Ok, I suck.

So, it's funny what a sandwich and some syntax highlighting can do... It turns out that while I'm not (necessarily) dumb with pointers, I fail at comments -- notes programmers write to themselves that aren't meant to be code, usually delimited by some character combination like /* and */, much like opening and closing tags. Somewhere I forgot to close my comment and it ended up commenting-out (ie, the compiler didn't treat it as code) some pretty important lines. Heh. Serves me write for coding in Notepad. Anyways, after that there were one or two small errors that I fixed up within 30min or so and I was done.

The moral of the story? Don't panic. If you're stuck, take some time away from it to recharge. Try looking at the problem from a different angle. Don't wait until the last minute to get started on this kind of stuff. And get over yourself and ask for help when you're stuck. Even if what you get isn't directly helpful, it may show you the problem in a new light.

February 1st

So I'm feeling pretty good today, despite doing some things that, generally, I'd rather not have done. Top on this list is spending money. Which tells you something about the height (or lack there of) of this list, because it was spending money on books. And it was only, like, $7.00. And it was five books. Sure, I used up the lovely gift card that the lovely Carrie-Anne got me, but... I got a fictionesque book about Vlad the Impaler, something along the lines of an introduction to Jewish Kabbalah, a copy of Frankenstein (it ocurres to me that I maybe already have one, but it was only $1) and two books that sound particularly tantalizing: first is Turning Angel which is apparently a book about some dark 'hidden world' behind the facade of an ordinary highschool (which promises psychological implications and things that are more than they seem, which I love), and the second is "Storm Front," the first book in The Dresden Files series.

That series has a lot of potential, from where I'm standing. Firstly, and leastly, Dresden is a city in Germany that was bombed back in World War II: a line from Wikipedia sums up nicely why I (and those like me) are fascinated with the symbol of Dresden: The destruction of Dresden has an epically tragic quality to it. It was a wonderfully beautiful city and a symbol of baroque humanism and all that was best in Germany. It also contained all of the worst from Germany during the Nazi period. In that sense it is an absolutely exemplary tragedy for the horrors of 20th Century warfare. Secondly, it seems to be a pseudo-noir type storyworld, with Harry Dresden (our hero) set up as a sort of hard-boiled private eye character. And thirdly, and most importantly, Harry Dresden is a wizard in modern Chicago. Supernatural phenomena in a noir-cast modern city? That's precisely the setting that makes me salivate. So I'm looking forward to all that.

I also emptied my storage unit last night, which is good in that I'm not paying $80 a month on top of all my other bills and expenses, but bad in that now I have to cram a car-full of more stuff into my already-disastrous room. Right now the bulk of it is still in my car. I *have* to take some time soon to straighten my room up and start organizing things.

My project worked like a charm in class today. I was a little embarrassed, though, because the professor seems to know me personally -- which is good 'cause he's a great guy, and to say I admire him would be an understatement. And it's not surprising, either, because he's a personable sort of guy. But it was also amusing because... Well, the program was meant to mess with network traffic and because of the parameters he gave me, mine was messing with his machine. Completely on accident on his part, but proof positive that mine was up and good. ^_^

I also talked to my friend Meghan today via Google Chat, which was nice. She and I have become somewhat estranged of late. I would want to say it's because we're so busy and there's such physical distance between us, which is true indeed, but to be honest I think it has to do more with... Well, her boyfriend doesn't like me very much; rightly or not, he doesn't. And for that and a few other points, I don't like him very much, either. Meghan, obviously, does. Back before my internship this situation became a real strain on our friendship, and I'm afraid we haven't yet recovered from that. But our chat today was good.

I got another email from Kira today, too. For those of you keeping score at home, she's out in Italy for the next three months, enjoying herself half-nanny-ing for an Italian family and seeing a bit of Europe in the process. She doesn't get much internet time, and has been sending weekly mass emails to a group of us. And that's about as far as I'm going to go in an open post (not that there's really much else to say, anyways).

And I think I've wasted about enough time on here now; so I'll go waste it elsewhere. Either playing Oblivion, or FFIX, or maybe reading. I've also got "Jersey Girl" here now, along with a bunch of other movies and TV shows I own but haven't watched. So, maybe I'll do some of that.

Let's Talk About Sex

So I have this friend, we'll call her Laurel. Laurel's a teacher, or was and will be again once she finishes her Master's Degree. She seems to like working with teen-aged kids. And through all of this, one of the things that bothers he is the lack of information and, worse, the misinformation that kids get regarding sex. I don't think she's on any grand crusade (yet), but she's found a book that she likes, "The Naked Truth About Sex," and has asked me to read though it, as a differing opinion.

'Opposing opinion' is probably a better way of putting it, and that's not just from me; I'm pretty sure she was thinking along those lines, something like "let's see what someone on the Other Side thinks of this book." In most of my circles, I'm The Catholic. And in most circles that's pretty accurate, so I'm not faulting her. Just setting the stage.

Because the point is I'm not here to talk about the book. I'll mention it, yeah, and I'll tell you right now that my initial impression of it is middling-to-negative. But it's got me thinking about a number of things. All of them having to do with sex, of course. Which is really why this post is locked.

I don't talk about sex. On the few occasions that I've mentioned it, those around me have been shocked and scandalized that I would even know what those words mean. Knowing more than I appear to has always been part of my game. But upon reflection, I think this -- the not talking about sex -- is a flaw.

And that's the point of this post, and the group it's attached to. Somewhere to talk about sex. And no, nothing too overly graphic; I'm still a virgin and plan to remain so for some time yet, how graphic could it get? But having someplace where I can go and discuss these things when they occur to me... that's something that I think might be helpful.

So, there you have it. If you can see this, you're currently on the list. If you'd like to NOT be on the list, say so; I'll take you off and we can mutually forget this ever happened. If you can't see this and WANT to be on the list... Well, that presents a difficulty; one of those "raise your hand if you're not here," sorts of things. I'll deal with that somehow.

As of now, you can see this if you're Jenny, Sarah, Nick, Nifer, Kate, Liz, Leslie, Laurel, Mel or Jesse.

(And for Laurel's benefit, the reason I'm leaning negative on the book is mainly because his take on the whole subject smacks of hedonism, a philosophy I personally find distasteful. Early on he even uses the line, "if you're not hurting yourself or someone else, it's OK," which grates on me for a number of philosophical reasons. At that, though, he's definitely a rationally-minded man, he's not advocating the worse extremes we Conservatives fear, and if he seems to be leaning strongly left it can generally be pardoned because he has an uphill battle to get to 'moderate.' He does say some things I agree with, but he often goes further than I'd feel comfortable with.)

Edit (2/2/07 09:30): Added a few more people, Louis, Anastasiya, Erin, Rachel, and Beth. As noted, if you're uncomfortable hearing me talk about sex, feel free (nay, obliged) to opt-out. I don't expect any of you to be put off by the subject matter, of course; it's more a matter that it's me talking.