Month: July 2005

tidbits of life

date: 1105560501

mood: running to class.
listening to:

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts…
Mark Twain, Innocents Abroad

almost 50% of people watching a basketball game and counting ball basses would NOT notice a human in a gorrila suit passing through the game. our attention span is *that* narrow.

i have 30 emails in my inbox that i gotta reply to. latest one is from november.

if i spend 2 minutes per email that’s still an hour.

i have no time: second week of school and i am *swamped* with classes, readings, meetings with profs and other students, things to read, to do, to think. it is insane, how great this is. my brain is getting quite the stretch, but i am also very happy. so much intellectual stimulation!

tracking of new year’s goals:
i was 10 minutes late to today’s class. otherwise i wasn’t late anywhere this year (not that i can remember, but i’m pretty sure that no… or almost no, but it wasn’t bad, i’m improving).
my goal of leading a healthier lifestyle is working out famously. i even packed salad and wholewheatrye bread with me, and oranges/nuts for snack. superb.
goal of spending time with my dog is semi working out. i’m walking her more often, especially when i have time, such as weekend, and days when i return earlier. however this week, for the past 2 days i came back at 10, and today and tomorrow looks to be the same… which means i am *exhauhsted* and just want to relax, sleep.
sleep: i’m stupid! despite my efforts of falling asleep earlier and waking up earlier i falter. the “another 5 minutes” is the bane of my existence, i cannot beat it no matter ho hard i try. argh.

since everyone are writing about their classes, i’ll go over mine:
http://www.olya.org/schedule.html schedule and descriptions
my summary/thoughts:
neural networks: most difficult of them all, also most current/interseting in a certain aspect. i might drop this, depending on how well i do in it. the professor is very good, i must sit closer to strain to hear him less. he has a fantastic british accent, and is generally a great explainer. office hours were fun, good, helpful. subject is neural networks, and all about them,

principles of programming languages: a grad student is teaching this, however he is also pretty damn good. the class looks to be like a lot of fun, we’ll be learning 3 languages which are purely theoretical, with little real life applications (except in AI). however, theoretically, they should give me a nice base off which to study other languages further, and generally this course should provide a better insight into programming.

data structures and analysis: shortened to data structures and anal. in the u of t calendar. pretty fair too – this is going to be a hard, logic heavy class, requiring a lot of rigourous proofs, math, logic (as i said), almost no programming beyond psuedo code, and generally will be fairly difficult. thanks to last year’s precursor to this class (i took an advanced version with a more difficlt prof), this is going to be not as hard, as i’m well prepared.

cognitive linguistics: the class which i have in 10 minutes! uhm, this class is fantastic. the only drawback is that we still didn’t get any readings or h/w assigned – i am too freaking eager to get started. this seems to be like a class about all my favourite parts of programming, intellegence, cognition, linguistics, psychology, with some philosophy mixed in. the prof is great, funny, i love him. <3 superb class. higher cognitive processes: aka the class with that prof that i wanted to study with for the past 3 years. yes, indeed, the same prof who i was going to get in my first year but unix axed him (idiots), is teaching this. i have no words, except that the prof is god. i want to listen to him forever. he explains in the most brilliant way, in a way that is both funny AND educational. this class competes with cognitive linguistics for my favourite time of the week - i cannot wait to sit in on this prof's lecture tonight, as he is *amazing*. alright, i am late to cog lin. now you know! (family guy: the more you know!) oh, cool links: http://www.apple.com/macmini
http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle
http://www.wireless….toronto.ca/maps.html

church, luxembourg

date: 1105687079

mood: irresponsible
listening to:scarf music just in my head cause he aint giving it to me


i hate this country.

now that this optimistic statement is out of the way, i wanted to share my week with you. each day, i had classes starting at 1 (except today, 12, and i was a fantastic loser and was 20 minutes late… i ended up not even finding the room. it wasn’t a class, but a one time tutorial. i presume its not the end of days. otherwise i’m on the ball, more or less. this weekend will show how well i can work, considering i have 4 assignments assigned for next 2 weeks, and a huge essay that i should start preparing for now…). so, yeah, 1. then an hour of class. then an hour break, or 4 hour break, which i invariably ended up spending with profs or studying. after that another 2 hour class, and another break, and then 6-9 class. i mean, you saw my schedule, but all that empty space is filled up in my palm pilot with hues of red, blue and green (i have a 9 color coding system, for classes, meetings, tutorials, h/w preparation, friend meeting, stuff i should do, etc)

yeah, im tired. i guess i am not used to this 9 hours a day of thinking… it sounds like a little, but it feels like hell of a lot more.

so, yeah, churches.

europe is full of churches. its nice in a way, i don’t look at them as a religious thing, but a nice thing of old architecture and silence, and peacefulness aside.
and it seems that each city makes it responsibility to have a church of our lady. i understand mary is a big deal and all, but translated it “notre dame”, which freaks you out quite a bit when you’re not actually in paris and see this sign.

the photo is in luxembourg, by the way. the church is called notre dame. and despite crappy weather that we caught when we went there, the city was soaked through european with charm. over canada, i would take that. even though it was not nearly as nice as other cities (which grantedly, were far warmer, and less grey-weathered).

i’m still not over it. i miss it. i want to leave this place.

oh yeah, and the no words thing? i guess i wasn’t being truthful. but its my blog, so no words just means the photo is the key… i guess… or something. next time it’ll be all silent again.

i should be asleep by now

date: 1105870038

mood: happy
listening to:something in the air tonight






i guess i haven’t done this in a while.

i finished a linguistic assignment day, and even started working on my next one. its pretty awesome, tobe responsible (i even cleaned my room and my bathroom) and then “go out” and relax and have fun.

while i’m happy on most levels, a level of me is really anxious, tired, worried, nervous. and so while im relaxed and chilled, i also have this stream inside of me gurgling with emotions. which isn’t bad, its good even. its just making it difficult to really feel relaxed at the end of the day.

i suppose a bottle of shiraz helps the feeling to speed along, at least for some time ;) nah, we were sharing it, … i think …

the only thing which annoys me on a fairly concious level at the moment (as in, not rightright now, but over the past few days) is the fact that i cannot change my sleeping patters to be more healthy and regular (i.e. i wanna fall asleep before 12, and wake up before 9, with no alarms and all). considering the time right now, i’m not helping things, am i?

good night!

time for tiredenss

date: 1106202942

mood: hanging on to the balance
listening to:

stress of school is gettin’ to me. i want more time! but i also love it, in a perverted kind of way. asin “woohoo, i aint getting free time but i get to meet all these super smart cool people who call me at 10am and wanna do assignments with me!” and its completely worth it.
if i only i could go to sleep earlier.

from weirdo’s blog, randomly picked
1)Name the Last Four Things You Have Bought: tea x 4
2)Name Four Drinks You Regularly Drink : water, tea
5)What’s Under Your Bed? dog, dust bunnies
7)Current Hair? odd
8)Current Clothes? sweat pants. slouchy off shoulder shirt. comfy stuff.
9)Current Desktop Picture ? abstracty golden thingie
10)Current Worry? 263 (data algorithms and analysis) assignment, then psych essay, then ling assignment, then neural nets assignment.
12)Favorite Places To Be? switzerland. europe. france. paris. u of t. bed.
13)Least Favorite Place? outside
19)Favorite Day(s)? all of em
20)Where Would You Like To Go? see favorite places to be (silly, no?)
21)Where do you want to live when you get married? see favorite places to be (did this person not thing or something)
22)Favorite food? right now this second? fish. sushi!
23)Color of most clothes you own: black/white/maroon/g rey/blue
24)Number of pillows you sleep with? 2 + dog
25)What do you wear when you go to sleep?: depends on comfort mood.
26)What were you doing 12AM last night: studying
29)Have you ever had braces? yah
32)What is the brand of your wallet? roots! i know cause its the first brand i have evah.
33)First piercing/tattoo? SHUDDER, no.
35)Last person you yelled at? a friend, on the phone. first time of me yelling at anyone, for a looong time
37)Last thing you ate? rice with shrimp in garlic sauce with vegetables.

yeah, so. stuff. i’m doing good. keeping healthy. bringing lunch w/ me to school. drinking green tea. room is moderately dirty. sleep is still lacking. assignments all being worked on, to a certain degree. closet is clean. stuff is moving, all in the right direction. i hope, i think. good night, people.

dreams

date: 1106272118

mood: wee , end of week.
listening to:wee , 3 assignments due in a row next week

last night i had the strangest dream

i sailed away to china…
err, okay, that’s a song.

actually, i’m blurry on what happened. a phone call woke me up. but i remember blood, and killing, and it was something scary. i ended up running away from someone on a air-sliding skateboard like piece of carpet (it was a regular carpet and the physics of the dream were such that if the road went downhill i could gain speed). this unknown person who … i had to kill? but i couldn’t, caught me and we had to go somewhere where i wouldn’t be a happy person (i.e. i was afraid of going with him).
so we were gliding over a big hill in a park, and i got ahead of him cause i’m lighter. and then there was a small hill down, grassy, wet, at night. and a road. with cars that would cross it in a second. and then a downhill street, which changed from deep night to day as i “skated” on it. and i managed to escape ebcause i crossed, and then there were cars rushing in right behind me.

so i was skating down this street, and i kept thinking i’ll be in beverly hills soon, and i was reckless and tried to escape from the guy… and gained speed, endangering the pedestrians on the street. i arrived to the ocean (? lake? big body of water), and looked around and i thought i saw the guy somewhere long far behind meon this looong downhill street that i just came down from.

so i went into a convinience store, but it was tiny and empty. so i ran out, crossed the street, and went into a place… i almost can remember the name, but it was the kind that serves frozen yogurt … sherbet? but it was something else.
i walk in, there’s a room, with one door, i go through the door and enter a low-ceilinged place, very dim. full of black people. mostly mom’s and dad’s with their kids, buying ice cream. listening to music from a 50s style machine. who’s name i don’t remember either. but you know how it looks.

i buy ice cream. i pick oreo’s (cookies and cream), 1 scoop, and 1 scoop of something like … rainbow sherbet at baskin robins. it wasn’t called that, but looked like that. and this kid also buys the same thing. its 6.95. i barely have enough money for it. and i wanted 3 scoops, but i thought i should save money since i am on the run. (from the guy, remember?)

i feel scared, and don’t want to leave the place, it seems like he wouldn’t look for me there.

and then i wake up!

analyze THAT, people.

getting to know me!

date: 1106932035

mood:
listening to:

i’m boring. :)

1. What Time Is It: 11:51am

2. Name As It Appears On Birth Certificate: Olga S*n*k**v [to avoid google indexing]

3. Nicknames: err, olya. some people rarely switch to olenka and my dad, my mom and and my aunt call me lyagushonok, and ol’ka. my mom calls me ol’gushonol (which is i guess a mix). the rest of the world says olga, bastards. :)

4. Piercing: 0. *shudder*

5. Most Recent Movie You’ve Seen In Theater: Ocean’s Twelve

6. Eye Color: blue (grey? one of my friends claims its green)

7. Hair Color: blonde

8. Place Of Birth: Voronezh, Russia

9. Ever Been To Africa: nope

10. Ever Been Toilet Papering: nope

11. Love Someone So Much It Made You Cry: yup

12. Been In A Car Accident: nope

13. Croutons Or Bacon Bits: not right now, usually both

14. Favorite Day Of The Week: all of them

15. Favorite Night To Go Out On: saturday (friday i’m too tired from school)

16. Favorite Flowers: all of them. <3 flowers. most favourites are elegant, simple, big, minimalistic. 17. Favorite Sport To Watch: aerobics, figureskating, hockey, soccer, tennis, skiing, snowboarding, extreme sports 18. Favorite Drink: green tea 19. Favorite Ice Cream: russian vanilla 20. Disney Or Warner Brothers: pixar! 21. Favorite Fast Food Restaurant: aah, yuck. probably BK, but generally no. 22. What Color Is Your Bedroom Carpet: no carpet, wooden floors 23. How Many Times Did You Fail Your Driver's Test: 0 24. Before This One, From Who Did You Get Your Last E-Mail: a friend from univ 25. Which Store Would You Choose To Max Out Your Credit Card: depending in the limit ;) <100, chapters, <1000, ikea, <10000, henrys 26. What Do You Do Most Often When You Are Bored: slashdot, editing photos 27. Bedtime: after 12am, usually 1-2am 28. Who Will Respond The Quickest: err, respond to my blog? =p diny probably ;) keeping with the trend so far... 29. Who Is The Person That'll See This That Is Least Likely To Respond: my parents (yup, they're aware of this blog!) 30. Who Are You Most Curious About Their Responses To This Questionnaire? *skratches head* 31. Favorite Tv Shows: family guy, futurama 32. Last Person You Went To Dinner With: scarf 33. Ford Or Chevy: ford, specifically aston martin (yeah, i got taste) http://www.spiceisle…artin%20Venquish.jpg

34. What Are You Listening To Right Now: guns n’ roses, take me down to paradise city

35. What Is Your Favorite Color:

36. Lake, Ocean Or River: any

37. How Many Tattoos Do You Have: none

38. Democrat Or Republican: democrat , i think (liberal?)

39. Time You Finished Answering This: 11:59am