Thursday – Day 170
January 23, 2013
Thursday I managed to stay attentive during physics despite the lack of sleep, but was busy almost the entire afternoon with homework of various sorts. However, Thursday also marked the lead up to PennApps over the coming weekend where thanks to the day off on Monday, I would spend approximately 48 hours coding non stop. PennApps is a student ‘hackathon’, a competition in which you have a set amount of time to build something technological from scratch. PennApp is also the largest college hackathon in the world with over 500 attendees semesterly! Part of the day was spent searching for team members and figuring out ideas. Eventually I ended up with the usual crew, Rigel and Nikki, with whom I was most excited to work with.
In the evening I attended a talk by Facebook on getting started using their developer tools to make apps and caught up with Rigel for a brief talk regarding how our team would run. Following that I went for a delicious dinner with around thirteen exchange students and though we had to wait a while for our table, the spicy szechuan food was excellent (I had some very yummy spicy fish!).
The rest of my night was spent preparing all my homework and the homework for CIS121 before the weekend, as I knew there would be a mountain of stuff to get done. Up again till the wee hours of the morning, I was a bit behind but I was motivated to keep going in order to leave myself time over the long weekend.
Monday – Day 94
November 1, 2012
After a late night on Sunday due to rehearsals I treated myself with a real sleep in on Monday, lasting all the way to 11AM. Following that I decide to take advantage of the high wind warning and the advisory to stay inside, remaining in pyjamas and playing video games for a good while before settling to work. However, no sooner had I picked up pen and paper when Caitlyn let me know that coffee and snacks were being served downstairs as comforts from the storm outside.
On my way downstairs for a little snack I came across Rigel Swavely, head of the PGC Band and his girlfriend Nikki Limtiaco, two of my favourite people on campus, and ended up sitting and drinking a little coffee with them and watching the wind and rain. At this point I decided to venture outside just to see how bad it was. I wanted to loop around the building and peer in through the window and get Rigel and Nikki’s attention however, after about thirty seconds outside, I was blown right back in as I tried to turn the corner, nearly falling over. That was my last trip outside till the storm had well and truly passed..
After a while of chilling we decided to go back upstairs and work. However, after hearing from me that the lounge piano had been tuned, Rigel jumped at the opportunity and took us into the lounge for a bit of a jam. A ‘bit of a jam’ quickly turned into three hours, and after a while we started getting hungry so we ordered dinner from the one place still delivering and gave the delivery guy a hefty tip. After finishing our food ‘saxy singalong’ began in the lobby of the highrise. This was an event for 9th floorers whereby we all sing together and some of us perform a little too. I then got stuck there till 11PM after a fantastic duet with a french friend of Rigel’s singing a jazz arrangement of what a wonderful world.
I worked finally for a few hours and made it another late night, promising myself to work more productively the next day.
Thursday – Day 76
October 12, 2012
Thursday (my birthday) didn’t start to well as I woke up feeling awful and exhausted thanks to the late night of coding. Physics, expectedly, didn’t improve my mood. Lunch at Hillel was no better and very few of my friends were in today. Operating systems in the afternoon was marginally better and I slept through most of it, waking only to answer questions from the lecturer. Towards the end of the lecture my phone buzzed and I raced outside seeing the +972 country code and was very grateful to speak to my brother Adi for a few minutes.
Following that Jonathan and I went to office hours to try and fix up some of the bugs in our code. After a little help, I was soon on my way again, this time for a walk by myself for a little soothing me time. I walked all the way across the Schuylkill River and into center city. This was the beautiful view of the Philly Skyline from South Bridge.
After that I just wandered through suburbia for a bit just enjoying myself, before popping into a liquor store to buy a mini whiskey bottle (Jack Daniels) and a nice bottle of Australian wine. I just kept walking and walking till I came across a nice little cafe and bought a fresh sandwich on whole wheat. However, I still have to say, Americans have no idea how to do food. Nothing is as fresh or as crisp as it should be, and everything is slathered in sauces with all sorts of extras no one needs.
Returning in time for dinner at Hillel, which was not spectacular either, I met up with Michal and Arianna who took me to Ben and Jerry’s after dinner for a free scoop of birthday ice-cream!
Back to my room again for a few hours, just working hard at it, before at 10PM I decided to call in Rigel, my neighbor and Anil, for a celebratory glass of whisky. We toasted to health and a successful semester and chatted for a few minutes.
I also received an email inviting me to a party for the cast of Legally Blonde and went there for a good two hours, having a smashing time and was again, toasted, by the cast, and sung a few songs kareoke.
At 1AM I returned to my room and still needed to work with Jonathan! Up for another while working before finally, at three, I was able to get to sleep.