# Winter 2024 wrapup

2024-05-02

My second semester at UMich is just over, and I will recount major things
that happened. I will continuously update this blogpost.

## Course reviews

The biggest mistake that I made is that I elected three EECS courses, two
of which are extra heavy in workload. The rest are not trivial either. It
is impossible to cover all of them in one single blogpost, so I will split
them up into individual articles, listed below.

- [EECS 482, Intro to OS](w24_482.md)
- [EECS 373, Intro to Embedded System Design](w24_373.md)
- Other courses WIP

## Notable material gains

- A bicycle, as described in [2024-04-05](../random/2024-04-05.md)
- A MIDI keyboard (AKAI MPK mini play) with which I made a few loops

## Notable losses

- My sanity over the 373 project

## Notable expenditures

- $39 for the MIDI keyboard
- $512 for the Boston trip
- $90 for the bicycle
- $187 for a ticket to tøp's Clancy Tour (ffs fbr)

## Notable experiences

- I visited my friend in Boston over spring break.
    - I saw The Museum of Fine Arts
    - I saw The Museum of Bad Art
    - By law of the excluded middle, I saw all art in existence
    - I took a lecture on Chinese policy at Harvard
    - I took a lecture on computer systems in the Banana Lounge at MIT
    - I took the MBTA subway
    - I saw a weird MIT exhibit with a bunch of glass, lamps, and wood
      rescued from a bathhouse on fire
    - I went to the MIT museum
    - I talked with W1ATO over the W1XM repeater
    - I went to the Harvard art museums is basically a tub for rich people
      to dump their art in and as an excuse to exhibit stolen shit
- I went to an iDKHOW show in Detroit, as described in
  [2024-04-05](../random/2024-04-05.md).
- I watched the eclipse (98% partial in Ann Arbor)
- Except for two occasions, I participated in the W8UM/R Sunday net every
  week, getting to know AC8TO, KE8BZJ, W8EMV, and KB6NU. Also I love our
  net control WD4DSR.
- Attended a W8UM monthly meeting (though one hour late and didn't get any
  pizza) and met AC8TO in person
- Saw a crime drama play called Trojan Horse. My friend played a role who
  died for the most of the play
- Applied for IA of 370 and 373 next semester
- Cracked open a beer, which I just finished as I write this. The cashier
  typed a "1" into the YYYY field on the auto checkout before realizing
  (1) I was born 2003 and (2) aging is inevitable

## Things unrelated to coursework that made my day worse

I received the prize money for last semester's GERMAN 103 roleplay.
Instead of $200 per group, it was $200 per person. But it went straight to
my direct deposit and was split to two parts:

- $172 to repay my "financial aid"
- $28 in federal tax

It pisses me off that I worked so hard on a roleplay just for the prize
money to fund genocide.

## Things unrelated to coursework that made my day better

Last year I signed up for [Kristin Henry's Stickers and Stamps
project](https://kristinhenry.medium.com/stickers-and-stamps-a-bright-spot-in-2020-d3011afefa09).
It took months, but I finally received their letter in the mail. Enclosed
is a sticker, a handwritten postcard, and a stamped envelope for me to
return something in. So I handwrote a brief letter a few days later and
sent it to Kristin.

It was the second time I physically put something in a US mailbox. The
first time was when I had to send form 8843 to the IRS to prove that I had
zero income last year.

## Albums discovered

I spent the entire semester listening to Radiohead, all thanks to [a meme
video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KGRvIFrF3c).

- _The Bends_ (1994)
    - Favorite tracks:
    - Fake Plastic Trees
    - Street Spirit
- _OK Computer_ (1997)
    - Paranoid Android
    - Let Down
- _Kid A_ (2000)
    - Everything In Its Right Place
    - The National Anthem
    - Idioteque
- _Amnesiac_ (2001)
    - Pyramid Song
    - Life In a Glasshouse
- _In Rainbows_ (2007)
    - Weird Fishes
    - Videotape

And if you stretch the definition of "discover", I discovered _Clancy_
(2024).