This is a farewell post to , who recently deleted her journal on account of a number of things, one of which was me.

While I may not agree with her reasons, I do understand them, and it’s really sad to see that blank, white page notifying the reader of a deleted journal, instead of, say, a meatwad icon and some interesting updates.

She mentioned that I live too much of my life on the internet, which I think was once true, but no longer is. I do post a lot of things, and do a lot of communication via the internet, but that’s all it is. Communication. Pretend all you like, yes, but at the end of the day the internet is nothing if real people aren’t reading and writing, posting pictures, leaving comments, starting flamewars, meeting new people, keeping in contact with people one already knows, and on and on.

The internet is part of the way people interact in this day and age, and it’s a way in which I choose to partake. It’s not for everyone. Obviously we have a difference of opinion on the subject.

So here’s to you, Amanda’s livejournal, and backlog of life. I hope to see a return someday. Till then there’ll be an empty spot on my friends page, and one of very few names in my friends list with a sad little strikethrough.

Today was an exercise in progress, for even though I was very tired, I managed to get a lot of stuff done. I came up to Mandeville for an eye exam, which I managed to get despite some insurance snafus, and of course my prescription hasn’t changed. Not a surprise, that, but I needed an update so I could get more contacts. That’s why you’ve seen me in glasses a lot lately. Ugh.

I finally entered a ton of family info into my various personal information management software/devices, so now I have all of that stuff at my fingertips in digital form should I need it.

I was also going to get some starched and pressed dress shirts I left here over winter break, but alas they were apparently confused with my father’s and are now in Michigan. I await their return so that I once more have a complete dress wardrobe. *sigh*

Anyway, back to progress. I’ve really been blowing through the stuff I have to do lately, and am keeping pretty strictly to my implementation of the Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology. This results in my having a greater peace of mind and being able to relax about all the stuff I have to do. It’s not all bouncing around in my head.

I haven’t had more than a day’s worth of emails in my inbox in a month. They all get handled appropriately and immediately.

Anyway, lots to do again tomorrow — have to grocery shop for Monday’s lab meeting, including buying a king cake. I had one measly piece of king cake after the lab meeting, and I got the baby, which makes it my turn. That’s what I get for eating refined sugar. I think I’ll probably go to whole foods for that. David was saying something about maybe playing Warcraft III tomorrow, but I’m leanining toward finishing my mechanics homework (double blargh), washing my sheets, and the aforementioned grocery spelunking. Maybe I should play some Warcraft. Haven’t in a while. I guess it all depends on how early I can get my ass out of Mandeville and back to the Big Easy.

Oh, and hey, drop me a line if you know of any particulary good camping spots within, say, a four hour drive of NOLA. ttfn

Wow, my LJ / blog used to be WAY more entertaining. I guess along the way I decided the whole world didn’t actually need to know that much about me.

Cuz, you know, I don’t have a website with my name, calendar, pictures, and more on the internet anywhere.

Going through old posts, here’s a rambling entry about visual stereotypes. Recently, I read about a study that used self-ratings and then visual ratings by large groups of other people to try to see if people can get personality info from looking at a face. It turns out that the correlation is really high, and that by playing with images using computers, according to the correlations they derived, various percieved aspects of personality can be manipulated.

I think I was spot on with my subconscious brain activity suspicions in that post.

Wild.

This is going to be something of a short post, because I actually don’t know all that much about Stephanie. It seems like there’s got to be a lot to know, because she’s something of a multifarious and multitalented person. I also may have my facts mixed up, so please do correct me if necessary.

I first met Stephanie at Tulane, as she mentioned, via gatherings with our mutual friends such as . Being the generally solitary person that I am, I didn’t see that much of her, but each and every time I was struck by how lucid and intense she was.

Valentine’s day of… hmm… must have been 2002, I made a post to which she replied. We went to Canal Place to see Amelie, still probably in my top 5 favorite movies ever, and had dinner at the excellent Siam. Actually, just check the posts I made the next day. Anyway, now that I’m back from that trip into my old entries (lord, is that weird to read), more about Stephanie.

Sadly, after that year, she was no longer at Tulane. I think I speak for all of us when I say that her presence here was and is sorely missed since that time. Luckily, she was able to come visit at one point: and a bunch of us went out to Lebanon’s Cafe for some delicious Mediterranean food.

Gathering from her posts, Stephanie’s had a rough time of things since she left Tulane. Despite what might be considered adverse conditions she’s done well for herself, and is now in France. She speaks French, and correct me if I’m wrong, English and some Japanese. Maybe lots of Japanese.

While we’ve had some differences of opinions, her perspective on life is always new and interesting to me, and she gives a lot of thought to things that I’ve never considered. I generally like people that I associate with to be intellectually stimulating — to have something more to say than I do, that I may learn from them. Stephanie delivers on this front quite well, and I wish she were still around Tulane so that she could join us at various gatherings and lend me a different perspective (which she’s apt at doing) for a time.

As with my previous post of this variety, be aware that I may end up coming back and adding more… perhaps. Gah, these things do take a while to write!