More of the same...

Hello, peeps....Mmmm...Peeps...

Not much is happening on my end, 2nd semester started a week or so ago; not much of a change from last semester, except I have Macro instead of Mirco, Physics C (I) instead of Multi and Astro instead of Govt. Theres something that happens when you get accepted, biological maybe?, that makes you unable to concentrate or care much.

So...uh....

Good night

- Will

Thought We Needed An Update ^^

Ummm yeah, what's with everyone not posting for like *checks* a week?? lol and you guys should go post in your own private blogs too, like moi.

Anyways, how's second semester senior year going? I thought it would be so much funner but it turns out I still have to sit through classes and do homework even though it doesn't count for anything in particular. Lame. And I still haven't done any of those things on my list, except for going to breakfast at IHOP today with my friends because we had a 2-hr delay. Except some people didn't show up because they wanted to sleep >.< lol

We might have a snow/rain/ice/cold day tomorrow *does snow dance* especially since today in science research, we upper levels had a free day again and spent it looking up weather reports online :P

What else... you MIT12-ers who haven't been in the chat lately, get on!! I think 10-11 EST is the most active lol

Also, I can't wait for CPW!! The schedule from last year is freakin amazing, I want them to post up a schedule like that for this year so I can map/plan out what I'm going to do while I'm at MIT hehe

Yeah. That's all. I'll post again tomorrow if we have a snow day and gloat. Jk. Or not.

Yet another reason why I can't wait to get out of here

I understand that getting into MIT early is a huge deal, and I guess it's pretty impressive, but sometimes I almost wish I hadn't told anyone about it.

At first it was kind of cool and novel that people associated me with MIT, but now it's getting old. When someone can't figure out a calc problem the standard answer, "Go ask MIT." It's not because I'm especially good at math (to be honest, I'm probably in the bottom half of my calc class), but because somehow since I'm going to MIT it means I must have suddenly become a freaking genius.

Any time I ask a silly question or mess something up, because I'm not quite perfect yet, I get snarky MIT comments and I know they're meant to be funny, but it's just annoying now. It would be nice if people could step back and realize that I still have a real name other than MIT (although on a sort of cool note, my name is Michelle Ilana so if I ever get married to someone whose last name starts with a T, my name really will be MIT. My physics class has already taken note of this fact and tried to pair me up with every person with a T last name).

Yes, MIT is impressive and prestigious, but I'm still the same person that I was in November before I got accepted. I'm not suddenly more brilliant, more socially awkward, or less of a person.

I can't wait until CPW and then next year, when nobody will say, "Hey MIT, how'd you miss that question?" because we'll all be MIT and it won't be alien or impressive, it will just be life.

ghost town

I was finishing up a cute, fast little gearbox cad around 6 pm or so today, when all my compatriots suddenly ran off to the other building to play with the IR sensor on our test drive platform. The angry growls of the German metal men blasting through our speakers were paused, the clatter of aluminum and procrastination was hushed, even the constant whirring of overworked laptops ceased as they completed their renders and fell into a half-watchful sleep. Ghost town. Not to mention my school is the perfect setting for an FPS. Long dark corridors with evenly placed skylights that cast shadows as often as light, not to mention the new building, with its half-finished concrete walls and puddles of rain and scattered pipes, blanketed by layers of fog in the morning. It's creepy.

Enter MIT12, where Zen is no longer a challenge and people have acquired social lives (or maybe just homework). Actually, the low population at this time is probably just due to the high concentration of ESTers (eastern time, not RC=O-OR) who frequent MIT12. But yes, ghost town is eerie. COME BACK PLX

Mystery Hunt!

I know that several of the official bloggers over at the admissions page have been blogging about mystery hunt, but I just wanted to add in that I'm having a great time with the hunt. Originally I was hoping to take the bus to Boston for the weekend and stay with a friend who lives at Random, but that didn't really work out, so I'm puzzling remotely. This means that although I'm part of the Random Hall team (A Man, A Plan, A Canal, Suez) I'm working from my computer at home in New Jersey. I'm not planning on showing quite the dedication and insomnia that I would be if I were actually at MIT, but I couldn't turn down a weekend of puzzles (especially since I really need to be studying for midterms, which are next week).

I don't want to give anything away about any of the puzzles, but it is so satisfying to be the first one to figure something out about of clue. I haven't contributed too much yet (and the main puzzle I'm working on hasn't yet been solved) but it's so cool. I can't wait until next year when I'll actually be at MIT for IAP.

It's finally over.

This morning I took my last midterm of my high school career. I made it out alive! I never thought that I would get to this point in my life. It always seemed so far away. Now all that's left is my senior project, 4 AP tests, and an english final that I'm pretty sure I'll do well on because the teacher thinks that I'm "deep." Let's hope that during my AP exams I don't do what last years seniors did during their math AP exam which was sleep. I feel so relieved. I thought I might care that I'd fail most of my midterms but it all turned out ok in the end. Got to love the curves. (I wonder how many chat people thought "That's what she said." after reading that.) Senior year has been good so far and it is kind of sad that it is half way over. I mean, I'm ready to graduate but still. I think that's all I have to say :D.

My plans for this weekend: Sleep and go to Staples to buy a 5 subject notebook because I'm only brining one note book to school for the rest of the year in this bag! I've been waiting so long for this time and now that it's here I don't really know what to do.


Well that's all! I just wanted to say that I was done with midterms :D

Bye!

EA telethon

So around 7:15 tonight the phone rings at my house. Since nobody ever calls for me I ignored it and let one of my parents pick up. I soon discovered that today is the EA telethon and I actually had a phone call. I resisted asking whether or not MIT will really rescind me if I do miserably in physics this semester and/or fail my midterm and just chatted for a few minutes.

I love that MIT cares enough to do stuff like send us tubes, holiday cards, and have students call us. This isn't even the first MIT student to contact me. The bloggers are friendly and I keep getting messaged on facebook from people trying to recruit me for the Hillel (this is what I get for having a very Jewish-sounding last name and looking stereotypically Jewish). I wish it would be CPW already!

AHH

YAY EXAMS ARE OVER! hehehehe it's now officially second semester, which means lots of MIT2012, reading, sleeping, watching tv, and not caring about homework! :)

Eh. Got in A in physics, 91.3 when the cut-off for H was 92. Boo oh well.

Hum. I really want to take a nap but I have a violin lesson in 1.5 hours and I need to practice and then fri/sat is our Sylvania Speech & Debate tournament, the biggest tournament of the year. Fun fun.

Oh yes. Any suggestions on what to argue for this topic? heh:

In a democracy, civil disobedience is an appropriate weapon in the fight for justice.

Joy's amazing post

To do list:

1. various hws (i luv my probability/lin alg class & my eng class and i hate my ochem class... my other classes are mediocre)

2. make (actually, probably watch/prod/annoy my friend as he makes) a really awesome acrylic magnetic clear rubix cubey at said friend's house

3. read Neil Gaiman & Terry Prachett's Good Omens

4. go to in-n-out & enjoy. (T_T why doesn't Cambridge have in-n-outs?)

5. dress shopping at an outlet :D

6. ice skating

7. fomf

8. sleep

9. [try not to] have nightmares about cpw & paralysis...

10. ignore rensselaer & princeton's persistent emails (something like 3 per day) that I have not applied yet.

It's the end of the chat as we know it

I had nothing to do this afternoon and my calc homework was giving me problems so I decided to go on the MIT12 chat since I haven't been on in a while. I entered the chat expecting the usual chaos and confusion but I was greeted by an ominous silence (and not because my speakers are turned off). Alina was only other person in the chat. This has never happened to me before so I was forced to conclude that one of several things had happened. Either (a) everyone was having computer problems, (b) the entire world except for New Jersey had been spontaneously combusted or, (c) the prefrosh had gotten lives. Faced with these three options, I immediately deduced that my state was the only remaining in the country.

I waited around for a minute and soon Jeff and Ale joined, convincing me that there must be some other reason, probably hiding in the 4th dimension, for the momentary collapse of the MIT12 chat.

What's up with the Weather?

Right now, when it should be blizzarding outside, making roads impassable so I can have a snow day, it is pouring rain and thundering!!! Rain in January!! Sixty degrees in January!!!

Just last week, we had a huge blizzard that even dwarfed my own awesomeness (I know, I was surprised too!). Even though it happened to come when there was no school already, it was a blast to drive through it (I mentioned this in an earlier post). Fortunately, I now have a picture to show you just how ridiculously awesome this storm was. Now to fully understand what I treked through, imagine those roads you see with the 1 foot partitions of snow completely filled with snow. Go crazy, just imagine snow everywhere, coming down, coming up, coming from the side. Imagine that the road just blends in with the 1 foot high surrounding of snow. Now once you have that image (possibly video if you see snow coming down) floating in the dark place called your imagination, you have a good picture of what my trusty Honda CR-V and I braved and survived.



That picture was taken just a few days ago. Right now, as I look out my window and see endless rain attempting to penetrate it, there is no snow left. Yes, the weather has killed the snow. Rather than being cold outside, the weather has decided to throw a curve ball full of warm air. What's even weirder is that this happens every January here!! There is always a few days in January with sixty degree weather. The seasons should be: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, More Summer, Even More Winter. The only reason I'm ranting is because I'm pissed at the thunder that keeps distracting me and the rain that's rumbling at the window a few inches from my ear.

~Anyway, rant ends here~

Great! The storm is picking up...AGAIN!!! err sorry, moving on. So I've got finals next week, but like I said earlier, I'm still excited since my bio exam is all multiple choice (/me goes and does a victory dance). Once finals are out of the way, I'll be in my final semester, entering the final leg of this journey we call high school.

G'day everyone! Enjoy More Summer, it will be ending soon!

the rest of the Donald Story

Well, I promised a better intro after my AP Gov was done and not only is my AP Gov done, but so is my AP English, and AP Psych, and theres been a day of school so now I have new versions of all of it.

ANYWAY, first I would like to say that I have a habit of starting sentences that change topics with anyway, and sometimes other sentences. My Honors English 10 teacher got really mad about and would practically yell whenever I did so. Ergo, when my friends and I made a relatively horrendous but infinitely entertaining Flash version of the Illiad, I was the narrator and every sentence the narrator said began with anyway. (btw, if you would like to see this flash version, which is, as stated, highly entertaining, you can check it out here)

Anyway, so ... why might I have this anywaying habbit. I suspect it has to do with the way I think. I've been playing around with computers for a long time, and it's seeped into the way I think, speak, and write. Now, don't worry .. I won't come up to you and sing

#include <stdio.h>
main(t,_,a)char *a;{return!0<t?t<3?main(-79,-13,a+main(-87,1-_,
main(-86,0,a+1)+a)):1,t<_?main(t+1,_,a):3,main(-94,-27+t,a)&&t==2?_<13?
main(2,_+1,"%s %d %d\n"):9:16:t<0?t<-72?main(_,t,
"@n'+,#'/*{}w+/w#cdnr/+,{}r/*de}+,/*{*+,/w{%+,/w#q#n+,/#{l,+,/n{n+,/+#n+,/#\
;#q#n+,/+k#;*+,/'r :'d*'3,}{w+K w'K:'+}e#';dq#'l \
q#'+d'K#!/+k#;q#'r}eKK#}w'r}eKK{nl]'/#;#q#n'){)#}w'){){nl]'/+#n';d}rw' i;# \
){nl]!/n{n#'; r{#w'r nc{nl]'/#{l,+'K {rw' iK{;[{nl]'/w#q#n'wk nw' \
iwk{KK{nl]!/w{%'l##w#' i; :{nl]'/*{q#'ld;r'}{nlwb!/*de}'c \
;;{nl'-{}rw]'/+,}##'*}#nc,',#nw]'/+kd'+e}+;#'rdq#w! nr'/ ') }+}{rl#'{n' ')# \
}'+}##(!!/")
:t<-50?_==*a?putchar(31[a]):main(-65,_,a+1):main((*a=='/')+t,_,a+1)
:0<t?main(2,2,"%s"):*a=='/'||main(0,main(-61,*a,
"!ek;dc i@bK'(q)-[w]*%n+r3#l,{}:\nuwloca-O;m .vpbks,fxntdCeghiry"),a+1);}

instead of the twelve days of Christmas (yes, that is what that program outputs (try compiling and running it!) (and no I didn't write it)). However, what I did at the end of that sentence is sort of what I'm talking about—when I write I will put tangents in parentheses and will often nest them a few deep. In person, I hear, this gets more annoying because I will move through topics of a conversation and nest tangents deeper and deeper, then finish what I was talking about popping up the stack of my conversation, finishing things in reverse order and expect people to understand. I also use computer metaphors. I think the anyways are just a way of my segmenting my thoughts and indicating to myself and others that I am creating a new topic.

In any case (another way of saying anyway), why would you care? Honestly, my linguistic habits are probably of no concern to you and if you've made it this far, I salute you. (You may find out that in real life I will occasionally, or often, actually salute you .. which is weird cause I have no interest in the military whatsoever .. since I'm a pacifist) ANYWAY, what I was trying to also get across is that I'm a Course VI person .. a very Course VI person. I'm also likely an East Campus type person, but we will see as CPW and Orientation progress how I fit in there.

Since this is getting exceedingly, excessively, exorbitantly (, redundantly) long, I too show now utilize the bullet list form .. though some I my bullets might drag on a bit. Here we go:

• I also am currently my school valedictorian, but will only be salutatorian by the end of the year :-(
• I too like the word über, and thanks to my wonderful MacBook keyboard (Apple still believes in the concept of an AltGr key .. if not exactly), I can make the umlaut appear, AS IT SHOULD!!
• On that note, my laptop is a MacBook, my desktop is Daul Booted XP and Xubuntu (linux). I'd like to get a bigger laptop HDD so I could tri-boot it.
• s shocking as it might seem, I am not completely and totally just a nerd. I have friends and participate in quite a few "cocurricular" activities, most notably Chorus, Theater, and in the past, Boy Scouts (I am an Eagle Scout). I also like doing many things in the union of nerdocity and mainstream, like play Rock Band and DDR (I am good up through any 8 footer, 9s its iffy), see movies, and read (though I have a tendency to read more nonfiction of recent, like language manuals, books on early Christian history (though I am not a Christian really), philosophy stuff, its all very interesting.. but I do enjoy fiction too)
• I'd like to learn Japanese, Arabic, Mandarin, Greek, and Korean.. I probably won't achieve this in my lifetime.
• I'm relatively liberal, I don't really know who I'm supporting in the election though. I like some things in the Paul camp, but not others. Obama seems alright... I'll decide latter.

Umm .. how long could I go on? Very. Alas, homework calls. If you have any questions for me, let me know.

Peace,
~Donald Guy

Everybody else is doing it

So, I figured that, since I had no idea what to blog about, because I've never had a blog before in my life, I'd write a little intro about me!

I am Katie, xx, MI, 8. I am also known as Ale xx and Saucy. Here are some facts about me:

• I'm a pretty weird person. Right now I have bright red hair. I like to paint my fingernails strange colors. And I love brightly colored socks.
• I am an uber physics nerd.
• I like the word uber. I also say lol way too much. And I have the dorkiest screen name in the world.
• I am from Flint, MI and I love Vernors, Halo Burger and Koegel's hot dogs, none of which they have in Massachusetts or most of the rest of the country.
• I say "pop." I do not and will never say "soda." So ha!
• I love the cold weather, thus I am extremely ANGRY that it's 60 degrees here today. I want snow!
• I am still undecided in the presidential election. Weird, huh? (But it doesn't matter because I won't be able to vote anyway.)
• My favorite book is One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. If you have not read it, you should.
• I collect state quarters and foreign language dictionaries.
• I really am sane and halfway intelligent, though I doubt sometimes that it shows.

Um, I think that's it. I cannot wait for CPW because every day I think I like you crazy people more and more, and we really need to meet. But for now the chat is a great excuse to not do homework, chores, and other things that bore me. Yay!

Second Semester Senior Year

Dude, you guys have made like 5 posts since I last checked this thing, which was around midnight last night lol

Anyway, school's dragging on and final exams are in exactly a week (I made a study schedule last night.. it's insane.. I always make them and never follow them. I can't even find my 1st quarter papers and stuff ahhhh). So I thought I'd cheer myself (and maybe all you other seniors) up by making a list of what I'm going to do starting 10 days from now when second semester starts!!! We get a 4 day weekend after exams too, because of Martin Luther King Day, although I will probably be helping out at the Sylvania Speech and Debate Invitational.

1. Read lots and lots of books
2. Hang out with friends every weekend
3. Play Guitar Hero a lot
4. Play DDR a lot
5. Play SIMS2 a lot
6. Learn how to cook
7. Learn programming (eh...)
8. Go to IHOP with friends on 2-hr delay days (yeah, that's just something we've always planned to do but never could because we value sleep more than each other's company)
9. Go to sleep at 10pm each night
10. Um.. do scholarship applications? Boo
11. Make fun of sister because she still has another year to go
12. Start running club with friends (exercise in general)
13. Watch French movies
...and most importantly...
14. CHAT ON MIT12!! Yay lol

But not to worry, I'll still do my homework and stuff. I don't think I've ever not done a homework assignment in my life (I've forgotten them at home sometimes though =/) I might not study as much for tests though. frozen GPAs rock (gah, just gotta pull off all my H's this quarter and exams to stay 1st). In AP Lit, we have to make a Chapbook of like 20 of our own original poems but no one really cares anymore. Eh.. being me, I'll probably still want to pull off all my H's 3rd and 4th quarter just because... (btw, H = 94-100 in AP and honors classes)

As for events, there's CPW and spring break and prom and Cedar Point Physics day to look forward to :)

Oh well. Keep your spirits up people because second semester senior year is rapidly approaching!! Hehe

Still On Break

Good Morning MIT'12 Prefroshes and random readers,

Guess what? I'm still alive, and on break! Yay teacher inservice! So...instead of doing homework, a presentation in Biology, a couple of review sections in Statistics, some reading journal entries for Lit, and writing a final exam essay for my online Govt class, I'm bothering you guys. Heh, it's a pretty light load compared to what some of you have to do. So procrastination is fun :) Daytime tv on the other hand, is not. I have a Martha Stewart rerun on. Now a Rudy Guiliani ad, hehe fear mongering is fun!

Well...since everyone else did an intro and err...my first posts all my posts will make me seem like a lunatic, at best. So...this intro will paint me in a positive light?

Will, I am or William. I am not Sam. I do not like green eggs and ham. Green ham either comes from glow-in-the-dark florescent pigs or ham soaked in green dye. Green eggs...hmm..I dunno. Green Chickens?

Well, I'm a native Floridian, currently living in Bradenton i.e. boring suburb/small city. I go to a boring stereotypical high school, kinda like the High School movies but I'm the nerd in the background who isn't invited to the "awesome" party that ends up getting the protagonist thrown into either prison, Mexico or Harvard sometimes worse...CALTECH.

I am um...not interesting. I am Asian, politically independent, and uh...sort of a slacker? I read every once and a while, preferably dystopia novels, comedies, and satires. I watch too much tv for my own good.

...

Now, to end the post with a random simile. Winter vacation is like a waffle. There are cells to keep the syrupy viscus goodness that is fun. They're usually found frozen but some are made on the iron of spontaneity. Occasionally you'll find a Belgian one in there. But in comparison, it doesn't compare to the pancake that is summer vacation.

PS. I didn't have breakfast :/

Sean (called Maximus by most): The Truth

For those of you out there who thought that Sean's post was serious (and I really hope that there are very few of you). You should know the truth. His new goal in life is to make me hate him (so then he could gain joy from annoying me but he's not doing a very good job at this). So when I posted about how I was happy that the chat was saved he felt the need to say that he was the one who saved it. Therefore, though he tries really hard to be one, Sean is not that much of a weirdo to go outside in the snow wearing only tube socks.

On a side note you should also know while about 8560% of the stuff that he says on any topic is a lie / joke. 99.9(with a little line over it)% of the stuff that he says about me is a lie so don't trust anything that he says about me. I'm not in the KGB and I don't work for the IRA either.

Seniorit...y

Finals begin in two days. I am almost a second semester senior. MIT likes me (at least that’s what the tube said). Does that mean…I can stop doing schoolwork? Gasp!

Despite my alleged superiority, defined by an ability to pull passing grades without simultaneously pulling all-nighters, and the justification to laugh at the plebes who haven’t gotten into college yet, I don’t want to give up all semblance of academic effort just yet. Because I think I’m getting my lowest grade ever in a class right now. AHH PANIC

For me, there is always that one class that, no matter how legitimately I study for it (so surfing Facebook with the textbook open doesn’t count), the desirable grade remains elusive. Maybe the teacher is unreasonable, the test questions are ambiguous, or the material just won’t stick in the brain, but the test grades are sorely lacking.

I’m pretty sure my grade is only where it is, and not lower, because of the saving grace of homework. But oh snap, finals get their own category in the gradebook. So if I don’t study a bit, I’ll probably end up with, well, something that college would frown upon. (This isn’t CollegeConfidential; I’m not crying because I just got my first A-. No kidding.)

And, well, even if I were to forgo studying, my sleep quota has plenty of backup diet options.

(This post overdramatizes reality a little because I just wanted an excuse to use that long tag there.)

True Confessions

Since I'm normally addicted to blogging I feel a little guilty that I haven't posted yet. Basic introduction, since we love our roll calls: I'm Michelle (xx, duh), living in the best state in the country (Jersey!) and hoping to major in course 1E, which is environmental engineering for people who haven't memorized the course numbers like Sham has. Reasons why I'm super cool:

1. I really like whole grain bread.
2. My favorite number is 35.
3. Sean says I smell like maple syrup (let's ignore the fact that he hasn't ever met me in real life)
4. I sing really loudly when I drive, loudly enough that people can hear me when they're walking by.
5. I have a terrible voice.
6. I try to rationalize that the MIT12 chat is a form of social activity.
7. I adore word games and books (probably more than science and definitely more than math)
8. I hike, a lot.
9. I have no number nine but I really don't like even numbers so I felt compelled to add another item to this list.

So you're reading and I can see you saying right now, "But Michelle, how could #7 be true? You're supposed to love MIT!" And the answer is that I do, I love it so much that the only other school I finished applying to was a state school and I'm turning down full tuition there. So why MIT, then? Why when "books" is probably the most common tag on my personal blog entries and I shudder at the word "physics" do I choose MIT? Basically, because however much I love literature, I realize that I would never be happy studying it my whole life because (a) I'm sick of writing papers about it and (b) studying subjects that could potentially change the way we live forever is a lot more exciting.

So here I am, I've been outed; I don't know any computer programming languages, I'm awful at physics, and until last year I couldn't stand math, but somehow I love everything about MIT and I'm beyond excited to become a student.


(now I'm just waiting for the hate mail to pour in)

a list.

I'm Shamarah and I'd like to introduce myself, in an itemized fashion :)

1. The "froshface" title was my idea and I'm really happy that it was chosen
2. I'm the girl who memorized course numbers way back in August
3. Najah and I share a brain and a love for New House
4. Rachel and I share a love for The Logs and, to a lesser but still pretty large extent, Sam Maurer
5. I'm a seven sister (GET WITH IT OR GET LOST. *THUG STANCE*)
6. I have a thug stance
7. Paninis, lol
8. I'm from Florida
9. I love MIT - a lot
10. School starts tomorrow for me :(
11. MIT12 is hilarious and is now my favorite AIM chatroom ever, and I'll be very sad to have to stop going there as often since I'll have homework to do and, you know, a life to live

That's about it. Stay cool, everyone!

And So it Lives On: The Truth

I remember that long cold December night.

I was in Vermont, seeking solace from my self-imposed loneliness in the depths of the internet. I powered up my laptop, and headed out into the winter blizzard, the only place where I could find free wifi (thank you Johnson's, your unprotected network saved me $9.95). As I sat outside in the horrendous conditions (heavy snowfall, negative ten degrees, zero visibility), warmed by nothing but my overheating laptop battery and my favorite pair of tube socks, I contemplated what to do next. Suddenly, as if inspired by the muses of Athena, I determined that I should go converse with my friends in the Mit12 chat. I clicked the iChat icon, watched it do its little cute warm up dance and eagerly waited as it loaded. Go to chat, MIT12. It was empty! Nobody was there! A solitary tear fell across my face, freezing somewhere between my right eyeball and the bottom of my nose. I was heartbroken. As I looked up to the skies as to let out a shriek of agony I saw a star blink and fade away (actually it was a satellite). This starallite gave me hope and inspired a new resolve. I was going to revive the chat. So I sat there for hours upon hours, talking to myself and to my alter ego. Having long political debates and countless arguments on topics ranging from women, to love, to physics, to homeless people, to global warming, to fast food, etc. Finally, at the first crack of dawn, someone else signs on. I log off, and check out. Fainting in the snow, wearing nothing but tube socks.

The preceding was a true (read as fictional) account of how I saved the chat.

Anyways I am Maximus (sometimes known as Sean) and I approve this message.

And so it lives on...

When the chat started we were all on winter break so we knew what might happen. The reality was that when we got back to school / the other part of our lives the chat might die. But I am glad to say that although it does have it's weak moments (quite a few more than it had over break), it is still alive and well. The chat saved me from complete and total boredom over break so I was going to be really sad to see it go away but now I'm happy that it's not.


Bye!

I hope all of you who are still on winter break are enjoying your last few days!

十一 (jū ichi)

Thats 11 in Japanese.. to return to the number meme

Yo! It is I, Donald Guy, famous commenter of the MIT Admission Blogs... okay .. so I have no actual fame, but in MIT12 world (a fun place, by all accounts) .. I am .. or at least was..

6:09:29 PM Rutu: wait, donald, did you facebook me?
...
6:09:34 PM Sam, XX: gasp.
6:09:35 PM Donald Guy: no
6:09:37 PM Shamarah: what
6:09:38 PM Sam, XX: is donald guy in this chat?!?!?
...
6:09:40 PM Donald Guy: yes
6:09:41 PM Yoon: yes
6:09:42 PM Jeff : yeah
6:09:43 PM Shamarah: SEE? he's famous
6:09:44 PM Donald Guy: that would be I
6:09:44 PM Sam, XX: shut up.
6:09:46 PM Sam, XX: SHUT UP

This did wonders for my ego.. but other than Maximus (Sean) and Ale's occasional worshiping of me, my fame has abated ...

Anyway, enough about me and my ego. So, why am I here? Becuase like Rachel, I have maniacal plans/hope of being an MIT Admissions blogger.. so .. I am blogging .. it was my new years resolution.. (I wonder if these ellipses are bothering certain chat people?). ANYWAY, I will write a more substantive entry after I do my AP Gov homework.. if that happens.

Peace out y'all,
~Donald

P.S. I don't speak Japanese.. but I'd like to learn it

Me Happy

During the past two weeks (aka the vast hole of nothing in my schedule that people call winter break) I have been churning out programs on the USACO training site in a bid to stick it to the man and rack up as many extra credit points as possible. See, in my AP CS class we get extra credit for every program we do. Most people do nothing and so that is why the teacher has that rule. I, however, have taken advantage of the system and currently have 42 extra credit points. I could literally fail every exam and end up with a passing grade, if not an A.

Now, over break, I have done six programs, which will rack me up somewhere around another 12 points before the semester ends. How's that for screwing over the grade system?

As you can see from the title of this post, I'm happy, but not about a having a guaranteed A in AP CS or because I'm Omar. Rather, it is because of a little message I got when I submitted my last program for testing. Normally, it takes me a while before I pass all tests on a program. See the picture below (notice the 38 submissions...i know, it's not pretty).



For this past program though, I got it on one try and received a message that is better than my mother's love. Check it out:



Even though this message probably came from some slave robot that is being forced to test everybody's programs, it still makes me feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. It's the simple things in life people, the simple things...

Will versus the Chat

If you join the chat at some point, I or the chat will gain points. Here are the rules so I won't have to restate them in the future.

I gain points by "killing" the chat. "Killing" is the act of deterring a response from other chatters, with an interval of 20 secs or larger. I do not need to purposely sabotage the chat, I just happen to naturally kill it.

The chat gains points by confusing me. It's a difficult... moderately difficult... easy task. Speak computer speak...then you win.

The current score if you want to know is, 28 - 27. TAKE THAT CHAT! :)

So what is the purpose of this "game"? Well...nothing. I get bored easily and it is a ego boost?

I play this game with a lot of things. Will versus Insects (3-34), Will versus Sliding Glass doors(0-22), and Will versus TV commercial (43-54).

To end the post, I have to write about Canada.


Canada's up there. Almost Santa Claus up, but a little less. They have no penguins but, they have Hockey Players which is a decent trade off. They have a parliamentary government? Their Prime Minister is...Gorden Brown? Sarkozy? Stephen Harper, a "conservative". Canadian conservative = American Democrat? They don't have MIT so that's a -100. They have universal health care, so that's a +10. They have polar bears +/- 50 points. They have hockey and lots of beer, +50.

If you need more information about Canada, ask Stephen Colbert.

Good Night, and Good Luck.

a categorical imperative, but not really.

It was great to see all the alumni at school yesterday, but wow, so many of them have changed. In the words of my esteemed co-pres: “Everyone looks like a pimp, a stoner, or exactly the same.” I looked around, and lo and behold, it was true. But I guess you can stuff anyone into a mental category if you try.

MIT12 is addictive. The regulars are, in fact, so addictive to talk to that I’m afraid when we finally meet in person they’ll be like malformed cephalopagic Siamese triplets with one enormous functional superbrain or they’ll secretly take hourly IV infusions of LSD in order to maintain their interestingness, because no way are they normal kids. Of course, we already knew that. (The last part.)

Yet as time ticks later and later into the night, and we get more and more tired, it seems like our primal instincts kick in and turn the chat toward angsty thwarted teenage romance (hah, got it semantically correct that time) as I oh so astutely noted. Or perhaps it was just yesterday that that happened.

It’s good to know that most of us illustrious MIT12ers, brilliant and charismatic and stunning though we may be, are human inside. Like, we can play Mersenne zen and use pickup lines like “Let me be DNA helicase and unzip your genes” and use MIT course numbers all the time to confuse people, yet still not be ashamed to admit that Asian chicks are HOT (inorite?) or discuss our secret, burning love for Sam Maurer. Because blog updates from Sam Maurer are like ambrosia from the heavens.

You know, I thought I’d be writing a lot of brilliant blog entries after I got into MIT. And fill my blog with bloggy goodness, so that the world might know of my daily exploits, and I’d become rich and famous and get paid to tour the world and blog, and of course become an MIT admissions blogger. Wishful thinking. But seriously, which posts belong in MIT2012, and which ones in my personal blog? This one clearly belongs here, but that’ll be something to mull over in the future. Or I’ll just take the easy way out and double-post.

ttyl.

Siete

Sorry, this post is going to start out on a depressing note: I've discovered today that getting into college doesn't mean I'll have it easy. it's still the same old homework I should be doing but can't, and still the same old worrying about grades so that my MIT acceptance doesn't get rescinded. heh.

On the bright side, I think this suffering is making me look forward even more to CPW and to college. But even now as I type this, the chat seems to be slowly dying. Can we keep MIT12 alive until CPW? Until September? I think we can! We can't let something like going back to school separate us. We'll procrastinate on homework together, lose sleep together, and have a lot of fun. You guys are all amazing and CPW can't come too soon. (Well, maybe we should wait for Sean and Alex to get accepted first :P). So who's with me? MIT12 must live on!

Sei sesso.

Hi. I'm not sure what is supposed to be written in here, but the MIT12 chat is a lot of fun. Right now, I need to get a start on my homework, but I just wanted to say that after being an Italian student paninis is very confusing. Amo i panini, ma non amo il "paninis." I have no idea what a paninis is, but maybe that is just how I pronounce it: pan-in-nis. That is all for now.

Cinq

Hi. I'd just like to say that Pnin (crazy Nabokov novel I have to read for AP Lit) and/or paninis are forever ruined for me.

Anyways, it's 1:26 am EST and I have to get up in 5 hours for the first day of school. BOO

I also agree with Najah! MIT12 chat is so crazy and fun (see above panini reference) and you really are a great bunch of people :) I can't wait for CPW!

I'm not really sure if the stuff I talk about in here has to be MIT-related? Oh well. Earlier we had a discussion about CPW versus prom, and what Sham said is true, it kind of is like old friends versus new friends. Which is a difficult concept for me to grasp, because even though I complain about Ohio being boring a lot, I have really had some amazing times with my friends and I'm rather sad that we're all going off to different places next year. A lot of people here actually go to the same college as their friends (University of Toledo, Ohio State University), but I'm practically the only person from my town that even applied to MIT (another really good friend of mine from the other school in my town is applying RD, I hope he gets in! ... Ironically their school is called Northview and ours is called Southview, funny right?? lol) But anyways, meeting all these new people in the MIT12 chat really makes me look forward to the future and college, which is supposedly the most exciting time of our lives.

I forgot where I was going with this. Oh right, I just think that we should always treasure the times we've shared with our friends, but create new memories for the future! ... that came out really cheesy-sounding. Oh well.

Ahaha. It is now 1:40 am EST. Really time for me to be going to sleep. Bye all!

(Btw, for those of you not cool enough to take French, "cinq" is French for 5. Hehe.)

Number 4. I think.

Hello world!

I <3 all the MIT12 Chat people. Why? Because everyone is nice and we have fun. I sound like a little kid I know but that's how I see the world sometimes. Being in the chat really makes me look forward to the fall and CPW.

The post below me is really funny. Read it.

I'm going to stop wasting space now.

Goodbye and come again!

MIT Being Itself

Ohh MIT. Below is a really funny exchange between a prospective MIT student and MIT from a while back. It's a good thing MIT has changed their recruiting tactics since then. On the other hand, who said there was anything wrong with arrogance?


April 18, 1994
Mr. John T. Mongan
123 Main Street
Smalltown, California 94123-4567

Dear John:

You've got the grades. You've certainly got the PSAT scores. And now you've got a letter from MIT. Maybe you're surprised. Most students would be.

But you're not most students. And that's exactly why I urge you to consider carefully one of the most selective universities in America.

The level of potential reflected in your performance is a powerful indicator that you might well be an excellent candidate for MIT. It certainly got my attention!

Engineering's not for you? No problem. It may surprise you to learn we offer more than 40 major fields of study, from architecture to brain and cognitive sciences, from economics (perhaps the best program in the country) to writing.

What? Of course, you don't want to be bored. Who does? Life here is tough and demanding, but it's also fun. MIT students are imaginative and creative - inside and outside the classroom.

You're interested in athletics? Great! MIT has more varsity teams - 39 - than almost any other university, and a tremendous intramural program so everybody can participate.

You think we're too expensive? Don't be too sure. We've got surprises for you there, too.

Why not send the enclosed Information Request to find out more about this unique institution? Why not do it right now?

Sincerely,

Michael C. Benhke

Director of Admissions

P.S. If you'd like a copy of a fun-filled, fact-filled brochure, "Insight," just check the appropriate box on the form.




And here is his awesome reply!


May 5, 1994
Michael C. Behnke
MIT Director of Admissions
Office of Admissions, Room 3-108
Cambridge MA 02139-4307

Dear Michael:

You've got the reputation. You've certainly got the pomposity. And now you've got a letter from John Mongan. Maybe you're surprised. Most universities would be.

But you're not most universities. And that's exactly why I urge you to carefully consider one of the most selective students in America, so selective that he will choose only one of the thousands of accredited universities in the country.

The level of pomposity and lack of tact reflected in your letter is a powerful indicator that your august institution might well be a possibility for John Mongan's future education. It certainly got my attention!

Don't want Bio-Chem students? No problem. It may surprise you to learn that my interests cover over 400 fields of study, from semantics to limnology, from object-oriented programming (perhaps one of the youngest professionals in the country) to classical piano.

What? Of course you don't want egotistical jerks. Who does? I am self indulgent and over confident, but I'm also amusing. John Mongan is funny and amusing - whether you're laughing with him or at him.

You're interested in athletes? Great! John Mongan has played more sports - 47 - than almost any other student, including oddball favorites such as Orienteering.

You think I can pay for your school? Don't be too sure. I've got surprises for you there, too.

Why not send a guaranteed admission and full scholarship to increase your chance of being selected by John Mongan? Why not do it right now?

Sincerely,

John Mongan

P.S. If you'd like a copy of a fun-filled, fact-filled brochure, "John Mongan: What a Guy!" just ask.

Second Post?! Yeah.

Shoot, Will totally took the "First Post" post and ran with it. I was going to do that, but it's too late now, unless I change the time of this entry to an hour before Will's. But that's cheating. Like in Ocean's Thirteen when Brad Pitt puts in the correct secret sequence of tokens to make the slot machine spew its massive progressive jackpot with the next token. On the casino's opening night. That's cold. I guess it's okay, though, because America loves seeing casinos lose.

But instead of making a random dumpy woman's pupils dilate out of excitement, this kind of cheating would just make Will look down upon me, and he'd probably shake his head out of disappointment. And all of this before we even meet in person; now, that's something that deserves being looked down upon and having a head shook at.

I was going to write an entry about something totally random and not related to MIT, like how I hate tangerines but love clementines and mandarin oranges. (It's because of the seeds! The number of seeds is inversely proportional to how good the citrus fruit is.) But I might save that for my other, more appropriately-themed blog. Or maybe not, since within that parenthetical, I basically revealed the entirety of the reasons behind my fruit preferences.

Anyway, in recent MIT-related news, I tried making a rainstick with my MIT tube. Putting a handful of rice grains in a tube gave me far more utils (Stop now and say that aloud. It's pronounced "yoodles". How awesome is that?) than either could alone. It failed miserably, however, since the rice grains and the tube were far too disproportionate in size. To quote something I heard in the boys' locker room one time, "it was like throwing a hot dog down a hallway."

But I doubt he was talking about rainsticks.

First post?!

Fellow Bloggers, hackers, and readers we have brought you the most random? the most awesome?....err we really don't know. It will be a blog, with links to things we deem worth, possibly chat overviews, and maybe a window into our lives or thoughts. If we annoy you, they didn't plan on it. If I annoy you, it's because I am crazy.

Thanks for reading and good night.