Miscellanea

Vivid descriptions of recent happenings:

Tuesday morning I attended the first lecture of Asian Am 10: History of Asian Americans. I decided to drop it immediately afterwards. It wasn't so much that the professor was bad - he was just a bit too lively for my tastes. At least, that's the excuse I'd give if I were ashamed at all to admit the following: (1) I was still on the waitlist, (2) I don't want my professors to call on me, (3) I don't want to be forbidden to doze off, (4) I don't want to be in an 8 AM discussion on Thursdays, (5) I don't want a class in ugly ugly Bunche Hall, and (6) I don't want to read six novels.

Speaking of dozing off, I have decided to draw a star in my notebook upon awakening from each of my inadvertent classroom naps (It helps to keep track of when they occur). Plus the lectures of Psychology 15 are videotaped (Is that still the right word if no tape is involved?) so I can go back and review the spots I missed; I only hope now that my lethargy is not caught on film.

I entered MS 5147 on Wednesday just as the previous class was finishing up - and heard a familiar voice explaining something to a student. I looked up and saw that the professor of the previous class was none other than Shifty Ifti, looking just as he did before the incident. Needless to say, I avoided eye contact.

Houdayer used a smiley face to denote a set that were vector subspaces and unsmiley faces to denote set that were not. I am a math person and I like smiley faces, Weisbart does too, and now Houdayer. I thought to myself, "Math people like smiley faces." Then I felt immediately guilty because I was sititng in Math 115A, a class in which we have to explicitly prove virtually everything. Speaking of proving things, I hate it. It's one thing when you're proving something advanced and exciting. But when it takes 5 lines to show that if x + z = 0 then z = -x then it seems to me you are looking at things in a little too much detail. Proving things in this level of abstraction is like the math version of being politically correct - what you're used to saying is totally fine except in that it upsets the old math dudes. This is why my major is a variety of Applied Math - I'll leave this crap to the theorists. Alas, 115A is a prerequisite to most other upper division courses.

I previously mentioned PAB 1425, the large lecture hall in the Physics and Astronomy building, unquestionably the nicest building on campus. One of this building's perks is its amazing chairs, which swivel around in a way I can only describe as sitting like I've never sat before. Tragically, Wednesday's lecture left me conflicted upon the discovering a fatal flaw in this revolutionary chair design: if two people seated next to each other try to exit their seats simultaneously, legs will collide. And I don't mean just brushing up - it's more of an intersection.

Walking to lunch on Wednesday I saw a guy with a spiked backpack, which made him look as if he were Bowser. Or a stegosaurus. Laugh all you want, but you don't mess with someone with spikes on his back.

Day One, Winter 2009

The obligatory first impressions post:

Psychology 15 - Intro to Psychobiology: The syllabus says to read not for memorization, but for understanding. Online study questions, multiple choice, graded leniently. Only 3 hours of lecture per week, with no discussion. In other words, the perfect class for me.

Math 115A - Linear Algebra: My first upper-division math course, which has been worrying me. Even though the class has only 35 students, it feels as impersonal as ever (this is a good thing for me.) I'll have to wait for a few more classes before I can determine whether or not I like the pace. And I have to open that tiny but terrifying textbook to humble myself to mathematics once again.

Physics 1B: The professors name is Bruinsma - how perfect for a UCLA. I still hate the four-lectures-per-week setup the 1 series has, and how discussion is ALWAYS on Friday. But apart from that it's hard for me to worry about this class. All the homework is online, and I'm familiar with most of the material from high school. Plus it's in PAB 1425, which would make any class good.

And of course, 2009 has begun. Let's hope it's better than 2008. That year sucked.

Frohe Weihnachten

For some reason I have had remarkably little Christmas spirit this year - which is why I am surprised that the usually-mundane task of wrapping presents granted me such fulfillment. Here is a photograph I took of the armada of gifts I wrapped Tuesday morning, arranged seductively atop one another:



I know you're unimpressed, so let me assure you that if you had witnessed the skill with which I usually wrap presents, you would agree these five are a triumph.

The festivities reminded me of earlier festivities which I neglected to write about, namely All-Hill Halloween. In early October we were suckered into attending our first (and hopefully our last) floor government meeting, where a vote was held to select our floor's theme. Disney movies won a marginal victory over Pokémon - not exactly frightening, but we all began to envision some nice decorations. Consequently, we were unprepared for this:



It's Halloween indeed when once-lovable Disney characters are suddenly so decrepit.

Cats and Dogs

I realize that a post about rain is redundant at this point, but there is something fascinating about unusual weather here in Southern California that I find impossible to ignore.

Monday morning I woke up and it was raining, which is decidedly the best way to wake up. Recently I was reminded of the phrase "raining cats and dogs", which I never quite understood - but I do know that it can accurately describe Monday morning, with a little augmentation. So I will say this: it was raining jaguars and rabid coyotes. Or so it seemed to someone who has been living in Southern California for the entirety of his life.

Naturally I was in a good mood, and naturally the 3rd Law of Everything had to shatter that. I went on MyUCLA to check grades, which I have a propensity to do the week following finals. I clicked on Math 61 and saw a big, hairy C-, the alluring symmetry of the 3rd letter of the alphabet a stark foil to my inadequacy. Hmm, I didn't think I did that poorly on the final. Then I realized I had no grade listed for the final exam, and calculated my grade with a 0 on the final: sure enough, a C-. Emailing the professor confirmed the error; he informed me that I should have received an A- and that he had already requested that the grade be changed. What a guy.

I had a whole bunch of Butlerisms which I would share with you, more for my sake than for yours, because I think he is hilarious. Unfortunately I wrote them down in my notebook, which I left at UCLA, so here are a few I can recall from memory:

• After making an error on the chalkboard: "Luckily we have such modern technology here." He erases it with his hands: "Touch screen!"
• Discussing the chromatic number of a graph, the amount of colors required to color each vertex such that no two adjacent vertices have the same color: "This is denoted by the greek letter χ [chi, pronounced as the first part in the word kite]. If you ever forget what letter we use, just remember, chi, as in chi-loring!
• While writing a set X and its subset x on the board: "That's the disadvantage of using X to denote sets - the uppercase and lowercase look the same!" Someone suggests using a curly x to make the lowercase more obvious. "Well, you're assuming I know cursive!"
  

USC Game

The alleged "best band in the history of the universe" played Tribute to Troy and Fight On a total of 45 times today (we counted), the former considerably more than the latter. It's also difficult to respect any band who refuses to march backwards or slide (I'm looking at you too, Cal.)

Oh, and the football part - good beginning, band ending. Like a lot of things lately.

First final, Fall 2008

I just got back from the Geography 5 final, which took about 20 minutes to complete. I was halfway to Haines Hall when I realized I had turned in my exam to the form 2 spot when I had form 1. So I went back to Dodd and told the professor.

He leaned over to me and said quietly: "I gotta tell you - the exams are exactly the same. You're golden. Have a great break."

The Vandal Strikes Back

Monday morning the vandal struck again - this time on the front of the Physics & Astronomy building. Unfortunately by the time we got out of History of Rock the graffiti had been hosed off so I was unable to photograph it (It's interesting how much longer chalk stays on Humanities than on the PAB - but I digress). Instead my vivid description will suffice: orange chalk, written vigorously but legibly, the following: Gravity cannot be held accountable for two people falling in love! Naturally I assumed it was some crestfallen soul struggling to cope with an abrupt and traumatic breakup, sparked by the sudden discovery of the infidelity of his former lover. But then I realized it was on the Physics and Astronomy building - so it must have just been some guy who was mad at gravity.

In the dining halls there are always three kinds of pizza: pepperoni, cheese, and funky. I always like to eat funky pizza to escape the monotony of my existence. While usually a common flavor like Alfredo, spinach, chorizo, or the lovely margherita pizza - the funky has on occassion assumed more adventurous flavors such as Caesar salad and PB&J. Wednesday in Covel was a pizza whose most spectacular component was its name - Egyptian Pizza. Think to yourself for a moment what ingredients Egyptian pizza should have - I guess at first you have to somehow convince yourself that pizza can in any way be Egyptian - but at least make an effort.

If you guessed anything Egyptian, you are wrong - it had peppers and onions. Maybe those are sort of Egyptian, maybe. But I was completely unprepared for the final ingredient:

Hot dogs. Take a good look at that picture. One good look. Now take a look at Egypt:

I think a strong argument can be made that hot dogs are probably the least Egyptian thing on this Earth.

Such a striking juxtaposition.