Hello again!

I hope you all are doing splendidly. I think I am. There’s really so much to talk about, so let me hit the highlights.

Rang in the new year in my hometown, and it was a really nice break. Certainly get to miss my roots while I’m out here.

This term has been quite a bit tougher. I’m in what people say is the most difficult required computer science class, because it involves absolute zero coding. 100% proofs. I dig it, but the problem sets are so hard that I basically have to think about them from the moment they come out until the night before they’re due. Not a complaint; that’s what I’m here for.

A week ago I even went into LA for a show: My Brother, My Brother and Me. I took the train, which was nice enough, just took forever (I think the biggest problem with the transit in this region is that it’s such an unbelievable sprawl). There was a girl scout and her dad on the train, so I bought some thin mints. It was a totally great time, and exactly what I needed to get off campus for a night. It’s easy to get stifled here, to forget about the wider world.

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I also wanted to show something off: My CS 1 final project. If the professor OKs it, it’ll be up on my github or just here, but regardless I’m going to brag about it, because I spent probably 30 hours on it and I earned this, dammit.

So it’s a game: that one where you take turns making lines in between dots and try to fill in as many boxes as possible. Here are some of the awesome features of my GUI:

• Demo menu page where computer plays itself
• Options for size of playing field
• Randomized colors, not too dark or too close to each other
• Three levels of computer skill (highest is really tough to beat)
• Perfected, unbreakable user interface, with mouse and keyboard controls
• Responsive design?! Sort of?! In the help screen. Against all odds, the graphics module we used isn’t really meant for that
• Helpful insults for when you give it bad input
• Hours of amazing gameplay
• And more!

So that’s about the size of it. Having a good time. Excited about everything.

Until next time