First off, someone kill me so that I don't have to go through the next few days.
Ok, hi. The Ravi Shankar concert last Friday was awesome. It opened with Ravi's daughter (Anoushka), two tabla players (Tanmoy Bose and Bikram Ghosh), and two tanpura players (although I don't think you need any real skills to play it).
Anyway, Anoushka started with one alap and two guts in teental; the ending was nice and strong. Then there was a tabla dual/duet in teental which was pimp. Ghosh was the more "exciting" of the two, although they were both really good. The most amusing part was when they called out the patterns instead of playing. Tabla players would ake good auctioneers
And then the first part ended with a short alap.
After the intermission, the pimp daddy himself joined the stage with everyone else. He played in raga marubhia (sp?), and the concert ended with a turmi/dhum. It's supposed to be a lot freer than playing a raga, because you're not restricted to one raga or anything.
The highlight of the second part, other than nice music, was how the sitars and, a little less, the tablas, came in perfect unison at certain parts. It was probably the part where they played an already composed melody, but it was a nice change from the improvised things where everyone played to support Ravi.
For an 80 year old, Mr. Shankar plays the sitar with a ton of force. Even more so than his daughter, it looked like. Amazing.
And for a change, I went out on Saturday night. We just went to a bar, which got old pretty quick. Oh well. Bars blow. There was a dorky looking guy there that was dancing his ass off. I saw him trying to dance with girls two or three times, and the girls just ignored him. Poor guy. He had to have been there by himself, because I didn't see anyone talk to him.
A lot of slutty girls go to bars. And when guys don't dance with them, they'll start grinding with each other. I guess it's fun to see, but sad at the same time.
I hate cs231 even more than before. Our last MP involved developing a control unit for the multiplier we developed in the previous MP. First, I rack my brains trying to figure out how to initialize the damn unit until I realize there's a much easier workaround to it. Then, when I try to connect the two and test out the control unit and multiplier together, the multiplier doesn't respond correctly! What the hell!? The same exact multiplier that worked last time shits out on me. That pissed me off so much...I thought the last MP was bad enough when the TA's left out a couple of tips that would've saved me hours. It'd be cool if the TA's and professor died, but that's a cold thing to say. It still wouldn't give me a better grade in the class.
Anyway, I feel kinda crappy now. Lack of sleep. Too much to do. I wish things would just end.
Some CS humor for you...somehow a conversation started over the word "merd" (kinda my fault for talking about how I could teach kids about necromancy, which sprouted a few other things). Anyway, Nick S. posted this about the meaning of merd: "Merd : someone who knows a lot about computers, enjoyes ones interests and collegiate major, goes to work for large important computer companies, provides many activities dedicated to members of ones own interest such as job fairs, speakers, company information sessions, and numerous other events.". To which Matt O. replied: "True. I mean, 1."
Ah...if you get it, you get it. If you don't, you don't.
Time to dig a hole for myself. Good luck on finals.