Started classes today! It's too bad that Hitoshi Murayama is such an amazing teacher...I'll now feel too guilty if I sleep through my 9am Quantum Mechanics class. Standard Model also went pretty well, with a good overview of field theory and then a (somewhat boring) review of special relativity notation. But it could be an interesting class, as the ( Read more... )

6 hour exams should be considered cruel and unusual punishment. The first half went decently well, but the second half was just ridiculous. I'm not even sure that I got any of it's 6 problems fully right, but it sounds like hardly anybody did. Hmm...I think partial credit will be my best friend ( Read more... )

Today I met up with Jeremy and David (both friends from MIT, now at Berkeley and Stanford - Jeremy is a first year chemistry student and an amazing pianist, David is a brilliant second year physics student), and we went into San Francisco to do some exploring. In fact, after a tasty dim sum lunch in chinatown, we headed to the Exploratorium. It's ( Read more... )

32 hours until I am on a plane crossing the country...and my books are already on their way. I also managed to get all of my clothes packed today. Hmm...apparently this whole moving to California thing is actually happening ( Read more... )

First, an update. Second, a crucial definition. Third, some additional lyrics.

The Update
I think I have finally sorted through my books and decided what ( Read more... )

Fear not, dear readers, for my nose and I have come to a tentative understanding. After 4 hours of sleep, a trip to the beach, dinner with my 2 cousins and my sister, and watching Waiting for Guffman, I am feeling much more cheerful! I showed my Barcelona pictures to my mother, and now she has taken it upon herself to touch a few of them up in ( Read more... )

I am very angry at my nose. We are generally on good terms with each other, but tonight it has decided to run constantly all during the time I am packing (I think I unleashed some kind of demon monster dust upon it). Usually I am perfectly fine with staying up until 5:30am, but it turns out to be torture when you are getting up every 10 seconds to ( Read more... )

My room is currently half empty. Or is it half full? Alternatively, these could very well contain exactly the same semantic content. Why do people care so much about what to call their 50% full glasses of water when the two considered possibilities pick out exactly the same state ( Read more... )

This is not an announcement. Rather, this is a command. Everyone WILL come see Arcadia at one or more of the following times: August 5-7, 8pm and August 7, 2pm. I don't care if you are halfway around the world...I WILL see you there (there being Kresge Little Theatre, MIT ( Read more... )

The Goldberg Variations are so beautiful. And as I'm sitting here listening to them, I'm thinking: a) I really need to get back to playing piano -- it's been WAY too long. And b) I wonder how they could be described in physics language. Let me explain...most of the variations are composed of distinct melodic lines that can be thought of as ( Read more... )