I Have Questions

1). My passport is about to run out, and so obviously I need to get it renewed. The cost of a passport has gone up a lot since I got mine ten years ago (the added cost is not just due to inflation, apparently we're all safer now too), and I'm wondering when to get mine renewed... Is it worth waiting until I can call myself Dr zero_zero_one? It's just so expensive to get amendments and changes made, that for the sake of six months it might be worth not having a passport. But then that's dumb, what does it matter if my passport says Dr or not? Am I really saying that I am not going to travel internationally until after I graduate? (to clarify, my current passport expires in April, and on my current timescale it is conceivable that I might not graduate until December)

2). (this one is rhetorical) Why, oh why, after spending time doing research, coming up with the idea and then writing it out, finishing the chapter for my thesis, does someone go and publish a paper on what I have been doing? Chapter 6 of my thesis is called "Kauffman Polynomials of Pretzel Links"; today my supervisor popped his head around the door and said, "I looked through the latest 'Knot Theory journal' yesterday, and there's a paper called 'The Kauffman Polynomials of Pretzel Knots' in there..." The good news is that I've taken a different approach to their paper (and also my supervisor said that the paper in the journal wasn't very readable), but still... I was hoping to publish a paper off the back of that thesis chapter, and that might not be as likely now.

3). Is the trailer for The Incredible Hulk any good? I'm really on the fence with this... I just can't decide whether or not I like the look of the Hulk or not. It reminds me a lot of the Hulk in the 1970s/80s cartoon that I used to watch as a kid, and that's no bad thing. Something that I don't like is how the party line ever since it was announced has seemed to be to try and distance itself from Ang Lee's Hulk film (which was very good in my opinion, though different from what nearly everyone was expecting I think). That's quite a weird thing to do.

4). Why can't girls just tell me that they like me? OK, perhaps I should explain: a few weeks ago I was browsing through a friend's Facebook page, and came across a box with my profile picture in. It was for an application called "Spark", and basically two women had clicked on me as "someone they would date." Because I am in the "friends list" of someone who has Spark I am available for people to click yes or no on, and leave a reason as to why they would want to date me. Intrigued, I signed up for Spark to see what it was all about. But here's the thing: Spark doesn't tell you who has clicked on you and said yes unless you also click on that person and say that you like them. I.e., unless there is some kind of mutual attraction. I left it installed on my Facebook account (but with no boxes or rubbish in my profile) and in the last few weeks two people have clicked yes on me, one because I'm funny and one because I have a great personality. That's all very well and good ladies, but since I am neither psychic nor financially wealthy enough to employ the services of a private eye, what am I supposed to do about this? Seriously, what's wrong with asking if I want to do something some time, whoever you are?

Oh I see! I'm supposed to spend all my time on Spark, sifting through pictures of girls and clicking yes or no in the vain hope that I come across you.

Righto then, I'll get right on that.

More soon.

Proof and Wonder

I've spent most of yesterday and today (and some of the weekend) thinking about a proof concerning partitions that I needed for the chapter that I am currently writing up. It seemed something small and insignificant in a way, until I realised that the truth of what I was asserting was not as obvious as I thought and would require a separate Lemma/Theorem to show it (not sure whether it is a Lemma or if it is cool enough to be granted Theorem status).

Anyway, ten minutes ago I finally finished a proof of it, and the feeling is just great. I need to write down some more notation for it, as my pages currently have some diagrams representing things which I'll have to do algebraically, but basically I'm done. It was the last thing I needed for this chapter. Hopefully my supervisor will just find cosmetic changes needed from now on.

Yeah, it feels pretty sweet to have that done, and in the immediate seconds and minutes after completing it I wondered if there was anything that could top that today. Five minutes later I saw this video and I realised that something could.

Getting the proof is a wonderful feeling - then seeing something wonderful like an octopus' camouflage in action is utterly brilliant. Despite all the ugly things in life, this is an amazing world.

Hmm. I think that's me done for the day.