9 July 2003

Which Dreamed It?

Twenty-six hours of travelling, and ultimately I got home safely. I spent a few brief hours with Dave and Becca, then my family headed North to the lake. It's been an adventure. Today I went and visited farm camp, which was eerie. Everything was smaller, except the people, but it all smelled exactly how I remember. Farm smells. And little Andy's now sixteen and tall. It made me feel old.

I also had a DMV adventure today. My license had expired while I was abroad, so I convinced Brian that he wanted to drive me to Snydersville to get my picture taken. We got in the truck and it didn't work. So we left the truck to Leigh, the wild mountain man, and took off in Mom's car. After a couple wrong turns, we made it. I almost left my registration at the DMV.

So now I've been back in the states less than a week, and, predictably, it doesn't feel right yet. Well, I've got to sign off; we're taking the kayak out on the lake. Just as well, because Granddaddy's watching "60 Minutes II" way too loud.

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2 July 2003

A Mad Tea-party

Well, two, in fact. Monday night was the dumpling party with the reading group. Stephen, JP, and I left Uni just after 6:30, and I didn't get home until 1AM. I learned that I really suck at making dumplings. Considering my record with tortillas, that isn't so surprising. There was much nerdy conversation, much discussion of all things gestalt, and much ginger beer. Tuesday night was my farewell party at the Ranch. People from my reading group, my LT classes, and Ernie's friends all showed up. We were a motley crew. Now Mark is not only jealous of me for getting to see Eddie Izzard live, but because I own a Sanskrit grammar. It was a present from Shaun. Turns out Tuesday is trivia night, so a bunch of people formed a team and did rather well. We didn't win, but they named the team "Emily's Farewell," which was cute.

Now I'm finishing all the last-minute things at Uni. It's raining dingos and echidna. Fortunately, I get to go home and change soon. And then I plan a cleaning frenzy, finalising my packing, and dinner with Ernie. I leave in less than 24 hours. My flight itinerary is as follows:

8:45PM EST Depart Sydney

10:00AM EST Arrive LA

1:30PM EST Depart LA

6:42PM EST Arrive Philly

This is the last entry before I leave. Wish me luck!

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30 June 2003

Shaking

Last you heard from me, it was Thursday and I was procrastinating. Well, since then, I've done quite a lot. I finished the stupid Ling paper and turned it in, took my 348 exam and fretteted about the difference between 'multivariate' and 'multinomal,' had dinner with Ernie's parents and watched "The Thirteenth Floor," and had a series of Adventures. Saturday morning we left Epping, headed south. After a bit of Ella, Averil, and traffic, we stopped in Wollongong for lunch. There was an outdoor mall with street cafes, live music, and fountains. We had fish & chips and avoided seagulls. The weather was perfect: 18C and sunny. From there we continued south to Kiama, where I attemped to befriend a colony of pelicans. Goodness, those are gigantic birds. The local tourist attraction was the blowhole, which spurted water x meters into the air at each incoming wave. The tide was out and the weather calm, so it wasn't very spectacular. So we navigated over to the Little Blowhole, which was less tourist-y and much more dramatic. Photos to follow. Then there was the scenic drive still south to Jervis Bay, where we checked in, wandered about, confirmed our tickets, and had dinner. "Tickets for what?" you may ask. Well, my friend, the answer is 'Whale Watching.' So at 8:50 Sunday morning, Fruity Bites in hand, we boarded a boat bound for sea. The views were spectacular. The waves were rolling (unda, undae). We spotted two humpbacks who indulged us by flipping their tails out of the water. Photos to follow. I lasted much longer than I had expected, curling up inside on the lower deck after an hour and a half of constant rocking. I did see the whales, though. And an albatross. The gentle rocking motion got to Ernie, too. He fell asleep. Back on dry land, we walked off the remainder of seasickness and collected shells on the beach. For Kevin's satisfaction, we took a picture. Then it was lunch and back on the road, now north. We took a winding detour to Kangaroo Valley, first stopping at Mt. Cambewarra for the fantastic panorama. The valley itself was overwhelmingly picturesque, especially in the late afternoon sunlight. We found a wood shop, where Ernie mooned over some felt-lined boxes, and a nursery, where I finally found bottlebrush seeds for Leigh. The road out of the valley was just as steep and serpentine as the one in, but we survived. Narrowly, at times, but nevertheless intact. We stopped in Berry to feed the car and in Wollongong to feed ourselves. On the last leg of the journey, I kept Ernie alert by making him choose among Buffy, Faith, and Seven of Nine. He packed a mean punch himself, with Turing, DaVinci, and Newton. It was after eight by the time we got back to Epping, and I sent Ernie home to sleep. Two days of Adventures can take a lot out of you.

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26 June 2003

Wool and Water

I'm in such a good mood right now, despite the weather. I just got the news that I not only get to see Dave when I get back, but I get to bring him home with me. Talk about motivation. So, in honour of my good mood, I'm going to procrastinate a little and post the quotes I found while studying last night:

"Alcohol and water don't mix." - from a brochure on beach safety

"Are you at Pennsylvania Uni?" - the tall Stephen, meaning UPenn

"I don't use ice cream as a way to see people." - Diego, 348 Prof

"You cannot eat boxes. Well, maybe it's a small box and you're very hungry." - Diego

"It's much of a muchness." - Pam

"It's a traditional Chinese holiday when we make triangles out of sticky rice because a very famous poetry writer jumped to the river to suicide and we want to memorise him." - Cynthia (Ernie could only say that she's right.)

"Chewbacca was never computer generated! He was a guy in a suit!" - overheard in the computing lab

"I don't know if anyone here has worked in a factory. I have. I made spear guns. I own eight spear guns. I'm not a psycho, though." - the tall Stephen

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25 June 2003

The Queen's Croquet Ground

Today is the day of finishing all my work. Ernie's going to State of Origin, which is a very important rugby game, so I've got tonight to go over tutorial questions for 348. My goal is to finish my Ling paper by 5, catch the bus home, eat leftovers, and avoid watching tv. We'll see. It's officially the next-to-last minute, so it's time to get moving. I've come up with a brilliant strategy for the Ling paper. Having already compiled a 10,000-word corpus, annotated it, and done about a million statistical analyses, I still have a 2000-word paper to write about it. So I'm going to describe exactly what I did, why I did it, and the practical applications thereof, and with however many words I have left, I'll answer Pam's stupid questions about "which collocations typify the genre." And then I'll explain that the size of the corpus makes generalisaitions like this impossible to justify. So there. I'm up to 500 words. Begrudingly, the rest will get done. Eight days.

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24 June 2004

Advice from a Caterpillar

I just checked the COMP348 website, and I got a ten on my last project! That brings my grade up to 36.5/40, which means I can miss 11.5 points on the exam and still get an HD. Now, this sort of takes away some of the studying incentive, but I think I may do it, anyway. At least, provided that I can finish this stupid worthless Ling project.

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24 June 2004

The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill

Ah, how I love details. I'm starting in on the larger ones, now that the contdown's reached nine days. This morning I paid the phone bill and cancelled my library card. I checked with the bank about closing my account and they said I could put it off until after my holiday. That made me happy. Tomorrow we're transferring the phone account into Cynthia's name. Can anyone think of anything I've missed? The hard part will be packing. I've acquired several things during my stay, but I've also used up a lot of the products I brought. Like soap. I've also been making a conscious effort to buy small presents. I feel bad for Ruth. She's got to stick around in that apartment with Gina for another month.

Right now I'm listening to the new Duke compilation I just got at the mall for $2.99. I got a Louis one, too, but I'm saving that for later.

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23 June 2003

Alice's Evidence

Well, Judgement Day has come and gone. My presentation went well, with only a minor hitch on the demo. Everyone said they enjoyed it, and Steve and Robert didn't pick on me too much. So now it's done. I want to go home now. But I've still got things to do until Friday. After that, it's smooth sailing.

The LTG had lunch at the Staff Club today, which reminded me way too much of the dining room at Linden Hall. Well, I do suppose they're old, so they can have an old people restaurant. In any case, nerdy conversation ensued. Now it's 3pm and I'm ready to drop. Candy corn headache.

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22 June 2003

It's My Own Invention

Friday afternoon I was exhausted from working on my presentation all day. Mark did not show up when I expected him, and by 4:15 I wanted to go home, but I was stuck with his laptop. So I left it with Darren and went grocery shopping. And who do I see in Wooly's but Ruth, who offered me a ride home. So we went home, first stopping at her boss's house to check the mail. I finally get home at nearly 5:30 and there are exactly nine people in my kitchen. There is a giant green stuffed dinosaur on the couch, and far too many people speaking far too loudly in my living room. Ruth and I just look at each other, exhausted and bewildered. Apparantly, Gina decided to have a party and not tell us. (Later we found out Cynthia wasn't told, either.) So I scrapped the dinner-cooking plan and let Ernie take me out. We had dinner at a place with a sign that read "BYO Italian Restaurant" and watched movies. Well, movie. At the video store Ernie picked up Rocky Horror and I picked up Cube. When we got home, it turned out that we had gotten only disc 2 of Rocky Horror. Just another argument in favour of VHS. But Cube was 'insideously disturbing' like the box claimed. So we watched Dave afterwards to clear our minds. Well, my mind. I kept expecting Kevin Kline to eat live fish. I was disappointed. But the evening turned out far better than it could have.

Saturday Ernie and I bummed around Lane Cove National Park on the bush trails. I found a fossilised kangaroo egg. We watched soccer. Then we planned our whale watching trip for next weekend. I'm looking forward to it. Meanwhile, I'm working dilligently on my presentation for tomorrow, making up ways that it could go horribly wrong. At least I'm not having nightmares. I'll let you know how it turns out.

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20 June 2003

The Mock-turtle's Story

This morning I did not have a 9AM lecture. So I celebrated by not coming into Uni until 9:30. Now it's 11 and I've already finished my documentation, outlined my presentation, edited Mark's slides, and listened to Duke & Louis twice through. It's amazing what you can do if you just put your mind to it.

Yesterday I managed to write 1500 words of documentation and teach myself Latex. We looked at the aboriginal language Walpari in my reading group and I got home just in time for Will & Grace. My back is killing me. My hands hurt, too. I saw two of Ernie's friends in the course of the day, and they both chastised me for leaving. But I think after four months of Adventures Down Under, I deserve a vacation. Jean-Philippe commented last night that I may have been in Australia, but I didn't visit Australia. And he's right. This has been school for me. But I did fit in a few cultural activities on weekends. There was the Easter Show, and the Powerhouse Museum, then the Botanic Gardens, the Opera House, the Rocks, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Aquarium, the Koala Park, the symphony, and the zoo, not to mention my social activities in the city and on the Central Coast, and the week I spent in the Blue Mountains. In all, I think I did a fair bit of visiting. Grandma would be proud. Now just wait until she hears what I want to do after graduation...

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19 June 2003

Who Stole the Tarts?

In exactly two weeks I will be on a plane home. That doesn't leave much time to finish the tonnes of work I have left. Luckily, yesterday was the Honours Thesis deadling, so I've got the lab virtually to myself. I'm camped out with two Ella CDs, the last of a bag of cookies, and innumerable emacs windows. The task at hand is to write documentation for my simulation. I'm highly motivated to do this because yesterday I achieved the curve I've been trying for all semester. I didn't think I'd actually be able to do it, but it seems I have. (See Fig. 1) The reading group tonight has abandoned HPSG in favour of Walpari, which is cool. Next week we're doing Sanskrit!

My latest ambition is to go to Belgium the summer after graduation. More on this later.

The weather has been beautiful lately. The sky is blue; the grass is green; the flowers are blooming; the ibises are stalking. They call this winter. Hah!

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16 June 2003

A Caucus-race and a Long Tale

Let me start by saying that I hate my roommates. They are the reason I haven't used the phone in three weeks, even though I pay a quarter of the Telstra bill. They are the reason my socks are always wet. They are the reason I'm constantly frustrated by the state of the kitchen. They are the reason I am woken up early on weekend mornings. But the burden of guilt is not distributed evenly among the three. In fact, Ruth is perfectly nice. I even regret having to include her in 'my roommates.' Cynthia is harmless, if naive. It's really Gina I have the issue with. And to top it all off, everything she owns is pink. Now, I'm exaggerating because I'm angry; it's really not that bad. But I think maybe certain world powers might possibly want to reconsider breeding a race of only-children.

Now that's off my chest, I can tell you about the very interesting adventures in the life of Emily. Well, yesterday I started compiling a corpus of English Language Folktales (ELF -- even linguists have some sense of humour.) Today I tagged and analysed it, and tomorrow I'm running it by the lecturer so she doesn't spring anything on me when I turn it in. This morning I attended Stephen-with-the-anime-hair's LTG presentation on automatic headline generation. I stayed awake easily through his part, but as soon as Steve and MarkII started quibbling about statistics, I nodded off. Over lunch I read an Asimov story about a Neanderthal boy brought into the future for experimentation. It was about love and science. Most of Asimov's stories are on that topic; an mostly on the impossibility of their peaceful coexistance. Except the one about the blue bottle. That was about people who think too much. I am putting a 24-hour moratorium on candy corn consumption.

I'm craving stuffing. It's funny how much my body's been messed up by the climate reversal. My appetite, having been sated with Halloween candy, now thinks it's Thanksgiving. It think I may hit the Centre on my way home and see what I can find. I doubt Australia's a prime market for Stove Top.

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15 June 2003

Looking-glass Insects

In a week I have to give my presentation to the LTG. This is bad because my bug currently hate me. They used to be doing just fine, but now they're refusing alternately to increase homophony or decrease harmony. I've tried feeding them different lexicons, but they're just not satisfied. In any case, it's June, which means winter (ha!), which means I'm coming home soon. Just one project, one presentation, and one exam to go.

Yesterday Ernie and I went to the zoo. It was like a children's book on public transport. In the course of one day, I was on four trains, two ferries, a bus, and a sky-cabin thing. (One if by land, two if by sea, three if by pogo stick...) I saw a very cool Fishing Cat that I knew wanted me to rescue it and take it home with me. There were also some very energetic Red Pandas, a rather lame bird show, and a seal doing tricks. The coolest thing, though, was the chimp fight. A mother chimp with a baby clinging to her underside was being chased around the faux-jungle by some annoying brute. He finally caught up and she smacked him so hard he shrieked. He so deserved it.

Taronga Zoo is built on the side of a hill, just a cliff face away from the beach. As a consequence, the views of the harbour are breathtaking. In one panorama you can see the city skyline, the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, and all the sailboats on the water. Seeing sailboats made me feel oddly warm and comfortable. Any guesses about that one? I promise pictures.

For now it's back to Epping. I'm feeling productive because I successfully compiled and annotated a 10,000-word corpus of English Language Folktales (ELF- hehe) and that's half my Ling final done. I'll walk to the bus stop in this fall-like winter weather, eating candy corn that Ernie secretly imported and deciding on a costume. I'm leaning toward Edna St. Vincent Millay.

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8 June 2003

A Mad Tea-party

The weekend has certainly been eventful. Friday night we went out to dinner for Ernie's birthday. I tried Peking Duck. Hanna brought the camera again. Saturday was as mad as anyone could imagine. We had a nerd party at Ernie's during the day. Much food was eaten; much jazz was enjoyed; much geek talk was exchanged. And most importantly, there was much describing of mental processes in computational terms. We got presents. The one I absolutely have to brag about here is 'We Free Men,' Terry Pratchett's latest novel, in hardback. I'm cooler than Dave is.

Then it got dark and we headed off to the city for the Jazz Festival in Darling Harbour. After quibbling about transportation for a while, then losing people on the way to Gordon, we finally got to the Anzac Bridge, where Ben prompty ran into a plate glass wall at full speed. It was very funny until we discovered he was bleeding from the head. So we applied pressure and got ice from the nearest bar. When we decided it wasn't fatal, it was very funny again. Now there's a scar story to tell the grandkids.

Having realised we arrived too late to catch the last act, we headed back uptown to a jazz club called 'Soup Plus.' Here we met three more people, our party now numbering thirteen. The band was Harlem Swing, whose CD I now have, if anyone is interested. They played virtually my entire Duke & Louis album, so I could sing along. The place was packed, though, so there was no chance of dancing. Ernie valiantly prevented the bartender from puting vodka in my Shirley Temple (thank you, Estee, for warning me) and I spent most of the night watching Ben for signs of concussion. We stayed past the last set, then had more of my famous Adventures with Public Transport. I got home far too late to consider looking at the clock. This morning I got up at 11:00. You can guess where I am now.

Just one more week of classes, and less than a month until I come home. I have entirely too much work to do, as always, but now I also have reading material. It's going to be tough.

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5 June 2003

Queen Alice

Despite being quadrillions of miles from home, I ended up having a wonderful 20th birthday. Ernie brought me roses. And chocolate tools (I'll get you, Honeybear). And real tools. We fed the ducks. Well, I fed the ducks and Ernie harboured his fear of birds. I got about a million birthday emails from friends and family. We had dinner at a cute little Italian place in Epping. Austin Powers was on channel 9. And of course I worked entirely too hard.

And now I'm back in the Honours lab, but very happy for two reasons: 1) My bugs are working; 2) I borrowed Mark's Hedwig CD. I'm now listening to 'Nailed.' 'Sugar Daddy' is next. It's one of my favourites.

At 1:00 there's a phonology lecture. I'm looking forward to it. Two more hours of determining the relationship between harmony and homophony, then I get to take a break and learn about phoneme-based pronunciation models. My interests are so varied.

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4 June 2003

Queen Alice

This morning I woke up at 7 as always, stepped in a puddle in the bathroom, and washed dishes. Just as I was finishing, I heard Ruth say, "Emily, come see this." So I went to the living room and there was fire. At least, this is what I thought in my groggy morning state. When my brain focused, it turned out that the flames originated from candles. And candles mean cake. With blue sprinkles. My flatmates had conspired to feed me cake for breakfast; I'm not one to complain. There were presents, too: a cat bookmark and a book called "Emergence" about ants and neural networks. Ruth knows me all too well. So it's 9am and I've already had a birthday party. Unfortunately, I'm coming down from the sugar high, but the weather is beautiful and I got lots of sweet emails from friends. Thank you all for those.

Tonight Ernie's taking me out to dinner. I'll have more to write soon.

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1 June 2003

It's My Own Invention

Sorry I haven't written in so long. There's not much to tell. I've been working all week on my various projects. Dave and I struck up a game of imaginary Scrabble, which he is currently winning. I got a care package from home that had Whoppers, Fruit Roll-ups, and a Raffi CD in it. Friday I saw a movie that had both Eddie Izzard and Cary Elwes in it. Yesterday I went to the Koala park and hugged a koala (more on that later). Then up to the Central Coast for a nerd party. Tonight I'm going out to dinner with Ernie's family for our birthdays. Tomorrow Ernie seems to think he'll enjoy going shopping. Tuesday we're going to an Averil Lavigne concert in the city. Well, maybe I do have some things to tell. But I have far too much work to do for tomorrow's research meeting for me to go into anymore detail. I have but one thing to say:

ring ring ring ring ring ring ring

Banana Phone.