Sunday, May 13, 2007

Give it up...

This is a particularly awful moment.

The propulsion final today was a disaster. Which made me realize that the word 'fail' is ingrained in 'final'. It was such a pain taking the test, that I have, temporarily, lost all interest in continuing with Aerospace Engineering. The interest will, of course, revive after a good night's sleep. Once I clear my bed of the millions of papers - all propulsion-related.

I thought of having a propulsion-paperwork-burning ceremony - but I'm not sure if that'll be a good idea, since a lot of people will want to save all that stuff for next semester, in case a repetition is in the cards...

I want to give-up. No, you don't, my super-ego tells me. My superego is my mom. A few years ago, when we were both having our poem writing/publishing marathon, she was churning out poems like 'Try Try Again', or 'I Can' - while I wrote something like this:

GIVE UP!

Are you facing one of those days,
When the sky is black and the clouds are grey?
When the world around you is moving ahead,
Leaving you behind, alone in your dread?

If you put in your best and failed,
If you’re the victim, whose dreams have been nailed,
Don’t curse your luck or wish you were dead,
“Just Give Up”, as somebody rightly said.

Just Give Up, it’s not so hard,
Your confidence, at least, will not be scarred,
Don’t think that you will lose your glory,
You can still be a Winner in your life’s story.

Courage, they say, is holding on,
Fighting in the darkness, till it is dawn.
But it takes courage to let go too,
And stand outside that ambitious queue.

If the tunnel is dark and you see no light,
If the battle you’re in is not going right,
Give up and go against the tide,
Break the rules, and hop off the ride.

Because he who fights and runs away,
Lives to fight another day.

I got the last two lines from an Alistair MacLean book. 'The Dark Crusader' I think. Although they say it's one of those stock phrases.
This poem didn't make my mom very happy.

For some odd reason though - I don't feel that bad. I suppose I'm more used to doing badly on tests than I was two years ago. All I know right now is that the world hasn't come to an end, I'm still fit, my family and friends are all okay, and I still have internet access, facebook, and youtube.

I have been amusing myself by watching old Aamir Khan coca-cola advertisements. I just decided that it would be awesome to meet that guy - he truly is my favorite actor. He can pull off any role - a tour guide, a Japanese tourist, a Bengali father, a Punjabi farmer, a crook, an English millionaire - anything.

That said, I feel the need to talk about the many virtues of youtube. I've been able to watch all the old songs I used to wait for forever to be telecast on TV while I was groing up. Maybe I'll write an ode for youtube someday. Right now, I really should get started on my two projects.

Fun fun. I can't wait for the next AerOnion.

Friday, May 11, 2007

The Fall of Murphy

Dear Mr. Murphy,

I cannot say that I admire you - I never will. Your law is quite possibly the most awful, though insightful, ever propounded. I hate you with my heart and soul, and if you had anything to do with the inner workings of this law, I will personally come after you - invent a time machine if it comes to that, and kill you. I plan to learn how to shoot very soon; in fact, I may be going to a shooting range on Monday, and I'm perfecting my Taekwondo kicks as we speak.

I was all set to go home this summer, and work in the Fall, but yesterday I got a phone call that changed it all. It may turn out for the best, but I will not give up on the chance to complain while I can.

Today is the day that I shall do the impossible. After my plans for yesterday exploded into iotas of nothingness, and I bombed an exam, slept through an appointment, slept for, as it happened, ten hours straight, I still plan to do the impossible.

And prove you wrong.

Sincerely,
Your Nemesis

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

"Compliments"

Over the past few days, I've had many things said to me. Some of the statements stand out, especially because there's such a fine line between them being compliments ... or insults.

'She's hot. Hotter than Hell.' - A resident's friend said about me.

'I see your health has improved.' - My TA from last summer, when he saw me after 6 months or so.

'You're such a dingbat. I love you. ' - A co-worker/friend.

Sigh.

Friday, May 4, 2007

GIGO

Recent Statistics:

Number of hours of sleep in the last 4 days: 12
Number of all nighters pulled: 2.5
Number of hours spent in the LRC - Aerospace Building: 45
Number of hours spend in the LRC - Electrical Engineering Building: 20
Number of meals skipped: 8
My diet today:
13 chips ahoy cookies, 2 special K cereal bars, 2 sliced of pizza, french fries, a frosty, and a cheeseburger minus the meat.

It seems to me that my semester-long nutrition plan just went down the Mariana Trench today. Especially since I can feel the 7600 free calories floating around inside me. Urgh.

The only consolation is that this new diet can be blamed entirely on my ridiculous curriculum and the outrageous number of assignments due. The sugar and sodium are stress foods, comfort foods, on-the-go-because-there-isn't-enough-time-to-sit-down-and-have-a-proper-meal-foods... and lots of other words that are not synonymous with 'healthy'. Even though the whole point of this exercise is to get my work done. And learn. And get good grades. And not let my GPA skydive. And understand concepts.

However, I am inevitably reminded of one of the first acronyms I learnt in my first computer-science class in school: GIGO

Garbage In Garbage Out

I wonder if it applies.

Knowing my luck...probably.


Tomorrow's the last day of school. Wow. It'll be another 8 months or so before I will be in class again. Perhaps I'll appreciate school more by then.

I'm glad the AerOnion happened - the pipe/AIM dream that's a wonderfully colorful and funny newsletter on my table now - thank you Ammar. (And Steven and Mays)

It's 2:39am - I have a Measurements Lab report to finish, a Flight Dynamics Program to read, understand, and write about, a semester-long research project to complete and write about, a Taekwondo test to take - before 9 pm tomorrow...and then I can go camping!

Only to come back and study for the remaining finals.

Bums on the drag ... I feel ya'.