The Big 25-00.

Oh, hi there.  You must be enjoying summer break, huh?  That’s nice.

Well, here at the good ol’ U-of-C, we like our grocery stores closed, our apartment management monopolized, and our school years loooooooong.

Yes, I’m still in school.  Yes, I only have a few more classes.  Yes, I still have finals.  Yes, I have summer math classes.  Yes, I want to go home.

It isn’t that I wouldn’t want to take math classes all year round — I would, I really would!  But given the choice between math classes and sleeping late — I think sleeping late wins every time.

Except in the case of algebra.  Duh.
Oh, speaking of algebra, since I’ve come to the university, I’ve gone through several life-changing events.  Chronologically,

1) Learning proofs in Inquiry Calculus.

2) Reading Durkheim.

(A close second was realizing that “you’re gay if you don’t agree” was an actual legit argument first formalized by Fanon in BSWM.)

3)  Getting an apartment.

4)  Realizing that sexuality is but a *part* of what defines a person.

5)  Making sloppy joes.

6)  Learning that Group Theory is a special case of Topology.

And recently,

7)  Finally learning Galois Theory.

If you remember, and you probably don’t, Galois Theory was basically “the” theory that I wanted to get at from my first year here on.  Just as Anti-Oedipus was my “reach” philosophy book, Galois theory was my “reach” math-thing.

Specifically, I think, I wanted to learn Galois Theory for it’s application in showing the insolvability of the general quintic polynomial by radicals.  So, like, there’s no “quadratic formula” for things that look like

and, you know, that’s a nontrivial result.  It was something that I got a book about in highschool for and sort of went in-and-out trying to understand it.  But, you know, it’s hard for me to understand things by myself, and none of my teachers were too keen on explaining it to me — and now I see why: it would have taken an enormous amount of time to do it right.

On Wednesday — this Wednesday — we’re doing the insolvability of the quintic by radicals in Algebra.

I bet you twenty bucks I miss the class.

Ugh.

End of School Blues [, reds, and greens.]

Next week is 8th week.  The week after is 9th week.  The week after is 10th week.  But Thurs + Fri of 10th week is reading period, and 11th week is finals.  What does this mean for me?

• I have 8 algebra MWF classes left.
• I have 5 algebraic topology and complex TTH classes left.

This sort of worries me.

For one thing, I feel that we didn’t really do anything in algebra.  I mean, compared to the rest of the year.  So maybe when the final comes around, I’ll get my ass kicked.

For another thing, I love algebraic topology, but the idea of having a final in it scares the daylights out of me.  Literally.

For the second-to-last thing, I hate complex and I don’t want to do it anymore.

But the last thing is the most worrying of all!  — and here it is:

After next year, I have to get my shit together.

Impossible.

I’ll be the first to admit.

I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t originally the biggest fan of Tina Fey.  She wasn’t really funny in SNL, and paired with Jimmy Fallon she was just awful.  But, really, who could be good pared with Jimmy Fallon?  So, I was skeptical when I first began watching 30Rock.

But, let me say right now: I’m a fan.

I really like 30Rock.  I don’t know what it is.  And Tina Fey, I think, is pretty funny in it.  I mean, it’s no Office or House or even Scrubs [which I admire for it's bitter-sweet comedy style], but I will watch it if it’s on.

Long story short, I’m a fan now.  Plus, she’s on Conan O’brien, and she’s pretty hott, too.  No lie.

Now, onto snippets of actual news: It’s going to be 7th week this week.  I have lots and lots of homework to do.  I cannot wait to be able to rest from the constant onslaught of Complex and Algebraic topology homework.  Really, it’s horrible.  But I think I have something like two more assignments left [one due 8th week, one due 9th week...] and that’s it.  So, 6 problem sets.  Plus the two I have to do for algebraic topology for this week.  Plus the complex homework for this week.  But other than that?  I’m feelin’ pretty good about all this.

highest form of humor.

I like my algebra problem sets like I like my pursuits.

Trivial.

spring sup.

It’s getting warmer again.  It was cold, and wet, and gross — but now it’s getting warmer again.  I spent this entire weekend doing Complex analysis and Algebra so that I could start working on my Algebraic Topology homework.  Unfortunately, I spent way too much time on Algebra + Complex, and now I’m tired and I don’t want to do algebraic topology at all.  Lame.

Actually, the homework that’s due this week looks really fun.  I hate covering spaces.   I wish we had some kind of a homework-pass deal or something.  But we don’t.

I need to find an apartment now.