Learning and breaking

My friend suggested that I try to learn Python over the summer break. My prior experience with coding hasn't exactly been the best. Every time someone tries to teach me a language, they try to do it haphazardly and try to shove a ton of information into a small amount of time. Now, with MIT in my future, I figure it would be best to learn Python. I just wish computers could think for themselves.

LEARN HOW TO DO YOUR OWN SHIT.

Since I haven't picked much up, I decided to start with www.learnpythonthehardway.org. So far, I've actually been picking the language up pretty easily. Still, I am much more adept with Powershell, but hopefully I get to an awesome level of Python expertise soon. School is starting in a few weeks, so I don't have much time for that I guess.

On another note, housing assignments for MIT came out and I am sad. I put Simmons first and got my FOURTH choice. What the hell, guys? This algorithm isn't as awesome as you guys made it seem.

Go die, math.

Really, I have nothing against New 2, but I feel like it's more homogeneous than I want it to be. Everyone else on the page is really happy with their choices, but I can't help but feel like I have no luck anymore. I'll definitely be REXing it up next month, but I wish I didn't have to. I'm starting to think that lotteries will be the death of me.

GRIMDARK TEENAGER POST

I know it's a cliche, but sometimes I feel like I'm barely starting to notice that the world really IS becoming crazier than I remember. Just yesterday, the worst civilian spree murder occurred during a screening for The Dark Knight Rises. What is the world coming to?

I'm not quite this crazy just yet.

In times like this, I can't help but think about the other crazy shit that happened when I was younger. Regardless of how bad things may seem now, there was always something terrible going on in the past. I was probably way too young to really understand what happened when the 9/11 terrorist attack occurred. Even now, I can't grasp the impact it had on the world, nor can I fathom the feelings of those who were affected by the Colorado shooting. I can't help but wonder if I'll ever start to comprehend the tragedies we face. 

The only source of agony my generation seems to understand.

Whether my undermining of these events stems from a subconscious teenage rebellion ideology or a lack of a concrete idea about the true value of human life, I can't help but feel that others feel just like me and don't voice this concern. Will it come with age, through wisdom? Will it come from first hand experience? 

In the end, I know these events are tragic and traumatic for those around, but I don't know why they are in general. Obviously, death is not easily dealt with in society, but should all humans feel a strong sense of compassion when they read something like this? At the moment, I just don't get it and I can't help but feel guilty because I don't.

Technology

I am in love with the technology in my house, maybe a little bit too much. Like most teenagers, I really can't imagine life without anything that has a GUI of some sort. So imagine my face when everything manages to break in two days. My mother's TV broke a few days ago because of some sort of short. While this didn't directly affect me, I can already tell how bored she seems. Yesterday, while watching Supernatural, my phone started acting up. Today, it stopped charging.

Coincidence? I think not. Time to sprinkle salt everywhere.

I've been phoneless for about 7 hours now and I already feel weird. I use my phone for everything, from playing games to browsing the internet in between multiplayer matches on Xbox. Without my poor phone, I feel like Hall without Oates. I feel like Queen without Freddie Mercury.

 Who knew the true power one mustache could have?

Even now, my lamp has been acting weird. If it's not one thing, it's another. I just don't understand how my ancestors could deal without constantly checking Facebook and all of these other modern things that have taken over my life. It's actually quite depressing when you think about it. Imagine how much more I could amount to if I just limited these things? Still, it's not as if technology is completely useless. 

Thanks, Mr. Harington.

I guess, in the end, it really just depends on our usage of the things around us. Everything in moderation, no? Still, you can't deny that it really does suck when things break. I know it wasn't my fault, but I can't help but feel like a bad owner because of my phone. The goods of today are becoming necessities, but it's hard to deny the scary implications that may come with this transition.

Acceptances: The After Shock

It's been about four months since college acceptances/rejections/purgatory-sentences have come up. By now, everyone should start to be settled in their choices. For someone as indecisive as myself, I still wonder how things would have been if I had chosen Stanford over MIT or if I had been the valedictorian. I used to love Yale after I visited, but after my deferral, I started to fall out of love with it. While I would prefer MIT over every school at the moment, I still can't help but wonder what I would have done if I had been admitted to the uglier, douchier school on the other side of Cambridge.

Not to mention poopier.

 I, like many teenagers, can't help but feel as if I was at fault for my rejections. I had an awesome 'career,' littered with MIT, Stanford, and seven likely letters, but why wasn't I good enough for Harvard? To this day, a few of my friends still feel the same way and, well, I do too. It seems like you had to be a superstar to just be considered at these schools.

 Pictured: a horribad interpretation of the perfect applicant.

While no one really reads this blog, I'd still love to give some advice to my 2017's and everyone else who will be in the inevitable position. Instead of feeling down and inadequate, I think it's necessary for all applicants to realize the truth about college admissions. I heard this awesome metaphor for college admissions the other day and, well, it really does hold true.

"College admissions are like shopping for fruit. They try to pick out the sweetest, juiciest ones, but it often comes down to which one they randomly grab. Sometimes they miss the big, delicious one at the bottom of the pile. Occasionally, they take home a dud. Sometimes they need extra apples to make pie. Anyways, with so many at the store, it's the luck of the draw." (from Willa.me)

No one ever wants the rambutan :(

Really, it's hard to believe and say that maybe you just weren't sought after your year because of some influx of drummers or football playing kings in space, but it might be true. Don't beat yourself up because of the things you can't control. At the end of the day, you're awesome and smart and the bee's knees. If a college couldn't see that and had to choose someone else because of some weird reason (baking a pear pie), it's their loss. At the end of the day, you were picked by some school that is super dope in it's own way. Hopefully, you'll fall in love with it as it seems they have with you. If not, you can always change your situation if you try hard enough.

 Unless you're a carrot.

In the end, I still feel a bit weird that I didn't have full control of where I wanted to go, but that's just me being an egotistical control freak. I'm pretty sure if I had gotten into Harvard and Yale I still wouldn't have gone. Why? Well, my friend, because I fell in love with MIT and didn't really see it after MITES. It wasn't until CPW that I really started to love MIT. While I will always be a bit indecisive, I'm glad I chose MIT. In the same way, I'm sure you'll be glad wherever you end up going. Just remember that, if anything, you were just the juicy fruit they couldn't take because they ran out of money.

I was probably a dark, hairy coconut.

The Biggest Adrenaline Shot A Nerd Can Feel

I'm sure you've heard of the game 'Halo: Reach.' It's been out for, like, two years. Well, since I'm a cheapskate, I barely fell into it's digital arms on the 6th of July. I never could get over missing it for twenty bucks on Amazon last year, so I'd been waiting until it dropped back down to twenty. Sure, it was used, but who cares, right? I doubt gamers can be that dirty.

Shit.

Since the package came in, I've been on a nonstop Halo spree. Playing Reach has brought back so many memories of my adolescent days, from pwning n00bs on Halo 3 with my late bloomer pal Chris to making impossible mazes in Forge. I'm much better than I used to be, though I still die like crazy.

But I'll still qualify for health insurance!

Of course, not everything is like Halo 3. Reach implemented these daily and weekly challenges that you can complete for extra credits (in-game currency used to level up and buy cool stuff.) Normally, the daily challenges are pretty easy. Today's, however, made me giddy like a schoolgirl in line for 'Believe.'

Ellen DeGeneres has never looked sexier.

"Get two killing sprees in one game of multiplayer matchmaking." Hmm, since I can't stop myself from chasing the opponent even when I'm pretty much on the brink of death, this will be fun.

IT WASN'T.

Jesus Christ. I have never facepalmed at myself so much in such a small amount of time. My facepalm/kill ratio was rapidly surpassing my kill/death ratio. Still, I kept on trying. My Spartan is my own representation of myself. I can't let him down.

As you can tell, I am a Photoshop FIEND.

We finally got to a map that I love: Countdown. It's too bad that in SWAT, where headshots kill instantly, everyone lives for a small amount of time. Whatever. I managed to pull off five kills in the first minute of the game and get my first killing spree. Halfway there!

After raging and getting up to four kills before dying, I started to give up. The match only goes up to 50 kills and our team had 45. I needed to beat all of my teammates to the enemies and kill them five times without dying. The chances of this happening were stupid small. Still, I pressed onward. (More like upward mirite?)

Holy shit, I see an enemy. After quickly disposing of him, three of his bloodthirsty teammates appear around the corner. Instead of putting the controller down and getting in my best fetal position, I tried to defend myself. AND HOLY CRAP DID I MANAGE TO KILL ALL OF THEM. One more kill, that's all I need! Too bad my team also needs one kill to win the game...

I ran around the map, desperately looking for someone on the other team who: 

a) sucked and 

b) was oblivious to my presence.

Around the corner, I found my man. He was a guest of another player, so he MUST suck! I felt my heart doing overtime as I sprinted over to my prey. Before anyone else saw him, I sprayed one shot. BOOM! Right in the head. As 'GAME OVER' was announced, I let out a grand 'YES!' despite being the only one awake in my house. I NEEDED TO CELEBRATE.

Like this, but less sexually suggestive.

I felt like running around the house and drumming on everything. Food needed to be in my belly. I wouldn't accept anything but ambrosia and nectar of the Gods. Finally, after I collected my credits, I could celebrate in peace.

I did this by looking for another match with a huge smile on my face and the blood of my enemies on my e-shoulder. Sure, I was excited, but the thrill of the game is enough of a reward for me. It's a tough life, but someone's got to kill all of those aliens. 

 For the last time, Noomi, Prometheus isn't an Alien movie.