For my spring break, I took a trip to visit Puerto Rico. I met a girl who lives there while I was at Harvey Mudd, and I found a cheap plane ticket ($208!!), so I scheduled a 5 day visit. I learned a lot of Spanish – when you’re surrounded by the language at all times, and you’re with a native speaker who also knows your language very well, it’s not difficult to pick a lot of it up. Photos are here.
Bob and I went to the ‘No Fear’ tour in Columbus last night. The only Band I really wanted to see was DragonForce, who put on one hell of a show. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the mosh pit for Chimaira. I don’t listen to that kind of music because it doesn’t ‘go anywhere,’ and I really dislike the guttural growling and barking that passis for lyrics. When you’re with a bunch of other people and it’s being played live, though, the energy in that kind of music is intense. It makes you want to be violent. Hence the idea of a mosh pit – a bunch of people pushing and shoving each other while dancing to violently fast, loud music. The neat thing about a mosh pit is that although everyone is pushing and shoving each other, everybody’s also looking out for everyone else – if someone falls down, everybody around them helps get them to their feet. Before giving them a good shove, of course.
I’d never been to a concert for a band I really liked before, and I have to say I liked it. The mosh pit was exhausting, and by the end of DragonForce’s show, I did not have the energy to sit through the final act, a band named ‘Killswitch Engage.’ Joe Satriani is coming to Cincinnati in March, with John Petrucci and some other guy who I’ve never heard of. I think I’ll go.
As for grad schools, I still haven’t heard from Georgia Tech and UC San Diego. Everybody Else (Stanford, Berkeley, MIT, Carnegie Mellon, and Illinois) has rejected me. When I applied to schools, I was given the impression that nothing was a ‘long shot’ for me, and as a result I was very confident about where I’d get in. I Figured UC San Diego, Georgia Tech, UNC, and Illinois were all sure things, and as for the other four, I figured I’d get into at least one. Being rejected from the ‘Big Four’ was tough. I’m glad those rejections came first. When I got the admission letter from UNC, I wasn’t all that excited because it came right after the rejection letter from Carnegie Mellon, a place I thought would be reallly good for me. I’m going to visit UNC, and I am looking forward to it. I really liked that part of the country when I went to some math conferences there last year, and the thought of spending more time there is pleasing.
I was never all that hot on going to Illinois because I didn’t like the idea of living in Urbana/Champaign, but this morning I started to think maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. That was when I saw the rejection letter sitting on the table in the dining room. At this point, I wouldn’t be too surprised if both UC San Diego and Georgia Tech rejected me. It’s tough to be rejected like that, but I think it’s a good humbling experience for me.
Lastly, a thought on religion: why would anyone convert to Mormonism? An interesting tenet of the Mormon faith is that ancestors of the church can be ‘baptised’ after their deaths. If you have even the slightest doubts about whether Mormonism is the ‘true’ religion, you should just do your best to have a few kids. If Mormonism pans out to be ‘the true religion’ then you should expect virtually everyone in the future to become a Mormon. Therefore, at least one of your future progeny would likely become a Mormon. This descendant would, after conversion, baptise you and get you into heaven. If you’re wrong, and Mormonism isnt’ the true religion, you haven’t made any incorrect choices.