Especially six hour long ones! At least we get an hour lunch break. -_- The stranger thing is that there’s going to be this whole month and a half where we don’t have classes at all… we just meet up... (07:33 PM, 09/06/08)

Requires Java: BadmintonTrainerV2 For the uninitiated, the idea was to take one of our Top 10 modifications and design a demo prototype in Processing or Max. The one I chose was, if it weren’t already obvious, a badminton racquet that... (03:21 PM, 10/16/07)

Rewrite Rule.java: the only class I didn’t touch in my extensive code overhaul a couple months back. This is where all the regex stuff happens, so it’s essential that I get this right, finally. (or that quad helps me... (11:37 PM, 09/14/07)

So like, on Friday at the orientation… when we sat down to lunch, other IMD faculty started streaming in to chat with us, one of which is a lecturer for my Monday class. He was trying to learn our names,... (07:26 PM, 08/26/07)

My interview with Jason Dzsomething went well, actually, but I’m not sure I should take the job. He gave me this “sales pitch” at the beginning and it sounded pretty nice, but maybe too intensive to take on with the... (09:01 PM, 08/23/07)

So since I got my evals in, my attention has been scattered here and there. Tomorrow I’ll be going up to campus to take my first REAL look around, maybe find the buildings my classes are in, and meet the... (11:53 PM, 08/16/07)

So like, this design isn’t working. ::lol:: I mean, I still like the overall appearance, but changing stuff is still too much work… and I keep pushing myself to do it too often. Not to mention, I’m running out of... (12:22 PM, 07/01/07)

Kass: Dex, define img: HTML tag that creates an image : HTML, tag DEX: Data was stored. Kass: Dex, attributes list for img: alt, description DEX: Data was stored. Kass: Dex, what is img? DEX: IMG: HTML tag that creates... (01:19 AM, 06/18/07)

The project is built upon two basic assumptions: (1) that humans are far more intelligent interpreters of information than machines are and (2) that computers are far more efficient organizers of that information than humans can ever hope to be.... (03:59 PM, 03/16/07)

Today has just been a terrible trial. I’ll spare you the gruesome details and just note a couple things. UPS doesn’t appear to have an early morning delivery time around here. Extremely aggravating. But the cards look nice. Except for…... (08:28 PM, 03/15/07)

Work with Processing is coming, but it’s almost unbearably slow. If you’re not into reading the technobabble, just know that Processing is basically a bunch of code that I can use to do visual stuff… theoretically, it’s a lot of... (02:37 PM, 03/12/07)

… at VRMC. I’ll totally append this entry later with a fat review and talk about all the nitty gritty details that I never did before, cause I’m not working for them anymore and it wouldn’t matter. XP [edit] Okay,... (09:33 AM, 03/08/07)

Well, whaddu you know… haven’t really had one of these in a long time, have I? Here’s a list of the stuff that I REALLY NEED to get done this week… Work on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. At some point... (08:36 AM, 03/05/07)

i. It occurred to me earlier today, in chamber choir, why it was that we didn’t do other kinds of music other than people-who-have-died-already music. In SFGC, we were only ever able to sing music that had previously been cleared... (04:29 PM, 02/16/07)

We had a Wii in at lunch today. Someone else brought it and they started it up while the rest of us were out at Rubios and we returned to the sight of Micah pounding the digital crap out of... (02:45 PM, 01/29/07)

Sometimes my weblogging suffers from having nothing to say. And sometimes, it’s the opposite. Though not merely that I have too much to say, but just that I don’t know which of the too muches TO say, which results in... (07:53 PM, 01/25/07)

Almost as hard as writing the program itself. Blah. More complete javadoc documentation General Readme (2:30 pm) Q&A design decisions and possibilities (4:19 pm) A not-workflow diagram of how the thing is put together programmatically (not gonna do this) Gather... (12:58 PM, 01/21/07)

So for the unintiated, yesterday’s entry about Damien was not completely random… that was my second “creative writing” bit that I’ll be submitting to USC. :P When I read the prompts, the Damien situation had been one of the first... (07:36 PM, 01/18/07)

So I come back from the bathroom and pause by the employee mailboxes, looking for a new timesheet to record my hours on. I checked the usual spot where they’re piled up and didn’t see any… and as I was... (03:31 PM, 01/15/07)

Well, here I am… updating my weblog at work, which is something I swore I’d try to avoid at all costs. -_- Hah… what human willpower? (though I was apparently already logged in… so I must’ve already done it once... (11:53 AM, 01/11/07)

Should I make a separate category for these? -_- Aida / voices Catching up to where I used to be on Aida! Quad is my hero for all the regex help he’s been giving me. Well. All the regex work... (04:05 PM, 01/07/07)

voices / Aida! start a new Eclipse project and move good code over while rewriting and reorganizing the bad code As I watch Aida in the pchat, I really find her eavesdropping abilities to be really quite entertaining when... (11:33 PM, 12/19/06)

The passion that introduced me to interdisciplinary art and computing to begin with was gaming. From a very early age, I recognized video games to be an extremely powerful new medium for storytelling and interaction and I decided at some... (11:23 PM, 12/11/06)

Temporary copy of what I’ve completed so far: http://kass.metaminstrel.net:8080/portfolio/. What I could really use is someone to check over the site using PC IE6. I personally have upgraded my IE up to 7, so I have no idea how the... (03:14 AM, 12/07/06)

Items in bold are “recommended” projects… the one I want to draw focus to. The others can just be links to the pages I’ve already made for them / that already exist… currently only picked four. I might want another... (01:48 AM, 12/03/06)

Graduate Applications Write a few other miscellaneous writing pieces… nothing as formal as the Statement of Purpose, so they should all be relatively easier. famous last words… Finish filling out online applications; once SoP is approved and cleaned to the... (10:26 AM, 12/02/06)

(12:13 PM, 11/30/06)

Something’s wrong with mine… I don’t know if it’s because I was sick-ish so recently or if I’ve just been practicing really bad vocal habits for the past several weeks or what it is… but my voice has just been... (05:23 PM, 11/28/06)

Check out this week. I’m going to go mildly insane, I’m certain. Monday VRMC work, full day Tuesday VRMC work, half day Chamber concert dress rehearsal at 3:30 PM Concert call at 7:30 PM Wednesday Last class for 160A. Final... (07:05 PM, 11/26/06)

Even with a relaxed schedule like mine… the end of the quarter is always jam-packed. This upcoming week is pretty clear, of course, due to Thanksgiving weekend… but, shock-and-awe, my parents are actually going to drive down (with the dog)... (12:41 PM, 11/19/06)

voices is coming along nicely. Finally got it around a turning point, I think, so that the case-sensitive work can begin. I just have to implement something to remove things from the database manually, but after that, should be a... (01:52 PM, 11/08/06)

All I did was fill out forms (ew adulthood) and … well, I had to take a drug test. ::LOL:: And then I just watched a bunch of tutorial videos for the game engine that they’ve been using, called Quest3d.... (05:55 PM, 11/06/06)

So about this internship. :P Here’s the company’s website: Virtual Reality Medical Center. VRMC currently uses virtual reality exposure therapy (3-dimensional computer simulation) in combination with physiological monitoring and feedback to treat panic and anxiety disorders. These conditions include specific... (07:02 PM, 11/05/06)

The Targets UC Irvine / Art Computer Engineering Deadline: January 15th Requires (1) Statement of Purpose University of Southern California (USC) / Interactive Media Deadline: January 31st Requres (1) Statement of Purpose for the School of Cinema-Television Requires (2) Writing... (02:58 PM, 10/29/06)

So we’re singing Handel’s Messiah in chamber choir. It’s the one with the really famous hallelujah chorus at the end. And I have to say… singing it is probably one of the most bizarre sensations that I’ve ever experienced. Namely... (05:27 PM, 10/25/06)

[written at 10:16 PM yesterday] Leaving for San Diego tomorrow morning, early as usual. My dad and I will be flying down and spending most of the day moving my stuff out of storage and into the apartment I’ll be... (12:00 AM, 09/22/06)

Finally started working on Voices again today, after that debacle of horrendous errors that I couldn’t quite figure out. Turned out to be relatively stupid, so now I’m making progress. Just gotta get her inserting into the database live and... (11:25 PM, 09/11/06)

Done finally. :) Super late, but oh well. >_<; They were mostly pretty fun to write, since we had a lot of good kids… and it’s nice to give out good grades/evals. :D One thing I found myself trying to... (11:58 PM, 07/31/06)

An addendum to my last-day not-really-sap post. Should have covered character entities to some degree Find out how to avoid this stupid BOM crud and talk about character encoding a little (more) Usability; more indepth, instead of just going over... (06:53 PM, 07/31/06)

The Routine: Open individual website project and review thoroughly Assign individual project grade Open class log and glance over journals and assignments Search through Gmail (TIC category) and review TA evaluations Check midterm evaluation and see if progress has been... (04:47 AM, 07/31/06)

o/’ Tabi wa michizure yo wa nasake Taiyou no shita de smilin’ everyday Nito ni yasashiku jibun ni mo yasashiku… o/’ It might be interesting to observe that I haven’t done a “sappy last post” since the first year I... (08:12 PM, 07/29/06)

… is the word of the day. Insufficient sleep: three hours is only enough to make me feel cranky. But this is not unusual. Insufficient attention to surroundings: made me miss my BART stop, for the first time in practically... (10:27 AM, 07/17/06)

Since we rushed the kids like crazy through the first week, we’ll be taking a breather in the next week. :P Dropping down to one technical lecture maximum per day, whereas before we were cramming two, sometimes three. Of course,... (09:22 PM, 06/25/06)

… for the morning TIC class. Because Trev and I make all our mistakes in lectures there… and then we fix them for the afternoon class. ::lolol:: Oh well. :P... (02:27 PM, 06/21/06)

ohgodi’msotiredandexhausted More evidence that I’m just plain out of shape, when basically just standing all day was enough to tire me out. Jeez. Oh well. I’ll get better. :| Anyway. First day went well. Had a frickton of technical problems... (07:41 PM, 06/19/06)

Brace yourselves. Why is it that all the real work seems to start after classes are over, eh? TOMORROW: pick up forms from office. bleh. Get ready to go home make a list of what needs to be packed away... (05:57 PM, 06/14/06)

::stretches tired muscles:: The Internet Classroom I’m extremely fond of that design. Which is good, because I’ll be stuck staring at it all summer. ;_; Think it looks okay? Want to know how I made it? I hijacked Alex’s Viridian... (04:53 AM, 06/10/06)

intro started out as a project whose goal was very blurry and unfocused. I had a phrase, “Artificial Intelligence”, and I just wanted to carry it out, without really knowing what I was going to do with it. latched... (11:34 AM, 06/07/06)

Coming down to the wire and as ever, there’s too much to do and too little time to do it in. Insert scathing comment about my inability to prevent procrastination. ::pauses:: Didn’t I say something clever once about procrastination and... (07:53 PM, 06/05/06)

Concert went well. There were, unfortunately, a frustrating number of mistakes… more than I could count. But the good (bad?) thing about new music is that… the audience is often likely to write off a genuine mistake as something that... (10:09 PM, 06/01/06)

Chamber concert is today. I should be sleeping. :P But… after my shower, I decided to take care of all those little tasks that are not really that fun, but necessary and grown-upish. Signing employment forms and checks and sealing... (04:19 AM, 06/01/06)

x_x; Kurosh, the guy who hired me for the Sims 2 machinima deal, drove all the way from L.A. to work with me on the project today, since it’s getting close to the project deadline and he wanted to just... (07:49 PM, 05/25/06)

Much… much… dumber. ;_; On a related note, I HATE Java Swing. -_-... (05:43 AM, 05/24/06)

Well, I didn’t get my “simple program” working at the level I wanted it to be… but I guess I had enough working things and proof that I was thinking about where I was going that Brett gave me 20/20... (12:59 PM, 05/17/06)

OH MY GOD. C:\Documents and Settings\Kass\workspace\vis141b>java voices/DataAccess check 1 check 2 check 3 check 4 Successfully connected to MySQL server: com.mysql.jdbc.Connection@1ffbd68 com.mysql.jdbc.ResultSet@1c29ab2 C:\Documents and Settings\Kass\workspace\vis141b> :P (what the hell is a NESTED EXCEPTION anyway? ;_; )... (05:30 PM, 05/16/06)

I am really stunned at how much stuff I have on my plate… and why it doesn’t seem like that much until I actually try to DO something. Clearly skills as a procrastinator are still extremely formidable and nearly insurmountable.... (04:16 PM, 05/16/06)

try { // Load the JDBC driver System.out.println("check 1"); Class.forName("com.mysql.jdbc.Driver"); System.out.println("check 2"); // Create a connection to the database String url = "jdbc:mysql://" + serverURL + "/" + DATABASENAME; // a JDBC url System.out.println("check 3"); conn = DriverManager.getConnection(url, username,... (03:44 AM, 05/16/06)

Complete with mp3s that I attained by stealing the .ra files from DAR (Digital Audio Reserves) on UCSD and re-recording them with Cool Edit Pro. :x They’re just there for your edification, if you were curious. I can’t imagine you... (02:09 PM, 05/11/06)

Well? Do you? :P I tried, anyway. >_>;... (11:21 PM, 05/06/06)

@_@ Just spent a couple hours going over GRE practice stuff… I’m not feeling prepared at all, but it seems like the material for the GREs really isn’t all that advanced. Like SATs, the math is relatively elementary (no calculus!... (12:41 AM, 05/04/06)

So… I unexpectedly managed to land myself a short job for the month of May. A paid internship, really. Ready to hear the job description? Job Title: Machinima-maker (Machinimatographer) Description of work: Use the Sims2 game, with all available expansion... (04:03 AM, 05/02/06)

:\ Complete WoWPS This includes remapping the coordinates so that the majority of Azerothian landmasses don’t land in Earthen oceans. It’s so boring that way. Complete horde flight paths (“alliance bias!” ^_^;) Document the entire thing properly and link via... (02:43 AM, 04/26/06)

All right, so maybe my verdict yesterday was a little on the harsh side. 3D Studio Max is a great deal more complicated than Bryce is/was, so I was struggling to figure out what things did what when, I suppose,... (05:24 PM, 04/18/06)

… zoh my god. So I trekked up to campus in the light rain to go to chamber singers rehearsal today. Lisa said we’d be starting to learn Knee Play 3, so I was looking forward to trying something different,... (06:08 PM, 04/14/06)

Guess what we’re going to be using in ICAM 120 for most of our work? The Neverwinter Nights game engine. XD XD... (10:18 PM, 04/11/06)

Continuation of VIS 141a. This section will focus the development of larger scale artworks/performances that are mediated via student developed software packages. Students will develop and document java packages containing reusable objects that could support a variety of projects... (01:34 PM, 04/09/06)

Having two and a half classes is so beautiful. ;_; I have like, four weeks this quarter in which I’ll have FIVE day weekends, because chamber singers has a few Friday rehesarsals cancelled. XD Speaking of chamber singers, this quarter... (04:50 PM, 04/06/06)