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Sleep troubles
Been having trouble getting enough sleep this week. It feels like a blast from the past saying that, since I haven't really had severe sleep problems since I was a substitute teacher (and even then, I started adjusting my sleep schedule and it was fine, so really haven't lacked sleep since Mudd).
At least one of the days I know it's my fault, because I was coding. I always lose track of time when coding, and I should know better but I can't seem to stay away from it. I wasn't even coding hardcores see, it was just working on the new karate website. Apparently it was enough to keep me up past 11 without noticing. Whoops.
Anyways, got enough sleep last night and then some, hopefully that will be the end of my sleep troubles for a while.
Working on my thesis a bit. Checked the field plots and I do indeed see some poppy sprouts, which is good news. Too small and few to measure so far, but maybe this week I can go out and do a count.
Also been having fun making stuff for karate, including a paired set of kama. So far I have come to one conclusion: kama are amazingly fun to play with. Seriously.
Next time I get some time I will put together another internet weapons video compilation. Or two. I plan on doing a "soft weapons" one (nunchaku, 3-piece rod, flail, rope dart, kusarigama) and an Okinawan Kobudo (bo, nunchaku, sai, tonfa, kama). Fun times!
For Monday: print out the checklist, try to get the whole thing checked before students come in at 9AM. Will require hustling, but I forgot to do it on Friday (I was busy the entire time anyway) so chopchop!
Recent Weblog Entries
Date:02/04/10
Spun right round
Man I'm being spun right round by the ridiculous list of things I have to do. And even when I carve some time out I can't seem to get any more done, since I have been trying to write for my thesis since I got home at around 7, and currently have very little to show for it.
I could have even run laundry but I was too busy avoiding my thesis to be productive. Lame I know! Rrrrgh. It's not really like me.
Maybe I've just hit the physical limitation to how much I can work? Doesn't seem likely. Probably has more to do with procrastination and reluctance to face the beast once and for all.
I did receive some decent advice on the topic recently though, so I will see how that goes.
Date:02/02/10
WATCH OUT!
I'm caffeinated!
Well seriously. Check out an old post I made called the Caffeine Conundrum (sadly this was before I added code to put tags on each post to make them individually linkable). The gist of it is I try not to caffeinate constantly so it's more effective when I do.
Well I had a caffeine soda with dinner at about 8PM today, so I'm still up after midnight. Fortunately, I have already gotten a LOT of work done, and am getting more done now, and will until about 1AM when I intend to try and crash and hopefully fasll asleep quickly (since I have to be up by like 9AM....)
Gonna walk to school tomorrow as well, on account of the parking at Cal State gets pretty full by 10AM and I can't afford to be late to class eh.
Okay gonna get more done!! Woowoo
Date:01/22/10
Productive!
Made green nunchucks, a green kodachi, and a target pad tonight (the last of those has a PVC handle, cardboard frame, is filled with styrofoam packing peanuts, and is secured with lots of gray duct tape and has red duct tape bullseyes in the middle). I am very proud of my work!
Being creative is fun when I do it on my own terms. Making things is my favorite hobby (though I'm not terribly good at producing on demand, like for schoolwork, so I've always known I wouldn't be a good artist or engineer for a living). I always take pride in my work. Guess that's just who I am!
I recall when I gave the "Duct Tape Seminar" at East Dorm I felt like I was revealing deep and arcane secrets.... that weren't secret, arcane, or deep at all. It was just stuff that anyone with half a brain and a roll of duct tape could work out on their own, yet it was very well-received. Seriously now, did you need me to tell you all that?
Yet when I think back about what I learned, it does seem a bit like all these details are obvious, but the finished product is a huge mass of little mysteries. How did you get it to do this/that/the other isn't so hard necessarily except if you have zero frame of reference. What's in the core is often the easy way to start the conversation, because people can visualize taking a dowel or a piece of paper or whatever and going from there (which is what I did at first -- people seem startled when I say something is pure duct tape).
With PVC it's much easier to visualize a path of creation, so the details on the foam and so forth aren't as confusing. The drilling holes for nunchaku twine was a bit inspired, I suppose, mostly by the pinframe I made last year. Ah yes, good times.
Date:01/18/10
Avatar
Saw Avatar on Saturday. Highly worthwhile movie, mostly for the visuals and action. It certainly does a good job of drawing one in to feel things as they happen.
Favorite line: Jake Sully describes himself: "I'm a marine.... uh, a warrior, from the Jarhead clan..."
Favorite audience insertion: as the twenty-ton armored animals charge the marine lines, (in Jason's voice) "Y'alls FUCKED NOW!"
Observation: it does in fact follow Pocahontas pretty well, only the difference is it would be perfect if, after Pocahontas's village is destroyed, her people journey far and wide and meet the Aztecs of the desert, the bear-hunting Inuit of the arctic, and the Llama-riders of the Andes to unite the clans into a force that drives all English settlers back to England from whence they came, led by the fearless John Smith riding the legendary Grizzly Bear that has not been ridden in generations.
(Actually that would be a pretty badass movie too.... except that's really really really not how it happened, and also I would have to stab the writers in the face for turning the Inca Empire into Llama-riders)