Dealing with Myself
There've been a few times recently when I've just felt very overwhelmed, and though I don't care to elaborate, I will say I think part of the reason is because I keep too much inside of me. Don't know if that's just by nature or because I haven't given communication a chance or because I suck at communication and haven't made the effort to improve?
Anyways, the best summary for how I'm feeling is the Beatles' song Help.
I'm okay, though.
Halloween Costume, continued
I lied about the next step in my cube costume construction process. Not the "tiles," but cutting the holes for my head and arms.
Due to the many pictures, the rest of this journal entry will be on a new page.
Tiles next.
Halloween Costume
I haven't really done much cubing since I got to Yale, mainly because I don't have the time to really train or learn something new, but also because I'd like to get to know people without immediately having the cube associated with me. I'm more than just "that cube guy," just like all of us are more than just our passions and interests.
I find when the first thing people discover about me is that I cube, they sort of disregard everything else. I end up having extended conversations about the cube, and not much about anything else. In some ways, I'm so used to talking about cubing that I'm awkward talking about other things just because I lack the experience. So in new environments, I now try to store away my cubes until I get to know some people. It works out well if someone meets the cuber me after getting to know the non-cubing me. In this case, the person (hopefully) already is interested in the non-cubing me, and then when he or she (Wow, it's so annoying having to use "he or she" to refer to "someone" just to be grammatically correct. Screw this, I'm using "they" from now on. I prefer colloquialism.) meets the cuber me, they don't become overly-obsessed with the cuber me and forget about the non-cubing me.
I realize a lot of people are genuinely interested in the cuber me because cubing is something unique to many people, but when people first meet the cuber me, it seems once the cubing topic is exhausted (which does take a while), they lose interest in me before having even met the non-cubing me. The cuber me is probably one of the more interesting things about me, but I believe there's more to me than that.
Here's an analogy I thought of. Imagine watching all the most exciting parts of a movie first, and then going back and watching the whole thing. It'd probably be really boring because (well, apart from the obvious reason that you know a lot about what's going to happen) you've already been shocked and surprised and provoked by the most exciting parts ahead of time, so everything else that's not at a high intensity level is dulled. Maybe that's how people react when they first meet the cubing me and then they meet the non-cubing me. First highly interesting, then not so interesting. Just like a movie has to be watched from the beginning the first time to better appreciate the subtleties and the progression and rising action of the movie, I think it works better if people meet the non-cubing me first before meeting the cuber me.
Anyways, that was a pretty lengthy introduction to what this journal entry was really supposed to be about. Putting all that aside, I found the WP Birthday Calendar and was inspired by October's picture:
I decided I had to make a Rubik's Cube costume like Glus's. So yesterday, I went to Staples to buy some stuff and got started. I've decided to document my construction process with help from my new digital camera.
 | The supplies I got from Staples: Large construction paper of various colors, box-cutters, masking tape (for heavy-duty taping and reinforcement of the box), double-sided tape (for attaching the construction paper), and black art tape (for drawing the grid on the cube) |
 | I couldn't buy these boxes individually, so I bought the smallest pack (3). Total cost of all art supplies + boxes: $30.78 (tax included). Paid with my PJ Graduation $40 debit card. |
 | |
 | Okay, my face is not that greasy normally; the picture truncation greatly exaggerated the sweat. |
 | The shipping boxes were 20" x 20" x 24", but conveniently the 24" height can be reduced to 20" by cutting the corners to a pre-creased 20" line. |
 | A (20")^3 box! |
Next is measuring and marking the box and cutting "tiles" for my cube. But I got comp sci homework to do now. See ya!
P.S.: I realize sporting this Halloween costume is kinda inconsistent with my introduction to this journal entry, but (1) I can't resist, (2) a lot of people, especially those I'll probably be keeping close to, will already know the non-cuber me pretty well, and (3) it's about time to start a cubing scene at Yale!