Remedial Physics

I was really proud of myself for doing this today. I saw a good photo opportunity at school, what with framing and color contrast and all that. The hitch? It involved a person.*

A girl.

A cute girl.

But I managed to go up and ask her if I could take it, and she obliged. After snapping a couple I asked if I could post the result on Flickr and handed her one of my nifty little contact cards from MOO. Then we had a quick little chat about our majors and I was on my way. Unprecedented socialization!

The one bad part about the experience was that I squandered said opportunity by not properly framing or exposing the shot (learning to use the Force, aka manual mode). It didn't turn out anything like I had envisioned it. But I guess that's what practice is for... It sucks, though, because she'll probably stop by and witness the crappy-ness. Although hopefully she'll also browse and see the good work that I do.

*A small bit of background for any readers (are there even any readers?) who don't know me. I have pretty bad social anxiety, which prevents me from making much, if any, conversation with people. It's especially bad when dealing with women. I've been hard at work pushing my boundaries, though. Looks like it's starting to pay off. :)

CCCP

I took this after class at school today, sitting under the trees at the Jacobs School. This is a closeup of my belt with a Red Army pin. I like the reflection of the sun on the star; it adds that much more pizazz to an already rather dramatic pin. What idealistic youngster doesn't go through a socialist phase, at least? Although I'm not convinced it's just a phase in my case.

As an aside, I don't, currently, advocate communism. And if you think the two are equivalent, the ruling class has you well trained, and you should do your own research on the subject. ;-)

Urban Accessories

I went exploring the "bear garden" outside the CSE building at school for a bit today. I thought this drainage grate might make a cool picture, and what do you know? It did!

The Grey Mile

I had to go to the pharmacy at school today. I've been thinking of getting a good perspective shot of Library Walk for some time now, but it's taken until today for me to actually do it.
And I still missed the "good" part of the phrase. I'll have to do it right next week.

HSS

I had to go to school yesterday to fill out withdrawal paperwork. I'm affiliated with Muir College at UCSD, and the academic advising office is in the Humanities & Social Sciences complex. This view, toward the main H&SS building, is coming from the Muir parking lot, so it's facing... south?

Street Education

Had class in the evening, as is usual for Mondays and Wednesdays. We got our midterms back from Monday, and I did... not so well. :-/ I made a lot of little mistakes, and unfortunately small mistakes can add up to big points. It wasn't all bad, though, because I got this cool photo. I sure wonder what chain of events led to this stick of chalk's untimely demise on the sidewalk, alone in the night.

Bug's Eye View

That flu really took it out of me. Then I had a week of catching up to do in school. A word of advice: If you ever have to take a course on compiler design, do not do the project without a partner. It's total madness for one person to do it all.

This here is a view of some spring grass growing in the UCSD administration complex courtyard. I had to go pick up some prescriptions at the pharmacy, and had been planning on taking some photos of a really cool tree in the aforementioned courtyard. Unfortunately, those photos didn't turn out. :-/ Good to see it wasn't a total loss, though.