Saturday, March 22, 2008

Pillow Fight!

Going home for spring break means I miss all the fun stuff.

http://picasaweb.google.com/amalwan/PillowFight

Pictures courtesy of Allison '12.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Gary Gygax Memorial Hack

Possibly my favorite hack yet from this semester.

d20 on Killian Court

Of course, xkcd is always relevant.

This'll be appearing on the blogs shortly, so keep an eye out for that. (Snively's called it, but I just took a few photos of my own for the hack - perhaps he'll be willing to include them in his entry? We'll see.)

Saturday, March 15, 2008

On dreams

In my application to be an MIT blogger, which feels like an age ago now, part of one of my essays read:

"The blogs truly mean something to me. They’re wrapped up part and parcel with why I fell in love with MIT in the first place. After I visited MIT in person for the first time, just over a year ago, the blogs became my lifeline back to Boston. Reading the blogs enabled me to feel like I was still connected to campus—like I was already a part of MIT.

I know that there are a lot of other students like me out there, kids who have only recently heard of MIT but are hungry to know more. I remember what it’s like to be in that position; I remember what it’s like to read the blogs and simply feel something click within yourself, when you realize that MIT is calling you. For me, in the end it always comes back to the students. Whether they’re from the Midwest or the Middle East, I want to make them feel welcome on the admissions site. As a blogger, I want to help them fall in love with MIT, just like I did."

A while ago, someone commented on one of my entries, "I am scared, I have fallen in love with a college to which I haven't even been admitted yet." And you know, that is exactly what happened to me last year. In the end...it worked out. I was admitted, to MIT and to several other schools. I still chose MIT without hesitation.

But I can't wonder...what if I had not been admitted? What if I had been in the position that so many people, some of whom I know and some of whom may even be reading this, now find themselves in? How would I be coping? Would I believe what Stu said in the not-admitted letter, what Matt and Ben have said so eloquently so many times, what I tried to repeat and rephrase yesterday - "Please understand that this is in no way a judgment of you as a student or as a person, since our decision has more to do with the applicant pool than anything else."

It's hard, I think...to listen to advice from someone who has something you dreamed of for so long, but ultimately could not attain. But...it's even harder, I think, for people like Matt and Ben to deny 7 out of every 8 applicant their dream of going to MIT.

Sorry if this isn't necessarily very clear or coherent. But I just had to say that.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Gamers' delight

Starcraft II Zerg Revealed

This basically makes my night. Yes, everyone knew the zerg were going to be the third race; yes, everyone knew they were going to have hydraslisks and mutalisks (not to mention banelings and zerglings and...). It's nothing really new; but it's still exciting to see the official page be updated.

In other news, I have both played Brawl and seen the Brawl hack. Both are even more awesome in real life.