Passwords

Thought of the day:

MSN money advice says:

"Staying safe on social networks
When setting up an account, it's always a good idea to use a pseudonym, or username, rather than your own name. If you've already signed up, change your details accordingly.

Never reveal personal data, such as your date of birth, home address or phone number online. If you want people to remember your birthday, make sure you change the year of your birth. Not only will this throw off would-be ID thieves, but your friends will think you're a couple of years younger too.

Finally, avoid giving away details such as children's and pets' names, anniversaries or anything else you might use as a password or PIN."

Most of this is good advice. But the last bit ... wouldn't it be much, much better to use more secure passwords and PINs that aren't related to your children or pets? Especially if you're on social networking sites ... yes, you can say "And we're all proud of RANDOM_CHILD_2 for coming third in his school swimming competition" but really ... is it worth it? (actually, to be fair, I do know of bloggers who don't want their kids' names online who say thing like 'Sugar Plum (who's now 3) has been doing painting at school ...' etc, but blogging is a lot more one-way and you have a lot more control). Having passwords related to your kids' names is just A Bad Idea.

Work going well.

There's a lot of it.

Algebraic Geometry makes little sense. The concepts make sense, it's detangling what on earth the question is on about that is tricky.

Number Theory is awesome.

Graph Theory is also awesome.

Pain au chocolat are surprisingly good (from the faculty canteen - I expected them to be mediocre).

The faculty filter coffee, however, was not at all tasty. Back to tea.

My kitchen cupboard is organised. This is good.

Jumble

Jumble as in bits and pieces of things all mixed together.

So things are much better than they were this time last week (Will was complaining that his stalking me by reading the blog wasn't working because I wasn't updating meaningfully). I think I understand what went on more, which means I have more information to attack the problem with next time it occurs. And more information is always good, right?

I have a new latte glass for making tea in, and new white tea:

isn't it lovely? That's Whittards Jasmine white tea pearls, that was about 4 pearls' worth, and I got about 4 cups of tea out of them (probably could have had more, but there's a limit to the amount of tea you can drink in one evening). It's a good tea to drink whilst working (note the maths notes on the desk in the background).

In other news, Chris came to visit on Sunday :) which was cool. And brought me another mini-pineapple, amongst other things. I shall have to take it somewhere to be shared and eaten, else it will stay in my room on top of a shelf for far too long.

Unrelated: Skillet now have AWESOME tour photos (from their Awake and Alive tour) on their facebook albums. They look absolutely INCREDIBLE, and I admire them so much. I need to buy their new album. This is so not the sort of music that people I know would associate with me ... but it's very, very me. Just me on the inside. Similarly TobyMac.

Also also: I've started reading Simply Christian by Tom Wright. It's very good.

Lines written in maths lectures

Arrival

They came in peace

Or so they said

Gleaming ships floating

This is the future!

Or so they said

And we believed

This is the future!

(We were distracted)

And we believed

Rushed to embrace them

(We were distracted)

Our dreams coming true

Rushed to embrace them

Scientists in heaven

Our dreams coming true

Should have known better

Scientists in heaven

And then the cracks started

Should have known better

Nothing is free

And then the cracks started

Subtly at first, but

Nothing is free

We are no exception

Subtly at first, but

Oh, they were clever

We are no exception

They're wiping us out

Oh, they were clever

Got into the water

They're wiping us out

Infertility

Got into the water

Too late have we realised

Infertility

... and now they wait

Too late have we realised

They came in peace

... and now they wait

Gleaming ships floating

Thoughts on Reading

I want to get back into reading things, which I haven't been doing much of in the past two weeks (mostly busy with fresher's week stuff and the beginning of work and organising society meetings and such). Have just got back from the library (it's wonderful having a library that's card-access and open til late ...) - returned 9 maths textbooks, and got out 5 textbooks, 3 books about mathematics generally (Mathematics: A Very Short Introduction, a book about the philosophy of mathematics (logicism/formalism/intuitionism), and How To Solve It by Polya), and a Lord Peter Wimsey novel.

Recently I have been reading ...

-Very small amounts of Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson

-A small amount of Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook
-The beginning of William Barclay's commentary on The Letters of James and Peter
-A tiny amount of Douglas Moo's commentary on James
-Problem at Pollensa Bay by Agatha Christie - I'm about 3/4 of the way through this, and am taking it deliberately very slowly so as to make it last
-A bit of The Year Of Our War by Steph Swainston - this was at fresher's fair, when I was bored
-The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov (I really enjoyed this. I do like Asimov ... it was neat.)
-The Only Boy for Me by Gil McNeil (Didn't enjoy this one as much as Diva's Don't Knit / Needles and Pearls - I think the main character in The Only Boy For Me isn't introspective enough, so too much of it reads like a to-do list: first she does this, then that, then the other, then this goes wrong, then she fixes it like this ...)

Maybe I have been reading more than I'd realised ...

Sounds from back in the day

As a result of one of Hazel's comments a post or so back, I went and had a look at my old website ... (and no, I'm not going to link it here, you'll have to ask me or work it out for yourself if you want to take a look) and a couple of songs from back then struck a chord (pun mostly unintended).

If anybody knows whether you can embed youtube videos in blogger blogs, would they let me know?

So here we are:
1) Matthew West: You Know Where To Find Me - this is good. It gets me. Or at least very much so if I'm feeling a bit down. If I'm completely okay, I find it's just a touch on the cheesy side - I think that's why I don't like much else on the album so far as I've heard - goes far too far into cheese (which is a pain, because I can't just buy the one song as an MP3 on amazon, it's not up there). Lyrics.
2) Thousand Foot Krutch: This is a Call - this I really like. I think I'll buy this as an MP3 download. Lyrics.

While I'm at it:
3) Superchick: Hero - there are a fair number of times during this song where I think "hmm ... that lyric's rather clumsy" ('his brother who wants to be him' in particular) (Lyrics). Plus I'm not a fan of the rap bit. But the chorus, and the overall message of the song, they just manage to tip me into being a fan. And there are lyrics I really really like, as well, e.g.:

'Each day she goes on is a day that she's brave
Fighting the lie that giving up is the way
Each moment of courage, her own life she saves'

I see it as an empowering song. You could make a difference. It's straightforward (but not easy):
You could be a hero, heroes do what's right.

(I really like this being able to purchase individual MP3s on amazon.co.uk thing. It means that a lot of stuff where I've got one specific song that resonates with me or reminds me of a particular time - I can get that song, for a reasonable price, rather than never getting it because I didn't want the whole CD).

Encouragement. People need it.
By people I mean me.
Beginning of third year maths ... although we haven't been set much work yet, I am feeling that generally things are hard. Especially as I mucked up my exams at the end of last year. I feel (in my more negative moments) like people look at me and see someone who's not really going to make it - sure, will pass, and do okay, but not do well.

And I want to do well. Really, I do. And I honestly believe I have the potential for it. I just fall into feeling that nobody else does (does believe in me, that is) - which I know isn't actually true, it's my issue not theirs. But damnit, I could do with a cheerleader at the moment.

(This post may not stay up. It's not too self-indulgent, but I'm not sure whether I'll class it as attention-seeking or not ... and anything written after midnight deserves to be reviewed in the cold light of day.)

The crazy week of crazy is over

So there's a reason I haven't updated since Monday. Tuesday - Saturday has been pretty hectic. Basically a LOT of start-of-year society stuff (I'm running 2 societies and a reasonably active part of a couple more, and there are freshers-type things to sort out and publicity and etc etc etc), plus the start of lectures, plus lots of adminy things turning up (like paying bills, sorting library books, etc). So it has been busy. But it's mostly over now, and hopefully updating can return to normal. We shall see.

This whole one-page-of-notebook-a-day thing is working very well. One side of A4 is the perfect size. It's short enough that you need to be fairly concise. Also short enough that if you remember and you're dead tired you can still spend 10 minutes filling it out. I forgot to yesterday (sheer forgetfulness, I meant to) but caught up today - and apart from that I've been doing well. Generally writing in it late at night, so I can catch all the things that have struck me during the day. The first day I started it on was Wednesday the 30th of September, and flicking back to that it seems aaaaages ago - life at Uni is so packed full of things, each day feels like a week. My lectures this morning feel like they were a couple of days ago, at least.

Actually even flicking back on that short space of time, I notice encouraging things - little things that it's good to have recorded. Like, say, feeling that to do X is right (but something I'm unsure about because I don't feel entirely comfortable with it), and then doing X, and writing that down at the end of the day. Entries like that remind me that I am growing and changing and I can guide change and respond to God's prompting and become more.

But for the moment, I need to go and sleep.

Autumn

There's a chill in the air today. Decidedly more pronounced than yesterday. Term is started, I've decided. I've worn a winter coat tonight, for the first time this season, and I'm drinking cocoa. Bring on the winter.

In praise of wellbeing

I'm pretty sleepy at the moment, so this may not make much sense. But if I don't update now, I'm not sure when I'll get round to it, so here goes ...

Some Thoughts:

• It is okay to be okay. No, really. You don't have to have depressive issues / neuroses / obsessions / strange little compulsive habits / etc so as to be interesting (this is not Hickory Dickory Dock, and you are not Celia).
  
  I was thinking about this earlier, mostly in the context of talking about Christian life - I think sometimes people get so caught up in talking about the fact that God can and does use broken and messed-up people (which I totally agree with) that they lose sight of the fact that we are meant to be whole, and even that being whole is valid and good. Certainly I've felt this on several occasions. But this is, of course, the right way round to do it - because to do it the other way round (to imply that God doesn't use you unless you are whole) is completely wrong and very very harmful as the people on the receiving end are unlikely to have the confidence to fight it off.
  
  
• Don't feed the neuroses. Seriously, don't. It may start off as a game ... but if you let them they may rule you. Why risk it?
  
  
• It is healthy, and indeed, right, to take pride in and joy from the things you do well. Gifts and talents come from God, and he makes us to live well. This doesn't mean that life will be good necessarily, but you have gifts, and it is your duty and your joy to use them. Do not rob the world of your contribution to it.
  
  
• Love. Laugh. Live.
  All that cliched stuff. But this stuff is true. Aim to do these 3 things, and to do them properly and wholeheartedly, and you won't go far wrong.
  

NB: Commemts about obsession etc are definitely *not* aimed at anyone in particular. Just to make that clear.