Procrastination is not my friend.
May. 22nd, 2008 10:31 pmSo there is This Thing that I have alluded to several times recently. And everything is now in place to deal with it, and I have in fact started dealing with it?
Well, I really don't recommend procrastination. Trying to edit a 130-page document that you wrote FIVE FREAKING YEARS AGO and no longer understand is... difficult. Especially when you print it out again and discover that half the figures never got converted to GIF or PNG. And you can't simply photocopy your own bound copy because... there are pages missing from it. Whole chunks of them. (Why did I pay for it to get bound when it wasn't all there?). So you end up having to install Ye Olde Graphing Package that you used to make the original graphs. And then you discover that you have, for example, ten plots called "Maximum Daily Mean Ozone all sites" with various filename extensions. Do I want "Maximum Daily Mean Ozone all sites for plot", "Maximum Daily Mean Ozone all sites FINAL", "Maximum Daily Mean Ozone all sites for plot urban rural highlighted", or "Maximum Daily Mean Ozone all sites colourful"? I have no clue.
And you're now not sure whether the two bound copies that you submitted also had chunks of pages missing, because the stupid University letter never told you anything that useful. So you may need to get those rebound yet again. And you've found typoes and missing figure captions from the Word document that you now want to correct, and aren't sure whether you're supposed to or not.
So you are reminded, over again, why it was that you have been procrastinating it for four years. Because you really weren't mentally well enough to deal with it when even thinking about it made you feel panicky. But it's bloody annoying that you couldn't have looked at it earlier while you still, e.g. remembered what a Hurst exponent was and whether it had anything to do with skew and kurtosis. (Figure 5.33 is about Hurst exponents, but 5.33a and b are about skew and kurtosis. Why do I have a 5.33a instead of a 5.34, anyway?!). And you curse your previous lack of mental health and all the stupid mistakes that a younger you made all the more.
Well, I really don't recommend procrastination. Trying to edit a 130-page document that you wrote FIVE FREAKING YEARS AGO and no longer understand is... difficult. Especially when you print it out again and discover that half the figures never got converted to GIF or PNG. And you can't simply photocopy your own bound copy because... there are pages missing from it. Whole chunks of them. (Why did I pay for it to get bound when it wasn't all there?). So you end up having to install Ye Olde Graphing Package that you used to make the original graphs. And then you discover that you have, for example, ten plots called "Maximum Daily Mean Ozone all sites" with various filename extensions. Do I want "Maximum Daily Mean Ozone all sites for plot", "Maximum Daily Mean Ozone all sites FINAL", "Maximum Daily Mean Ozone all sites for plot urban rural highlighted", or "Maximum Daily Mean Ozone all sites colourful"? I have no clue.
And you're now not sure whether the two bound copies that you submitted also had chunks of pages missing, because the stupid University letter never told you anything that useful. So you may need to get those rebound yet again. And you've found typoes and missing figure captions from the Word document that you now want to correct, and aren't sure whether you're supposed to or not.
So you are reminded, over again, why it was that you have been procrastinating it for four years. Because you really weren't mentally well enough to deal with it when even thinking about it made you feel panicky. But it's bloody annoying that you couldn't have looked at it earlier while you still, e.g. remembered what a Hurst exponent was and whether it had anything to do with skew and kurtosis. (Figure 5.33 is about Hurst exponents, but 5.33a and b are about skew and kurtosis. Why do I have a 5.33a instead of a 5.34, anyway?!). And you curse your previous lack of mental health and all the stupid mistakes that a younger you made all the more.
- Current Mood:
frustrated
I have, at this moment in time, 13 freaking A-level chemistry papers to mark. You'd hope that this close to the exams, I'd just be ticking stuff or writing the odd small comment, but noooo, I still need to write copious notes about mistakes on them. Some of my students are also stupid and give me 4 exam papers all at once, which means they make exactly the same mistakes on all of them. I've been handing the later ones back unmarked and telling them to fix the problems themselves before I mark them.
Richard had some small, vile luminescent yellow stickers that he was using for paintball circuit boards, but he can't find them right now (except for the ones that are already printed). This is a shame, because I still need that "Carbon only has 4 bonds!" rubber stamp, and a vile yellow sticker would do. Especially for the horrible child who managed to give me two pentavalent C atoms and a univalent C on the same paper. And then tried to make the carbon of a C=O double bond chiral. Argh argh argh!
I am also enjoying retro computing in the form of Microsoft Word 97 and Kaleidagraph version 3.02. Installing them on my current computer was rather odd, especially as the Office install disc came with a free copy of Internet Exploder version 3; but they run like lightning. I may actually keep them installed after the project has finished.
Also, some parts of my life are not crap. They're actually rather good.
Richard had some small, vile luminescent yellow stickers that he was using for paintball circuit boards, but he can't find them right now (except for the ones that are already printed). This is a shame, because I still need that "Carbon only has 4 bonds!" rubber stamp, and a vile yellow sticker would do. Especially for the horrible child who managed to give me two pentavalent C atoms and a univalent C on the same paper. And then tried to make the carbon of a C=O double bond chiral. Argh argh argh!
I am also enjoying retro computing in the form of Microsoft Word 97 and Kaleidagraph version 3.02. Installing them on my current computer was rather odd, especially as the Office install disc came with a free copy of Internet Exploder version 3; but they run like lightning. I may actually keep them installed after the project has finished.
Also, some parts of my life are not crap. They're actually rather good.
- Current Mood:
okay
T minus 1 week and counting
Apr. 6th, 2008 01:34 amFor reasons which will be explained later, I have spent much of the evening browsing eBay, and purchasing strange objects - including a bell jar, an "Abraham Lincoln" costume (beard not necessary), and a velvet coat. I've also spent far longer than I wanted to looking at the National Valve Museum.
I wish to apologise to Tim & Peter for being glued to my laptop for rather too long this evening! At least we had a lovely meal out. Even if I was watching the Italian football (it had lots of men hugging and kissing each other, ok? It's rather distracting :P).
I wish to apologise to Tim & Peter for being glued to my laptop for rather too long this evening! At least we had a lovely meal out. Even if I was watching the Italian football (it had lots of men hugging and kissing each other, ok? It's rather distracting :P).
- Current Mood:
weird
It's been quite a week. TOO MUCH WORK combined with technological issues, and one of my dear ones suffering from a severe attack of the Drama Queen Who Eats Spoons And Gives None Back. (Said DQ has now stormed off in a massive explosion of rage and will be troubling my love no more, hooray!). Have also been very chronic fatigue-y, as in tired and achy all the time, while also having trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, and weird-ass dreams that have left me waking up panicky and shaky. One of these things may be connected to the other.
I have two half-written livejournal posts saved on the computer here that I ran out of time/energy to finish. Got to go to work soon (I only really put the laptop on to write an invoice). But I wanted to record that I went to bed last night at 3.30am and didn't get up today until 2.15pm (though I woke up at 7, and got woken up around 10, and again around 12), and consequently feel almost like a human being. Also, I feel very pleased with myself that I sent my partner a text message yesterday along the lines of "Enjoy your date with [other partner I have historically been jealous of]" and MEANT it. She deserved to have fun with someone after the stressful few days with the Drama Queen, and I was too busy for it to be me. So I was pleased that someone was available, even if I have had problems with them in the past. I feel all Mature Poly Person now.
I have two half-written livejournal posts saved on the computer here that I ran out of time/energy to finish. Got to go to work soon (I only really put the laptop on to write an invoice). But I wanted to record that I went to bed last night at 3.30am and didn't get up today until 2.15pm (though I woke up at 7, and got woken up around 10, and again around 12), and consequently feel almost like a human being. Also, I feel very pleased with myself that I sent my partner a text message yesterday along the lines of "Enjoy your date with [other partner I have historically been jealous of]" and MEANT it. She deserved to have fun with someone after the stressful few days with the Drama Queen, and I was too busy for it to be me. So I was pleased that someone was available, even if I have had problems with them in the past. I feel all Mature Poly Person now.
- Current Mood:
tired
Modern art!
Jan. 31st, 2008 11:44 amThe EeePC is still broken. ( Read more... )
So this is just a placeholding entry as written on the expensive hotel internet to remind me when I write this up later (or in case I never do):
That may, in fact, be enough information for you to know what we did :)
So this is just a placeholding entry as written on the expensive hotel internet to remind me when I write this up later (or in case I never do):
- Hooting keeps my mother awake
- The Quest for Glucosamine
- Candle Cafe - omg, the portions!
- Central Park & NYPD
- Guggenheim Museum - WOLFIES!
- Meeting
rosefox &
sinboy
- Babycakes - vegan bakery!
- Yummy Italian food
- Christopher Street & Stonewall memorial
- Times Square - Rock Band adverts! Hard Rock Cafe!
- Bed about 2 hours later than it should have been.
That may, in fact, be enough information for you to know what we did :)
- Current Mood:
a bit tired
- Current Music: Musak in the hotel lobby
quick update just to say I'm alive
Oct. 30th, 2005 12:32 amThe last few days have involved working on my Super Sekrit Project and taking painkillers. I originally wrote "lots of painkillers", but by the standards of the past few months, that's not really true. Paracetamol & codeine twice a day really doesn't count as "lots" when compared to paracetamol & dihydrocodeine & Tramadol four times a day.
It's difficult to talk about the Super Sekrit Project without accidentally saying what it is, so the status report on it will be gloriously vague. Chapter 1 is almost done, & will be online in the next few days. The delay is due more to me having reached the limit of what I can be bothered to do than having reached the limit of what I can do. Actually, I've greatly enjoyed the technical challenge of this chapter - there are a few places where I really want to explain how I did it, but at the same time don't want to destroy the magic - and I know if I post "spoilers" or "outtakes" that some people will end up reading them and then being disappointed. Argh. Perhaps it'll end up as "email/PM me if you really want to know".
Today I have been mostly watching Pokemon cartoons. Woke up feeling very blah and needed to be cheered up. One of the episodes thoroughly out-cuted us, so it was all good. Just had a huge bowl of homemade moyashi soba - well, actually, that was about an hour ago, but I'm still full.
It's difficult to talk about the Super Sekrit Project without accidentally saying what it is, so the status report on it will be gloriously vague. Chapter 1 is almost done, & will be online in the next few days. The delay is due more to me having reached the limit of what I can be bothered to do than having reached the limit of what I can do. Actually, I've greatly enjoyed the technical challenge of this chapter - there are a few places where I really want to explain how I did it, but at the same time don't want to destroy the magic - and I know if I post "spoilers" or "outtakes" that some people will end up reading them and then being disappointed. Argh. Perhaps it'll end up as "email/PM me if you really want to know".
Today I have been mostly watching Pokemon cartoons. Woke up feeling very blah and needed to be cheered up. One of the episodes thoroughly out-cuted us, so it was all good. Just had a huge bowl of homemade moyashi soba - well, actually, that was about an hour ago, but I'm still full.
- Current Mood:
full