Obligatory life update: I have graduated
[from]
high school.
But that’s not what this post is about. I
contemplated setting up a schedule
for my blogging three long years ago, and decided against it,
because I didn’t think writing was a high enough priority for me. Well,
I am setting up a schedule now: I am going to post something on
this blog every day until I have to leave the country (which is
happening once before college, so it’s not for as long as you think; but
I might decide to continue the schedule anyway after I get back. We’ll
see when the time comes.)
Indexing debates are boring. Especially when you can just flagrantly
disregard all concerns about memory safety (because C++ never had any in
the first place) and write
int _array[100008], array = _array + 2;
I do this
alarmingly often; hence, the title. Hashtag firstworldanarchists. Three
± 1 cheers for
Haskell
arrays.
Anyway. One of the disadvantages of entering an international
competition as the home team is a lack of time to completely absorb the
idea that what is about to happen is a Big Thing. There was lots of time
before the other international competitions I went to to spend
uncomfortably on airplanes trying to adjust for the timezone
difference.
Not so for a competition in one’s own country. Right up to the night
before entering the hotel that marks the beginning of everything, I’m
still at home, furiously refreshing the AoPS IMO fora and Facebook for
news (!!!), lazily solving trivial Codeforces Div II problems with
pointless point-free Haskell one-liners, and blogging.
(There’s more, but I kind of want it to be a surprise.)
Anyway, let’s set the rules. Well, there’s only one, honestly:
Note: My 2012 self wrote this. It is a little dated
and does not entirely capture my current beliefs and attitudes, although
I have to say it’s not too far off either. As of 2018, Me and Facebook is more
relevant.
Here’s a guilty secret: I like getting feedback.
I’m not restricting myself to painstakingly thoughtful comments that
attempt to build upon and transform the post to form
an interesting conversation, the kind English teachers are hellbent on
promoting. Sure, I get the most kicks out of those, but I’m not picky.
Even single-digit pageview bars or a handful of Facebook “like”s give me
buzzes of excitement.
It’s a guilty feeling, because I also think that that these are
unimaginably cheap internet currencies and should not qualify as
“meaningful” under a rational mindset. I strongly suspect visitors
accidentally click on my blog and leave after five seconds without
taking in anything, because I do that all the time to other people’s
blogs and sites. Sometimes it is out of boredom, sometimes it is because
I actually have something of higher priority to do than indiscriminate
reading, sometimes it is simply because I cannot read the language. I’ve
seen plenty of people like posts on Facebook based on the poster, only
occasionally taking into consideration the first word of the post in
question, before actually reading them.
Yes, the proliferation of “liking” on Facebook bothers me. I don’t
expect everybody to reply meaningfully to everything when they just want
to express approval lightly. However, when I see that tiny minority of
people handing them out to people in their own threads like programs at
a concert, I become indignant. Under their influence, what was
originally a straightforward, meaningful badge of appreciation becomes a
handwavy gesture that carries virtually no weight, and then I don’t know
what to do when I see something I like seriously. Will clicking
that button still express the feeling strongly enough?
I accept that, in our stressful world, a few instant effortless gags
that take ten seconds to fully process and approve deserve a place.
Nevertheless, the number of people who seem to want to make the “like” a
completely passive and automatic action is almost physically
painful:
Some bloggers have a regular schedule for posting and forcing
themselves to meet the deadlines. In essence, something like “updates
every Thursday.”
For me, I think this is a bad idea, because it forces me to write. If
my day is boring and uneventful as it quite often is and I still have to
crank out a post, it would not be a post that readers would enjoy.
Better once-a-month enthusiastic, interesting posts then an ugly stream
of tedious drudgery for the visitor to wade through every time, stuff
like (quoting one random ancient post):
A new year. A new start. And just a chance to abuse the phrase “See
you next year!” It’s hard to get tired of using it once every 365.24
days.
So, I have decided to open up my other blog to people.
There are a few reasons for not doing so previously. Firstly, there’s
a lot of silly writing with unexplained LOLs and exclamations all over
the place in the archives, not to mention the countless other sorts of
weirdness linked to the handle I’m using here that’s spread over the
rest of the interwebz. But I like to keep old stuff as some kind of
record that my past self existed, and I’ve given up being embarrassed
about them. And anyway, now and then I’m still performing embarrassing
acts that outstrips any of this stuff by miles.
When I was thirteen*, the world was a different place to me. I
imagined thousands of creepy people staring at computer screens out
there, waiting to kidnap children and sell them to clients halfway
across the globe the instant they figured out their addresses and
statuses as minors. I don’t blame that old me; there has been at least
one computer class devoted to videos of this type.
Note: This post is backdated. I am writing this post
in 2019 because, as part of the Big
2017 Remigration, I have decided to delete most of the posts because
they were too embarrassing and sparse on information, but figured I
might keep a rundown of the highlights.
2011, on this blog:
Note: This post is backdated. I am writing this post
in 2018 because, as part of the Big
2017 Remigration, I have decided to delete most of the posts because
they were too embarrassing and sparse on information, but figured I
might keep a rundown of the highlights.
2010, on this blog:
Note: This post is backdated. I am writing this post
in 2018 because, as part of the Big
2017 Remigration, I have decided to delete most of the posts because
they were too embarrassing and sparse on information, but figured I
might keep a rundown of the highlights.
2009, on this blog:
Note: This post is backdated. I am writing this post
in 2018 because, as part of the Big
2017 Remigration, I have decided to delete most of the posts because
they were too embarrassing and sparse on information, but figured I
might keep a rundown of the highlights.
2008, on this blog:
Note: My 2008 self wrote this. It is selectively
preserved for historical interest and amusement from a lot of similar,
chronologically nearby posts. That’s all.
Hooray! I got a new banner! Is there something rebellious lurking
just beyond my grasp?