The Dawning of a New Era

So yesterday was the last day of school for me, or at least, the last day of school for me as a sophomore (Despite fleeting thoughts, I've resolved to not be a truant), and its closing really didn't make me feel any different. There was this odd thing that happened to me starting freshman year, where when school ends, the end of the year just doesn't have a tangible feeling of finality, unlike my experiences in middle school. I'm not saying it feels different because I'm an old fart, but it does kind of bug me, because at the end of the year, after studying my brains out, I feel like I have no other purpose in life but to study, and they dump me out to do nothing at all!

While I certainly don't want to go back to school because of that, I'm definitely going to start studying things that I actually want to know, like Perl. Perl has been really cool for me, I've only learned bits and pieces of it, but so far it's looking fantastic. Before Perl, the only language that I could really mess around with was PHP, and PHP for me was somewhat limited in that I could only really use it to develop web pages, although I've heard of people using it for other purposes. So Perl's my current obsession in the computer world, along with getting my bloody Eee PC to work again. I need to get it to work if I'm going to blog about my time in France; that thing is so tiny it's the perfect computer to sneak into a suitcase.

Last night, me and my friend went to see the Repo Genetic Opera, which I must say was pretty darn cool. It was showing at the Tivoli theatre at midnight, and the only reason I went was because my friend had been invited by someone else and she needed an escort. I felt special. Anyways, we went up to the box office, got our tickets, and walked in. The film didn't start for an agonizing amount of time, I'm pretty sure the film operator was either high or half-asleep, because it took forever to start and the last 10 minutes of the film couldn't be watched because he broke the projector. Despite this setback, we enjoyed it thoroughly. The film was shadowed by a bunch of actors, who performed onstage while the movie went on behind them.

The actors had encouraged us to shout at them, shout at the film, and pretty much do whatever the hell we wanted save burn down the place. So we did. Or at least, most of us did. One time, when a scene opened up with one of the characters, Shilo, lying in a pool of blood, this random guy in the audience shouted "NEED A TAMPON?" So yeah. That was pretty much my night. Speaking of blood, the whole thing involved gallons of it, in addition to gore, violence, copious cursing, nudity, sex... It was only afterwards that we discovered that the film was rated R, which led us to wonder how the hell we got in. We got out at about 2 am, and I drove home as discreetly as I possibly could, because I realized about halfway through the movie that there's a 12am-5am curfew for young drivers such as myself. So I dropped my friend off, walked back to my car, and I notice that a police car was cruising down the street, high-beams on, patrolling the neighborhood. Thankfully, he didn't stop me, and while I have no idea why, I was incredibly thankful. My mother probably wouldn't have been too happy getting woken up and dragged out of bed to talk to a policeman about me, especially when she had been suspicious about the whole outing from the beginning.

That movie was so amazing, though, that I bought the soundtrack. I rarely buy soundtracks for movies; the only soundtrack I think I've ever bought was James Bond, which was necessary because I was bored and running around the house pretending I had a gun necessitated some theme music. So that was my night, and it sure was a great reward after sitting around taping pieces of cardboard together for 5 days. And now, it'll be back to packing for France. I still have an entire room to clear out.

Awesome Mobile Lab Concept

So I was hanging ten on the waves of the interwebs, when I stumbled across this article, which talked about building a mobile lab from an old cargo trailer:
After sitting in a puddle of drool for several minutes, I began to think of the lab that I'd design for myself. Sure, it's a massive undertaking, and it'd be extremely expensive, but it'd be pretty darn cool. Since I'm going off to France in 10 days, this is probably going to be one of those backburner thoughts that probably won't ever be realized. But since I love thinking about stuff like this, I'm probably going to be designing this for the next few months.

This guy equipped this cargo trailer with a CNC Router, a circular saw, sander, soldering iron, and so much more! He also included a battery bank, which is charged by a solar panel on the top, and by a Honda generator which he fires up when there isn't enough power. It's also got locking drawers, bolted-down furniture, a dedicated Mac, and Ham Radio equipment. I think I've found a new home. But before I decide to live in a trailer down by the river, I think it'd be best to actually know how to use these tools. No sense in getting a trailer filled with a bunch of stuff that I don't know what to do with.

On a different note, mini-term's proven to really not be fun at all. I think I'm going to try to change groups: I'll try to convince them to switch me to "Bike St. Louis," on the excuse that I want to see St. Louis in all its grandeur before I go off to France for several months. Besides, I'm on the cycling team, so it'll probably be a walk in the park. Hope I didn't just jinx it. *Knock on wood!*

Modding my Eee PC

So I know this is kind of an old topic, but I got an Eee PC 900A for a steal ($180) and I decided that I might try modifying it like everyone else had done to theirs. Little did I know, however, that the 900A was one of the worst models I could possibly buy (I was eyeing the 901, but I just didn't have enough money, so I bought whatever I could), at least for modification purposes, because there is practically no space on the inside of that computer. But I've still gone ahead with it. This is my story.

Despite having broken my touchscreen controller in a boneheaded mistake that involved an absence of electrical tape, having found out that the bluetooth-wifi-combo PCI-express card that I had bought didn't work with Linux, and having broken my touchpad cable, I still became ever-more determined to keep chugging on. Actually, that's not what happened. It sat under a pile of crap half-taken apart for about 4 months while I went to try other things that weren't such a big waste of money if they were done wrong. Then, after having migrated back to expensive hobbies and realizing that my power supply had arrived DOA with an expired warranty (I didn't try it out until 2 weeks after it arrived), I went back to the Eee.

I took apart an old USB hub, stripped open a Bluetooth dongle, and found an old flash drive with its connector fallen off. I soldered them all together, popped them all in, rearranged it several times, and then bam! It... sort of worked. And by sort of, I meant it worked, but it brought several other things down with it.

Apparently, when you're using the camera USB connection and the computer realizes that what's connected is not a camera but instead a USB hub, it decides that it will make your life as miserable as it possibly can. I now cannot connect any USB drive to the computer and I can't boot from a USB drive, rendering the installation of an 8GB flash drive to allow more space for an installation useless, considering I can't boot and install Linux in the first place. So I'm sitting here, typing on my Lenovo X61 Tablet, with the Eee sitting beside me, and I'm contemplating throwing the cute little thing out the window. Either that, or turn a fan on, because the heat of the thing is melting the electrical tape that I installed inside and making a really noxious smell.

What should I do now? Fly a kite? I'm much too digital for everyday life. And it's 95 degrees outside, with 50% humidity. Blech.

French Expedition

So, since I stupidly left my computer at home, I've decided to come in and type on a computer in a physics lab, because I have nothing better to do. Having just finished my French exam, I can safely say that that was the easiest final exam I have ever taken. Foreign language exams are allotted 1.5 hours as opposed to the normal 2, and even though that's less time than the core classes, it still took me about 30 minutes. 30 minutes! Which is a perfect transition into talking about my trip to France.

Just this morning, my dad got on a flight to Madrid, Spain, in his quest for knowledge: Since having 5 degrees somehow isn't enough for him, he's decided to get his law degree. One of the things he wants to learn most is international law, naturally, he used this as an excuse to take us all to Europe. He's going to be in Madrid for about two weeks, then he's going to Germany, and by then we'll all be in France, waiting for him. He'll meet us there, and we'll live in Paris from June to some time in January. I'm pretty excited; I've wanted to go to France for some time, and this is the perfect opportunity to get to speaking French fluently.

So it's off to an entirely different country, to an entirely different language, to an entirely different school: I'm going to a school called EABJM, located in Paris, and about a 15 minute's walk from the Eiffel Tower. Of course, the Eiffel Tower will probably get a little old, but it'll definitely be pretty cool to check out for the first month or so. In the meantime, however, I have to think about school. I still have a week left, and I'm not exactly enthralled. Exams are done, so I'm really starting to think about skipping. We'll see how exciting mini-term is, though. Who knows, reading 1000-year-old books might just be entertaining.

End of the Road

No, I'm not ending my blog already. Although I might forget about it some day along the line. I'm talking about the end of the school year. Unfortunately, I can't really talk about the end of the school year, because it hasn't officially ended yet. I can't say that the end of the school year is amazing, or that I've never felt so free in my entire life, because I haven't yet. And that's what's really starting to bug me.

This week is the week of final examinations, the week where every teacher performs the simultaneously sadistic and masochistic act of giving their students 10-page exams that they must later grade 40 times. And everyone buckles down and plows through, hoping to either bring up their grade or not bring it down. Although, for all I know, there's a kid out there who's always wanted to have an F for his birthday, however non-habit-forming that desire may be.

So I'm buckling down with everyone else, and I'm just trying to get through this week. But guess what's after this week? Well, my friends, my school does a little thing they like to call mini-term. Mini term is a weird idea in which everyone makes 8 choices of what they want to do for a week. Options range from backpacking the Ozarks, to biking around St. Louis and visiting various restaurants, to witnessing an open-heart surgery. Only thing is, it's a first-come-first-serve. Me being new at this school, I have no idea how or where to sign up for these things. So guess what I got? I get to make a book.

Yes, that's right. I get to write a page for a book, and everyone else in my class gets to write a page for a book, and we're going to compile these pages and customize the book that we want. Because I'd totally enjoy doing that. Totally. Me, the computer-math-science guy, would want nothing more than to read a book that was made by a bunch of... well, let's not bring them into this. You get the picture.

I wish I had signed up sooner, but I guess that's what I get. I'm just trying to stay on until June 5th, when my family and I move to France! But more on that in the next post. I have to study for History now.

My Decision Rests on Blogger

So, after searching for decades and decades, I have come to the conclusion that all pointless things must come to an end.

Now before you lean towards your computer screen in awe and wonder, I must first tell you two things:

1. I'm actually only 16, so at most I'd be able to do research for one decade on something like construction blocks
2. I'm not talking about advertising, bad software, or Justin Bieber. No, a rant like that would be much too pithy for a first post on a meek little blog such as this.
3. I cannot count.

What I'm talking about is the various blogging sites out there. WordPress, Livejournal, the Icelandic bloggsíða suður höf í fátækum svæðum á Írlandi: They're all crap! I've had it with them trying to coax money out of my credit-card-less pockets. They want me to buy a package so I can write Javascript on my blog. They want me to buy a package so I can edit the CSS. They want me to give them money to their supportive charity to help the people dying of crotchitis in the sweltering criterium races of Nevada. I say, let them rot!

Yes, the last one was a bit weird. But you get my drift. I don't want to spend money on something that could easily be arbitrary if companies weren't so finance-hungry. So here I am, settling down with Google's solution: Blogger. And I have to say, I'm really liking it. I've used Blogger for a while to maintain a kids' organization's website, and for some reason I wanted to try out WordPress, that is, until they bombarded me with short sentences ending with exclamation marks: Buy the better-than-yours WordPress version for only $12.99 per witty post per hour!*

Google has been my lifesaver. I'm always on Gmail. Always. I use Gmail to check my school mail because their interface is God-awful. I use Gmail to post updates to my organization's blog. I use Gmail to compose mail from several different accounts. Ever gotten an email from Bill Gates? There's a slight chance that that one was from me. That's right. Be afraid. Anyways, the basic gist of my first incoherent rambling (well, on this blog, anyways) is this: Google, while they can get kind of creepily invasive, is your best friend, no matter how hard Microsoft tries to look better than it. I'm sorry, but it's true. And on that bombshell, it's time to end.

*Witty posts to be determined by a group of professional editors. We take our work very seriously, which is why we want to feel privileged for it by stealing your money. Have a nice day!