Another Random Thoughts Post

I'm writing this post mainly to avoid getting too bored while waiting for my Matlab code to run. It's rather silly to use Matlab to process a boatload of data, but I hate Fortran, so I'm willing to deal with waiting an extraordinary amount of time for code to run. Anyway, I've had a lot of random thoughts lately, and figured I might as well post them now.

- The other day I woke up to the radio playing (I hate getting up with an annoying beeping sound) and they were playing one of Sheryl Crow's songs, Good is Good. The opening line is "Good is good and bad is bad." Even with being rather incoherent when I wake up, I thought that that statement was completely stating the obvious. I was like, "Well, duh," when I heard them. I had started out thinking that those were the stupidest lyrics I've ever heard, but them remembered a different song that was relatively popular several years ago: LFO's Summer Girls. That song qualifies as the dumbest song ever to be recorded. It's like that group didn't even care if their song made any sense. I hated that song so much!! Mainly because I'm one who actually listens to lyrics, at least when singers enunciate them enough. Anyway, that's just a rant.

- Gilmore Girls was amazingly good this week, especially the last twenty minutes or so. There isn't much to spoil about it. Basically it was a fight among Rory, Lorelai, Emily, and Richard about what's happened previously in this season. But, it wasn't all fight. It was just completely different from previous episodes, but so very good. I can't understand why more people don't watch it, besides the fact that it's on the WB. I also recently read a fascinating plot twist that's coming up, which is that Richard was a member of the Life and Death Brigade when he was at Yale. The fallout from that will be very interesting to see. I just realized that this random thought probably has no bearing on anyone that reads my blog, but hey, it's interesting for me, and that's what matters, right?

- I went to see Brokeback Mountain last weekend. It's a very good movie. Great story, great direction, great acting. I can definitely see why it's winning so many awards. However, it didn't really come as a surprise to me that the cast of Crash won the SAG award for best ensemble. At this moment, for me, there is a tie between these two movies for best picture of the year, hell, even ever. The cast in Crash was amazing, and I loved the way everyone's story was tied to someone else's. Both of them are great movies, and they're both nominated for Best Picture. I'd be thrilled if either one won, but I'd prefer Brokeback to win, just because it would be nice to see people recognize that that movie is a traditional love story, even if it is a love story of two guys.

- I get the results of my candidacy exam next Wednesday. Frankly, I'm very surprised that they're ready this early. The faculty aren't exactly the swiftest when it comes to getting feedback. When I got the email, I was feeling a whole slew of emotions. Mainly, though, I felt a little nauseated, just because I have both great hope and great fear about what the results will be. Everyone keeps telling me I'll be fine, but I don't have that much faith in myself. Hey, it comes with being a pessimist. I'm really hoping to get good news, but I'm also trying to keep my expectations low, only because I know what a crushing blow it is to have high expectations and have them shattered. That's how I felt the last time I took the test. So, I guess we'll see what happens.

- I sent in a proposal for a fellowship on Tuesday. Ray was encouraging me to apply because the research I'm doing fits in nicely with the goals of this particular NASA program. So, most of Monday was spent writing up the proposal, which was really hard work, but I think I ended up with a decent piece of writing. It was such a hassle getting it in, though, because they encouraged people to use their online system, which is what they'll exclusively be using next year. So, basically we were their beta testers, which I always hate being. That system that they have is very un-user-friendly. It seriously took forever to get anything done with it. I hope they do something to make it easier to use by next year.

- I've been very anti-social of late. I'm not sure why. Well, actually, that's not entirely true. I know I'm not the most social person out there. Anyone that knows me knows that. I'm perfectly comfortable sitting at home watching TV or curling up with a good book. But lately, people have just been getting on my nerves. Not so much people I know, but random people in the store. I swear, half the time I'm just about ready to punch people because they're being stupid. But, that's not really the problem. I just haven't felt like hanging out with other people. I'm sort of in my loner/broody phase. It doesn't help that my circle of friends if very dynamic, in that it changes quite often. Now I'm working on building a new circle, but that takes time for me. Plus, February is notoriously a bad month for me. Too many emotional things to deal with. This year, I get the added bonus of stressing about candidacy exam results and going to a conference. So, basically I'm on one hell of an emotional roller coaster until March, really. It kind of sucks, but what can I do?

- Speaking of the conferences coming up. Two weeks from tomorrow I'll be on my way to Hawaii!! I can't wait. Yes, it's for a conference, but I definitely am going to enjoy my stay there too. Maybe spend some time on the beach (with lots of sunblock because I burn incredibly easily). I'm of course going to go to the Hard Rock in Honolulu, just because. I'd love to go to Pearl Harbor, just to be historical. And it looks like there's a hiking trail up a mountain near Waikiki that I'd like to go on, but I'd probably have to get hiking boots for that, so that may be a no-go. I'm also kind of hoping to see an eruption in the distance just to take a picture of it. I'd like to do more touristy stuff, too, like go to their zoo, a few museums, maybe go to the north shore, etc. And it would be so great to see anyone from the cast of Lost. That would be so cool!! It should be a good time, regardless, though.

- Speaking of Lost, I was a little upset that they were showing a rerun this week. I thought in the week leading into February sweeps they would have shown a new episode. But, of any of the episodes they could have shown, I'm glad it was the first Hurley-centric episode. I don't know why, but I find parts of it very funny. Of course, I have a dark sense of humor sometimes. I did have a thought occur to me when Hurley's money manager was telling him that he owned a box company. I'm wondering if that was the same box company that Locke was employed at. I think Locke worked at a box company, anyway. They do like to have people interconnected like that. It's just a thought, and anyone that reads this that watches Lost is welcome to comment on my speculation.

- Invasion was a rerun, too, and I was sort of hoping it would be one that I haven't seen yet, but alas, it was. I ended up sleeping through most of it.

- I've also become addicted to Dancing with the Stars. Most of the time I have not watched a reality show, mainly because I think they're stupid, but this one is actually fun to watch, at least the dancing portion is. I don't watch the result show, because I hate how they can drag out saying which couple got the fewest votes for so long. That's the thing I hate about American Idol, too. I know it's to add drama, but it just annoys the hell out of me. They could spend five minutes doing the results, and then move on. Anyway, I'm just ranting there, so I'll stop now.

- This weekend is Super Bowl weekend, and apparently any local channel won't let us forget that the Steelers are in it this year. Frankly, I don't really give a damn either way about who wins. I'm not a huge Steelers fan (I only rooted for them last year because I lived with two major Steeler fans), and I don't really like the Seahawks either, because Holmgren turned into an ass at Green Bay before he took the job in Seattle. So, I guess I'll just be watching for the commercials. I was invited through someone to a Super Bowl party, where they're having turducken (which just sounds like a weird thing to even contemplate creating, but better sounding than tofurkey), but like I said before, I'm feeling relatively anti-social lately. So, I probably won't go. We'll see, though.

Well, I guess that's about it from me, at least for now. I'll probably leave Walker pretty soon and head home, and maybe take a nap. Either that, or crash in front of the TV for the night. Either way, it'll be nice and relaxing.