I guess blogging isn't hard if you are doing anything interesting. I'm doing things that I find interesting, but I can imagine they won't make for good blogging material. I am working a whole heck of a lot, which might just be a reflection of inefficiency. I'm learning this new programming language for GPUs which is based on C. Problem is, I didn't know C either. But I am now making reasonable headway. My goal is that I will have a program which performs Iterated Hard Threshholding on the GPU by the end of the week.
The Heatherlea has had some turnover. Rad, the polish guy, and Elodie, the french girl, have both moved out. Cat, an Australian girl, and Essam, an Egyptian - UK resident, moved in back in February. Essam was on faculty at a University in Glasgow and then moved to the University of Edinburgh in the business school. His family is in Glasgow. He commuted for three years and then decided he wasn't going home during the week. Afterall, he has to cross the entire country to go from Glasgow to Edinburgh. If you live in a major US city, it probably takes you longer to get to work than it would take to drive from Glasgow to Edinburgh. The train is 105 minutes. Cat is a young lady who just doesn't really want life to start yet so she's globetrotting. I would guess her life is similar to the life of our blog follower Elpeebee after his triumphant days at Emory.
Very recently (last two weeks?) a Japanese girl moved in, and I think her name is Chica. Her boyfriend is around often. Two nights this week, I made myself some dinner and ate it in the kitchen while they chatted each other up. It is the most amazing conversation: Chica speaks Japanese while Boyfriend speaks English. If they really want to make fun of each other (or maybe me) then they use the other person's language. At one point, Chica asked Boyfriend to get something and was trying to explain where it was. He was aimlessly shuffling around the kitchen. It was very bizarre to witness because I know where things are in the kitchen, but I had no clue if he was getting closer. I finally snapped, asked what he was looking for, and directed him to it. It was clearly not that he didn't understand Chica, I think Chica was saying something like, "No over there."
Anyway, I asked them about this and they both said that they understood the other language perfectly, but when they speak it they slow down their conversation. I can't imagine my brain working that well. Later I find out that Boyfriend has done this his entire life as his parents only speak Icelandic to him and he only replies in English. What a weird set of languages to know: English, Icelandic, and Japanese.
On that note, I am working diligently on my bilingual quest as I now understand both English (US) and English (UK), although I usually only speak English (US). {If you don't think these are different languages, look at the language options on your Facebook page.}
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Sir:
ReplyDeleteI take great exception on two points.
1. I feel that life had not just begun but was being lived in full and vivid Technicolor after college.
2. There are very few maths in this post, despite your categorization of same.
Also, I wish I had known the term 'Iterated Hard Threshholding' when we were in high school.
Ahh, yes, I regret my wording that Kat "does not really want life to begin..." Upon a reread, this appeared to be a negative comment. Yet, I intended it as a compliment to her spirit and ideals. I whole heartedly agree with your assessment of your life after college.
ReplyDeleteAt some point, the perception of our own world changes in a manner that alters one's life in a measurable fashion. She is attempting to delay this change, or possibly more accurately, that change has not taken place. This change typically manifests itself in a desire for constancy of some form, and excludes the constancy of perpetual change. I meant something like that.
There is very little maths, but stating that I am working on Iterated Hard Thresholding justifies the post classification.