Last night the thought of  a 0 on a lab terrified me. I tried to act ok with it on my last post, but I really wasn’t. I’m such a poser.  I’ve never failed something that would mean an A or a B in a class before. Even though I decided to give up on the assignment since my mind was too stressed, I wasn’t content with that choice. Now that the deadline has passed and it’s beyond my hands, I feel marvelously ok all of the sudden. I know I didn’t completely bomb it. I will get 20 points for commenting my code and proper formatting, so whatever. And the fact that I failed just means I human. So what’s the big deal?! I’m glad I’m finally ok with it. And I know my limits. I can now relax and enjoy my weekend!!!

I think part of my sudden change in outlook has to do with shopping. Internet shopping, to be precise. I am a wimp when it comes to cold. When it gets to about 40 degrees I bundle up in as many layers as I can without looking stupid. So, anything to help me keep warm helps. I was looking online for a good pair of gloves, and I came across a rather promising looking pair by Michael Kors, and they looked really good quality, but they just weren’t me. I like my fuzzy yet flimsy girly ones, lol. But the arrival of a very anticipated in the mail thrilled me.

In America we have handwarmers, but they aren’t that great. The typical ones are one use, you open the package and shake it so the little beans inside touch the air, and the air starts a chemical reaction and it warms up. And that’s it. I don’t think it’s worth the trouble. And there are some that you can microwave, but they work better for relaxing muscles than taking with you. Well, on Strapya World they now have these cute little heart shaped handwarmers. They’re a liquid filled plastic, and you snap the little metal piece and viola! And of course, anything Japanese is just too cool to me. So I finally got them in the mail!!

When I first opened the package, I had to try it. And it worked fast! But the instructions were all in Japanese, in kanji, and I only know about 75 kanji, so I couldn’t read it. :’( After about 20 minutes, it was not hot anymore, and it wasn’t softening up so I could use it again. I was pretty pissed for a while and thought I got ripped off. $5 for a one time use warmer? Why would anyone pay that?! And I hadn’t ordered anything from them before, so I was thinking they were a sketchy internet business. Clearly it is not reusable. But… I’m an idiot. After a quick web search, I discovered I had to boil it to recharge the solution. So of course, I did, and yay they softened up! I can reuse them ALL WINTER. And I will be, lol. So who cares about one bombed lab? Thank you Strapya World, you rock.

Do you like cold weather? How do you best stay warm?

I’m raging right now. Absolutely RAGING. I’ve spent literally days working on my current lab for CS, and I’ve gotten no where. After at least 20 hours of actual work, I was so tired and frustrated I was laughing and crying at the same time over the pointlessness of it all and how it just. wouldn’t. work. At this point, it was 2 AM Tuesday night, or Wednesday morning. I couldn’t sleep well because I was stressed over failing it,  I woke up at 11, skipped all my classes to work on it, took a 5 hour break for work, came back, worked until midnight last night, and now after all that, I think I have some of the test cases for the program correct, but unless I get the Gradescript to work with my program, I get no credit.

For our labs, the professor wrote a Gradescript which tests 100 cases. It uses my  file with files in his directory, and compares the output. If it’s correct, it tells you so. If its not, it creates files of the output so you can see what the difference is between your solution and the correct one. It’s good for us because we know what he’s looking for, and good for him because it’s super easy to grade.

With that in mind, I tried to test the first case on my program. I copied Gradescript to my directory and ran it on the first case, and nothing happened, even though I’ve done this with every other lab. The program never printed anything out, or terminated. If you’ve ever heard of an infinite loop, it’s bad. You program never stops. I had to make it crash. However, the weird thing is, when I copied the files that Gradescript 1 uses over to my directory, it worked fine. So, the program works when all the files are in my directory, but not when they’re in his. WHY?!?!?! I have absolutely no idea. I emailed the teacher’s assistant for help, and the asshole never responds. So, even though I know the first case works when the files are in my directory, I’m getting a big fat 0 if I can’t get it to work when the files are in his. &!&@#$*(#&!@(&$!

I’m so SICK OF DEBUGGING!

I’m ready for the semester to be over. I don’t even care anymore. I’m submitting it, and embracing my 0. I think this is the WORST assignment I’ve had in my CS career. And there have been some bad ones. Sorry if that rant got a little nerdy.

I feel a little better now

With a little happier topic…

Netbooks. Yes, no? Do you even know what they are? At first I thought they were silly, these tiny little laptops. What’s wrong with a regular old laptop? But as time goes on, they’re becoming more and more popular. And I suppose it’s cool to be small and very portable. Eamon has even considered getting one. So now I’ve got to actually look into it to see if it’s worth it. Really the only point of a netbook, in my opinion, is to surf the web. That’s about all you can do with them really, they’re not built for processing. But if you just want to surf the web, why not get an iphone or the new Motorola Droid? You pay a little extra each month, but it’s one less piece of technology to drag around.

What’s your thoughts on netbooks? How do you react when you’re angry or stressed? Do you rage like me? What’s the worst homework assignment you’ve ever had?

On Monday Eamon celebrated his 22nd birthday. But, if you remember, my car broke down last Saturday. So, although I had intended to get him a cake and everything, it just completely slipped my mind in all the craziness. 7:00 Monday night, Eamon decides to bring it up.

He shows me pictures of the amazing birthday cake he got me, and just would not let it go. He was making me feel extremely depressed. I felt like a horrible girlfriend.

And of course, all week long, he would bring it up. Just to rub it in. “Man, that cake I got you was just amazing…” “I could really go for some frosting right about now…” I was getting sick of it.

So, Friday he had a night out with the guys. This was my chance to surprise him so he wouldn’t be able to hold this cake over me forever. You know those trick candles that don’t blow out? I got some of those, but mixed them in with regular candles. Just to top things off, I got those fun sparkler candles too. Jessica helped me out so it would be more of a surprise. He had originally planned to be back at midnight, so we just had to wait patiently until then. There was even a can of silly string to spray him with when he walked in the door.

Well, he texted me saying it was going to be more about 1 AM. I couldn’t exactly tell him he needed to get back right now, because the surprise would be broken, so we were getting rather tired. But damn, we wanted some cake!! A good cup of coffee and watching Labyrinth was the best we could do to try to stay awake.

It was totally worth it! He came in the apartment a little tipsy, which I think made the whole thing funnier. Although I don’t think he liked the silly string… The candles were a hit. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get all the candles lit without risking burning the cake itself, so only half of them managed to get a flame. The sparklers actually started melting, falling into the flames of the other candles, and OMG I thought we were going to set off the fire alarm or something!! The whole right side of the cake was  a mass of burning flame and melting wax, lol. But he was so tipsy that he just couldn’t manage to get the trick candles out, and you know how everything is funnier when you’re tired? I was literally lying on the floor laughing my head off!!

He can’t say I forgot a cake now.

If only I had a picture of the cake to show you. I miss my camera!!

But on a more serious note. I can’t believe he’s already 22. I’m already 19. It seems like just yesterday it was my first day of high school. Time is going by so fast! Do you ever start to think about things like that? Like, don’t laugh, but I seriously think about when do I need to start using anti-wrinkle creams? I mean, yeah, right now I’m fine, but I blink and all the sudden years have gone by. When is it too early to start, before I forget and the damage is done? And what if I’ve been wasting my life, there are so many goals I have yet to achieve. And all I’ve been doing is sitting here playing video games and watching anime. I hate birthdays for this reason. They make me freak out about my mortality.

Have you ever gotten trick candles on your cake? What is your favorite birthday memory?

Life has been fun. Lots of crap, and lots of not crap. What crap, you ask? Well…

For one, my camera is M.I.A. I had some lovely visual proof to show you guys, but my baby is no longer with us. There goes $150.

Also, Saturday I get off work at 9, I decide to get a burger before I meet up with my friends to see The Vampire’s Assistant. (it was an ok movie, better than some) I’m driving out of Hardee’s parking lot, and low and behold, my faithful old tires finally gave out. I stop the car and have to change the front passenger tire. At 9:30 at night. When it is dark. And cold. Of course, my PT Cruiser acts up when Eamon is out of town. She has a mind of her own and loves to give me trouble. But I love her anyways.

Luckily my friends stopped by to help me out. Jessica was awesome enough to have not one, but TWO flashlights which were rather handy, and I gave them some female empowerment and showed them how to change a flat. Then, sweaty, dirty, and tired, we saw the movie. Apparently I had a black smudge on my cheek, and when we bought tickets at the theater I used to work at, my former coworker looked at me like I was crazy or something. But whatever, I bet he can’t change a flat, lol.

The not crap? I bought me a new wool coat! It’s comfortable. But it was $110!! I’ve never spent that much on one article of clothing before. It almost killed me to do it. But it looks so sharp, I feel like it’s a necessity for a professional wardrobe. And it should last me at least 5 years, its that nice.

Also, I’ve decided to get a teaching certificate while I’m here. That way I’m stuck on one career path the rest of my life. I’m the type of person who likes versatility, and I’m going to get bored doing the same thing over and over and over. So, although it will take me 3 years to finish here now, it’ll be worth it in the end. And I want to be the crazy old professor who’s been there, so they have so much more respect from the students and are able to teach them more. And then I’ll pursue my animation dream.

Last but not least, Eamon, Jessica, and I went downtown. I’ve heard tell of an awesome cereal bar where you get a bowl and get to eat as much cereal as you want, and they have sweet bubble tea and all this other awesome stuff. When we get there, though, there was no one there, the guy working looked like a stoner, didn’t acknowledge us till we ordered, and it was just a horrible atmosphere. It was in an old building in an empty area downtown, and I just did not get what the fuss was about. But then again, I’m not really in the stoner crowd. We only got some tea, which was cool, but not worth $4.00. So we got out of there fast, instead eating breakfast for dinner at Waffle House.

Do you know how to change a flat tire? Have you ever had bubble tea, or boba tea?