Last quarter sort of killed a small part of me whenever I did my computer science homework.

Now, however, it seems the class will be much more interesting. Finally, we’re getting into the nitty-gritty programming stuff. None of this easy stuff. I’ll actually be working for that A. Life is good. I now have something to procrastinate from my writing class with. Along with robotics.

Speaking of robotics, it seems that mentoring has just gotten me some valuable connections. Two of the mentors for team 812 are reps from Qualcomm. I started talking to one of them about LabView, and he offered to get me some contacts so I could get a summer job at Qualcomm. Oh snap! That would be amazing!

I was never one to network, but it seems that the things I like to do always work out in my favor anyway.

Oh, and speaking of jobs, I’m guessing that one day I will have a streak of paranoia and delete this entire blog for fear that a future boss will find it. Or at least make it password-protected or something.

Mmm, another thing. I may have to drop the Comp Sci and Engineering Society if robotics takes up all of my time.

In other news, I’m really excited about this Cognitive Science class.

I also found out today that I need to take one more class if I want to take CSE12 next quarter, which will bring my credit count to 18. I’m currently waitlisted. Hopefully I get in. Ah, what a busy quarter this will be. I guess I will never have a free January through March as long as I’m addicted to FIRST.

Right, I’m off to robotics now.

So here I am, procrastinating from packing in a desperate attempt to trick myself into thinking I’m not going back to college tomorrow. Err, today. This is largely due to the fact that I: 1) hate the food, 2) am not looking forward to going back to my semi-anti-social-awkward-new-freshman way of life, and 3) am way too excited about this year’s robotics game.

I need to close my Chief Delphi tab.

Ah, what is it with me and kickoff? Every time I go to a kickoff, I get back into robotics mode. It doesn’t matter how crappy the first semester was or what kinds of problems I was facing the upcoming semester, I’d always discover a newfound passion for FIRST every time I watch one of those videos. Goddammit. I really need to stop doing that.

I suppose it’s a good thing I’m mentoring this quarter.

Anyway, I’ve also been looking into studying abroad and internships. I want to go abroad the first quarter of junior year. That. Would. Be. Awesome. I think it’s too late to plan for sophomore year. Hence, my junior year plans. Ah, one quarter and I’m already behind in something. If only I had made up my mind about that sooner.

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I just realized that I’ve had this blog for more than a year. Wow.

Anyway, I’m due for a layout change, but if I was going to make one, I should have done it two weeks ago. Ah well. This one will stay for a bit longer.

I went to Borders today and bought two books. One is about programming matter. Imagine if we could program atoms to do unusual things. Perhaps the concept of “magic” isn’t so foreign after all. Wouldn’t that be awesome…

I’d write about my fantasies with this sort of idea, but it’d be a bit weird. Ah, but what I would give to be able to manipulate matter.

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Yes, it does. I’ve also decided that if I ever do get drunk, I’d probably be a tired drunk. No crazy antics for me…I think I’d just fall asleep.

Well, happy 2009. And happy “feast day of the solemnity of Mary” or whatever. Today is a holy day of obligation, according to the Catholic Church, celebrating some girl who gave birth to a kid without having sex. Rah, rah. I think I’ve gone to church about six times in these three weeks of break. Weekly church and other such “obligation” nonsense. I hate this time of the religious year.

Personally, I think we should be celebrating Joseph more. I mean come on. He has to raise a kid that’s not his. Worse, it’s God’s kid. And he has to deal with all of the crap from the neighbors talking about him and Mary because they aren’t even married. Ah well. At least he has his own feast day, too.

Also, why is it that the feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8? That’s not nine months before Christmas. That’s two weeks before Christmas. Why are we celebrating this at such a random time? Did they decide this arbitrarily, or do they just not understand fetal development?

Anyway, that’s it for this religion rant. I’ve been playing Xbox and meeting up with friends lately. Just finished an RPG two days ago called Fable 2, which has kept me very occupied for the last week.

I started reading up on shell scripts as well. Out of boredom.

Ah, I have family coming tomorrow. Darn. And here I was hoping to go snowboarding again. Oh well. It’s off to Borders I go. Maybe I can find some interesting books. I got a gift card for Christmas, and I have many coupons in my inbox. Man, if only I had those when I was buying my brother’s quantum theory books…

I’m rather tired now, so I’m off to bed. Happy new year! Hope everyone can stick to their new year’s resolutions for longer than two weeks.

I’m actually reading during this break. AMAZING. I haven’t read more than one book per week since…elementary and middle school. When I used to be a huge book nerd. This was before I was big on computers (and before I started ignoring the “no computer on weekdays” rule).

Holy crap, a time before Christine was addicted to computers?! What a concept.

But yeah, anyway. I used to go through several books a week. It was crazy.

So now that I have thoroughly gotten myself off topic…it’s time to return to the point. I finished Lolita a few days ago. Oh man, that book is creepy as hell, but super interesting. For those who haven’t read it, it’s basically about a pedophile. Weird questions started coming up when I read it. Is this guy really in love? Is it right? What the heck is love anyway?

Any thoughts, if anyone else has read it?

So I’m on to my next book of the break, which is The Dilbert Principle. Basically, it’s a book about big business and working in a cubicle. So far, I’ve concluded that the industry is ruthless.

And here I was telling myself I’d read programming books. Hmmm…I guess computer scientists just can’t hold my attention like other writers can.

I’m starting to act like my parents, unfortunately. However, there are some things that I do that they’ll never do in a million years.

Thank God for that. If there is one.

The nice thing about being young is that we are very spontaneous. Hooray for sponteneity!

See, I went to check out a Capoeira class (some sort of Brazilian martial art) with my karate buddy back at home, and we decided to go for dinner afterward. Well, it turns out the class was in a sort of shady neighborhood (way over on the other side of the city), so we decided to go back to the area around my high school to find a place to eat. Then we called up another friend who lives near there because she knows the area better than we do, and decided to invite her to dinner as well.

After nearly getting lost and switching cars twice, we end up going to California Pizza Kitchen.

Fun times. We had many stories to share.

Anyway, I always find it amusing when I talk to my friends from Southern California about driving in the rain. For some reason, they have this notion that you’re supposed to drive slower when it’s raining. For us Norcal folk, rain means you drive at the speed limit…

They also seem to think that if you go faster than 40 mph or something, you’ll start to hydroplane. Hmm. And I was going 80 on the freeway today…with the annoying windshield wipers that go “EEIIRRRCCHHH!!” every time they move. Geez, I thought we had those replaced last year. Don’t tell me they’ve been worn out already. Has it rained that much?

In other news, I actually got an A in math this quarter. Wow. I guess I did pretty well on my final, despite that one icky question.