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Blog of my life

Saturday, July 28, 2001

Jenny Lin Summer Youth Concert
The concert was today! um...yesterday. Well, started at 7pm on the 27th of July, 2001 we had the concert at Neighborhood Church. It went pretty well and many people enjoyed it. Our Master of Ceremonies was Mike Morgan, the conductor of the Oakland Symphony, so it was pretty cool. Today I learned that Ben Draper can sing (j/k) and that Bach's Air on G String is not actually played on the G string nor is it in the key of G. The coordinators' number was good too (according to what other people said) but we kinda messed up toward the end ^_^;...whoops. heh.
The day before was dress rehersal. That morning, I went to Gov, as usual, and the teacher made us each talk about the project we were turning in. The project was to find two news stories and see and read a TV and a paper version of the story and compare the two forms of media. Almost everyone did one of their topics on the Pope telling Bush about stem-cell research. Anyway, Florence and I had both stayed up until about 2:30am doing it the night before and then waking up early to finish it, so I wasn't too awake for most of the talking. After gov, I went home, took a half hour nap (I reeeaaaalllly needed it this time) and then got ready to go to Canyon Middle school to help move chairs, music stands, and equiptment over to Neighborhood church. See, all our rehersals are at Canyon Middle School, but the performance was at Neighborhood and they don't let us use their chairs, so we have to bring all our own stuff. And those chairs are heavy! I could at most carry a stack of four, but for the most part carried stacks of three...after awhile I got tired and was down to two...and my arms are still kinda sore from carrying them all. One person I met there, Melinda (sp?) was really strong...she could carry 4 of them easily and did it over and over again--I was only able to pull off the stack of four thing once. There was also this guy there that could carry five...O_O. wow. I was impressed ^_^.
So we got all the stuff there and were trying to figure out how to get all the groups arranged. Last year, a bunch of people complained because they couldn't see the choir because they were in the very back. So this time we tried putting the choir in front...but then the band and orchestra wouldn't fit on right and then we had to move the piano around 3 times to 3 different places to find a place where the pianist could see the directors of the choir, band, and orchestra, because the piano is used in all three. Finally, about an hour and a half later, we found out that the back half of the stage could rise up up to four feet. So then choir was moved back to the platform, which was then raised two feet so the audience could see the choir with the intramentalists in front and everything worked out okay. I think the layout we finally came up with is the only possible decent layout for the choir band and orchestra because 1) there's a firewall which makes a line across the stage that nothing can be within two feet of and that was an infinite pain to have to work around and because 2) the very front part of the stage can't be miked so choir can never be there and so would have to waste the front quarter of the stage if they were put in front of the instrumentalists. Anyway, it was all done and then that night was had a nice non dress dress rehersal...that ran to 10:30 even though it was scheduled to end at 9. Ah well...better pretty much every Pops Concert dress rehersal I've ever been to. Oh, and last bit of a note, the assistant choir director, Dana Coffin was nice enough to give me a ride to CMS for the equiptment moving day. Found out her family actually lives in Five Canyons (which, IMO, too few people do). So now I know a person I can maybe bug for rides for JL stuff next year. hee hee. Actually, hopefully I'll be able to drive myself by then....i reaallly hope i'll be able to drive myself by then. Ah...the freedom of driving...or so I think. Gotta get another driving lesson scheduled. Note to self: Call Bay Area Driving School.
~Blue

posted by Blue Larker 7/28/2001 01:19:27 AM
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Wednesday, July 25, 2001

Non JL Day
Whew! Guess what? this is the one day in the whole week where I'm not doing anything for the Jenny Lin concert. Well, technically, there was suppose to be a small rehersal for voice parts of the coordinators' song, but I couldn't get a ride and it would've only been 15 minutes anyway.
So today, Governement class was cancelled! ^_^ Dr. Acquaye was sick so we were excused. Actually, when it was about half an hour into class and the teacher still hadn't showed, most of the people left. A few stayed awhile longer, but then everyone was gone. We went back to the class awhile later, and someone had stuck a notice up that class was cancelled. Kinda late, but, ah well.
So I got home, scheduled the mini-rehersal, and took a nap. I overslept and realized that the rehersal was suppose to have started 8 minutes ago and that my dad (who was suppose to drive me) wasn't home yet. He was "summoned" for jury duty today and thought that he would've been home in time to take me. I called him and it turned out he was actually selected for the jury so he was stuck in Oakland for awhile longer. So then I called Ernest and Nikki (my fellow rehersing people) and we decided to get together sometime tomorrow during the big group rehersal.
Around 5:30, I left to go to Allyson's house (my dad finally got home from Oakland). We went to the mall because I wanted to learn about make-up for senior pictures and they gave free makeovers at Estee Lauder. Unfortunately, the person there today wasn't trained to do make-overs but directed us to another place to the right...I forgot the name...starts with a "B" i think...Anyway, they weren't that helpful there because the person there just kinda put on the new stuff they had and talked about all their new products. I didn't really like the color she put on and asked her if there were any others...which their weren't. Ah well...so much for trying to find a color that fits. Just kinda confirms my belief that people like me just shouldn't put on makeup. heh.
When we dropped Allyson off at her house, it turned out that her mom had brought her preview senior pictures back, so I stayed awhile and looked at them and and handy-dandy price list the people at ProImages included. O_o...soo expensive...But Allyson's pictures were really nice. However, I dont think I will look very good in white (which was Allyson's colors) so i'm leaning more toward using a Burgandy boa now. Still have 1 week to decide...
Got home, ate dinner, and watched the 6 episodes of Please Save My Earth that Florence lent me. It was really good, but sort of confusing at first because I'm not too good with names and couldn't tell who each of the characters were referring to. But I got the main characters' names so I still got the gist of the plot. The girl at the beginning was really teary though, which kinda bugged me, but it went away after awhile and all the other characters were done pretty well. I think I would have liked to seen more character development in the non-major characters, but I guess there's only so much you can do with six episodes. Still very nice, though.
So now I'm back on the computer...and thinking of that AI Game again...yes, yes, groan, whatever. But it was fun for me ^_^. My last entry was really disjointed (it was written at 1 am! gimmie a break). But just the whole thing...wow. Maybe I just don't stretch my brain enough or, or maybe I'm just used to keeping my view of life the way it is, but when I change my prespective suddenly, it's like the world is differnt...maybe just for a few seconds...maybe for a few days...but the fact that there once was a difference is a very memorable experience. Certain books seem to do that to me, like Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash and The Diamond Age and John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. Voting for the Sentient Beings Voting Right Amendment seem to do that too. Just for a second, I was wondering, what if this was real? What if there was an actual vote like this? What would happen? Then I became immensely relieved that this was all a Game and whatever I did, I would not someday be held accountable for the vote. Like Martin Swinton said, it's like voting for the end of the world. But quite luckily, it's not MY world and hopefully never will be. But you never know. Machines are getting smarter these days. Whether they will ever pass the Turing test is only for time to tell.
~Blue

posted by Blue Larker 7/25/2001 12:36:19 AM
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One (maybe) Last Note
Okay, might as well get the AI stuff out of my brain in a nice chunk. What was really cool about it was also the community that kinda sprung up around the game. The people all (more or less) seemed like decent people and the one person I had direct contact with (to get my poster) was really nice and patient. I mean, you'd have to be to be willing to mail out 100+ posters to individual people who weren't able to get one at the theater and also answer all their e-mail questions individually. It was also just funny...in New York, Denver, and other places, there were weekly meetings at clubs where real people got to really meet other real people. Two who met at the Denver Mile High AI game group are now a steady couple. I guess I'm just used to the internet as more of a passive-type thing. I never think of the internet as having real impact on outside life other than my orders from Amazon.com coming in through the real mail. I guess it's just nice to know that online life can really influence "real" life in a positive way and that there are still places out there on the internet where strangers can meet and then see each other in real life without fear of psycopaths (relatively speaking ^_^)
wishing for a community of her own *paraphrasing Mark from RENT ,
~Blue

posted by Blue Larker 7/25/2001 12:52:11 AM
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yay! beat the dateline. but today's entry is already too long so i'll wait the 3 minutes left until tomorrow...

posted by Blue Larker 7/25/2001 11:56:44 PM
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Tuesday, July 24, 2001

Endgame ?
Well, the AI net game seems to finally be drawing to a close. The game started out with the murder of a semi-average guy, Evan , and ended with the rather slim ratification of the Sentient Beings Voting Right Amendment. ::sigh:: And after spending so much time just following the story line and staying up late, it feels kinda weird that it's all over. Granted, I never participated as much as some people did. I tend to lurk in all internet communities and, as I was barely even able to keep up with, much less try to solve, the puzzles, this was no exception. All in all, it was a great game. It had a complicated storyline with a great many twists and turns, characters you could care about and feel for, interaction, interesting puzzles, and constant updates. What I think I liked most about it, though, was the literature and the great many philosophical questions posed, argued, and aruged over again in it. It takes place in a world where humans increasingly act like Creators by making sentient machines and, as Creators, begin to fear that their creations will overrun them. Toward the end, when Mann Act II, an amendment that proposed freeing all the robots and giving them the right to vote was on its way to ratification, the professional arugments got better and the personal thoughts got shakier. 7to1.net and inourimage.org duked it out for votes while inquisitive citizens Laia and Martin gave voice to their own personal thoughts on the issue. In the end, people all got to vote on the issue, and it passed by about 17%--a pretty decent margin. I also liked how this whole story ties in with the movie. I actually rather liked the movie, and it was nice seeing how the loss of David affected Monica and what kind of person Martin (David's brother) grew up to be. It also added a lot of backstory and afterstory to the movie. Ah well. But it's pretty much all over now, but the Trail and the Guide are still there. In the end, it's all just a game. Yet, voting in for the amendment brought together a lot of thoughts and feelings. None of it is real, but what if it was? It's all a very interesting mind game--should human creations with seemingly human emotions and reactions also have human rights? Beautiful game, beautifully done. But nearly done now and I guess it'll be nice to finally have my tuesday and friday nights (as well as many other days of the week) back. heh. So, leaving now with just a few more obligatory links before the Game fades into oblivion...
Cloudmakers
Links, data, and nearly offical site for the solving of the game.
Cloudmakers (yahoo group)
Huge group messageboard discussing the game
Cloudmakers-moderated
Lighter and easier to read version of Cloudmakers (yahoo group)

lots of other sites out there, but time to go back to real life and do all that gov homework I've been putting off. ;P
~Blue

posted by Blue Larker 7/24/2001 12:04:08 AM
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hmm. realized the Martin Swinton link doesn't work directly. To get to the particular entry about him talking about voting on the Mann Act II, you have to click on the moon on the lower right hand corner of the page, type "is silence" , click on "previous entries", and finally click "7-20-2142.html". Yeah, sorta complicated, but it was fun, right? ^_^ heh. so seriously, sleep NOW...
~Blue
BTW, Brutus is the name of Martin's house AI and it (i think) shows pictures on the wall to communicate with Martin...

posted by Blue Larker 7/24/2001 01:03:51 AM
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Sunday, July 22, 2001

Quality Jobs
Woke up early to get to the carwash saturday morning (had to be there around 8:30). There, everyone who came for the set-up shift put the tents together, made signs, connected the hoses, and pretty much just set the whole car wash thing up. Then we kinda sat there for awhile until more people and cars showed up. Business picked up around 10-ish, which is later than it ususally does, but probably because today was pretty cloudy so not as many people wanted to get their cars washed. So anyway, today I learned how to use a squeegee properly ^_^ along with various other car washing rules. First of all, always remember to rinse off the top of the cars...even if they're really tall. Thus, ladders usually help. Second, for the second rinse after the soaping, always rinse off the top of the car FIRST because if you do it last, all the soap runs down the sides you had just rinsed. Third, always dry the top of the car first because, if you don't, the water often drips down over the formerly dry sides of the car and then you'll have to re-dry it. Finally, when rinsing the top of a car, make SURE you don't spray water all over the washed and already dryed car next to the car you are washing or else you will have to re-dry that car as well. So...yeah. Usually I don't pay much attention to the top of cars (leave that to the tall people to handle) but we were at a slight shortage for tall people today, so I had to try to get to the top of the cars (and trucks!). At one point, we were washing a row of 3 trucks -_-;....very tiring. They looked HUGE too...Ah, but i learned one thing about soaping that had nothing to do with the top...make sure when you rinse out the soap, you get it out off the side-view mirrors as well...
So, yeah. Fun car wash. I spent most of my time actually washing cars (squeegees are fun!) and a group of people (Olivia, Andrea B, Michelle R, etc) stood at the corner with our Car Wash sign and yelled at passing cars to come to our *Free* Car Wash, donations accepted . Heh, so all in all, a very fun wash. We were being slightly less than productive somtimes, and some people got really wet, but it was all good.
I left in the middle of the carwash to go to my piano lesson. Since I do most of my practicing sat. morning and since I spent this saturday morning washing cars, I didn't get a chance to practice much and it kinda showed...ah well.
After we closed down the carwash at around four, I went home, took a 1/2 hour nap, and then went to a "Friends" rehersal. That's the song all the JL Concert coordinators are doing for the concert. ::sigh:: I need to find a way to sing louder w/out sounding worse since no one can hear me...but I'll be on the same part as Nikki (who couldn't make it today) so chances are she'll drown me out at the actual performance anyway. But the rehersal was fun and it really woke me up...I was totally asleep one the way to the rehersal, but by the time it was over, I was totally awake.
So then I went home, flipped between "Super Mario Brothers the Movie" and "Rugrats: All Growed up" and then watched "Jett Jackson: the Movie". Disney's always fun...and so is Nickelodeon. Then, internet relax time!
~Blue

posted by Blue Larker 7/22/2001 12:26:22 AM
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Taida Chinese Play
Went to the Taida Chinese Play today. My dad went to Taida (University of Taiwan) so he knows the people running the play. They asked him to videotape it for them this year (and last year) so he and I got free tickets. We got there a bit late, and there were some problems with the sound and camera set-up, but in the end it was all pretty okay. The sound on the recording will probably be a bit lousy, though. It was a funny play with a lot of puns and political satire, but I couldn't get a lot of it...my Chinese just isn't that good, i guess. At least I could tell what was going on most of the time and got a few jokes :-). Afterward, my dad and I went to a sort of cast dinner with a bunch of people involved in the play and some other people who were part of a choir also somehow connected to the play people. So they talked...a lot...as usual. Wasn't paying that much attention...whoops. Also, it was a semi bon-voyage party too because a choir person was leaving for a job studying genomes or something like that in Taiwan. The people got together a book of her favorite choir songs and signed in the margins and sometimes over the music. It was pretty interesting. I looked at the book a bit, but all the songs were in Chinese, so i couldn't really tell what they were about. Can't read Chinese at all...ah well.
After the dinner, my dad drove this couple home and then we went home, picking up some food for my brother on the way. He understands Chinese less than I do, so understandably didn't want to go to the play. He's not really into fine arts anyway. I think the most interesting part of the evening was just seeing all the people interacting. They all seemed so energetic and the couples all seemed very close. It was nice to see them after reading Cynthia's log about the couple at the wedding she attended. Gives a bit of hope, i guess. The couples I saw today didn't really have any public displays of affection, but it was obvious the each cared about each other. So anyway, just fun to see them. There was also a person there that reports on channel 66 news and these two little girls who gave flowers to the performers. They were so cute! heh...and I used to hate it when people said that to me when i was little.
So anyway, I'm still trying to get the stupid archive section to work the way I want it to (direct links to archive from the main page) but it doesn't seem to work on freeservers. Turns out they don't support SSI, which is how many blogger people put their archive index on the main page, but there must be another way...hmmm...So hopefully, it'll all work out. In the meantime, it'll be my little excuse to put off my term paper. ^_^
~Blue

posted by Blue Larker 7/22/2001 11:53:36 PM
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