Glieuaeiel's DJ

Frags:

• something about my current math/CS professor

Frags:

• something about coding for a game involving mathematical symbols

Frags:

• working on a math problem that involved counting and a grid with the cells colored in a pattern

It's Your Destiny (6:58)

A red-haired anime girl repeatedly walks up to my character and hands him a note. Half the time, she folds it into a paper airplane and blows it at him like she's blowing a kiss. The other half is a similar animation that also involves her blowing something at him. It's obvious that only these two animations were made, and they alternate randomly for variety. In both, after she delivers the note, she uses a pink rod about the size of a penis, which turns into an umbrella, and she floats away.

Some girls I know who have played the game before tell me that no matter how you play it, your character ends up with that girl. It has something to do with your destiny. I'm resistant to this idea, but there's clearly a different girl following me around in the game to enforce my destiny. The next time I see her approach, I get ready to do battle. I'm not exactly excited at the concept. I have a premonition that this battle will involve throwing fireballs, though, so at the least it will give me inspiration for lucid dream control, when I ever have one again. [D'oh!]

Indeed, one or two golf-ball sized fireballs are thrown. We also try setting traps on various pieces of furniture, but I'm not sure exactly how to set them off. Anyway, this girl is herself not an expert at this kind of fighting, so I'm not completely flattened. Some people my age are standing in a nearby driveway (it's dusk), which complicates things, because I think we're supposed to keep our abilities a secret. As I'm looking around, I notice an uncanny coincidence: of the three groups of people standing nearby, all are holding or manipulating a car tailgate/rear bumper, and our spells start affecting all three bumpers at once. It's such a strange coincidence that I start to wonder whether maybe destiny has something to do with it.

There's a man walking around the bar, singing enthusiastically along with the background music (which is Copeland's Hoedown). Our battle ends at the same time as the music.

Gingerly (6:58)

My family is walking into a building through a room with a lot of dog poop in it. Fortunately, there's a clear path around the side. Unfortunately, my mom trips and falls into the dirty part, then rolls through the dirty part before coming to a stop. That last part was totally unnecessary. She could have stopped herself somehow. My sisters are making loud, disgusted noises.

On the way out, I consider going around the other way, but it turns out that there are a ton of cobwebs between the car and the wall of the garage. Not worth it. So I go ahead of the group back around the original way so that I can open the door. We're talking about how this was just a routine checkup for our dog, but last year's checkup was routine and it led to discovering an illness which she hasn't recovered from to this day. So we're hoping for good news, but we're worried. We're also trying to coordinate times and places, because there's something I need to go to on my own, and someone else will have to pick me up.

Burnt Sugar Cookies (6:58)

Last night, someone made SO MANY sugar cookies. Dad shows me the box. They're all a little burnt, so they're brown rather than beige. They're going to be used as rewards. Dad also shows me the container which is supposedly full of grease from all the cleaning that had to be done afterward.

We try talking to my middle sister about something stupid she's doing. Mom's been trying to convince her to stop, but she isn't listening. I decide to pipe up and try to calm things down. I admit to her that I don't know as many of the details of the situation as Mom does, but I still agree with Mom's assessment that she should stop. I try to give some reasons, but I'm not sure that she listens.

Later, we're sitting around the dinner table. Dad tells everyone about how I've solved some of my professor's "Challenge Problems." I hadn't been planning on bringing it up, because that would be bragging. But now everyone's looking at me expectantly, so I say yes, I solved two of them. "Both of which I've already seen from other sources," I add. My eldest sister says encouragingly that there's no problem with that; it's all about "unifying the notation." I nod. I'd never thought of it that way before.

Springtime Traditions (6:58)

Spoiler for Springtime Traditions:

There's a video choreographed to "Rite of Spring." Right now, we're at the frenzied section towards the end of "Mock Abduction." Perhaps unsurprisingly, the accompanying video shows three couples lying parallel to each other, having sex. The video cuts are all over the place. I have a feeling I know what's coming. Indeed, on each of the last chords before "Spring Rounds," everyone convulses together. A helpful white label appears on screen, too, saying, "orgasm." I wake up messily.

Frags:

• Someone asks me my year in school, so I hold up three fingers. "Fourth?" they ask. I suppose the little short wall between us might have gotten in the way, so I raise my hand higher and say, "Ah, no, third," and they say, "Ah, of course." I wonder if my pinky wasn't folded over far enough the first time.
• There's a free bottle of alcohol lying around, so I grab it. Reading the label, I see that it's apparently bourbon. Excellent; I haven't tried that kind yet. [IRL I have this thing where I kind of want to try all the different kinds of alcohol, and then maybe never drink again after that. Who knows.] I put the bottle in my backpack. I still feel weird doing things like that; I feel like it should be illegal for me to possess alcohol. But it's not, anymore.
• I witness an awesome piece of scenery, and I try to impress it on my memory. It might have involved clouds.

Math Battle

I forgot to bring my sword when I entered this dungeon. Swords haven't been allowed in the previous dungeons, so I've gotten in the habit of not bringing them. But now I'm worried that the creatures in this dungeon will be too difficult to kill without one. And a humanoid creature just appeared out of the darkness to attack me. It looks familiar, like the Draugr from Skyrim, but the name that identifies it is unfamiliar to me, so I'm guessing it must be a higher-level version of what I've fought before. Uh oh!

We exchange a few blows. It's not an easy battle, but I think I'll be able to defeat it. I must have gotten used to hand-to-hand combat while going through those other dungeons.

I know that there's a girl somewhere in the dungeon, an adversary of mine, who was somehow responsible for designing the dungeon. Eventually I catch up to her, near a wall with three thick, knotted ropes hanging from the ceiling in front of it. It's the final round of the math competition. I, the girl, and another guy who won the competition last year are the only three contestants remaining. We stand around for a bit while the rules are explained. There are three different math problems to chose from, one at the top of each rope. The first person to climb a rope and solve a problem wins.

Without warning, last year's winner says, "Well, let's go," and starts the stopwatch. It takes a couple of seconds for me to realize what happened. When I finally do, I feel like that was unfair of him, but I don't say anything--I just grab a rope and start climbing. It also seems strange that one of the competitors is in charge of the clock. The girl is behind both of us, somehow out of the running.

The problem at the top of my rope has many diagrams of pyramids constructed by stacking lots of spheres, only sometimes a group of spheres will be missing from the pyramid. As I'm struggling to understand what the problem is asking, the other guy says, "Why are you working on that problem? This one's much easier." Startled, I decide without thinking to switch to the other problem. The other problem has a diagram of a lot of dominoes arranged in a complicated pattern. You're looking at the pattern from off to the side at an angle (rather than top-down). I have trouble understanding what this problem is asking, too.

A bit later, I learn that only a few seconds remain. My answer sheet is still blank. I decide to leave it that way. Not a very good show, but I'll just try to do better next time. I'll try not to let people like that guy throw me off by making me second-guess which problem to do.

I go back to my seat as we wait for the results to be announced. For a moment, I'm confused, because it looks like there's someone already sitting in it. But then I look again, and it's empty. I must not have been looking at the right place.

The teacher starts discussing how to use graphing calculators to perform addition of "structs." I listen to the first couple of sentences, but then I tune out, because I already know how to do this. Suddenly I think I'm dreaming, and I wake myself up.

Tight-Rope

A large group of students slowly makes its way across campus, myself among them. I wish we were moving faster, but my heavy backpack makes it difficult for me to pass anyone. Fortunately, when we reach the courtyard outside of our destination building, a lot of the group stops to socialize--they're not actually committed enough to go all the way up to the destination room. I'm able to pull in front and lead the dozen or so of us who are left.

As we start ascending the stairs, I realize that I don't remember which floor we're going to. It's been a while since this group last met, you see. I ask the people behind me, but they don't remember, either. On a landing halfway between the fourth and fifth floors, the stairs stop, and we'll have to ascend the rest of the way on a tight-rope, with just one other rope at about chest height to hold onto. Then I remember that our floor is the first possible floor above this point. But it's not the fifth floor, because there's a message printed along the bottom of the wall up there that says something like "This is a false door." So we won't be able to go through that one. That means we have a floor and a half of tight-rope walking to do, which is a bit scary but not impossible.

I head out onto the rope, and the group follows me. Halfway to the fifth floor, the girl behind me slips, screams, and throws her arms around me from behind to catch onto the rope in front of me. Her feet are dangling in midair. I just try to hold on as solidly as possible so she can depend upon me for support. She sounds very scared, so I also try to reassure her that it's not very far to the sixth floor, and I start to walk her through getting her feet back under herself. She gets her feet back on the rope, but she needs to get her hands back behind me as well in order for us to advance. I tell her to do it one arm at a time, but it turns out that we're actually holding onto a vertical rope which I'll first need to move behind my own body. So I have to do some balancing of my own, but eventually we manage it and continue on up.

Starting at the fifth floor, there's a four-inch-wide strip of wood running along the walls that we can use to stand on, rather than standing on the tight-rope. It's much easier that way, and without further incident, we arrive in the room on the sixth floor. A couple of old women are waiting for us inside.

Orange Soda

When I open my locker at the gym, I'm surprised to find it stuffed full of soda pop and food. I remember I left that stuff in there a while ago, and since this is only about the second time I've used my gym locker this term, I guess I haven't had time to remove it yet, or even had a chance to remember that it was there. In any case, it's time to start taking this stuff home. My backpack can't fit it all at once, so this will take at least three visits: one for the orange soda, one for the root beer, and one for all the food. In addition to the orange soda, this time I also pack my dream journal. I'm a bit confused that it's there--I've been using it recently, haven't I?--until I remember that I've been carting it back and forth daily using my gym bag. It's high time I took it home permanently.

Suddenly I look around to discover that all of the lights are off. I've been here so long that by now it's after hours and all of the employees are gone. Part of me thinks that this is cool, but another part wonders if an axe murderer hasn't also sneaked in after hours to kill me on my way out the door.

I make it back to my house and announce to Mom that I've brought home a lot of orange soda. We both sit around the coffee table and I start taking it out. The first one I remove is open and half empty. "I forgot some of them were open!" I say. I really hope I haven't spilled soda all over my school things. "I guess all of them were open," I observe, as I take out the rest of the cans. There are several wet spots on my binder from spilled soda, but none larger than a dime.

Under Construction

Taking a shortcut through the math department, I see a giant pile of dirt in one of the hallways. Apparently part of the building is under construction. I follow Prof. S up and down a short staircase that goes around the dirt. Prof. S walks into a classroom. I'm curious what he's doing this late in the evening, so I peek in the windows. It looks like there are a lot of professors and older students in the room--must be some kind of advanced seminar. I decide it's time to get moving again.

[I must have woken up after just about every REM cycle last night. Not sure how I pulled that one off.]

Soiree

Some of my cousins arrive for a function my family is hosting. They brought cupcakes--chocolate and one other flavor. They ask which flavor I prefer, because somehow the arrangement of cupcakes in the baking tin will reflect the seating chart for the event. I reply, "Probably chocolate."

I've agreed to contribute to the evening's entertainment by playing a short (two page) piano solo by Gershwin. I know I haven't played piano in ages, but everything on those two pages looked sightreadable when I glanced over it a while ago. However, when Dad discovers my plan, inexplicably he freaks out. I guess he's really concerned that I'll embarrass myself in front of the relatives. It's annoying, though. In fact, Dad's been annoying me a lot lately. For instance, he's recently gotten it into his head that he should learn to play piano himself, and he expects me to sit down with him to prepare piano duets. That does not sound like fun at all.

The previous group finishes performing, and now it's my turn. I figure the crowd is busy socializing, and they won't mind if I take a minute to look at some of the tougher chords. But to my horror, I open the music and discover a third page. What I thought was the end of the music is just a thin double bar! The third page isn't unplayable, but it has a lot of fast arpeggios over several octaves which will be very, very difficult to sightread. I probably should have taken a closer look at this. I start to feel uncomfortable about the amount of time I've delayed, now; the audience is probably getting impatient.

John Green the Sponsor

I've just finished TAing for today for a two-week class for math teachers in primary education. I and the teacher for the class spend a few moments calculating in percentages how close we are to finishing the class. It's towards the end of the second week.

It's dark outside as I walk through the quadrangles on my way home. On the way, I pass someone who looks exactly like John Green! I didn't know he was in Chicago! But I pass him without getting the courage to ask for an autograph. Mere steps later I consider turning around to chase after him, but I don't.

Inside a building, I run into one of my students from a previous summer math program. We talk for a bit, but we both have to be getting somewhere, so he leads the way out of the building. The building's door is rather heavy, and I feel bad that he tries to hold it for me. The pathway outside is narrow. I follow it into a smallish quad that's packed with people. I learn that it's called "Jones Quad," and it's a popular after-hours gathering place for students. I also know that I've been this way before. A girl from my house waves at me from inside a pack of her friends. I wave back--rather saucily, to my own surprise (namely, by lifting my left hand and repeatedly bending and unbending the last two knuckles of each finger simultaneously). Someone else waves at me, but I don't recognize her, and she makes a disappointed grimace. I run into someone else from my house and we remark upon how many housemates seem to be on campus tonight, despite the fact that it's the middle of summer.

It occurs to me that the John Green I saw might just have been a very close look-alike to the famed vlogbrother. I decide that I should go find him again and look more closely. As I wander around, something weird happens with the lights and the music in the building, and I guess that must mean it's about to close down for the night. No one seems in a hurry to leave, though. When I come back a few minutes later, everyone's still there, though they leave soon thereafter.

Back outside, I walk around a street corner and see a pizza place across the street. On a screen above the building, an advertisement plays. It's this same John Green guy. He's basically sponsoring the pizza place. I guess the pizza company must have heard about the Pizza John shirt and decided to capitalize on it. I still can't decide if the guy is actually John Green, though. It seems unlikely that he would do something so commercial.

Locker Checkout

It's the Saturday after finals week, and I'm trying to do my last bit of packing before going home. I've been storing some stuff in a locker on campus, so I head over to the building to pick it up. To my dismay, the building is locked. Apparently Friday was the last day to remove your belongings from this building. I spend a few minutes mentally cursing the idiot who thought that was a good idea, but then I decide I'd better try to do something about the situation. Using cleverness, I'm able to reach the first of my two lockers, which contains a fairly new car battery. I've been switching this one in and out with my car's old battery. Only, it seems like doing the swap would be a fairly complicated operation, and I can't remember ever having done it before. Oh, well. I must have known how at some point, and it's just been so long that it's slipped my mind temporarily. It'll come back, I'm sure. I put the battery in my backpack.

Unfortunately, the second locker is definitely unreachable. I check the building's hours, and unfortunately it won't open again until long after I've left town. By that time, they'll probably have thrown out my stuff. "My stuff" includes my Tae Kwon Do uniform, so I definitely don't want this to happen. Then I suddenly notice a sign on the window proclaiming the location and hours of this department's interim office. It's open today! Until 4:00! I hurry in that direction, checking the time. It's 4:11. Just my luck. Well, maybe there will still be someone around. My mom hurries to follow me.

I enter my target building to find a stark concrete entryway with stairs going both up and down, and hallways going in a few different directions. For a moment I'm disoriented, until I remember that the interim office is in a basement room. I go down the stairs, which twist and turn a few times before depositing me in a hallway only slightly more furnished than the original one. Along the wall to my right, dozens of cardboard boxes have been haphazardly stacked. Incredulous at my good fortune, I run down the row of boxes until I find one that's been labeled with my initials: last initial first, then first. Opening the box, I find my Tae Kwon Do uniform, along with everything else that's supposed to be there. Well, that's a relief. But I should probably talk to someone before taking it, else they'll think I stole it, and I'll be in trouble when I come back next term.

I continue down the hallway into the interim meeting room, which is actually a concert hall. That's kind of funny, but unfortunately I don't see anyone in the room except a female custodian up on stage setting up the ghost light. I turn back and try searching the hall in the other direction. I manage to flag down a dark-haired woman just on her way out the door. She seems to know me from somewhere, and it turns out she's coincidentally the one who's been answering my questions over email about Study Abroad. She tells me she's not the one to talk to about locker checkout. Fortunately, she says that the right woman to talk to is still in her office; it's right back there in the direction I've been going.

Wading

It's the day after finals week, but some of us are still hanging around to hang out. A girl from my high school class invites me to visit the forest with a group of friends.

"What forest?" I ask. You'd think I'd know the forests around here by now, so I'm a bit embarrassed by my question. Oh well.

She replies with the name of the forest, which I don't recognize. I agree to come anyway, and we head out. Soon after, we enter a restaurant on the outskirts of campus. While we eat, some housemates start planning what they're going to do to earn points for a big school competition which started today. For instance, apparently this restaurant (or the hotel it's a part of) is a sponsor for the event, so you get a points multiplier for eating here. I wonder why it was decided to hold the event after the end of Autumn Quarter, when there are so few people around. Vaguely I recall that it has to do with avoiding conflict with a big Study Abroad event happening in the middle of Spring Quarter, but that still doesn't explain why they didn't decide to do it during Winter. Oh well.

We leave the restaurant. Most of the group is heading back to campus from here, but I take a different path, one that leads toward the forest. At some point, I'll have to cut across the grass. But the grass is actually flooded quite deeply with water. The water's clear, but due to refraction it's difficult for me to tell quite how deep it is. Would this be an okay place to wade across? Tentatively, I start lowering my foot into the water. But even by the time the water reaches the top of my knee-high waterproof boots, I still haven't touched bottom. I retract my foot.

My friends are calling to me from across the water, telling me to go around the way they did. Yeah, their way was probably smarter. Meanwhile a boy from the group that decided to stay on campus is trying to tell me not to wade across anywhere, because it's all too deep. But I don't listen to him, and when I try the route my other friends suggested, the water's only about a foot deep.

All three of us are in werewolf form (from Skyrim) with the silver pelt and claws of an Ancient Behemoth (from Heroes III). I splash up to them and I attempt a growl. It is rather feeble, and one of the girls giggles. I introduce myself to her, and she shakes my hand, although she points out that she thinks we've met before. "No doubt we have," I reply.

Jumping Ahead

My dad and I have been taking turns playing a 3-D platform game while one of my high school friends watches. The gameplay of this game is a lot like rock climbing. You have to move each arm or leg individually, trying not to put too much strain on any one of them for more than a split second. We're trying to get to the top of an outcrop that has a sort of half-enclosed tunnel zigzagging up its vertical face. There's this one tricky spot where you have to jump over a gap, but one of the most attractive handholds actually attaches to a section of rock that swings down on a hinge. It can really upset your balance if you're not careful. Also, in order to get enough height, you need this section of rock to stay in its upright position.

I try it for a while without much luck, then hand it over to Dad. My friend points out that we don't actually have to go up this way; there's an easier place to ascend a little bit farther along this switchback. But I'm kind of stubborn, and I'd just like to prove that it can be done this way, even if it's not what the game's designers intended. Unfortunately, it proves to be a bit too much for Dad, and he falls off the edge to his (cartoon-style) death. That means we have to start over from the beginning of the level, which is frustrating, because I really thought I would get past that section on my next try.

But Dad's bored of this level, so he jumps way ahead in the game to the last level he did on his own. That's his style: don't bother with continuity; as long as you finish all the levels eventually, you're golden. Oh, well. The level selection screen is itself a 3-D environment, and the levels are yellow dots lined up in a path laid out along the ground. He realizes that he needs to buy a new "computer," since he lost the old one when he fell. When he does, the dots change to yellow rings, rather than filled circles. Also, two new "assistants" run in from the side of the screen, get a powerup of some kind from his character, then run off again.

He selects the level he wants. A bunch of enemies start running at him from all sides, so he starts beating them up using combos. Somehow he discovers a new combo--something like "knee in the face, punch, power kick"--which sends the unfortunate recipient flying backwards for about fifty meters. He encourages me to try it, but I have trouble until I realize that I'm doing a regular kick. For a power kick you need to hold down R1 at the same time. I feel a bit overwhelmed, but it's kind of fun once you figure it out. The animation's also cool because my character looks like a Star Wars bounty hunter.

Later, we're part of a larger party in the middle of a battle, trying to help the weaker members level up. This involves passing around 5-foot playing cards from character to character, which we all hug to our sides using our arms. The cards also double as protection from enemy characters, so there's some strategy involved in how you distribute your cards. Unfortunately, I'm running low on cards right now, and a thickset, bald thug is advancing on me in a rather intimidating manner.

Frags:

• dictating to my dream diary in Spanish
• other various false-awakening-dream-journal-writing

Crocodile

I'm playing with a graphics editing program. I'm trying to make a realistic 3-D model of a tree. I've found some textures and random generation algorithms from various other sources, and I'm trying to see how well they can be combined. For example, the models for the fruit on the tree come from Skyrim. Now, I manage to generate a tree. But it's one of those strangler fig trees from the jungle, and the setting is just a basic North American backyard. Also, the branches sometimes have a weird orthogonal slant. I'm not sure exactly how to fix these problems, short of designing my own textures for a tree, and that would be very complicated. I also notice that there's a thin spot in the middle of the tree--not enough leaves there. I spend some time trying to make an extra branch and affix it manually. The patch looks okay from a distance, but when I enter the 3-D environment and rotate the tree by grabbing a branch and pulling it sideways, it's clear that the new branch doesn't quite connect to the rest of the tree. It's just floating in the air in the right general location.

I look over the white picket fence bordering the yard. My parents are visible through the glass doors of the next house. One house over, a big group of 9 or 10-year-old kids is having a pool party. And on the other side of the fence from the pool is a crocodile. Wait, what!? Sure enough, there's a live, fifteen-foot crocodile sort of hanging upside down off of the fence. I'm both terrified and excited by this. In any case I'm definitely going to stay up here in my tree. There's a guy crouching next to the crocodile, but I'm not worried for him. He's probably from animal control or something.

I call out to my parents. "Mom! Dad! Look, it's a crocodile!"

They open the glass door and come outside. "Oh, have they come to pick it up already?" my dad says. I guess they already knew the crocodile was here. Meanwhile, the kids at the pool party are still busy doing cannonballs from the diving board.

Suddenly, the crocodile snarls at my dad. He crouches, but he looks frantic and confused and there's nowhere to run. The crocodile lunges, and Dad trips backwards over a white plastic lawn chair, which falls between them. Then, to my horror, my mom jumps on the crocodile and tries to wrestle with it. "Shit!" I say, desperately. She should have run. I can't see exactly what's going on, because my mom's back is to me. I wonder if I should try to help, or if that would only get me killed as well. Then I see blood and bits of flesh spilling onto the patio. It must have gotten her neck. "Shit," I moan, overcome with horror at the fact that I'm watching someone die, and that someone is my mother. Somehow, I'm on the ground, and her body lands next to me. There's definitely something wrong with the shape of her neck, and there's blood all over. I wake up.

Math Seminar

I'm sitting in the audience for a math seminar. Absently, I look at the speaker for the first time in a while. It takes me a minute to realize that instead of Prof. S, the speaker is a very broad-shouldered man whom I don't know. He looks very strong, he's in shape, and he's not wearing a shirt. Huh. The man explains somewhat embarrassedly that he's advertising for a company whose logo appears on his shorts. Also, I guess he's the substitute teacher for the math seminar, and he's kind of hoping that we won't talk much about math, since he doesn't know much about it.

This is the second half-naked man I've seen in the math department today. I guess the female undergrads must be feeling pretty lucky. Anyway, after the seminar I walk onto the stage and see that the guy's not wearing shorts now, either, or underwear. He's picking up his clothes and getting ready to leave.

At some point later, I discover that I'm wearing only a T-shirt and underwear, and my shorts are around my ankles. I feel somewhat irrationally superior to the substitute speaker in that I decide to pull up my pants, instead of taking off my underwear like he must have done in the same situation. But I do recognize that I'm probably just jealous.

Math Book

One of my friends in the math department leads me into a side room where the floor is covered in dozens of packets of paper, printouts from various mathematical lectures and books. He hands me the printout of the last chapter of the book I've been working through. When I go back and add this chapter to the rest of the book, I take a moment to contemplate the book as a whole. It's in a very rough state: for example, after I add a couple of entries to the glossary at the back, I notice that some of the definitions end with commas, some with periods, and some with nothing. It will take some work to clean up, but I'm still proud of it. I think I understand a little better the essence of a math book. It's not all about the typesetting and the grammar--it's about the content, and content is what we have.

Piano Lesson

Three of us are sitting in a room, waiting. We're all musicians. A friend of ours is having a piano lesson in the next room. The two others decide to rehearse a tricky spot from the string quartet they'll be playing in the recital. I'm a bit uncomfortable with this, since I'm worried about the noise being heard in the next room. It looks like one of the older adults who's back here with us is about to come over and stop them, but then she decides it's unnecessary. I guess if she thinks it's okay, then I'd better not worry about it.

Frags:

• Playing a platform game of some kind.

Wrecking Ball

The dorm I live in is about to undergo some major remodeling. They want to add more bathrooms, so they're going to demolish and rebuild an entire wing. A friend and I are sitting with a map of the place in front of us, trying to work out where they're going to find room for all of the people who currently sleep in that wing. It's not easy. I wonder if it's wise to be reducing sleeping room at a time when this university should really be building new residence halls to house the growing undergraduate population.

I need to go to the bathroom, but the bathrooms are all in the wing that's being destroyed. Still, I haven't felt any thunderous booms from the wrecking ball hitting the building, so I decide to go over there anyway. When I look out the bathroom window, I see that the wrecking machine isn't even on right now. (You can tell because when it's on, the wrecking ball swings back and forth like a pendulum, gradually sweeping wider and wider arcs.) However, apparently there's been some work done on the inside of the building, because none of the toilets work. Notwithstanding this, I spend some time in the bathroom. At one point I wonder if all of my changes of clothes are in the wing that's soon to be destroyed. Then a guy comes running into the bathroom to tell me that I'd better hurry up because the wrecking machine's started warming up! Sure enough, when I look out the window, I see the wrecking ball swinging back and forth a little. I do hurry. But it turns out the machine is aimed at another part of the wing, where some students are currently eating lunch on the roof. As I watch through the window, all of them soon leave, all except one, who's either trolling the machine operator or just very stupid. The machine operator can't start working until this student leaves, and he's visibly annoyed.

Math Meeting

Someone in the math department is telling us that Prof. S has released the results of his annual "Favorite Teachers" survey, and as always it "just happens" that he tops the list. The announcer apparently thinks that the second-place professor (whom I've never heard of) is a better one. I decide to see if I can take a class with this other professor and form my own opinion. Anyway, it only makes sense for Prof. S to put himself at the top of his list. It's a demonstration of self-confidence, or something.

Now Prof. S himself is leading the meeting, and he's gone through a list of important characteristics for any math teacher to have. He's taken a break from talking so that the listeners can discuss these ideas among themselves. I wasn't paying the closest attention, so I look over at Prof. B's notes, which he's been typing on his laptop. It's a list of five desirable characteristics in a math teacher. Suddenly Prof. S calls on me and asks what I think of what he just said. I try to keep my voice calm and formulate an intelligent response--something about trying to work out which teachers in the department have which of these five characteristics he's just mentioned.

"Characteristics?" says he. "What characteristics?"

I read off the first two items on the list, and he interrupts me to say that those are not characteristics but "methodologies." Oops. Now it's clear I was reading from Prof. B's notes. I hope he doesn't mind too much. Thankfully, Prof. S soon changes the subject.

Frags:

• Something happens inside a convention center.

Blue Angels

I was supposed to go to a Blue Angels show with some friends, but we got delayed. We decide to head over there anyway. When we arrive, we see a lot of other spectators still there--apparently the show's getting started late, also. Only, we wait there for another half hour, and it still doen't start. The Blue Angels were a no-show! Later, I'm playing a game that looks a lot like Galaga, but you play as jet airplanes. There are two teams facing each other, and the basic objective is to capture the enemy flag and bring it back to your side. The controls are similar to those from Snake.

Frags:

• Something math-related.

Math Congruence

I'm working through a packet on a math topic related to congruence of some kind. It's kind of a competition: a bunch of us got this packet at the same time, and we're trying to see who can work through the material the quickest. The material is really interesting.

Math Competition

I walk into the lecture hall where I'll be doing a math competition. A lot of people are already there, so it is difficult for me to find a seat. There are very few places in the room with three empty seats in a row, so I'll have to sit next to somebody. I find a relatively empty spot over by the left, but the seats are tilted strangely (and they're column-shaped, like a bar stool or something?) so it's very uncomfortable. I'm prepared to stick it out, but then a girl mentions to me that she thinks they're uncomfortable, and I immediately assure her that I'm going to move. Peer pressure, eh. Looks like there might be some empty seats on the other side of the room.

They hand out the tests face up, and I start working. Then a proctor comes along the row and pats my test, signaling me gently that I shouldn't have started yet. Apparently they wanted to show a video first? Or I'm just supposed to have written my name, then stopped? I can't quite work out what I did wrong, but I feel embarrassed nonetheless.