Musings of an Awkward Berkeley Mechanical Engineer

I’ve been a photographer for a long time. I got my first digital camera when I was fourteen, and bought my first DSLR at 17, a Nikon D-40 which I still use to this day. I take pictures of all sorts of things, from Landscapes to Portraits to Light Painting, and more.

However, because of UC Berkeley, extracurriculars, being part of student organizations, etc, I haven’t had time to properly go out and take pictures with my D-40. I planned to remedy this with a trip to the East Coast over spring break, in order to visit some friends in New York and Boston.

Not wanting to check any bags, or really bring anything unnecessary that might be stolen or otherwise, I chose, in fact, not to bring my D-40. Instead, I brought this:

It's got Auto-Flash!

The GFM 35mm camera with Auto-Flash. Now, you may ask, where did you procure an actual honest to god film camera? Woot.com. On Christmas, I was able to secure a bag of crap, and the rest is history. This came in said bag of crap, and I haven’t had the chance to use it until now.

So, what came next was trying to procure film before I left for the East Coast in two days. I stopped by Walgreens and picked up a nice 4 pack of 2oo iso film ($8 with a coupon!) and was ready to start shooting…after I figured out how to load and start this thing.

The Purple Means it's High Class

The only thing I’m worried about is that the film will come out bad, but that’s part of what’s so enticing about film film to begin with.

One thing that I’ve always liked about Digital Cameras is the instant satisfaction. Knowing right away whether or not a picture is good, or if it even turned out, is a feat of modern technology.

What’s great about film though is the mystery. I love not knowing what exactly I’m going to be holding in my hands in a week or so. It’s like the whole traveling through time concept you have when you look at old pictures, but a lot more physical and over a shorter time frame. You never know what you’re going to get.

What I’m not excited for is whatever it costs to develop the film. Or scanning all the film I’m gonna put online. In the end though, it’s worth it for the mystery.

Once I develop the film I’ll post it here, or over at christianhandley.com/photography. I hope that 200 ISO is enough, and that Walgreens film is a reputable brand.

I’m not counting on it though.

I started off this night doing what I usually do every Sunday: teaching myself some complicated math in order to prepare myself for the hell that is UC Berkeley in the Spring. After turning up the Jonathan Coulton, I decided to crack open my latest purchase: Linear Algebra for Dummies.

Don't ask me what the building has to do with it.

Now I usually don’t purchase such books. I pride myself on paying ridiculous amounts of money for extremely expensive required textbooks, dragging myself through mindless drivel and example after example until I’ve finally pounded problem solving techniques into the small cavity that my brain inhabits. Usually what ends up happening, however, is that I coast through the year until finals roll around, before which I spend hours upon hours in the main stacks actually learning what it is I should have gradually absorbed over the course of the year.

What caused me to change my habits, albeit for now, is a combination of not having a New Year’s resolution and…well, frankly boredom. So I’ve turned to this, Linear Algebra for Dummies. Despite the title that deprecates its readers and the worrying disclaimer/liability, I dove in, head first.

Well, this just fills me with confidence.

Unlike some, I started with the introduction, making sure to familiarize myself with the book and it’s “conventions.” It talks about how the book is divided into parts, starting with the basics, moving onto linear transformations, evaluating determinants, etc etc. It also has a number of interesting icons that highlight certain sections, all essentially meaning “Read this part carefully!” After skimming the “Where To Go from Here” paragraph, I decided to turn to Part 1, and was greeted with a wonderful sight.

Hey, it's a comic! This makes math much more relatable and easy to understand!

Ok. It’s a comic. I get it, it makes the topic seem a lot friendlier! That’s fine, let’s just get to the math-

Oh Mary Jane Sterling, you Cad.

Wow. Um. Yeah. I guess I’ll go put on my shades? Luckily, from this point in,  actually jumps into the math. A little introduction into linear equations, systems of linear equations, and a little bit of matrices arrangement.

Now, I have a bit of a nervous tic, an idiosyncrasy, if you will. I tend to read out loud. It gets it into the air, makes me hear it and speak it, utilizing more senses than just my brain, you know? This turned out to be my downfall. I come to the second chapter, an easy introduction to vectors. The title of the chapter?

...Alliteration.

Now. As you’re reading this in your head, you think, “Christian, that isn’t anything bad at all, it’s not even completely alliterated!” To that, I respond with this:

Read it out loud.

Four V’s. There are four V’s in that sentences. Not counting the two hidden V’s in “2″, that’s almost at the V threshold!

Of course, my mind, being disobedient and hateful, halts my further quest for learning and forces me to return to the table of contents. This is where the real horror arises.

Oh god.

Here it surpasses the realm of alliteration…it enters a whole new ring of hell: rhyme. RHYME. But it, believe it or not, goes beyond that.

Part 4. Involving Vector Spaces. Pages 239-289, covering vector spaces to eigenvalues and -vectors.

Why. Why why why.

“Seeking Out Subspaces of Vector Spaces”? “Scoring Big with Vector Space Bases”? “Eyeing Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors.” Really Mary Jane Sterling!? Tongue twisters? In a book about proper math?

Needless to say, it’s going to be tough continuing my quest for higher learning surrounded by such puns. I guess I’m glad I’m studying to be an engineer instead of a writer, because, simply by osmosis, I could be radically writing ridiculous rants raucously. Really.