actuality.log

Life has been pretty slow recently. With some minor upgrades, such as the password protection of the now maintained journal page and the addition of a search box to the footer have resulted in this site evolving to v0.0.9.

Saw ‘Harry and Sally’ again yesterday. That has to be one of the sweetest movies ever made. Though yes, I am losing some of my manliness :) admitting that.

In other news, spent 1.5 grand, yes 1.5 grand (Rupees of course) on a toothbrush. It better work.

More shopping. Books and techy geek toys.

Woohoo, getting paid is fun.

Travelled far away to get my keys for an office space. Yes, I am now the proud (well, probably not proud.. hmm ok, proud) occupant of a cubicle at the Computational Mechanics Laboratory.

Purchased my mouse on Newegg. Extreme service.
I like, very much.

Read title.

It was weird, found a LARGE monitor outside an office in Dow. But I had to finish HW, and before I could get back to it, it was taken. Damn.

My walk home last night had a wonderful experience in store for me. I was done with my work in college and ruing the walk back home at 1 am or so. It had snowed pretty heavily and the whole area was completely blanketed by a thick white carpet. It reflected and dispersed all the sources of light. From the lights in the parking lot, to the media union, all the way to the moon. That and the mild flurry made it as bright as dawn. Pretty colors and a beautiful haze. My face lit up, literally and it stayed that way all through my walk home. God it was breathtaking.

These are the times I wish I owned a camera. I really do.

Made my first official spending today. Nothing fancy. A couple of cheap books at Amazon.com. Cheap, as in cost wise. Hopefully, not quality.

The “First Year Doctoral Student Meet” on Friday was quite an experience too. Got to meet some new interesting people, had a free lunch and a reason to go to central campus.

Unfaithful was one of the best movies I’ve got to see in a long time. So powerful, so moving. I have to admit I really was almost in tears.

I really do need to start looking out for a camera. Somethings are just too special to be forgotten.

Got my first pay check today :). In other news, worked on some code for the picture page. Shaping up well, though I don’t have any pictures yet.

Disconnected desi? Is that a good thing? I think yes. I should have been here much earlier. Somehow I fit in easier here than where I should be logically. Weird but true.

Even scarier is that I don’t miss anybody or anything. Not one.

Not entered anything for the past 10 days or so. Nothing major happening. Had last Monday “off”, it being M.L.K (Martin Luther King) day. There were some events organized, though I had some work to get done. The theme for this year’s celebrations was “We must be the change we wish to see in this world.” – Mahatma Gandhi. Pretty profound.

Finalized classes this weekend and settled for the two, elasticity and fem. The rest of my credits have to come from research. It’s not as easy as I had initially envisioned it. I mean, non-linear, variable order, coupled differential equations are not really nice things to deal with.

Really.

Some of the other highlights include me walking to the shopping mall to buy groceries and it being -10 or something in evil units. Seen quite a few movies recently. The Austin Powers series is awesome.

Yes, those were the highlights. Now I’ve got to go learn FORTRAN.

Site’s moved out of beta and the transition seems complete. Now I’m officially a GSRA at the ME department :D. My brother can dream of college and my parents needn’t end up on the streets.

Fridays are good. No classes no nothing. Not really nothing, but pretty much. Had my first “meeting” as a GSRA and have my work cut out for me over the weekend. Heard that my B.E degree certificate has arrived. Cool, I’m officially an “engineer”, though whether that’s what I want to be is still.. pretty hazy. I’ve been sitting in applied physics.. APPLIED physics classes, not even the “real” thing. I’ve been feeling like a scientist at times, and those classes bring me back to reality. When I try to think of an analogy, it has to be we’re like the mechanics when they are the mechanical engineers or some such thing. Scary, but there are tons of people in this world who do stuff at a WAY more abstract level than I can ever fathom. I have to live with this realization. Makes me feel sick in the stomach, but that’s the truth. Life must go on.

Haven’t had the time to updated this in a while. Decided to do it while calculating some Green’s function gradients for strain. Anyway, Mathematica still bugs me at times.

Finished most of the paperwork regarding the RA. It’s official now, I am an RA at the mechanical engineering department at the U of M. Only teeny things to sort out like get a new “free” insurance plan as I’ve cancelled the other one. Hope nothing extremely evil happens ;) in this “crossover” period. Finishing up on my previous work to not abruptly end my association with the other group.

Talk about an office space came up today. hmm.. interesting :). But will it fit a bed? I guess it won’t be appreciated. Damn formality.

Heard today was Pongal, from Prof. BSM of all people. Nice to hear from him and that our “work” was of “reference” material to other people. Heard our work ended up in India Today? or some such. Have to ask Amma/Appa for a copy if it’s something substantial. Yes, show off material, you’re right.

Told amma and appa about the suddenly improved financial situation. They seem very happy.

But, is it only me who manages to see things in the negative, ok, not so positive way at all times? I mean, being physically away from my parents is one degree of separation. But, until now, I’ve atleast needed their support for almost everything. This changes things quite a bit. Now I am more on my own. Am I farther from them? Time will tell. If yes, is it a good thing? I don’t know.