it does get a little frustrating and makes me go a little more insane than usual. Woe betide anyone who tries to have a conversation with me when I'm in this state...

3/26/2008

(6:30:32 PM) Harry: anyway, what have you been up to?
(6:31:40 PM) JMC: CATAM
(6:31:45 PM) JMC: andre is around
(6:31:55 PM) JMC: exits are north, south and Dennis
(6:33:07 PM) Harry: go south
(6:33:34 PM) JMC: You are on the landing. There is a lot of crap from university. Exits are down, north, and south.
(6:34:10 PM) Harry: go down
(6:34:31 PM) Harry: ^o)
(6:35:22 PM) JMC: You are in the hallway. A Singaporean gentleman is sitting at his laptop playing Puzzle Pirates. He is disturbingly good at it. Exits are north, south, east, and up.
(6:36:23 PM) Harry: pick up the laptop
(6:38:20 PM) JMC: The gentleman shouts, "Scandalous! Get out of my shop!". He is visibly irritated.
(6:39:32 PM) Harry: give him back his laptop
(6:40:03 PM) JMC: He smiles and continues thrashing some poor people at Spades.
(6:40:49 PM) Harry: look around
(6:42:04 PM) JMC: You are in the hallway. North is a kitchen, however it appears there is not much food as the parents of this house are on holiday, and the students remaining are fending for themselves. East is a computer room. South is a lounge. West is the door to the house.
(6:42:19 PM) JMC: There are shoes here, and a Singaporean gentleman sitting at a laptop.
(6:42:40 PM) JMC: Two people walk in and go up the stairs.
(6:44:00 PM) JMC: One you recognise as Nikki Cairns, the other is her boyfriend Dave Mills
(6:44:57 PM) Harry: isn't he foreign secretary?
(6:45:07 PM) Harry: no, sorry, that's milliband
(6:45:12 PM) JMC: ^o)
(6:45:20 PM) Harry: pick up the Singaporean gentleman
(6:46:03 PM) JMC: He is not interested in you, despite your best efforts to flirt with him.
(6:46:56 PM) Harry: go upstairs
(6:47:06 PM) JMC: You are on the landing. Exits are north and south
(6:47:11 PM) Harry: go south
(6:47:27 PM) JMC: It is dark in Steve's room. You are likely to be eaten by a Grue.
(6:47:36 PM) Harry: turn the light on
(6:47:52 PM) JMC: The light is broken, but you can see the dim glow of a computer.
(6:48:04 PM) Harry: examine the computer
(6:48:48 PM) JMC: This computer has nothing on it except Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and some terrible Nightwish music. The music taste is bitter in your mouth.
(6:49:03 PM) JMC: You see a metre rule.
(6:50:17 PM) Harry: pick up metre rule
(6:50:51 PM) JMC: It's The Stick!! You rub it on your foot for good measure, before putting it in your inventory. Thankfully Steve is out or you'd be shot by now.
(6:51:06 PM) Harry: look around
(6:52:21 PM) JMC: It is really, really dark. You hear a Grue approaching. Exits are North, and Death.
(6:53:07 PM) Harry: exit north, exit north!!!
(6:53:24 PM) JMC: You exit north!!!!!!!
(6:53:48 PM) JMC: You are on the landing. There is still loads of crap from university. I think some of it is alive. Exits are down, north, and south.
(6:53:59 PM) Harry: i need to go eat now
(6:54:01 PM) Harry: can I save?
(6:54:10 PM) JMC: Filename:
(6:54:20 PM) Harry: harry1.sav
(6:54:33 PM) JMC: Save successful.
(6:54:38 PM) Harry: exit
(6:54:55 PM) JMC: Thanks for playing Jonathan's House!
(6:55:00 PM) JMC: I need to get out more.
(6:55:06 PM) JMC: Have fun eating your food
(7:45:02 PM) Harry: C:\JONHOUSE.EXE
(7:51:21 PM) JMC: TADA!!!
(7:51:27 PM) JMC: Welcome to Jonathan's House!
(7:51:33 PM) Harry: load harry1.sav
(7:51:44 PM) JMC: You are on the landing. There is still loads of crap from university. I think some of it is alive. Exits are down, north, and south.
(7:52:07 PM) Harry: go north
(7:53:03 PM) JMC: You are in Jonathan's i.e. your room. There is a computer here, and various CATAM printouts on the bed.
(7:53:30 PM) Harry: pick up CATAM printouts
(7:53:41 PM) JMC: OK. They are incredibly boring.
(7:53:59 PM) Harry: eat CATAM printouts
(7:54:16 PM) JMC: Mmmm! Delicious. And much better than your cooking.
(7:54:25 PM) JMC: Level Up!
(7:54:30 PM) Harry:
(7:54:38 PM) JMC: You now have a geekiness rating of 57.
(7:54:50 PM) JMC: due to your increased maths content
(7:55:01 PM) Harry: look around
(7:55:37 PM) JMC: There is a computer here. CDs abound. There is a bed and a bedside table. Exit is South.
(7:55:53 PM) Harry: exit south
(7:57:11 PM) JMC: You're on the landing.
(7:57:30 PM) Harry: go down
(7:58:13 PM) JMC: You're in the hallway. The Singaporean gentlemen is sending people strange links over MSN. Exit north, south, or east.
(7:59:02 PM) JMC: He hands you a bridge book.
(7:59:12 PM) Harry: rickroll the Singaporean gentleman
(8:01:51 PM) JMC: You do so and wait for a response...
(8:02:07 PM) Harry: go north
(8:03:33 PM) JMC: You are in the kitchen. Something is cooking in the oven. Nikki and Dave are making a cake.
(8:04:27 PM) Harry: does the cake have any connection to the something cooking in the oven?
(8:05:04 PM) JMC: Nah.
(8:05:26 PM) Harry: talk to the cake
(8:05:38 PM) JMC: The cake makes idle chat with you.
(8:05:53 PM) JMC: The singaporean gentleman sends you this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbaTur4A1OU [youtube.com]
(8:07:01 PM) Harry: pick up the cake
(8:07:53 PM) JMC: You have a cake. Nikki and Dave look incredibly annoyed.
(8:10:18 PM) Harry: take out The Stick
(8:16:52 PM) Harry: ...
(8:23:49 PM) JMC: The game is a bit laggy
(8:23:53 PM) JMC: You take out the Stick.
(8:23:58 PM) JMC: Nikki and Dave cower in fear.
(8:24:03 PM) Harry: aw
(8:24:13 PM) Harry: return the cake to them
(8:24:26 PM) Harry: open the oven?
(8:25:44 PM) JMC: You open the oven. It's very hot. Inside is a roasting dish.
(8:26:01 PM) Harry: poke dish with The Stick
(8:26:14 PM) JMC: That was exciting.
(8:27:45 PM) JMC: The dodgy microwave, having been left open so long, microwaves you to death.
YOU ARE DEAD
(8:28:02 PM) JMC: Score: 2 + i /100 + 100i
(8:28:17 PM) JMC: At death you were carrying: the Stick, a mobile phone, and a cake.
(8:29:31 PM) JMC: look, I can't let you take the dish! then we'd have nothing to eat!
(8:29:52 PM) JMC: andre and I are going to play Starcraft so I may be a bit inactive
(8:31:41 PM) Harry: fair enough
(8:31:42 PM) Harry: enjoy
(8:32:21 PM) JMC:

3/27/2008

(8:11:33 PM) Harry:
(8:12:09 PM) JMC: poke!
(8:12:10 PM) JMC: poke!
(8:12:11 PM) JMC: poke!
(8:12:13 PM) JMC: muahahaaha
(8:13:23 PM) Harry: *cowers*
(8:13:30 PM) Harry: C:\JONHOUSE.EXE
(8:15:10 PM) JMC: lol
(8:15:23 PM) JMC: this could be difficult while I'm playing bridge
(8:15:34 PM) Harry: ok, never mind
(8:15:47 PM) JMC: You are at a computer, playing bridge. Exits are: Real life, or more bridge
(8:15:54 PM) Harry: more bridge
(8:18:51 PM) JMC: You play more bridge. You make an atrocious bid. A cry can be heard from the Singaporean gentleman downstairs.
(8:21:37 PM) Harry: go to Real Life
(8:23:14 PM) JMC: You get up from the computer. There is a computer here. And half-done CATAM. There is no food. You cry.
(8:24:03 PM) Harry: use Stiff Upper Lip
(8:27:19 PM) JMC: You regain composure, damnit. There is still no food around. But there is a police report on your computer.
(8:28:07 PM) Harry: read police report
(8:32:40 PM) JMC: There are two. One describes a man of Chinese ethnicity who is 5'8", and the other a British man who is 6'4"
(8:33:03 PM) Harry: read about the british man
(8:35:20 PM) JMC: He was wearing black coat, black trousers and had mousey brown hair when stopped.
(8:35:47 PM) Harry: read about the chinese man
(8:38:54 PM) JMC: He was wearing blue tracksuits and a blue fleece top. He was also carrying a teddy bear.
(8:39:19 PM) Harry: look around you
(8:39:56 PM) JMC: Other stuff in the room includes a phone, various CDs and a bottle of Port. The bed is messy and unmade
(8:40:06 PM) JMC: Exits are South, and Bridge
(8:40:15 PM) Harry: pick up phone
(8:40:20 PM) JMC: You pick it up.
(8:40:25 PM) Harry: pick up port
(8:40:31 PM) JMC: You pick up the port.
(8:40:35 PM) Harry: make the bed
(8:40:51 PM) JMC: You can't. There's a big box on it.
(8:41:03 PM) JMC: Which I didn't mention...
(8:41:08 PM) Harry: use phone on port
(8:42:59 PM) JMC: The port is not very talkative.
(8:43:21 PM) JMC: It sits there wasting your minutes.
(8:43:37 PM) Harry: look through phone book
(8:44:12 PM) JMC: There are not many exciting people in here. It is the cordless phone and contains a lot of family contacts.
(8:44:27 PM) Harry: exit south
(8:44:53 PM) JMC: You are on the landing. Exits are North, South, East, and Down.
(8:45:26 PM) Harry: exit east
(8:46:07 PM) JMC: You are on the east part of the landing. Exits are North, and East.
(8:46:41 PM) JMC: Oh and West.
(8:47:20 PM) Harry: exit east
(8:47:43 PM) JMC: You're in the bathroom. There is a Sonic Toothbrush here. And a toilet. And a bath. And a shower.
(8:48:37 PM) Harry: pick up toothbrush
(8:48:40 PM) JMC: Done
(8:49:55 PM) Harry: exit west
(8:50:04 PM) JMC: You're on the east part of the landing.
(8:50:08 PM) Harry: exit north
(8:52:59 PM) JMC: You're in Nikki's room. What are you doing here? There are random girl things around like cookery and shopping.
(8:53:17 PM) Harry: scream
(8:53:27 PM) JMC: You scream. That was refreshing.
(8:53:35 PM) Harry: look at cookery
(8:53:49 PM) JMC: It's a plate of toasted teacakes. Mmmm.
(8:53:59 PM) Harry: pick up teacakes
(8:58:39 PM) JMC: You pick them up.
(8:59:38 PM) Harry: exit south
(9:00:54 PM) JMC: You are on the east part of the landing.
(9:01:51 PM) Harry: save: harry2.sav
(9:02:07 PM) JMC: You are saved by a Christian. Well done.
(9:02:15 PM) JMC: Save successful
(9:02:30 PM) Harry: right, I'm off to watch Ashes to Ashes, enjoy your bridge!
(9:04:30 PM) JMC: ooh
(9:04:31 PM) JMC: enjoy

So congratulations to Harry on his excellent puzzle solving, without resorting to a walkthrough. And now back to CATAM...

Comments: 1

Oh dear.

2007-11-25T03:59:27+00:00

Oh dear oh dear. Did someone let Raz drink again? I think someone might have. And now you must put up with the consequences/refuse to put up with the consequences and ignore this.

I dislike:
That there isn't enough time to be good at everything.
The lack of persistence.
Repressed people.
People who aren't out to make the world as fun as possible for as many people as possible.
The word "NO".
That I seem to have lost my creative spark.
Failing to get a job.
Failing to get up in time for lectures.
War.
People who have long forgotten what they stand for.
Sitting around not accomplishing anything.
Acknowledging that I'm sitting around not accomplishing anything, then continuing to do so.
Things about me that I can't change.
My crappy bruised foot.
Only having mathmos as friends.
Not properly keeping in touch with people that I miss.
Being self-aware/sentient.
Anything needlessly artificial.
Being single again.
Kasabian. (no, wait, that's Charlie Brooker [youtube.com] isn't it...)
That you put up with it when you really shouldn't, and clearly don't want to.
Not going to enough gigs.
People who instantly dismiss concepts.
People who instantly accept concepts.
Anyone who blanks me. Stop it. Just say hi instead.
Advertisements.
Repetitive drudgery.
Politicians who are obsessed with image rather than results. Actually, make that "Politicians".

I like:
The Crystal Lake.
Wind quintets. Must organise another one.
The idea of going on another quiz show.
Playing bridge with Andre.
Listening to Grandaddy.
Running around when it's not hayfever season.
Composing. Even though I'm not the world's best yet. And even though I have no outlet for my compositions.
Maths. Not all the time, but most of the time.
Meeting new people. I'm accustomed to it now.
Getting better at things.
New things.
Good food.
Singing with a group. Regardless of the song, or ability of the group.
People who are too busy thinking about other people to remember themselves.
Playing badminton.
Summaries.
Diagrams.
Your trust. It means a lot to me.
Being useful.
Being invited.
My friends.
My family and cousins and uncles and aunts and grandparent.
Clever lyrics.
People who have more to them than meets the eye.
Anything/anyone funny.
Imagining silly concepts.

Imagine my face when I see this in the morning. Hee hee.

Comments: 5

"my face hasn't updated" II

2007-07-04T20:36:13+01:00

RIP Doctor Who. [news.bbc.co.uk]

What? Real update? Pah. Maybe once I'm less busy.

Comments: 3

"my face hasn't updated"

2007-07-02T00:10:51+01:00

And it's true. Thus, I bring you the following:

Saturday's Dr Who was silly.

That is all.

Comments: 3

Quizzing

2006-12-19T21:10:30+00:00

Ah, Min-Data's up again. Time for a new blog entry.

First up - my mum won �1000 on Brainteaser, via the phone-in! Well, not exactly, as making enough phone calls to win would cost an enormous amount of money. However, you can enter via the web for free! Score. I find it ironic that in one fell swoop, she won 10 times as much as I did by actually going on the programme...

Speaking of going on quiz programmes, I've got a recording date finalised for me going on Weakest Link, in early January - which is getting close, and starting to scare me!! Not least because it will require getting up at 7am, and I'm having difficulty managing 10am at the moment. (I'm rather disturbed by my current sleeping patterns. I was managing fine with getting up at 9am for lectures in November!¹) I'd appreciate people throwing random practice quiz questions at me whenever you can.

Other than that - the nightmare of my first two CATAM projects (i.e. computer projects) is coming to an end, and the next two will soon roll on. I have to go out and get a summer job soon as well. (yeuch!) *searches for some complementary finance mints to chew on to ease the pain* Also, I swear my family are impossible to get Christmas presents for. (For example, since I can't give Wikipedia to my dad as a present, then his will almost certainly lie untouched for the foreseeable future )

I got subbed into the Kendrick concert yesterday. It was really good compared to the previous years! However, I did discover that my bassoon tuning is horribly out, and that's something to work on. I have had a terrible bassoon-inadequacy syndrome ever since coming to uni.

Other than that, things are pretty slow round here. But people are coming back now so perhaps it will start to jazz up soon!

¹ Well, actually I wasn't, but never mind.

Comments: 6

Weakest Link, and general update thingy...

2006-11-10T00:54:51+00:00

Strangely, I only ever seem to get my creative urges at night. This is annoying, because I'm going to be sleepy at lectures at this rate. However, sleeping now would be the common sense thing to do, which is against the Student Code, so here I go.

I haven't blogged since arriving! Isn't that terrible - how on earth will everybody know all the revealing, yet horribly boring aspects of my life? So, things going on- lectures are hard, hard, hard (quantum mechanics anyone?? also methods [Fourier transforms and the like], more analysis, Markov chains - which I find really interesting! - and linear algebra, which is only difficult because the lecturer is incomprehensible). Supervisions are crazy, as per usual.

I don't row any more - yay for my early mornings back! - and instead have decided to concentrate more on bridge, which is fun. I now play every week at the university bridge club, where I get mullered every time. Huzzah! However, Gloop is very good at bridge - hopefully he can teach me a thing or two. Bassoon - I still have not organised a wind quintet (must... do... before... am... 65...!) but I'm in CUMS II again. I've been appointed the post of CUMS II Librarian, which is rather exciting. Funnily enough, I decided not to join Zephyr this year (it clashes with bridge - what a shame...). And, I'm in the dizzying heights of the 5th Trinity Badminton team. (and I would have gotten away with being in the 4ths, if it hadn't been for the club captain forgetting about 2 people .) All are great fun.

Weakest Link is coming, I assure you...

Things I've seen & done:
-saw "The Alchemist" at the ADC with the Culture Vultures the other day, which was excellent (although rather difficult to follow!).
-went to a rock night in Pembroke with Chris U - the rock was terrible but the conversation was good!
-Burrell's Ent, which takes place a minute from my room, had much better music. It was beach-themed this year- I turned up in shorts and shirt, which was freezing. At least I didn't turn up in Speedos like a certain person did...
-Became a Junior Scholar. This is awarded for getting a 1st in exams. Benefits include stacks of cash (huzzah!), a decent room next year, and bizarrely a book about College history. I got the Master to sign it, and now it sits on my top shelf. Something to look back on with fondness!

Now, Weakest Link. I sent off my application form (to be on the show) about 2 months ago, and got a phone call last week asking me if I'd like to turn up for an audition on Tuesday. I had a choice - do I arrange for 4pm, and beg Dr. Lister to rearrange my Methods supervision, or do I arrange for 9am and end up tired all week?

Well, I sat there imagining Dr. Lister's face at being told a television quiz show was more important than my studies, so plumped for the early morning. The audition was about 2 miles away, so I cycled. I have not cycled on the road for years - I think I've only cycled on the road ONCE since my cycling proficiency test back in year 6... Anyway, after the scariness of that, I got there on time and entered the audition room.

My immediate reaction on entering the room - oh crap. These guys are all mega-extroverts. I'm a mathmo. What am I going to do? So, I tried to be as talkative as possible to look interesting. Also, I tried to play the geek card where I could. (I like bridge. I like maths. I don't understand the point of football.)

The format:
-First off, everybody has a minute each to introduce themselves. Everybody made it to a minute except me. I stumbled for about 8 seconds at the end. Erk.
-Next - a quick general knowledge test. 3 minutes. Not too hard.
-Then, a round of the game. You answer general knowledge questions, and then get insulted by a substitute Anne Robinson. I got voted for by two people - not that that matters, I hope...
-Finally, everybody goes outside, and you're called back in one by one to do a recorded interview. Yikes. By far the scariest part; I dried up a little bit (such is the state of my mind at 9am) but hope I stumbled through well enough.

In the lobby, I got to chat to the contestants. One was from Berkshire, another worked at Addenbrookes hospital, and one guy was completely blind. (He has been on Top Gear, driving a car around a track. Yes, he's blind. And he was not the slowest driver! Some people may be interested in the fact that he has met "the Stig" - I myself am not that impressed, but there you go.) Again, they showed their extroverted personalities. Intimidating.

So, yes. I'm a little concerned that I wasn't good enough at defending myself interestingly, but if I'm lucky I may get on! However, if they've rejected me, then I will not be told. Boo. We'll see.

I have very recently discovered Burn Baby Burn by Ash, and am listening to it quite a lot. It feels like the sort of song you should be obsessed with at 16 or so...! Perhaps I'm having an early mid-life crisis. Oh dear. Next stop- wind quintet. Goodnight!

UPDATE: Just got a letter with a BBC postmark. Looks like I've been selected for the WL shortlist. So, things look hopeful!

Comments: 5

Do you know how annoying it is...

2006-10-05T23:52:35+01:00

...when I say hello to you, and you blank me?

...when we're chatting, and your much cooler friends arrive, then I suddenly become invisible?

Of course not. You didn't even think about it.

Right. On a cheerier note:

The car crash turned out absolutely fine. The other guy's insurance is going to pay up for the lot. Yay!

My vision problem has virtually gone. Yay!

And Special Relativity is not that nasty. But Metric & Topological spaces is. I think my supervisor will have a tough job on their hands - hopefully they are good at explaining things, and they don't ignore me (*cough* Hinch *cough*), baffle me (*cough* Kennedy *cough*) or get all the questions wrong (*cough* Arndts *cough*).

I still suck at Badminton - looks like I will go into the 5th team, if any. But I enjoy it! So that's alright then. I still suck at Bridge. But I enjoy it! So that's alright then. However, I rock at bassoon. They've put me straight into the final auditions, so hopefully I will end up in a decent ensemble this year if I play my cards right. *practises like crazy*

Another thing is that I have to go out and get some ultra-swanky attire for the Scholars Admission Ceremony. (basically, a recognition of my awesome exam-related geniusness.) What the hell are "white bands"?? Whatever they are, I need them, a white bow tie, and a white collar (is that the same as a dress shirt?).

Lectures this term appear fairly interesting. So far, I've had Quantum mechanics, and Markov chains, which were very exciting for me. (clearly not for Andre, however, who sat there drawing some amusing doodles, and trying to work out what the rest of the course was going to be.) However, tomorrow I get some analysis-type lectures, which can be a bit yawn-riffic. Oh well. I can relax with some badminton in the afternoon.

*falls asleep*

Comments: 7

Crash!

2006-09-22T23:59:48+01:00

Today was interesting. I got up at my usual studenty time, and then played badminton with Monsieur Moxon, Andrew "Internet Explorer is perfectly safe" Clark and Schiaparelli. Which was immense fun - we all had a great time.

Then, on the way to see a film, a shocking event unexpectedly occured. I was driving around the Showcase roundabout, in Winnersh, and stopped for some traffic lights. The guy behind me, however, decided not to stop, and crashed into the back of me.

It was somewhat inconvenient.

Oh, and scary. But I'm fine. I think. The guy was an incredibly polite and courteous German, and we got everything sorted amicably.

In other news: My eyesight problem is back. The one which overlays random staticy noise onto my vision. It is also somewhat inconvenient. (especially when trying to read, or see at night.) This is my excuse for being behind on CATAM, which I should really get done. Oh, and the minor problem of needing to entirely comprehend Special Relativity by next week...

Also, go and see "Children of Men". Parts of the film involve clips where one camera shoots an entire 10 minute scene, non-stop... with explosions and guns and the like going off. Plus, it's a great film. Worth being in a crash for.

Comments: 4

Paris Hilton's music improves

2006-09-03T23:55:24+01:00

This [news.bbc.co.uk] is my favourite. What this guy's doing is highly illegal, but it does make for top notch comedy.

In other news... I went to Matt Boothman's (and housemates') housewarming party, and met a load of Royal Holloway students. Which was nice. They have a great house with a mahoosive garden.

Also, I should have said this earlier but... my brother will be studying Maths at Trinity College, Cambridge this year. Hooray! Luckily for him, I'll be the other side of the college for most of the time...!

Comments: 2

Reading Festival.

2006-08-29T18:49:53+01:00

This year, I went to Reading Festival. However, being the usual square I am, I only got a Friday ticket. Again. But still, it was intense.

In the text below, "We" refers to whoever I was with at the time - most commonly Chris, Marcus (school friends of mine), Kat and Charlie (uni friend of Marcus). "I" refers to myself, and "Cake" refers to the company.

Bands I saw:

Towers of London
Terrible. Next!

Oh, alright, to their credit, they did release a flock of pigeons from the stage. Next!

Fightstar
We resolved to watch Fightstar until they got bottled off. (Bottling bands off is something I intensely disagree with doing, but that's another matter.) However, they managed to survive the bottling through their first song, at which point the crowd got bored of throwing things.

They were about as good as I expected. *cough*

Guillemots
Off to the Radio 1 tent. Being a mahoosive Guillemots obsessive, I naturally thought they were amazing - much better than at the May Ball (where they were slightly let down by a) a terrible sound system and b) trying to mutilate all their least-known songs). My only disappointment was that they didn't play "We're Here", which would sound awesome live! But, they played "Trains To Brazil" so I'm not too bothered. Highlights included a typewriter solo, a dustbin lid solo, and MC Lord Magrao playing the guitar with a drill.

Fallout Boy
While not my usual kind of thing, Fallout Boy were fairly good, if immensely repetitive. The guitarist organised a bottle fight amongst the audience, which I thought was a daft and stupid idea, but seemed to be enjoyed by most. He also got a "boo" when he referred to an incident earlier in the day, when the lead singer of "Panic! At The Disco" was knocked unconscious by a drinks can.

In an unprecendented move of genius, we were able to get right near the front at this point. This is because most of the Fallout Boy fans left - perhaps they didn't want to listen to the somewhat less loud...

Belle and Sebastian
I've heard some B&S before, but found it (in general) not quite interesting enough to hold my attention. However, this set was amazing. They had a huge bank of instruments, including a few hundred xylophones.

I was especially pleased with the crowd interaction. The lead singer said, at the start of a song. "Right, for this song I need some make-up. Are there any ladies in the audience with make-up?" And he proceeded to get someone out of the crowd to apply mascara to him while singing the song. Best. Also, later, he got another girl out of the audience to dance with him and the guitarist during a song. That must have been amazing for her - the entire crowd were yelling out her name, "Katie! Katie! Katie!" So yes. Thumbs up!

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
The only band I'd never heard of. To be honest, it was quite to difficult to concentrate on the songs what with the whole pushing-and-shoving thing going on. But, they were fairly good. I liked "Pin".

Franz Ferdinand
Amazing. They've come a long way. The stage was set up with drapes everywhere so they could reveal the decoration one bit at a time: "FRANZ" in massive letters, a wonky screen, and a row of mannequins with lights instead of heads. Utterly euphoric.

Here are some of the random things I heard people yell out:
- "Come and join Noel Edmonds' barmy army! End world poverty? Deal! Save Anne Widdicombe? No deal!
- "Busted! Busted! Busted! Thunderbirds are go!" (while waiting for Fightstar to come on stage)
- (in a very posh accent) "I work at Starbucks, but don't tell my anarchist friends or they'll beat me up."

So, overall, an amazing day. Hopefully, next year, I'll be able to camp for the weekend...

Comments: 3

Facebook

2006-08-24T00:26:55+01:00

OK, so I've hooked up my blog into Facebook (via RSS). It seems to be working fine except for images. For example, if I say:

"Today, I discovered that JABITheW is housing an escaped convict"

then it comes out as a complete mess in Facebook, with everything on new lines. This could have dire consequences. For example, what if I crack a hilarious joke about a line of buses?

People on Facebook will mistakenly think I'm talking about a pile of buses on top of each other. I shall be writing a letter to the Times, I assure you.

On an unrelated note, I saw "Snakes On A Plane" yesterday. It was bizarre. Totally tongue in cheek, full of unneccessary violence - but fairly amusing. Worth seeing, as long as you don't take it seriously!

[EDIT: By the way, Facebookers- if "Comments: X" is confusing you, it's cos those are comments on Min-Data.co.uk which Facebook isn't importing. Use "view original post" to see.]

Comments: 7

Rant, rave

2006-07-25T23:41:22+01:00

I seem not to update my blog often, which is a shame. Perhaps I should.

To be honest, I'm fed up of people not listening to me. I'm not stupid. Just because I tend to say very little, that does NOT mean that I don't consider something important. I think hard before I say things, and seem to get penalised for it, as I'm ignored in favour of people who can babble rubbish that sounds plausible. It is NOT fair to complain at me that I haven't said something, when you haven't been listening.

If there's one thing I wish I could do, it's express myself in words. Even now, I find myself carefully poring over the lines I've just written line by line, checking that everything is just so. I envy people who can just write away, or discuss something at great length. But that would be in direct contradiction with my first paragraph... This is really annoying. As a mathematician, I'm trained to spot tiny inconsistencies in proofs, and as a consequence I'm too paranoid about making mistakes and inconsistencies in my own writing.

Frustrating. The above two paragraphs don't even begin to explain how I feel at the moment.

Anyway, funniest thing I've seen this month: Link [the-underdogs.info]. There's something great about a game where you can blast zombies away by typing, "Crikey!" or "United Mutations". The people who come up with the text have wonderfully silly senses of humour. One boss requires you to type the correct answer to a question, out of a choice of three, leading to "Which of these makes a good date? A) Grannies, B) Supermodels or C) Your Older Brother".

Perhaps the improvement in my typing skills over time will allow me to concentrate more on what I'm actually typing.

Comments: 9

Bassooning

2006-07-09T18:21:19+01:00

Today, I got up rather early to sub into West Berkshire's Concert Band. (although it's now "west berkshire Maestros concert band" *snicker*) It was great.

We played a reasonably new arrangement by Nigel Hess (who does some very good wind ensemble music) called "New London Pictures". The movements were "Millennium Bridge" (a very majestic and turbulent piece - I think the turbulence is to represent the river, though it reminds me more of the bridge when it was first opened *ahem* [news.bbc.co.uk])

The 2nd movement was "London Eye", and this was a gorgeous expansive piece. At the end, I play the last note - a low Bb supposed to resemble a pizzicato (i.e. plucked) double bass. But someone dropped a plastic cup at the same time.

Finally, the 3rd movement is called "Congestion Charge"- a somewhat odd inspiration, but nevermind. This involved someone playing with a large replica traffic light! Although silent, the traffic light flashes red when everyone stops and pauses, then shows green when everyone starts again. Far more effective than it sounds!

We also played an arrangement of "Riverdance". Now, sadly someone forgot to tell me a few things here! My part says that the penultimate movement is "tacet" (for Latin/Italian fans, that means "silent" i.e. don't play!). So you can imagine my surprise when, at the beginning of the movement, my neighbours bring out percussion parts which we are supposed to clap...! Thankfully I got used to this reasonably quickly.

Other notable things included an arrangement of Pirates of the Caribbean for strings, and a superb soprano sax solo, sounding somewhat slick.

They're a decent group and I would certainly volunteer to play with them again.

Comments: 2

May Ball (Coherent Edition)

2006-06-21T01:30:52+01:00

Ok, so last night was the Trinity May Ball, hoorah! (everybody cheers)

[Note that the people referred to "we" obviously change often!]

The first thing to mention is that the queue to get in is LONG. VERY long. It goes down the street, past John's, and turns the corner. Myself and friends started queuing at around 7:45pm, when the queue had reached outside John's. Puzzlingly, the queue started moving until we were just outside Trinity, even before the ball officially starts at 9pm. So, by the time it opened, we were very close to the front.

Various people got assassinated [srcf.ucam.org] in the queue, which was entertaining!

Anyway, we finally got into Great Court. There, you have to join another queue; this time, to get programs and security wristbands (I intend to wear mine for ages, like with the Reading Festival ones ). Then you are finally in the Ball.

It's rather surreal to see the college, which you're used to living in, being transformed into a superparty. There was a big marquee in Neville's Court, and marquees all over the backs (i.e. the grass areas by the river).

Anyway, on entering Neville's Court, we discovered a Fruit Stall, which was odd. But the strawberries there were delicious.

Onto the backs (via a red carpet!). There was a Chocolate Fountains tent, which funnily enough contained chocolate fountains! Grab a skewer, put marshmallows, strawberries and biscuits on it, and cover with chocolate. Yummy!

Next, the fairground. There was a stall where we got food from (pork in a bun), which was delicious. (It's worth noting that once inside, everything is free except for the queue times!) Also there were Hoop-la stalls, and throw-the-balls-into-the-bucket-and-win-prizes stalls. Because they're free, these work in reverse to normal fairground stalls- the more you play, the less you're being swindled!

Around this time, the fireworks display began. It was amazing. I tried to take photographs but my camera isn't too good so they may not come out too well.

Now, before the Ball I looked up all of the featured bands on the web. The band that caught my attention was Guillemots [guillemots.com] (horrible site design, yes. Click on the Sounds section, where you can hear their best songs "Trains to Brazil" and "We're Here". Also click "The Room" for their Myspace site, which has more songs on it). So I went to see them in Neville's Court.

The first half of their set was awful. They spent it mutilating most of their average songs by adding painfully loud feedback guitar and playing dischordant rubbish on the keyboard. But the second half was excellent. They finally got around to their best songs, and played them wonderfully. I have photos somewhere.

By this time it was midnight, and I needed to visit the loos. This was an experience. The sign said "Luxury Toilets", and once inside, the toilets indeed looked like they'd been bought from Harrods. Ornate mirrors lined the wall, and classical music played. Weird.

Anyway, next it's off to the "Bangkok Bistro", where we ate various salady dishes, which were very nice. This was followed by a visit to the ice rink. Sadly, they didn't have big enough ice skates for me, let alone Harry "Size 17 Feet" Braviner, so we had to watch our friends skating instead.

Then, a quick go on the Helter Skelter. Rickety, steep stairs made getting to the top just as interesting as returning to the bottom. (Whilst in the queue, a sextet sang Billie Piper and Britney Spears songs. Please. Stop. That. It. Hurts. Thx.)

Then, we bumped into Charlotte, who (most of us) hadn't seen since term. She had brought a friend from Kings, London... who it turns out shares a flat with one of my bassoonist friends! Together, the lot of us went punting. Sadly, this queue took ages and ages to move, because you HAD to be chauffeured, and all of the chauffeurs seemed to conveniently take breaks at the same time . But it was worth it in the end. From the river, you could see the Wren Library lit up with a changing pastel-drawing-like image. It was beautiful.

It was 3:30am at this point, and they were serving "breakfast" in the Bangkok Bistro tent. Pain au chocolat, waffles, and salmon with cream cheese on bagels. Yummeriffic!

Now, IT WAS GETTING LIGHT. You have no idea how weird it feels to be basking in the sunshine at 4am. Or maybe you do. Beh.

Next, we went to the Cabaret tent, where a guy was singing silly songs about his "pet roadkill badger". Needless to say we did not stay there for too long.

So, off to Neville's Court again for another band: "The Bamboos". They are apparantly a "deep funk outfit". While very repetitive, they were pretty good, and many people were enjoying dancing to their music. I was out of energy to do that! This resulted in us going back to the fairground, and getting the very last doughnuts. Hurray for timing!

Sadly, there was not enough time to try out: the ball pool, the two-person swings, dancing in the Retro tent, the Jazz tent (although the jazz was audible from anywhere in the ball!)

Anyway, finally there was barn dancing in the Great Hall. I was utterly exhausted by now, else I'd have joined in. Instead, I examined the display just outside. There was a picture of everybody who'd bought a ticket, plucked from the Facebook site. It took a while to spot myself (you'd think a picture of myself performing an engineering test on a bar of chocolate wouldn't be too hard to find!).

Then, at 5:45am it was time for the Survivors Photo. Anyone who can still stand up is requsted to stand on the Scholars Lawn and pose for a photo. For this, they put a photographer on a cherry-picker and raise him high above the crowd. After at least 9 attempts (of which some may be successful if you're lucky...) it's time to go.

On the way out, you get a free copy of the Financial Times or the Independent! (I chose the Independent... mainly for the crossword )

All in all, a fantastic time had by all! Definitely going again next year. I may post photos later.

(Although I can only get two clues from the crossword. Bleh.)

Comments: 6

May Ball...zzzzzzzzzz...

2006-06-20T06:37:15+01:00

I'm about to go to sleep. While this is going to throw my sleep patterns to heck, it was utterly worth it for the May Ball. Coherent update later. Maybe. *drops off chair and snores*

Comments: 11

Stuff what I did today

2006-06-10T03:32:09+01:00

Perhaps I should start, since I've been rather lax with updating my blog, by saying that exams have been and gone... I found the entire process very scary.

Basically, on each paper you are examined on 2 courses. Each course has 2 short questions and 4 long questions. You may answer all of the short questions, and at most 5 long questions (but no more than 3 per course).

Now, short questions are worth 10 marks each. You are awarded a "Beta" for at least 5/10. Long questions are worth 20 marks- 10/20 will earn you a Beta, and 15/20 will earn you an "Alpha" (instead of the Beta).

Confused yet? Apparantly, to get a 1st, you need approximately 12 Alphas. I'm not sure exactly how I did - Dr. Lister always seems to find holes in questions I think I've sorted - but if all of what I wrote down is correct, I probably have a 1st. We shall see.

Anyway, on to today:

In the late afternoon, there was a maths garden party, on the Fellows' bowls green. Sadly, very little or no maths was actually performed (boo!) but the catering department did provide various food and drink (in particular, the apple juice here is utterly delicious, and the ice cream is wonderful!). Irritatingly, my hayfever started acting up after a while, but a fun time was still had by all.

I then went to Formal Hall at Fitzwilliam. This was with a number of mathematicians from other colleges, most of whom I didn't know. They are nice people, but most of them make me look like an extrovert...

Anyway, post formal, we came back to Trinity and played Mao. For those of you who don't know of Mao, suffice it to say that Mao is the BEST CARD GAME *EVAR*!!! (*) However, it is somewhat... difficult for newbies to get the hang of it. Most of the emphasis of the game is on working out the rules yourself. It can also get quite vindictive. Some people got a bit worked up about being penalised within the game, which is a shame- mao is NOT enjoyable if you're angry about it.

However, some people have other ways of expressing their feelings. About 30 minutes in, two of the newbie mathematicians walked off without saying goodbye.

Still, when the people who disliked the game left, the people with exams left, the aggravated people left, and the inebriated people left, we got some good fun gameplay in. But it was tiring.

So if you'll excuse me, I'm off to bed. Goodnight!

(*) Warning: may only apply to mathematicians.

Comments: 11

James Randi at Princeton

2006-05-30T12:20:39+01:00

I came across this 2h video yesterday of James Randi at Princeton:

http://www.princeton.edu/WebMedia/lectures/20011016randiTV7300K.asx [princeton.edu]

It's great stuff. He talks about several areas of the paranormal (including psychics, homeopathy and bogus counterfeit money-detecting pens) and does some stunning magic tricks in between. The overall message comes across loud and clear... THINK!

In other news, my exams begin on Thursday. Daaaaaah!

Comments: 5

Exam term

2006-05-05T15:49:20+01:00

Many of my esteemed colleagues have asked me why I haven't blogged since last term. Well, by popular demand, here it is.

Exams
Naturally, what with four stonking exams at the end of this term, the pressure to do some work is increasing. We are supposed to be doing an ENTIRE YEAR'S worth of exams every week! Naturally, this is very difficult to do, and I often get distracted. (such as right now, for example)

The questions are split into pure and applied - not the same thing as at school - and we get a supervision (tutorial) every week. Hilariously, my pure supervisor is unable to do probability, so I will get one big probability supervision just before the exams instead!

Not Exams
I'm not rowing this term, because of my hayfever. Orchestras are still going well- although interestingly I am now the only bassoonist in Zephyr Wind Ensemble as well as CUMS II. The Zephyr conductors BOTH keep missing out "bassoon" when mentioning who has what tune- perhaps this is something to do with the reduction in number!

I didn't mention that two weeks back, I woke up and discovered that I was deaf in my right ear. Thankfully it was only temporary, and was gone in a few days with medical advice. Else I'd have gone insane.

Highly non-subliminal music-related message:
GO AND GET "AT WAR WITH THE MYSTICS" BY THE FLAMING LIPS RIGHT NOW!!!

And I leave you with some quotes from Prof Koerner about the exams:

"If you think there is a mistake in the exam paper, then raise your hand. The invigilator will come over- he knows absolutely zero mathematics, in fact, he was probably kicked out of primary school, and subsequently became a historian..."

"If you are worried about failing- don't be. The fact that you've turned up to this meeting is sign enough that you will not fail. In fact, I would be willing to take bets at ludicrous odds."

"To be honest, if we replaced the maths questions in the exam with a contest to roll a pea up Mount Snowdon with your nose, then the same people would come top, and the same people would come bottom, with perhaps a slight reshuffling in the middle..."

[ETA quote from this morning: "This topology is like the BNP. It's indiscrete, and every element is dense."]

And now, back to alternative forms of procrastinating.

Comments: 2

Various

2006-01-30T23:23:08+00:00

Well, while I should be doing my probability sheet, it is the most frustrating thing ever so this is my break. ^_^

Lots of things have happened in the first weeks- and I'm having trouble remembering, but here goes...

Bridge: I ended up captain of the Trinity III Bridge team. We played our first match yesterday against St. Cats. (Organising the match is one of the most demoralising things I have ever done; watching each prospective date disappear one by one- eventually we had to settle on Sunday with a substitute)

Halfway through, we we losing by 14 IMPs [en.wikipedia.org] - but recovered in the second half, winning by 3 IMPs overall! Thus we will be playing Selwyn in the next round (their captain is the tournament organiser- oh dear!).

Rowing: The rowing club seem to have half-disowned me- I will not be out on the water at all this week. It is slightly worrying hearing stories about the mess that is going on in the "real" boats- (why does this remind me of Zephyr wind ensemble??)

Superheroes ent: Right, so it's five minutes before you have to go to a Superhero themed event, and you still have no idea what to go as. Situtation critical!

One of my friends, Chris, was going as a pirate (well why not?), and another, Paul, as a guy from "The Crow". They had some pretty decent costumes (a lot of effort went into Paul's make-up- he looked like a member of Kiss!). But, I was still stumped.

Then, an idea emerges. Arthur Dent. Well, maybe he's not a "super" hero, but one dressing gown and a towel later and we're all set!

(Irritatingly, people kept using the towel for their own purposes. It went straight into the wash afterwards, don't worry!)

CUMS II: The unfortunately-named second University orchestra.

I turned up on the first Tuesday, and was pleased to discover that the bassoon section played perfectly in tune, and were exactly together. (OK, so maybe I was the only bassoonist there... But still!)

We are playing Gerschwin's piano concerto (one of my firm favourites!) and Rachmaninov's symphonic dances, which I've never heard before but are pretty good! I much prefer this orchestra- it actually *feels* like one!

Lectures are OK. I got a piece of paper passed to me today, which said "Guess what I've just lost!" (this being The Game [en.wikipedia.org].)

One of our lecturers (Dynamics) is very amusing, and has a short break halfway through (excellent idea!), consisting so far of lists of barmy measurements, and the video of that bridge collapsing due to resonance.

Another (Vector Calculus) is too fast, and difficult to understand. He keeps saying, "And this is easy, you did it in school" about concepts that are confusing to say the least!

But overall, the lectures aren't too bad. The example sheets, however, are fiendish and time-consuming.

And on that note, perhaps I should be returning to them... goodbye!

Comments: 6

Merry Christmas everyone...

2005-12-26T12:07:35+00:00

...er, even though it's not Christmas any more.

Comments: 1