Man, I feel like I just leveled up in topology today. Like, this morning I was a level 3 topologist, and now I'm a level 4 topologist.

A recent New York Times article mentioned in passing that part of Bush's agenda for the next two years is to normalize trade relations with Viet Nam. What's that about? I mean, why are they not normal in the first place? Are we still putting sanctions on them to punish them for having been invaded by us back in the day, or something? And why ( Read more... )

You know that scene in that famous movie where the woman is taking a shower and the serial killer sneaks up on her and murders her? Well, a similar thing just happened to me: I was taking a shower and Riemannian geometry just snuck up on me and made me start liking it. Best shower EVER. (The best bath EVER was the one Archimedes took.)

I have remarkably bad sense of direction, and a remarkable confidence in my sense of direction nonetheless. I think that part of my brain still refuses to accept that "north" is not always the same as "forward." The other day, though, I somehow woke up with my internal compass rose not only off but backwards. While I wouldn't say I depend on it ( Read more... )

Hey kids. I'm back in newton, and planning to move to cambridge in a few days. I had my first day of orientation at MIT today. It mostly consisted of various staff members standing in front of us and saying, "It's okay. You can do it. Don't be scared. You weren't admitted by accident," over and over. I hate to admit it, but it kind of helped ( Read more... )

So this morning I was offered a drink. From a ( fire hose. )

Oh look, I just got an email with the subject "Early Acceptance." Sweet, looks like some grad school likes me so much that they've decided to accept me in January. Must be one of my backups. Let's see...

Oh wait, it's not from a backup. It's from THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO.

Damn.

About a year and a half ago I made a post asking for advice on how to deal with street harassers. Eric suggested confronting them face to face and asking them questions about what they're saying and why they're saying it. I think the next four times I got harassed after that I was too scared to say anything, but soon I got in the habit of ( Read more... )

It's a test of speed. Fucking speed. Why the fuck do we care about speed? I could do (almost) every problem on that test if I had four hours instead of three, but no. If it turns out that twenty percent of all grad school bound math majors do integrals a little faster than I do, then clearly I'm not qualified to do research. Clearly! AHH! I ( Read more... )

I daydreamed that I was at a swimming pool, and that my bathing suit revealed sex-induced scratches on my back. Someone in the daydream, some very innocent non player character I guess, saw the scratches and said, "Whoa! What happened to your back?" I shrugged sheepishly and said ( Read more... )