Samba

Well, as the semester draws to a close, ballroom gets more and more hectic. Just last thursday, my team learned one whole new routine. It is (any guesses?) a samba routine. So last friday, and today, we went over the technique for samba. Needless to say, it is a very difficult dance, technique wise. There is a lot more to it then the rumba and cha cha. It is, quite literally, kicking my butt. I am going to be practicing the technique for this thing for a long time. The only problem is, there's just a little less then two weeks before the concert. I was able to borrow a practice cd from the EB office, that has just samba music, and hopefully I'll be able to pick up on the technique enough to practice it correctly when no one else is around.

Other then that, I just have to keep my head above water for my other classes. I have two poems due tomorrow, and a research paper that I have to start and finish by next week. And considering that next week is concert week, next week is going to be Hell (so to speak). But after that it should be all smooth sailing from then on.

Guilt Factor

Ok, I'm a bit angry. One of my friends is trying to guilt trip me into doing things. I hate that so much. I have had my fair share of experiences with unnecessary guilt. And I have to say that it pisses me off when people try to make me feel guilty. Before, I had experiences where I was feeling so guilty over nothing, that I blamed myself for things that weren't even in my control. Needless to say, guilt does not really work on me anymore, unless I make myself feel guitly. I find it extremely immature and childish to try to guilt trip someone into feeling a certain way. So if anyone want's to try to see my wrath turned on them, that's the fastest road to it.

Anyways, now I've got to go get an essay written, and find some material for a presentation I'm doing on Thursday.

"Sometimes it's black, sometimes it's white, sometimes she's wrong, sometimes I'm right..."

So, I realize that the last post had nothing to do with anything. Here's why. I had a math 1050 test on Friday, and I'm sure I got one of the problems wrong, so I've been thinking about it all weekend, and that's kinda what happens when I think about math too long. Now for the real update about how things are going.

I'm quite amused with my own stupidity. I'm sure everyone has gone through an experience, where they are ignoring the obvious (whether on purpose or not), and then their friend comes up and shows it to them. I don't know about anyone else, but that makes me feel really stupid. Something similar to that has happened to me lately, and I'm feeling really stupid at my lack of noticing the obvious. What really drives it home was I noticed it at first, and then I chose to ignore it, and it almost seemed to disappear. It was a little bit of wishful thinking mixed with a friend that was over-exaggerating things that were misinterpreted. I guess I wanted it to be true, and at first I knew it wasn't, and then I thought it was. And now, I just laugh at myself because of it.

I did go on a date last Friday. It was a whole lot of fun. I went with my friend Maddy, and my roommates. We wanted to have a bonfire/music/dance party, and we wanted to make it into a date, so we did. Three of my roommates went, with their dates, and my roommate's sister, and her date. It was a lot of fun, and I definitely enjoyed spending time with Maddy, and getting to know her better.

I do have to say, it seems a lot easier for me to get dates this year than ever before. I'm not quite sure why. Maybe it's because I am more outgoing, so I find it easier to ask girls on dates. Maybe there's another reason. I'm not sure.

Anyways, enough of my ramblings about that. I am going to be performing with the rest of the ballroom dance company on Tuesday and Thursday of this week. It's going to be a lot of fun. If I don't count the parade (which I don't), then this will be our first performance. We went over our routine in the ballroom on Thursday, and it went really well. I can already tell it's going to be an awesome year.

That's about all I can think of right now that is going on. I'm sure I'll think of more later, but until then I'm just going to take it easy, and enjoy the weekend while it lasts. (I have a pretty big paper to finish tomorrow, but until then...)

Graphs of rational functions

I am a nerd, and if anything, this post will only go to support that fact, and show people how much of a nerd I really am. In my math class, we were talking about common functions and their graphs. One of them is a rational function, which has some sort of polynomial, divided by some sort of polynomial. The thing that makes a rational function fun (for me) is the fact that it has asymptotes, or certain parts of the graphs that it will never touch, but approaches. Take for example, if you had a rational function with x² - 1 as the denominator, there would be vertical asymptotes at x = 1, and x = -1. So as the function approaches 1, or -1, the graph of the rational function would approach the line x = 1, and x = -1, but never touch or cross it. There are also horizontal asymptotes and oblique asymptotes, depending on what degree the numerator is in relation to the denominator. Sometimes, and I'm not exactly sure of the rules on this, the function can cross the oblique or horizontal asymptote. You simply put the asymptote equal to the function, and solve for x, and if you come up with a number, it crosses that asymptote at that value of x.

Up until a few days ago, I thought that was it. But that's not all. When I was looking for material to study for my math test online (since I had forgotten my book), I found there are other asymptotes that are not linear. They exist for functions where the denominator is 2 or more degrees less then the numerator. This is found with long division of the rational function (maybe more on this later). But a function will approach these asymptotes that are non-linear as well, and sometimes cross them. Here is an example of a function with a non-linear asymptote that I have graphed using graphing software on the computer.

The non-linear asymptote in this case is the function y = x² + 4x + 9. And when you set this function equal to the rational function, the solution is x = -3/4, and you can see that the function crosses this asymptote at x = -3/4. (if you want a closer look at the graph, click on the picture, and it should open up a full size of it on another page). Anyways, I just found this interesting, that asymptotes didn't necessarily have to be linear.

Being Sick is Distracting

I caught a cold last week, on Thursday. I didn't really go anywhere or do anything since that day, and so right now I'm feeling rested. More rested than I have felt in a while anyways. I'm still a little sick, but I think the worse part of it is over now. I feel like there are a million things I should be doing, I just can't find the motivation to do them.

I'm upset right now, over something that I won't go into yet. Let's just say I've almost reached my breaking point, and there's not a whole lot more I'll be able to take before something in my mind snaps. More on this later, depending on which turn the situation takes.

I was able to make it to salsa on Thursday, before I had to shut down for the weekend. It was a blast. So very much fun. I'd like to apologize now to all of my friends who had to deal with me and my asking them constantly if they would be going. I just have a whole lot of fun with salsa, or any kind of ballroom dance actually, that i just don't want anyone to miss out. And I realize (at least consciously) that not everyone enjoys it. Anyways, it's going to be a whole lot of fun, so if you're in town and have time, then come.

I think that about sums it up for now. I'll post more when my mind is completely clear from the cold I caught.