Thursday, November 3: finishing midterms, crazy republicans

[soid]

 Woke up at 9:10am – no, it was not hard, but I did feel I had the sleep debt. I thought for a minute that I should just skip this part 2 of Israel/Palestine lecture and get some more sleep. I could catch up later by reading the books. But then, I thought, this topic is so confusing, and it has so many parts that I'm unfamiliar with. It'd be good to hear what exactly the prof mentions in the lecture. I closed my eyes – I thought if I fall asleep, let be it. Then I don't know what exactly I thought – maybe that my "will" is stronger than my feelings, in Dostoevsky's sense, or that some extra sleep won't help anyway; but I did get up; I had some coffee, a croissant; then I headed to the lecture.

10-11:30am the Middle East. Palestine and Israel Part 2. I don't know what happened, but I didn't care. A series of events that I didn't care about; or maybe I didn't understand. Was I too sleepy? I opened my laptop and looked into the overnight model training results. It was still overfitting. I started running some other experiments. I tried to listen to the prof carefully. "A crucial turning point in both Palestine and Israel – less recognized so by Israeli historians..." and then blah blah blah and I don't know what the crucial point was, and he's moving on to another topic. Maybe he was just making fun of us, knowing we're tired?

Then working on the NLG paper, filling the gaps. I went to Barnard for my usual Thursday sushi lunch, but there stood some security people at the entrance: they said I can't enter today unless I have a class inside. I asked why, they said there was "an event" going on. I grabbed a box from a food truck then I went to Khovanov's office hours, hoping he would help me see through my last night confusion. It took me a bit to remember what I even was confused about last night. He gave me some insights, but then he looked quite sleepy too as if he was having his own professor's midterms too. Are professors too busy in the midterms too? I went to grab another coffee. 

2:40-4pm Topology. Covering spaces and its relation to the fundamental group. That there was just too much for today. Maybe I should have slept more this morning after all. I will catch up one morning when my mind is clear.

Then I wanted to finish my Topology homework in the math library. I sat next to an open window with the view on Broadway, and Barnard across Broadway. I noticed that cops encircled the Diana hall and many security personal around – those that didn't let me eat my sushi for lunch. Then some protesters showed up on Broadway. I finally googled it; it turned out Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton were giving a speech at Barnard in support of Hochul (our governor). More protests were coming and shouting curses. Here's a video – them shouting at our kids: "We are willing to die for our freedom! What are you willing to die for? Nothing!" I'm somewhere there, in the math building on the second floor, doing my topology homework while my brain is fried in crisis.

 

 

Watch on YouTube

“Arrest Adams” (the mayor of New York City). “Fuck Biden”. “Vax = Bioweapon”, “The CCP likes Schumer” (why not Pelosi, huh? Is it cause she went to Taiwan, unlike Mitchell McConnell?), “Wake up” (haha, I wish), “God Bless Donald Trump”, and similar stuff. What an awful parallel reality those people are living in? Many keywords on their signs – that had never heard before. Those keywords refer to crazy conspiracy theories. “Frazzledrip,” for example. I'm not convinced, but I'm convinced I should go vote this Tuesday. In terms of race, I'd say they were not all white, but definitely old people, suburban kind, looking unhealthy. I hope they enjoyed visiting New York. Interestingly, they use a lot of the term “working class” to identify themselves on their signs. I guess that is who they are - the working class. Am I a working class? I have no work, but all I do all days is work. I submitted my homework and went for a dinner.

 

Protesters

Reporter memorizing his speech from a notepad before broadcasting

Chilling at home in the evening. Writing my diary, put on some music, had some Rioja. Then trying to square the circle of my life: logically understand illogical, and the like stuff. I went to bed by 2am.