A normal Weekend after ages !!

Dear imaginary reader,It has been ages since I blogged. I actually cannot point out a specific reason for my absence though I am quite certain that my glorious unpresence would hardly affect anyone/anything. :P Its been a long while since i've clicked on my blog URL,except for those occasional comment check times..Where was I ??Mostly on twitter and a few other forums and wasting my time @ college. Guess what ..For once in my 4 years of grad student life, I was a lil busy: stuck with that dire engineering formality called project work! Even tho' most parts of it(A web mining framework for evolving user profiles in dynamic websites) are woking and even tho' we got the site put up a week ago..No thanks to our lab admin (&to those lazy bum batchmates,who shud know more about mirroringimportant data)our project PC was formatted,leaving us blinking,unable to digest the fact that it was all gone.well....we had to start from version 1.5 Build 6 :P and proceed from Goodness knowswhere that was..and luckily restored the work :) Phewwww...!Yipee...Well thats just one reason.Loads of other things have happened.But wait..I'm not gonna bore you with those paltry happenings.Life these days is going _____ (I'm short of words to describe the boringness / monotony of life ****!!) You would never beleive that my movie time has now decreased to a big round ZER0 :( Can't believe that I'm still alive :PNo long holidays that i can spend @ home... Even the goverment holidays are stuffed with boring college :-/ Pretty much its a humdrum existence!!

(I love these Phd comic strips,that i'm subscribing to them..pretty cool)

Final Year classes ought to be cancelled - there's absolutely no point (NONE at all) in sitting in those dull classes except for attendance's sake... (Take a closer look,you see why)

The only use of those classes so far has been catching up on those mp3s i hadn't listened to for a long time,reading those classics,those lame magazines,Filling up slam books,sleeping,doodling,making abstract and face sketches..Just about everything that'd kill time.Final semester has been a time for everything but study - Happy to say 've mastered various arts - sketches,poetry,caricature,calligraphy and the like.
I can see that my sense of logic and proportion have started to have a eccentric turn ,which explains this irrational post and irrelevance of content.But trust me. I still have some degree of sanity left within me.
P.S: I am stopping here as the cursor has winked at me for the past 10minutes; mocking my inability to give a coherent shape to my frenzied thoughts. I will continue expounding on the crap-and-boredom which has pervaded my life,a little later. For now,let me think…….Disgruntled-ly yours,
Gracy.

P.S: I've migrated to wordpress.
Please update me in your list :-)
http://gracelyne.wordpress.com/

My Calculator and I

This is something I penned down right after a certain exam I dreaded,got over(in mid December)..I didn't wanna publish it then,but now that I have heaved sighs of relief,I thought - why not?? and here goes :

As many of you know by now.. or even if you don't : The subject I dreaded the whole of the engineering process was Digital Signal Processing a.k.a Degree Stopping Paper :( I took the exam today @ 9... My preparations were done really good (relative to the meager preparations I had for the internal exams ) It so happens that I always enter the exam hall exactly after the last bell sounds(meaning I do not waste a drop of the last minute time).. and so, as always entered in a hurried manner took the answer sheet and filled the details.. Kept praying  to God that the question paper should be easy.. Having an unpredictable pattern of question paper rules,(Why do they ask problems in theory papers and theory and derivations in Problematic ones,making it all the more knottier !!!)I was only hoping that there'd be some easy sums to solve.. Turned out it was a hybrid of both..paper was set such that you knew only one of the subdivisions under each option(meaning either way you lost half the marks) I did some major blunders (maybe) choosing the theory questions and somehow arriving at a speculation of the answer ! And in the problem section I don't know if what I did was right..(All the summations and Z transforms and filter design coefficients,choosing the right limits :X ) I know I have done a few mistakes.. Just kept pushing my calculator buttons the 3 hours time, trying hard!

Today morning I prayed and read the Bible . Psalm 46 : "God is our refuge and strength ,a very present help in time of need ..... The Lord Almighty is with us;the God of Jacob is our refuge" It was so solacing to read it and take that promise as mine !

When out of the exam hall, some of my peers had done as bad as me (as they said, but you just can't assess that ) and few others heaved huge sighs of relief ! I have learnt a huge lesson...I did a Why-Why assessment and learnt my lesson- The reason that this was the exam I "FEARED" the most was this : I flunked all the 3 class tests.. I have written the maximum number of DSP tests (including the 3 re-tests) and still the subject fumbles me!!!!! The reason I bombed all tests was my not heeding the professor's advice and taking down the notes.and why did I not wanna take notes?? Just my "I am in final year .. I 've got a job...I can do things at last minute and get away with it..."attitude ! Never let your "last minute breezing things" ability get to your head I'm sorry I 've let myself down! I'll try to be a better person in my forth coming student years.I am not gonna publish this post right now.If I clear the paper I will !

God, Pllleeeeeeeaaaassssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee help me !

On a merrier note, My total aggregate is the lowest I've got so far..Who cares??!!! I have cleared DSP(with an awesome 75%) Hallelujah !! :-) and  now I can scorn at that freako of a prof ,who looked down on me !!

P.S : The underlined portions... I can't believe I wrote them :O , No..seriously !

Whats the best excuse for going late to college???

From elementary thru' higher secondary thru' college,sadly(?) I've always been late to school/college,wateva! 

Some may disagree and believe that it is ok to show up late to class. There are generically two separate attitudes:

1. "We pay our tuition, we should be able to make our own choices and if showing up late to class is one of them, then we have right to do so." -random student 1

2. "We pay our tuition so I think that we should be able to reap the benefits of a full class without interruptions or disturbances that effect the learning experience." -random student 2

I agree with #2 ,but have the #1 behavior,which makes my teachers think there's a problem with my attitude! :( Today morning we got chided by a senior lecturer,X and was then made to go meet a even higher designation official,Y for being late to project lab. 5 of us(the regularly chided :(( ) stood near the entrance having(?) dull faces seeing X.

(Act1 Scene 1 :  arty,DP,sajj,balloon, me, X )

X: Go meet Y and get permission from him(her).

Us: (keeping mum)

me: lets go near X and say we won't be late again.

balloon: lets c if it works

(inching near X... 5 steps and then X yells"don't come here.go to Y.(s)he asked me to forward all the late comers to him(her))

me:ouch!!

us:(retreating to our original place near door..)

sajj:What do we tell X?I can't go to X..for sure X is gonna holler @ me!

me: What excuse r  we gonna use.. We can't say we went to dispensary,for there'll be records there..

balloon:someone fell down on the way..???!!or her gold ring fell somewhere we were looking for it?

DP:maybe..My lens fell and we were searching for it .?!?

(People in the last rows near us: say you were only a minute late)

me: lol .He'd never believe..plus lets not lie.If he finds the truth>!@?

Art:lets not waste time..Start moving..

(EXIT art,balloon,dp,sajj,me)

(Act 1 Scene 2 :art,balloon,dp,sajj,me.Outside the lab)

sajj : I can never face X :((

me: me 2 yaar :( (having a terrible fit of giggle)

art: (glaring)Why is that u always laugh @ times like this..inside the lab also u r controlling ur fit.do u know what Y would think had (s)he seen you !

(seriously I don't know that myself.. :( evry1 around me scolding,only to increase the intensity of it.)

me:Ok i'm alright now.lets move and tell we will never be late again.(controlling a fit..maybe its the sadness that's coming out in the volatile form of a giggle !!?!)

dp:go thru' this way,else our class people will see this shame.

me: (thinking- is this such a shame?) good thinking..Move..

On the way (Ppl from IT lab laughing their best laughs/smiles @ us)

(Act 2 Scene 1)

Standing outside Y's cabin.Ppl telling me to come last incase I repeat the same.. Y is busy talking to Z,who had once severely censured us.

Thinking(Can it get worse than this??)

peon: stand somewhere where he can see you,only then he'll call you

balloon:No Thank you. let Z go,we'll meet Y then.

(Summoning ring of Y's bell !!!OOpsys!)

art: Sir(Ma'm).. We were late to class,so X sent us here to meet you

Y: (starts with)Do you have any sense,gals? How many times do i have to warn you.and u ,sajj -you've had 2 warnings already haven't you?and u ppl,Do u have a problem with your attitude?What's wrong?Tell me why you were late?(Rest is history.Can't be scripted down)

keeping mum.Just nodding heads, time and again.

(Whoops..Y starts questioning individually.We are blasted)

Y:art,wen did you go to sleep and wake up?

Art:10pm.got up @ 8 :|

Y :10 hours???!!! Only people above the age of 80 do that.6 hours of sleep is enough for young people.How can u sleep so long ma?(clearly surprised)

me: (having a hard time with that fit !!)thinking(Art is the only 1 who gets up early and wakes the rest of us.Lol he'd have worse fits of anger if he asks the rest of us.All the remaining 4 were the kinda people,who'd sacrifice food and water for sleep,and remain in bed 12-14 hours,STRAIGHT without the slightest disturbance)

The remaining part is not gonna be disclosed(especially not the one about sajj breaking down/my fit part).End of act-Writing a letter to be filed (OUch!!OMG.The college has these strict deals with people filing apologies(the even semester disaster has started)).Verdict by Y: "All 5 of you,you should be here by 8.55am,every single day.I will personally see to it.and if any of you comes late,then don't you dare (-deleted-).

Real reason behind every late moment is:getting up late- inability to get bathrooms to wash(being a hosteller,this is one of the problems).Not that the hostel is so unequipped or anything like that(best hostel in all of TN,I dare say)..just that everybody resides in the same wing of the residence and we have almost of the night birds in this wing,who also are part of the traffic of morning buckets!Anyway we usually have to waste 1 to 2 minutes standing there..But its a big deal when every single second counts :P

Usually reasons people use for being late is: room lock wasn't found.(not many buy this excuse),fell sick or went to the dispensary,forgot to take an important assignment so went back for it,Went to the administrative block(which is like a mile away from our block),Went to meet our project guide/staff advisor/mentor..Something like this..

I really am running out of reasons..So if anybody have any ideas,do write them down here.It wouldn't help me again(because I've sworn I'd never be late again,..I Hope)....but for the rest of the likely-to-be-late group of students,suffering from attendance problems...It may)

<<-- faces during the disaster moment.

Final semester of ENGG. :( / :) ???

8th semester has technically begun...Only the institution where i study in could begin the new semester when you have not finished your 7th semester exams(No big deal - Postponement because of rains)Well leave that...

Dec 2oth,after ,my C# exams got over @ 1pm, 'technically' the new sem started @ 2pm !^%&^% Sucks right???? Beleive me its worse than you can imagine ! After the 11th hour preps and only 4 hours of sleep.. how heartless of the authorities to ask the students to sit @ the terminals and do something for the final year project !?!?!?!? That something is still unfigured...So what we are doing is just opening the IEEE paper(s) pdf and staring @ it and going to sleep..The regime continues and still will !! till the end of the sem ,possibly(maybe) !!

Well one good thing about these vetti lab sessions is that: "We've got loads of free time to do stuff -free internet to do everything that isn't blocked by the firewall,and incessant chattering, + ........(i'm not putting anything out here..just incase ..!) "

Thats about everything-1 ... (will eloborate in next post)

Hope We have fun during the last days of college..Reading what many others have written abt their last UG days in their blogs..I 've made up my mind to make the most of these days..Hope we don't tread on anything else(taking into consideration the fact its even semester,the dangerous semester in many aspects ;) )Thats it for now.. Gotta go meet the project co-ordinator. Ciao!

Study Break Rants,Raves and Ruminations

"If I have eight hours to cut down a tree,I will spend six hours to sharpen my axe" - Gracy. Plan your works ! Acheive success !

LOL ! ROFL..!!! Its Univ Exams time.. That explains why there are so many SUCH crap text messages being forwarded day and night..

Get a load of this one:

"A Genius is a person who can do for $1 what any fool can do for $100"... As such we complete the syllabus in one day what the lecturers try to finish in half a year!!                                        

This one's my personal favourite.. It really is true ,the kinda place where I study..Not that all the lecturers are like...erm..good... We do have 1 or 2 good ones.. But still... I guess this probably is the plight of all engineering (or for that matter, any discipline) college today !

This is another of my favs:

"'Sei alladhu sethu madi' -Gandhiji ; 'padi aladhu paduthu thoongu'- anonymous".

Translation : "Do or die - gandhiji; Study or rollover and sleep -anonymous".

The writer of this text,wherever you are : "gr8t quote ! This should be made into posters,tee-shirt writing,wallpapers,screensavers,...and wat not " D'oh !

Basically I'm  a procrastinator ,a cunctator,a postponer : a TOTAL last minute person(which explains why I'm the owner of the last minute people community)So.. this study break is just another excuse for enjoying life..Some of the stuff i kept doing these days:

#1 - Blogging / just being online..

#2 - Reclining  on my lounger and staring at the radium(not the radioactive one) - the glowing thingy s, probably with the music on  @ 80% volume and having a 1000 thoughts bounce around my head ranging from career options ( MS / MBA ?? I wanna continue being a student... Thing is I can't get a bonafide from college 'cos there's a catch : during placement , We gotta specify only one of these,meaning if u choose placement option, you gotta go for it! Curses!!@#@#(*(*(!@! ) ,Promoting my blogs,Earning from it,Sorry state of the affairs of the nation,how give a  facelift to Microsoft campus club,blah blah blah.. and so forth!

#3 - Text message everyone.

#4 - Wonder whats for the next movie time?? and download it

#5 - rummage through my old drawers and computer folders looking at old pictures,videos,writeups,notes passed during class... and rejuvenate faded memories.. Boy ! did I have fun on this one...!

#6 -  Karaoke  singing,recording, and adding voice effects !(Not that I sound great.. Just for the fun of it:P )

#7 - Hanging out with a few pals when the city lights were down!

#8 - rendezvous with Johann (baby brother- just a few months)

#9 - Watching a hell lotta movies ! and writing reviews about it too !

#10 - Cursing the board of exams for conducting EXAMS X( as if exams determined one's assets

Uhoh .. Gotta blast,Its examtime in 2 days..Trotting off to inferno..

Oh dear Study holidays..When will I see thee again?

Life without the internet !

Hey Everyone, I'm back again(after a really long gap - a month nearly :( Gosh ! ) I wrote my last post 20 days ago.. since then it's been a roller coaster ride full of great experience..
So..... Here i am ,this is me ..there's nowhere else on earth I'd rather be..! Strikes a chord somewhere?? Was just listening to Bryan Adam's track-"here i am" :)

I've had a really disappointing week :( (tats wat i felt at the onset)
So... there I was at the inferno (moi hostel) , hoping to have a good time just surfing the tides on the www,.. What do I get ?? 5 days of pure non-wifi time.!!! Not to mention the sugar on top - Frequent and long power cuts during the day ! ( Tamil Nadu is reeling under one of the worst power shortages .. RESULT : TNEB resorting to frequent, unannounced cuts ranging between two hours and eight hours daily :O )
For an internet addict like me....(@%*#%(@&) well you can imagine how grumpy I must have gotten!!! X(
It was then I realised how much the Internet means to us , the poor earthlings! From the depths of desperation I began to imagine how the world could be without the Internet.. Beleive me....It looks like stone age the way my imagination swayed !
Can YOU survive without internet?? A lot of us are really hooked up to it ! Imagine life without e-mail, youtube, friendster, facebook,orkut, wordpress, blogger, online games,messenger …. and you can’t even pay your bills online, book tickets, order stuff !!! seems like armageddon huh??

Its hard to imagine how we ever survived without Google(my tour tram in this internetwork),ebay,skype,....but in reality, it is only a matter of a few years since we somehow managed to struggle from one day to the next without ever logging on.In those seemingly far-off days life existed and things were successfully executed - all without the internet, Its just a matter of doing things differently !
So the thing I realised is that : addicts like me should really find a better balance. Just like other things in life, at some point you might unexpectedly lose it - and you really have to cope with it !
so I listed down some things you can do to remain sane when disaster strikes again !! :P

#1 Use your legs :take a walk around your place,meet those old pals ..In addition to building relationships, the consequences can do some good to your health also
#2 Rediscover the art of conversation : this is something that I did... Surprisingly I found that I 've been living in a virtual place..and even my normal conversation with friends started out with:
hey,how r u?.. Hows life goin??...G-M for good morning (Sounds weird , if u r saying it to people who are colleagues !! =)) )
#3 Go out : enjoy the twilight hours just gazing at the pretty sky
#4 Go to the library : Even though there's no beating the online search, egrossing yourself in the library would make you appreciate the world of knowledge!
#5 Write a snail mail to a friend : Snail mails are always appreciated .. I love getting snail mail cards and stuff...
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#n Enjoy the freedom : I'm sure there are a hell lotta things you can do ! So Come on all of you with strained eyes , disorderly lifestyle - Look @ the beautiful world outside your pc screen , i'm sure you'd appreciate the awesome resolution of the lifesize wall papers out there !! :)
I,for one, have definitely learnt to appreciate it !!
To be off-line felt like some sort of isolation even though it was only temporary. It's not something I would want to happen on a regular basis, and whilst I am sure that although we would undoubtedly cope without the Internet if we had to(but I sincerely doubt it would be an easy transition), the question is - would we want to? No way !!!
The internet phenomenon has become indispensable.. and for me 5 days without it was more than enough to prove that !!
It sure feels good to see the Blogger Dashboard ! :)

Its the start of moi Study hols..So I've got loads of hours at my disposal !!! Yay!! So I'll be surfing to my heart's content !
Things I've done recently
* Started a few more blogs (do check them out)
From my lounger
Mycyberpenseive
* Finished my university Lab Exams
Weather out here: Rains all the time .. So the sky from my window (the real wooden one :P) looks splendid !!!! No words right now to descibe its magnificence!! God, You Rock !!!

The indigenous Indian game

Ball badminton is an indigenous sport of India ....One of the oldest games known to the world of Sports. It had it's origin as early as 1856 in the Tanjore District of Tamilnadu in India.(wow isn't it) I never knew that India was its origin...No wonder now.. cos it was decided in 1856 itself ,that history was to be written in this arena of sports by a team known otherwise as Amathur25 (strikes a chord somewhere???? Could be related with chennai28 :) ,one of the superb tamil movies-Definitely one of a kind and my favourite!)
BB is an exceedingly fast game demanding skill, quick perception, correct judgment, agility of movement and capacity to control the ball with proper movement of wrist. Unfortunately none of the Amathur25 people possessed all of this...and still the college was willing to take the team out on a Picnic to Trichendur - 2day all expense paid trip(wow more days than our IV- now isn't that gr8t :P )What if all the 10 people on team were the FRIENDS mob... a mafia that the whole department feared ;) and the ones that hungout together- the gangster sorta crowd... That'd be even gr8tr ,ryt?... Well that was what it was .. :D so..uhmm...Even Better...!Lemme introduce the Amathur25 to yall...
The Captain- Manimegala -Backend player-Does splendid floats on the ball ..other than that did nothing great to win her captaincy :P
The Vice-captain - JeevaPriya- Center Player- Does good saves and ..great shuts,which just don't reach the opponent's court.
Back end Players :
Karthiga - Plays well ,except when under pressure whence looses all the balls...;D
Susi - Plays cricket with badminton racquet
Sivaranjani R @net - Net Adicha ball netta thandunadha saritharamay ilana pathukongaly :P
Subashree - held the bat only 2 days b4 match day.(for 1st tym)
Front Players:
Nabisath -Known for hopping around ,tryin to hit the balls.. :) and in the end making the center to loose the balls too..
Mangleswari - Does good shuts with the bat..and weird face reactions when playin (funny 1s too)Gracelyne / Me - The P.E.T teacher had great confidence in me seeing the practice sessions...But lost that when there were losses in the court.So in the end the three of us took turns on court.
One more on the list - Vetri.v - dunno where to add her up .. guess she's a front end player,but never seen her playing..hheh...does more of a check post kinda job bouncing balls off her.:PAnd Aarthy - couldn't make it to the match owing to the problem that there could be only 10 people going from one college..We missed you pal..!Well thats about Amathur25..and if you were wondering who plays the role eqivalent to that of the "enna kodumai sir" guy in the movie,the one that always drops the ball.. I think I'd give the title to Net...no..susi...no...vetri...I'm confused.. Well NET wins .. She gets the title..! :) She worked loads for the team...Picking up balls flung outside..Vetri did a good job of mixing glucose and serving to the not so tired players...and susi did a gr8t job of cheerleading backed by shree.Hats off to the whole team..We couldn't have lost without you all !!!! =)Let me not forget our P.E.T ma'm who took us all out there to compete..Our first win enthralled her loads .. who wouldn't be..to see a coachless team skyrocket up and beat last year's winners!Anyways.. even though we couldn't get the coveted title,we managed to get 3rd.. and ,again cheerin for the right team made our college get the overall title for the tournament !

uhmm..Though it may seem as if I may have defamed the college team..thats the bare bones,down-to-earth take on the team (my personal opinion ,strictly)but one thing sure is true, there was not a better team there , to beat us in the team play, and sportive spirit we all showcased and thats what made us go that far!Whats a team without a cheer song - yea idhu onu than korachala ena ..:D Well if you've heard the witch Doctor song (oo-ee-e-ah-ah bing bang walla walla ting tah)...the same! :P Have I forgotten anybody...anything..? yea..The 2nd year "perfect badminton" team that coached the final year team ...Well u can laugh ur heads off now..But you can't but accept the fact that the WE ROCK!!!!!!!By the way,this was an all CSE team (so no wonders tat we rocked!!! )