Brainf**k Adventures

 Hello readers!

Looking through my posts, I notice how few people look at these. I think it would be fun if people find this here years later. Anyway. 

This week was nice, as I only had to go into school twice! Robotics is going well, and I'm working out most of the issues in the code. Today I got to work on more scholarship stuff, so I'm pretty exhausted. 

However, I finally did something this week that I've wanted to do for a long time: learn Brainf**k. I think it is rather obvious what the title is, an its called that for good reason; the language is complex and hurts your brain! Here is the Wikipedia page. As you can see, the language has eight commands, and is Turing-complete. 

See why it's called that? Anyway, I'm working on gaining a deeper understanding of the language! I really enjoy it, and its a lot of fun writing in that language and succeeding. It shocks some people! I even made my own interpreter for the language. I wrote it in Python, and it appears to be fully functional. 

For those who are wondering, here is what the "Hello, World!" program looks like it. I doubt this is most efficient, but this is how I did it. Believe it or not, this version is rather simple. 

Easy, right? I'll leave that there I guess. 

Alrighty, I'm exhausted and have to go do some stuff.

Thanks for reading, stay safe!

The Questionable Programmer

Long and Fun Day With Schoolmates

 Good evening! 

Just wanted to pop in and give a quick update on this week. First, my stress levels have gone down. So that's good! 

But today I really exhausted myself. First, I get up at 7 AM to go climb Governor Dick Tower to fund my brother's trip to Camp Swatara, an outdoor education program my school does. I will say, it was a beautiful day however. It was a lot of fun, and I got to see one friend who I haven't seen in a good while. He's actually Chilean, and my brother's 'child'. I was also really impressed by my one, less masculine and courageous friend, who climbed the tower with ease, even though he complained a bit! Eventually, the Chilean kid called him, "more useless than Mongolia's navy"! I have no idea what it meant, but boy was that funny. We kinda got lost, but we made it back once we found the road. Of course we looked like lost hitchhikers but that's ok!

After that fun experience, I went to robotics and put Arch on another computer in a record time for me! I love doing these Linux OS installation speed runs! I also submitted an essay, requesting a beta tester position for the FRC 2021 software. We'll see what happens. We're getting a CNC machine, which is really exciting, because this is our first major piece of equipment that we actually own. 

Lastly, I went to work around 4:30 with one of the five attendees at the climb/hike today. It was a long, tough day. I stood at the door and counted people, limiting the occupancy of my store to 18. My one supervisor also said that I had to do be ready to do returns across our area, which isn't my job, as they were incredibly busy, and I was the only other one who was qualified to return items. She said to think of it as practice for being a coach! I really hope I get promoted, but at this point it is still pure speculation. Did not make many friends with people today though; apparently, people don't like waiting in forty degree weather. These inconsiderate guests unfortunately forget that I've been out there 20 times longer than them, and I was just trying to do my job :(. 

This isn't super common, and I try not to let it get to me, but it's definitely frustrating. 

Anyway, that's all for tonight I think. I'm awfully tired, but I'm gonna go play R6 Siege I think. 

Thanks for reading, and see you next time!

I Got My License!

 Hello readers!

Just recently, last Friday as a matter of fact, I passed my drivers test!

I now can legally operate a vehicle, and boy does it feel great! The power you feel when you receive your license is like nothing I've ever felt before! Maybe it's because I'm really into cars! I used to take photos of older cars and make them look like comic books! Unfortunately, I don't think I have any on my computer. 

My place of employment, an amusement park, was incredibly busy for a pandemic yesterday. We had about 20,000 guests at one time yesterday! That's nearly half of the park's max occupancy (53,000). 

Anyway, I have a lot of homework this weekend, so I best get to work. I do have off tomorrow though which will be nice. 

Thanks for reading!

My Time in Cross Country

 Hello everyone!

Look at me, being consistent! Good schedule so far. 

Anyways, because I'm sitting in class right now, I cannot write too much, nor do I have much to write about. 

However, I did just have my final cross country (XC) meet yesterday, and I was rather pleased with myself. Ever since my liver issues last year, which I might need to explain at some point, I have not been in as good of shape. So this year, my times were a little disappointing, but I did improve over the season, and that's what I focus on. 

I'm not the fastest kid on the team, nor am I anywhere near them. I don't expect to be, nor does it bother me. I do try my best however, and that's all that matters in my opinion. 

I was middle to upper JV this year, but my friends and I have always called ourselves JJV, or junior junior varsity! We would call ourselves this just for fun, even though most of us were decent. Here was our chant: 

Leader: "Who are we?" 

JJV: "JJV!" 

Leader: "What do we do?"

JJV: "Average!"

Leader: "JJV for life on nine!"

JJV: "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine! JJV for life!" 

It was a fun, satirical chant we used to hype up before races. I don't know why we count to nine, all I know is that it's tradition! 

JJV had some good times when I was there. I remember one practice where some of the boys wore spandex and shoes. Just, spandex and shoes. Now, I'm sure some of the ladies loved it, but I certainly found it creepy, even though it was very funny looking at the pedestrian's faces when we ran by!

There was another time where we threw corn and pinecones at the varsity team, and some other JJV members. Unfortunately, JJV was experiencing a 'civil war' during that time. 

One time, we even went to the palmyra public pool, and did practice in the pool! It was awfully cold, and we didn't change into bathing suits, so I think everyone put some hair on their chest during that practice!

The typical Karaoke Fridays, Thigh-Touch Thursday, Windmill Wednesday (I'll let you imagine what we did), Tender-Touch Tuesday, and Mix-it-up Monday were always a ton of fun! Also, XC teams love speed traps! I can't remember the exact number of times we did this, but almost every time we saw a speed trap, we stopped and ran against it! It was so much fun racing each other there and hopelessly trying to break the speed limit!

To be honest, if I could not take place on my robotics team, I certainly would have prioritized building a stronger relationship with all these guys. I had some great experiences there!

I still plan on taking part in track and field however, so I'll see most again there. I also plan on staying in shape in college and after college. 

Here's a photo from my final home meet. This is the JV team, and it includes most of the JJV members of my senior year. We'll always miss Danny and Luke!

I know this was a rather short post, but I just wanted to provide a final update on my XC career. If I remember more humorous events, I'll consider posting them. 

Alrighty, well that's it for now.

Stay safe, and I'll see you next time!

"Run often. Run long. But never outrun your joy of running."

- Julie Isphording

How Many of These Posts Am I Gonna Have to Make?

No, no, I'm not dead; just incredibly busy and a little stressed. I guess it's been over a year since I've last posted. Well...

For starters, I am now a senior in high school, and still take part in my robotics team. We've been doing really well recently, and I am super stoked for 2021, no matter what happens! Final, season gotta go out with a bang. 

As most of my few readers know, 2020 was a bust and it was a rather painful experience for me and some of my teammates. We started the season well; we had the resources we needed and the experience we desired. We went on through the build season, building a competitive robot that certainly had a lot of potential if we made a few tweaks here and there. But then our DE rolled around, and in my opinion, I kinda screwed the pooch. 

Let me start out by saying that the qualifying matches had its ups as well as its downs. Due to this, we did not qualify super well, and in consequence, we were picked by the eighth alliance. Now, do not get me wrong, these two teams were awesome, and we had actually won our most recent offseason event with one of them! But as the eighth alliance, we had to face the number one seeded alliance there first. 

The quarterfinals started off poorly when we lost control of the robot due to an unsecured ethernet cable. We quickly identified the issue, and decided to stop our systems checks, as it seemed to only be hurting us. To the amazement of the entire event, we won the next match against them, becoming the one and only alliance to beat them at that DE. The record was now 1-1. We proceeded into the next match with our heads held high, and excitement burning in our stomach. I was ecstatic, much like the rest of the team, but my celebration only lasted so long. We began scoring early on in the match, and we had a fantastic outlook. I of course did not know this, as I was driving and not focusing on the score. 

And then it happened. I remember it as clear as day. The Infinite Recharge game has a strict climbing rule; the rule states that you may raise your climber up in the end game, and if you raise it any earlier, you will be dealt a penalty of 15 points. 

And of course with me being the stupid klutz that I am, I raised it too early. This certainly wasn't the first time this happened for me, which made this that more depressing. Now here's what makes this the most sad: we would have won that match by one point if I did not commit that violation. One point. Let me be clear: one point. The first alliance versus the eighth alliance. This would have been the upset of the season! Now surely there were other factors at play. For example, our captain, our defense robot, received a 15 point penalty as well due to an illegal hit. But because I am who I am, I naturally placed the blame completely on myself and lost a lot of self-confidence. Still working on it, but I'll talk about that later. 

So that was the DE. Now, I'm sure everyone around the world knows of the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, the entire season was cancelled to prevent jeopardizing the participants, judges, and spectators. 

However, FIRST Robotics Competition did indeed decide to replay the game in 2021. My senior year. A game that brings back awful memories, and simply a game that I did not enjoy as much as the years before. 

Over the quarantining, I of course had to keep up with school work and maintain my grades. The robotics team decided that it was appropriate to halt meetings for some time, although we did resume eventually. One of the things we must cherish is the ability to actually work on our robot however; many teams could not and still cannot access their robots to due online schooling, or the lack of school-supported extracurriculars. 

We decided to rebuild the robot, almost from scratch. After a long, gruesome couple of weeks, a few students, including myself, finally pulled a design together and began planning and executing. We are still tweaking this robot as of now, and are closely watching FIRST, as they have begun to release expectations for the 2021 season. As of now, they're looking at an online competition that also allows students who may not have access to their robot to compete. It's certainly different and disappointing, as the hotel and overnight experience makes it that much better! My team is still unsure on whether we should participate, as there is currently a $2000 registration fee.

Anyway, I'm sure most readers know this, so let's get back to the questionable programmer here. First off, my future!

As a senior, it is time for me to select my next path and my goals. What have I decided so far? Well.

I have already been accepted into what is currently my number one school, Michigan Tech. I plan on applying to Penn State in the next few days, as I'll receive my most recent SAT scores on Friday. I still have to decide if I want to leave my home state of PA of course. 

I have also chosen what I will be studying in college. I will be majoring in electrical engineering, and minoring in mathematical sciences. Why? For those who do not know, I love math. I love it because it takes away whatever is on my mind and forces it to focus. Basically, it clears my stressful and saddened mind. I don't want to become glorified IT or deal with data manipulation all day long, which is why I do not want to go into computer science. Computer engineering? Looked at it, and frankly, I think I would enjoy more careers in the EE field than the CS field, so I figured, why not go all in?

So that's my future as of now. Still partake on my high school's cross country team and the track and field team. I unfortunately had to stop XC last season due to bacteria and damage to my liver. Lot's of antibiotics and medicines have got me up and going again however. But, because of a multitude of issues including my liver, the pandemic, and a focus on robotics, it pains me to say that I have gotten really out of shape for XC. It is rather disheartening to compete poorly in comparison to your younger self, and this makes my life this much more stressful. That being said, my last meet is tomorrow (yes, it's 11 o'clock, and I'm still up before a meet) so I am happy to get this off my plate. 

I don't know if I ever discussed my current employment. Well, I am currently an assistant supervisor at a local amusement park, and I love it there! The benefits and the pay are great, but the coworkers are even better! The customers however, well, I won't talk about them. 

And lastly, I have my drivers license test this Friday! I am super excited, apart from one concern: parallel parking. I personally feel underprepared, although I have done it before. This has made me very stressful recently, and I wish I could just keep practicing. I'll probably skip robotics tomorrow to practice, but we'll see what happens. 

Why did I come back to write this you may be wondering? This blog offers me a place to "talk" to someone, which is really comforting. At school I am a bit socially-awkward, and don't like talking to people. I typically feel like I'm being judged all the time and that other kids think I'm an annoying dork. So, I try to talk as little as possible, unless I'm in a comfortable environment. Robotics has been becoming more and more dramatic as well, which is very, very frustrating. Personally, I don't believe that the robotics team is the place to discuss relationships or attend for social hour. You wouldn't attend soccer practice just to talk, would you? Actually, I hate soccer; make it football instead. Anyway, the point still stands. This has also made it harder for me to talk to people, as the people here aren't the same people that used to be here one or two years ago. It's odd trying to relate to them especially when your views on things are so different. 

So, to sum that up, I returned to this blog because I wanted to talk to someone about my stresses. I would be shocked if anyone gets this far into this however, or just simply reads any of it!

So, my schedule? Well I'm gonna try to post at least once a week now, because I think I'm finding it rather helpful and relaxing right about now. 

I also plan on posting my journey through college here!

I hope this post doesn't look like a pile of words on a page, and you can instead understand what's happening with me and in me. 

Well. 

Here's hoping to another week! 

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next week.

"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving." 

- Albert Einstein