Well, I’ve always loved looking at the zillion ‘Happy New Year’ cards we get. Their designs are so awesome(Most of them, anyway.) But I do feel, it’s a waste of paper. It’s just another card that’s been sorted through in the post office.

Anyway, that made me decide to create one. On Photoshop.

And so, Happy New Year to Lucid and BWC (who is currently somewhere near Mysore.)

We had a really horrdid time in EG last week. He spent the entire 2 hours yeling at 2 girls. In the meantime, this is what was forming in my head:

(To the Tune of Mistle Toe and Wine.)

Sleepy Time,
Give a bed an’ I’m fine.
Dreams start weavin’ in my mind.
With colours and spaces,
And dragons and faces,
A time to disappear from all things real.

A time for stories, and crackling fire,
A time when you can play the lyre.
Loose ends to tie up, a happy ending,
All ours in the making, just follow your dream.

UPDATE: The Snowflakes on WP is back! W00t!

Picture this:  About 3 hours to study (for the test) and we sit under a tree, overlooking a mini lawn, the sun’s rays pleasantly falling on the ground through the (very)light canopy, and earphones plugged into our ears.  Almost perfect, right?

Not if you happen to be in our college. Half-an-hour of pleasant studying, we are interrupted by a screech. A monkey. And following it are about a dozen more. *Ack! Jumps back 2 feet, clutching my iPod and notebooks.*  The monkey doesn’t seem to do anything. We lug all the bags from under that tree and onto the lawn. That’s when this big blob of murky black leaps. *Eeew. A frog!* We couldn’t sit on the lawn either.

So we trudged off to the biotech block. Sitting outside, we resume our intellectual pursuits. That’s when a few dogs come silently and sit here and there, in silence. A minute later, as if  they were part of some  special mission, about 10 dogs bound for the tree and fight with the monkeys. The dogs try to bite the monkeys who’re throwing fruits(from the tree) on the dogs.  Barks and screeches later, the monkeys were seen jumping on another tree(quite far off form us, thank you.) They disturb these 2 crows; so ensues another battle, between the monkeys and the crows.

That was that and we were off to make more sense of E.G. And yeah, an eco-friendly campus is where we study. Sure.

P.S.: Possession by A.S. Byatt is awesome. Go, read, NOW.

Hihi! I’m ba…ck! So. My creativity is just about dead and for the last month or so, I’ve been opening the new post page and then shutting it without wring anything(obviously). You can blame college (which absolutely Sucks by the way, but I won’t go into that or it will take up an entire post and the 3 readers that we have might decide never to come back). But, today I decided that I will post, no matter what and I went on over to mindbump.com and got this bump, that I really liked!

suggested by The Real Eureka Springs

“Describe somethings seemingly unimportant or ridiculous that make you happy.”

Alright then, here’s a list of absolutely ridiculous things that make me happy;

1. When two characters that I like in a book, movie or a TV show get together: Yup. Crazy and irrational. That’s me. BWC can certify this.
2. Watching Friends: Even on mute! Friends will always, always cheer me up after a crappy day at college or whatever.
3. Dancing around madly to a song I love!
4. Washing my hair.
5. Singing at lunch and in class.
   
6. Getting up late on a Saturday.
7. Chocolate or Chocolate Cake or anything covered in Chocolate.
8. Shopping! ( I can’t believe I almost forgot that one!)
9. The Rain
   
10. Finding out that there’s no college because of rain!
11. Sitting on the beach and talking with my friends!
12. Going to Barista! Also; convincing my friends to go to Barista!
13. Finishing a really good book.
14. Having nothing to do all day.
15. Getting a comment on the blog! ;)
16. Coming home after college : I’m really glad that no matter how sucky my day gets at college, I get to come home in the evening.
17. Planning birthday surprise things (Even if certain people ruin them by figuring out stuff in advance *glares at Adzzie*)
18. Remembering school. ( Yeah, I sound like I’m 80, I know.)
19. Finishing a crossword puzzle.
    

That’s it for now. I could go on but you guys might die or something. In other news, I got an iPhone! I am so in love with it. Also; Tap Tap Revenge! My new obsession ever since I discovered it. Its one of the very few games that I don’t completely suck at. That’s it for now. Later my people! I will try to post fairly regularly from now on, even if it is just rants or something!

Byebye!

OMG, I missed this!!

Just a note;

» mindbump «

So, we went for the movie today. The main reason being : Adam Lambert’s ‘Time  For Miracles‘ song (TfM).  This song is just brilliant living up to a Glambert fan! You can hear the power in Adam’s voice and this reminded me of his ‘Mad World’ on Idol.

So enough on Adam Lambert’s awesomosity. We lasted the entire 2 hours and 40 minutes, just for ‘THE SONG’ to play.

The movie wasn’t all that amazing. The first half of the movie was just execrable. It started in India (It jus had to) with rain lashing on the windshield of the car. (Coincidentally, the drive to the theatre was pretty much the same, maybe not that much rain) So the years skip by at an alarming rate, bringing us to 2012. And then, *drum roll* title appears! (I was hoping the sound of ‘TfM’ would play. No such luck) There were tons of moments which reminded me of ‘Day After Tomorrow’ The much-hyped about visual effects weren’t really evident in the first half of the movie, but in the later half, it was much better. (Thankfully) It was quite good by the end.  The script was pure rubbish(cheesy and ridiculous too) , unable to live up to the visual fx. The movie obviously plays on our expectations of such a genre, and you end up laughing at the stupidity to be found. (Like who will not realize something major is going wrong when there’re disaster  all over the world.)

On the actors, I felt the guy who acted as Mr. President (Danny Glover) was a bit of a joke. His acting was poor. And Jackson(a.k.a Daddy, the main guy who will survive) played by John Cusack wasn’t any better.  But Woody Harlesson as DJ Charlie was good. He played a hippie-lunatic  who wears ponchos who also created this comical(extremely) video on the apocalypse. That was hilarious!

Besides this, there isn’t much to the movie. It’s a good time pass when you want to have a good laugh, yet enjoying the visuals once in a while. I wonder what Roland Emmerich was thinking when he approved of the script. I mean, it could’ve been a zillion times better.

MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT: When I found out about Lambert singing the soundtrack for this, I was super-excited. I expected it to come up when someone said something about ‘miracles.’ But instead, it comes out during the credits when the cinema people decide to turn down the volume.

Here’s something I found on the web

The last 40 minutes test your patience — and intelligence — in a way the rest of this big, dumb, crazy movie never does.

That is very true. So is it worth watching? Despite the lousy script, it is, just to have a good laugh.

Last Friday, I crossed over to the dark side. That is to say, I became *dramatic pause* an Adult. I highly doubt that turning 18 will bring with it some sudden spike in maturity, though, so expect a whole lot of whining and tales of mishap as always.

Anyway, to celebrate the Big Event, Lucid and Fuzzy thought they’d give me a little surprise. Except, of course, they suck ( for one thing, because I have to announce my birthday, myself!). So I knew something was up the eve before the actual surprise itself, because 1) both Lucid and Fuzzy were out at the same time when I’d called to talk to them  2) Lucid giggled like mad and Fuzzy’s mom giggled when she told me the girl wasn’t home.  Somewhere within the first three seconds of this, I smelled a rat. I chuckled to myself (I don’t ‘giggle’) and went to bed. The next morning, my mom wakes me up and spouts some crap about how I should wake up and take a shower because we might go out. I played along-kicked a fuss, said I wanted to sleep in etc (*more chuckling*).

Then  Lucid and Fuzzy showed up, and were all “SURPRISE!!”.And they gave me balloons.

Like I said, they SUCK.

But not as much as you’d think, because they also bought me 17 other things (18 things in all for my 18th, see?) that you can read about after the break below (or you can quit here and consider them complete and utter losers, you choose!).

1. Numero Uno:

A CD of..you guessed it, 18 songs!And all with ‘18′ in the title. Or about turning 18. Or growing up. And then, there’s the “I love you” song from Barney just to cause me pain.

No.2:

OMG, look!

#3.” Mr. Squishums”. I actually joked about buying my brother a bear and calling him Mr.Squishums for his birthday (which, incidentally, is one day before mine). Looks like that idea came back and bit me in the behind.

#4. This one was hilarious. They got me the kind of card that features in my worst nightmares :

” You deserve a special day that sparkles, just like you!”. Very funny, guys. :/

#5. I lost the number tag on this one, so I’m assuming it’s no.5. One of the better ones, too. ( Plus, this gives me the opportunity to post a link to my ‘artblog’.Which, by the way, has been getting zero views almost consistently since it came in to existence *coughhintcough*.)

The tag said something like “Paint something on these, K?”

#6. This one, I am just frankly mortified by. I am giving it away at first opportunity*!

They made me read it all aloud to them. On my BIRTHDAY!  ‘With friends like these, who needs enemies ?(No, really?!!)”

*Well, no. Not really. I think.

#7. Somewhere about here, i was getting complacent. I thought to myself ” Ah, well, at least the worst’s behind me..”. Needless to say, i was proven wrong by :

Friendship quotes, I kid you not. These are so painful, i’m just going to avert my eyes and keep typing. I suggest you do the same.

#8. One of my favourites:

” May you always be richer than this!!”! They gave me 18 INR (about US $0.39, for reference). Lmao!

#9. They also thought it was acceptable to give me a mug with a fairy on it. And ‘SCORPIO’ printed on the bottom as if that makes it all OK.

#10. This is the bag it all came in. the tag reads ” No.10 : Because we’re not as creative as you think we are”. Damned right, you arent!

#11. Fake driver’s license (hilarous!)

#12. Some of the awesomest cake I have ever had. (Also: The box was considerably less empty when I received it).

#13. Chocolate! Because no birthdya of mine would ever be complete without these, right?

Oops, looks like I mixed up tags 12 & 13!

#14. I’ll have to explain this a bit. See, I had these earrings that were really playboy bunnies, except I wore them flipped over so they looked like pliers. This was the subject of much ridicule, for some reason. And then I lost them. Lucid and Fuzzy went looking for replacements, but couldn’t find any so they got me these instead:

#15. Eighteen Balloons :)

Nos. 16 & 17.

They gave me pictures of themselves, the idiots! I can’t post their pictures, so here’s a good likeness, instead:

Lucid(left) and Fuzzy(right). Fuzzy's actually taller, though.

#18. 18 minutes of them talking. And singing drunkenly and things.

So, in conclusion, they..dontalwayssuck. There.

Tagged: 18, 18 gifts, Birthday, birthday gifts, eighteen, gift ideas, Happy Birthday ]]> http://xoxymoronsx.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/surprise-me/feed/ 2 Blackwingedconvolution wakin-dream no.1 no.2 piccy http://xoxymoronsx.wordpress.com/2009/11/01/stealing-articlesthis-time-wo-the-excuse-of-nablopomo/ http://xoxymoronsx.wordpress.com/2009/11/01/stealing-articlesthis-time-wo-the-excuse-of-nablopomo/#comments Sun, 01 Nov 2009 11:08:02 +0000 blackwingedconvolution http://xoxymoronsx.wordpress.com/?p=1173 ]]>



PASSION FOR NUMBERS

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Numbers were never the same: P.K. S. in action.

 

P.K. Srinivasan (November 4, 1924-June 20, 2005) was an extraordinary person in the world of math education. I met him in 1998, while making a set of videotapes on innovative teaching methods in mathematics for the DPEP, the distance education cell o f the Education Department, Government of India. PKS became the chief protagonist of those tapes.

He had retired from the Muthialpet High School, Chennai but continued to work as consultant for schools as diverse as Rishi Valley, the TVS school in Mysore, and Corporation schools all over Chennai. I attended a conference with him at Rishi Valley and heard his exquisite clarity on concepts ranging from fractals to the Fibonacci sequence. But my favourite memory of him is teaching the Narikuravar (gypsy) children at the Corporation School in Saidapet, Chennai.

Unique way

He had a unique way of introducing numbers to Kindergarten children. He felt that because they learnt numbers mainly in sequence — as 1,2,3,4 etc. they never really grasped the concept of discrete quantities. So after first letting them rattle off the sequence, he would intercept by asking, “Now show me 3 in as many ways as you can”. Initially there would be consternation among the kids and he would smile, his eyes gleaming with a fiery excitement. Putting up one gnarled hand he would first show 3 fingers, and they would all chime “3”. Then he’d bend his fingers, put out 2 first, then one more and say “2 +1” and they would repeat, “3”. Next he’d put up four fingers and bend one – “4-1 = 3”. Then “2+2”, “5–2”, and so it would go on.

I have seen the excitement that erupted among those toddlers for whom numbers would never be the same again; nothing like the anonymous sequence that they began with. Soon all kinds of finger play broke out and PKS just stood smiling toothlessly, infinitely careful not to disturb that first moment of epiphany. Quite unobtrusively he’d introduced the concept of quantity, and also laid the foundation for the primary functions of addition and subtraction.

He had a vast collection of books in his house at Nanganallur, and once he showed me a World Encyclopedia on Mathematics to prove that it was not just the zero that India invented, but also the fraction. The world was afraid to break up numbers, he said, for fear the whole edifice would collapse, but Indian mathematicians proved that the concept of the ‘Whole’ was in itself quite relative.

Later, in the same school I was to see a wonderfully concrete demonstration of this abstract concept. Taking a long strip of paper he first folded it into eight equal parts. Then opening it out with the creases clearly visible, he pointed to the first part and asked the children, this time of 3rd standard, to name it. “1 by 8”. Yes, that was fairly simple. And so it would proceed till he reached the last part, to which in predictable sequence, the children would intone “8 by 8” and then like a magician he would close the paper and re-open it, pointing to the same whole again to which they would now exclaim, but with some thoughtfulness, “ 1” . And slowly the concept would sink in, that every number is merely a complete fraction of itself. From here, it was a small step to simultaneous fractions. Concept always came first for him, and only then the function.

However complex the concept he never prodded the students. Just waited patiently till they discovered it for themselves, and it seemed to me that they all did. I could barely shoot from excitement myself. Infinity lay right there within the interstices of the feeble chalk points on that faded blackboard and PKS helped us all to see it.

In the interview I recorded then he spoke passionately about his faith in education. “If a child falls sick, the doctor cannot blame him. It is his duty to heal the sickness. Similarly, the teacher has to find a way to clarify misunderstandings and release mental blocks about maths. He cannot blame the student.”

Committed

He had visited the U.S. on a Fulbright scholarship and Africa on a teaching deputation. He also travelled frequently to Delhi and other parts of India to attend conferences and workshops. But his real commitment lay with the under privileged. His son, Kannan Srinivas, explained recently that, to PKS, this was his personal form of patriotism, this abiding faith in children to “develop themselves under proper exposure”.

Another great area of fascination for PKS was the life of Srinivas Ramanujan. PKS was his first biographer, travelling every weekend after school closed for many years to Kumbakonam, in search of details of Ramanujan’s life. He discovered the house where he was born, the temple he frequented and the letters he wrote to his father from Cambridge. All later biographers from the West were to use these primary sources and acknowledge PKS in their works.

Here again the interesting insight from his son was that this interest in Ramanujan fed into his passion for math education. Rather than simply celebrating a genius, PKS strove to create a climate where more Ramanujans could flower. PKS will remain one of the most inspiring individuals of his generation.

- SOUDHAMINI ( Chennai based documentary film-maker)

</mushytributething>

1. This is one more reason why I shouldn’t read the newspaper ( Otherwise I will take these stories seriously and force them upon readers).

2. Who titles paragraphs  ‘Commited’ and ‘Unique way’? The rest of the article is really well-written and all, but seriously.

3. I had a teacher like that in my last year of school. I think I’ve mentioned him earlier, too. Anyway, he was awesome. Appreciating that even more now that I’ve a set of  utterly disinterested ‘teachers’ in The  Reputed College ( Just how this turned into a rant about college, I’ve no idea!) that I attend.

4. Sorry, I’m a Math-nerd.And a word-nerd.

Update on our lives: Lucid and I are miserable ( Because of college, in case any newer readers haven’t already heard). In addition to this, Lucid is also a Loser because she doesn’t go on the internet ( The  Internet! Where the normal people are!) anymore (also why she hasn’t been posting). Fuzzy’s college sucks less and she has Happy things to say, so we’re not talking to her.

So yep. We had counseling 5 days back. Some ‘expert in counseling’ was asked to speak to us on issues of transition from school to college.
It would’ve been okay if

• The guy was a little more sensible.
• If they weren’t over a month late in doing this.
• He actually considered the problems of the students.

So this guy, comes in tells the faculty to leave (to gain the students’ trust, I’m sure )and then asks the students to speak out. After the students are done, he doesn’t give much of counsel except that we should form groups of 50 to get to know each other, Yeah right, like that’s gonna be done.

Also, here’s the cake(s) I made using 2 5 eggs.

Chocolate Cake

The first 2, I was carrying them when my brother, being his usual annoying self, hit me from the back, giving me a scare and smashing the eggs into each other. The third collapsed into the bowl, eggshells et al. And so, I was left with no.4 and no.5 to make the cakes. Oh well, the did look good and tasted better!

We got this with our newspaper, today:

Made me LOL. Economy pizza- affordable cheesy goodness in this time of recession :D

It’s October and I haven’t blogged in a long while. Blame college for that. Now that they’ve banned cell phones I’ve no idea how to survive in class especially FoC. (for those who are fortunate enough not study under Anna Univ, it is Fundamentals of Computing, where you learn evolution of computers and such drab theory.) And our horrid internals are coming up.

Also, this year’s October brings in Diwali! Mega-w00t! Not because

1.I get to do “Diwali shopping” (In fact I hate that term. I don’t want to shop for Diwali.)

2.I can burst fireworks. (I’m probably partially an environmentalist but it’s more of the fact that I’m bored of them.)

3. I get a bazillion sweet-boxes (Can’t stand the excessive sweetness. Every now and then is fine, but don’t overload me.)

4. People say “Have a safe and happy Diwali” (Ruins their greeting, I say.)

5. It almost always rains during Diwali.

6. You have to get up early, not because you mom tells you to, but because you can’t get another wink of sleep with all the racket from the walas.

So, what’s so exciting about Diwali? HOLIDAYS! 4 whole days of nothing-ness! Yay! And since, it’ll be just after our internals, there’ll be nothing to do. And also, It’s a time for photography. I’d love to click pictures of firework display in the sky.

Besides all the college crappiness, I’ve tried my hand at making an apple pie.  It ended looking like a bowlful of regurgigated stuff.

Also, I’ve been trudging through Nicholas Nickleby because I feel like I’m in a phase for newer books.

On another random note, A.R. Rahman’s starting his “World Tour” in Chennai.

And never-ever order any dessert from a restaurant where they’ve put a nice triangular dessert menu-card without their prices. (My wallet’s considerably lighter now.)

That ends my randomness for now. See y’around folks!