Zesty Lemons

I wrote this:

The Downside of Suffering

Today we did a guerrilla run of Romeo and Juliet in Central Park. Alacrity drove me to injury in the balcony scene: I skinned my knees whilst attempting a "rock and roll slide" on the gravel. Bandaged with a piece of Craig's shirt and on my feet again, I remarked to Grant and Steven, between slurps of the icicle pop Steve got me, that I relish the rare occasions on which I am the victim. I don't desire sickness or accident but when such things befall me I find guilty pleasure in the attention and popsicles. Injured and without my wallet as I am, it is reassuring to know that I have friends who will help and love me. I would do the same for any of them.

I was feeling significantly less kumbaya as I walked the mile from campus to Lafayette on my bum legs - without a MetroCard or the means to purchase one - and hungry for the food I cannot buy without cash, card, or student ID. That, I suppose, is the downside of suffering.

"That's so meta." -Craig on Travis doing Alex doing Julia doing that line from Shakespeare in Love

Pop Quiz

How much of my wallet got stolen today:

1. The laundry card
2. Two of fifteen dollars
3. My old Duane Reade receipts
4. All of it

If you answered "All of it," you're the big winner. What do you win? Well friend, you do not win money, or laundry credit, old receipts, or even a driver's license, student ID, credit card or MetroCard. No, you win the grand pleasure of loaning me cash. Use the privilege wisely.

Why I like writing code better than writting essays

I confess, while writing this post I came to realize that these two things are more alike and I would prefer. The main difference between writing code and writing essays is that you immediately know what your code does.

This game is amazing.

21: A Space Odyssey

It was my 21st birthday yesterday.

• I slept in.
• I had a nice rehearsal.
• I saw some 15 minute plays.
• My friends bought me lots of drinks. I was terribly drunk. I love them.
• I went home.
• I got into bed.
• The fire alarm went off. At 3 in the morning.
• We egressed. I was still terribly drunk.
• We regressed. I was still terrible drunk.
• I got back into bed.
• I fell asleep.

The End.

I'm in Shock

Grindhouse is the best cinematic experience I've ever had. Ever.

Statistics

Exactly 2 years ago on April 20th, 2005, Google launched Search History, allowing users to record every search they make and every result they visit. Two years worth of searches must say something about me, so here are the stats:

In the 730 days from 7:19pm, 20 April 2005 to 12:45am, 20 April 2007...

• I conducted 12,173 searches. That's an average of 16.68 searches per day.
  
• There are 44 days on which I conducted no searches.
• The longest search-free stretch came over the five days from 31 July - 4 Aug of '06. I was visiting Lex in Austin TX at the time.
  
• The hour of day when I search most is 12 - 12:59am: 1,063 searches.
• The hour of day when I search least is 7 - 7:59am: 11 searches.
• The day of the week on which I search most is Tuesday: 1,951 searches.
• The day of the week on which I search least is Friday: 1,518 searches.
• The top month is August with 1,436 searches.
• The bottom month is July with 716 searches.
• My first recorded search was: order the guy in a chicken suit to do things (I was looking for the Subservient Chicken).
  
• My most frequent search queries include
• stock:GOOG - Clicking on Google's stock price on my homepage used to perform this search.
  
• gmail - I often just type this into Firefox's location bar as a quick way to get to Gmail. FF then does an "I'm Feeling Lucky" search which shows up in my search history.
  
• azureus - Back when I would reinstall Windows every six months, this was one of my first downloads.
  
• media player classic - As was this.
  
• summer of code - Been doing this search a lot lately. The SoC URL is tough to remember.
  
• steam - I use this query when I'm testing a new search feature.
  
• daily show - I used to do this search to find the Daily Show video page. These days I use YouTube.

I love statistics and I especially love statistics about myself. I'll have some really interesting numbers to share with you in a few weeks which I've been collecting for some time, but until then I hope this quenches your thirst for me-related data.

Well, be!

You're in Luck

6 months ago I informed you - "threatened" might be more accurate - that you had until April 19, 2007 to switch to Ubuntu or else I would not be your friend anymore. Well it's April 19 and guess what: you're in luck! because I'm officially extending the deadline*. You now have all the way until at least October 18th to mend your wicked ways. Generous of me, I know, but that's just who I am. Now for the good news: the new version of Ubuntu is available today, right on schedule.

Now listen up. You don't have to install Ubuntu (yet), but you really ought to. Here's why:

• At the tantalizing price of FREE, it's cheaper than just about anything else out there, Vista included.
• It's easier to use than any version of Windows. The Mac is still the easiest, but I refer you again to point one.
• Far and away, this is the best version of Ubuntu yet! Obviously, but this release has some major enhancements to ease the move from Windows. OS migration tools, automatic audio/video codec downloading, vendor-provided graphics drivers, and network management are just the highlights. It also has Wicked Retarded desktop effects (disabled by default).
• It is free. No, not "free" as in "I refer you again to point one," but "free" as in "freedom." Emancipate yourself from the shackles of proprietary operating systems. Resistance is not futile. Join the revolution!
• I will love you if you do. I may still like you if you don't (at least until 18 Oct), but switching to Ubuntu guarantees you a special place in my heart.
• All the cool kids are doing it. I mean, I'm doing it. Come on!
• You will get cancer if you don't. It's true. I read it somewhere.
• Vagina.

So those are just some of the great reasons to start using Ubuntu. What are you waiting for? Head on over to Ubuntu.com and grab this bad boy. Baby Jesus wants you to.

* The reason I'm extending the deadline is that Beryl/Compiz default enablement slipped again.

t - ter - test

Great living American, or Greatest Living American?

Torrential Rain!

It was raining like a mathafaka today, all day. Crazy, crazy rain. April. Pshaw.

Watch this.

Saturday

Regular people are painfully uninteresting. Didn't do much of anything today.

Thursday, 12 April

• Masked Drama was abbreviated today.
• Saw Alex Lindsay speak. He's great.
• Afforded only 15 minuets to work out. FrownyFace.
  
• Rehearsed until my vocal cords were no more.
• Listened to audio from a debate entitled "We'd be better off without religion." Check it out here. The first speaker is my favorite.
• Quiznos' toaster was broken. Boooo!

If I could have the answer to one question, it would be, "Are humans psychologically determinate?"

I'm In!

To the Google Summer of Code, that is. Better still, both of my applications were accepted. Applicants can only work on one project, so I received an IM from Joe Shaw (head of the Beagle project, to which I had applied) asking on which project I would prefer to work. Despite having earlier told myself that I would take Beagle if given the chance, I decided to go with the other project: porting Banshee to Windows. I've started a blog just about the project, so if you're interested you can keep up on that. Hopefully that means you won't suffer too many highly-technical posts on this blog. Hopefully.

This thing pays $4,500. Sveet!

Haha

I had the best laugh I've had in a long time last night with Grant. Today I was late for class because I thought it started at 10:30. It began at 9:30.

We say "take a shit" when we really mean "leave a shit."

Grrr

There are repairs happening on the side of our building. It involves hammering and drilling and loud Spanish. It's very annoying.

Strike, Drum!

This Washington Post article has me looking at street musicians with new eyes.

Easter an All

Happy Easter. This has been a three-day weekend for me which has been vry nahs. I made a Gtk user interface for my brainfuck interpreter/compiler and I may do a Forms one for the benefit of all those Windows brainfuck developers.

The worst part about being right is actually being wrong.

Branching Attention

I previously mentioned my propensity to jump from article to article when browsing Wikipedia. Well, I noticed myself doing it today and thought I'd share my journey. Thank God for Firefox's "Undo Close Tab" command!

• MSN
• Windows Live
• Microsoft Passport Network
• Windows Live ID
• MSNBC
• Countdown with Keith Olbermann
• Keith Olbermann
• Criticism of Bill O'Reilly
• Outfoxed (on Google Video)
• LexisNexis
• American Civil Liberties Union

I didn't hit that many pages, but Outfoxed was over an hour long. Good Good Friday, everyone!

I Dreamt A Dream Tonight

Actually, two nights ago. In my dream, I missed a segment on The News Hour with Jim Lehrer about a gravity machine. I went to the NYU library to see an archive of the piece. At the reception desk was my friend James (who works the 2nd floor desk at Adler). I showed him my student ID and he signaled me toward a viewing theater. I entered the room and a news segment began playing, but it was the wrong one. I stepped out of the theater to inquire about the mixup, but rather than find James behind the desk, I saw Jim Lehrer laying on a bed, naked, masturbating. I retreated to the theater and waited some minutes until I thought it safe again. When I re-emerged, I stood face to face with Jim Lehrer's wife. Then I woke up.

The Most Hated Family in America

The Most Hated Family in America

A fascinating BBC2 doc on the Phelps family.

Brainfucker

My brainfuck compiler is now an open source project. Check it out here.

Thanks to J.B. Evain for some pointers and for the wonderful Cecil.

Monday

There is one genuinely older person in my life who I would love to fuck.

April Fool's Day

I'm a fool. I'm from April. I guess I'm an April Fool.

FRIDAY:

• Class and rehearsal.
• I went to see Pete & James' show. It included a piece I had previously seen often in Speech (Pillow Talk).
• Libby treated James and me to dessert. She's my Juliet.
• I went home.
• I dinked around on the InterTubes until 2am.
• At 2am, I decided I ought to write a brainfuck compiler in C#.
• I went to bed.

SATURDAY:

• I started writing a brainfuck compiler in C#.
• I got food.
• I finished writing a brainfuck compiler in C#.

SUNDAY (April Fool's Day):

• Rehearsal.
• I saw no less than seven Honda Elements roaming city streets today. Luckily, there were people within punching distance on each occasion.
• Gym.
• Goddamn Upstien was Goddamn closed. Goddamnit.