Saturday, February 2, 2008

@_@

Things of mine to see:

---

I've never filled out so many little bubbles on a single sheet before.

It's registration time. I'm registering for the SATs and the ACTs as well as my senior year of high school. Needless to say, I am not looking forward to the SAT or ACT. Big tests with a lot of weight on my future and little room for error. It really sucks.

If anyone is interested, here's my class list for senior year:

* English 12A
* Spanish V
* Cisco Networking Academy III & IV
* Java II
* Physics A
* Pre-calculus A
* Trigonometry
* American Government

So next year I'll pretty much be tripled up on math. This year I'm pretty much doubled up on math. I'm counting Physics and Chemistry as math. Two thirds of those classes is math....

Anyways, I have to get to checking my email. My usual computer is down because the GPU had to go back to NewEgg, so I have to find the junk mail by hand..... Ugh.

Comments (3) | Permalink

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Problems.

Things of mine to see:

---

Don't worry, this isn't a rant. Just a short list of real immediate problems.

I smell burning solder.... That's not at all good....
This computer is dying.
I don't want to go to school tomorrow.

List done.

Now. About what I did today. I got to drive the Impala. It had to go to the shop, so I got to drive it home today after my dad dropped me off at the place. On my way home, though, I had one of my "Driving Firsts". I hit my first critter. A squirrel. It ran out right in front of me and I couldn't do anything without possibly causing an accident, so I didn't. I think I ran over its head, so I don't think the poor thing felt any pain. I feel so bad for it though.... I actually kinda like squirrels...

Anyways, I need to get in the shower before it becomes midnight again.....

*howls*

Comments (1) | Permalink

Friday, January 18, 2008

Things of mine to see:

---

The laptop has been behaving the past ten minutes, but I'm no going to take any chances. The plug has been acting up a lot today.

12:15 AM, 73.4F & 30% Relative Humidity Indoors, 15F outdoors.

I really shouldn't be awake right now.

Comments (0) | Permalink

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Things of mine to see:

---

I really need a new laptop. I'm getting sick of this thing.

The power jack is messing up on this thing again, even after it's been fixed twice. I'm running on battery and the cord is still plugged in! I'm really tired of wiggling the cord to get it to connect again, and it just keeps getting worse.

The other problem with this, besides that I don't have money to buy a new laptop, is that I HATE VISTA. I do not want windows vista on my computer, but I don't think that there are any computers at BestBuy or anywhere like similar that come with XP. I have a legitimate CD, so I should be able to downgrade, no? I'm actually kinda afraid to try that. Missing drivers is a scary thing.

Well, I've got to get off this poor old laptop before the battery dies, probably for the last time.

Comments (0) | Permalink

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Things of mine to see:

---

I need to start going to bed earlier. Falling asleep at 2AM and waking up at 6:30AM is really doing a number on my temperament/behavior.

By this I mean that all of the "normalcy training" I gave myself is wearing off. Even though it sounds like a good thing, I'm becoming more like myself.

It's frightening. Maybe I'm overcautious, but I'm afraid that being myself means being ostracized.

Comments (1) | Permalink

Sunday, January 13, 2008

New! Smoky Pine Scent!

Things of mine to see:

---

I cleaned my room today. Part of that included vacuuming the carpet.

Well, there are still pine needles in the bag from cleaning up after the tree got taken out. So now my room smells like pine....

As if that wasn't bad enough, the oven is doing one of its "Auto Self-Cleaning" cycles because dinner kinda exploded in there. Like usual, it smells bad, but unlike normal, it's emitting smoke. Ugh.

So now my room smells like smoky pine. Wonderful. I just want it to smell like me again. I don't like having my room smell like different things.

Comments (0) | Permalink

Friday, January 11, 2008

Things of mine to see:

---

This was the first Thursday where I didn't go to piano when I normally should have. It's kinda nice not having to hurry to eat dinner and get out the door by 6:45. At the same time, I'm kinda upset that I quit, but I've got to live with it.

Well, I finished "the most difficult Java program of the year" for my Java 1 class. In the program, the user gives you a number and it has to generate four different patterns or asterisks, like so:
*****
****
***
**
*
*
**
***
****
*****

*****
****
***
**
*

*
***
*****
***
*

It was a real challenge, and I proved that there are several ways to solve every problem like that. I'm glad it's over with because I'm really getting sick of using asterisks in my programs more than one time.....

And it's almost 1 AM again. I really need to get better about going to bed on time, because I really need the sleep.

Well, I'm going to take care of a few little things and head off to bed. I'm just glad that when I wake up it'll be Friday, finally. I'm so glad the weekend is almost here. :)

---- t 3 h w 0 | f 3 |-|

Comments (0) | Permalink

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

  

Things of mine to see:

---

While I would have liked the input of my friends on this issue, I am going to stop taking piano lessons. Unless some major revelation comes within the next few hours while I sleep, when I leave for school, I'm going to tell my dad to call the place and tell them I'm no longer coming in on Thursdays.

I'm just afraid that I'll regret this and never be able to get my slot back...

I really hate being indecisive.

Comments (1) | Permalink

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Things of mine to see:

---

I need to stop being up late enough for MyO to call it the next day.

Right now it's 12:45 in the morning on Tuesday, and I've yet to go to bed. I really need more sleep than I let myself get, but I don't have all the time in the world to do what I want to.

I'm thinking about dropping piano again, as well as quitting the paper route. The paper route doesn't draw in much money at all. My piano classes are just not working for me because I can never remember to practice. Everyone acts like I don't care if I go anywhere with this, but I really do, it's just that I have such a screwed up memory system that I can't seem to ever remember to practice. And then, it seems to have lost the appeal it once had to me. I mean, I used to be excited about going to lesson, to practice every day, but now I find it annoying and/or unnerving. That's probably why my brain sub-consciously chooses for me not to practice. I really want to learn to play the piano, but I can't stand the process, and I really don't think I'll ever use it. I really think I have lost interest in it, not because I'm not going anywhere, but because I'm not good enough, and I will probably never be good enough.

Well, it's about ten to one now. I've got this idea for a story I'd like to start while it's still on my mind. Maybe then I might even dream about it and develop the idea even more. :)

Well, wish me luck with these relatively difficult decisions...

One last thing: in case it didn't come through a little in the rest of the post, I'm kinda in one of those moods again. You know, the kind where I complain about all the stupid stuff and call myself less than sufficient. Whatever.

Comments (0) | Permalink

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Repairative Surgery

Things of mine to see:

---

\\Laptop went into hibernation again and got worked on again. It was in pieces for a few days on a table, and today my dad took me to his employer's workshop and borrowed the equipment to fix it, which only included the use of a little rubbing alcohol, some solder, and a good soldering iron. We were there for some two hours, I think, because I kept asking what something was and there was always a big long explanation for it... ugh.

But \\Laptop is running again, thankfully.

I have had this idea in the back of my brain for a while now, and I wanted to see what other people think of it now.

A while ago, I saw a video of someone trying to burn an ISO image of a Linux distribution to a lightscribe CD-R. The burn failed. So they had a "Linux Coaster." With a picture on it. Then I thought, hey, what if I made a real linux coaster? A coaster that runs linux! But what does it do? Shows pictures! What a great idea!

Now, remember that I don't know much at all about actually making electronic devices. I understand the large components I would need (storage medium, processor, display, power source), but I don't know which of these things in specific I would need, and I don't know how to actually link them all together. The display part is easy enough, because the it supports a parallel interface, so I can find a processor with a parallel interface going out, I'm in business. Then, I was thinking SD card for storage. There's two issues there: I don't know the protocol for SD card, and the second, it's formatted in FAT and I don't know how to manipulate FAT with a microcontroller. And there's yet another problem: I don't know how the JPEG format is composed, so I couldn't send data to the display...

Ugh. I should start with something simpler.... But I want the microcontroller experience, and that's the only way I know how to get it.

Anyways, I need to get to bed. It's starting to get early.

Comments (1) | Permalink