Titrations

I entered a titration competition on Monday. If you don't know what titration means, here's a dictionary defintion for all you losers out there:

Titration: to ascertain the quantity of a given constituent by adding a liquid reagent of known strength and measuring the volume necessary to convert the constituent to another form.

We had to titrate standardized HCl against NaOH, then use the NaOH to work out the concentration of 3 different acetic acids.You probably don't understand what I'm saying if you don't understand chemistry. Noob.

Anyway, I was part of the team competing representing the school, competing against other schools in the state. We had little time for preparation or practise: we literally signed up the day the competition was on. Then we strolled in 5min late because I insisted on eating all my food (slowly) before we went there. On arrival we saw all these private school kids in their custom-made lab coats, with their own logos and team names etc. I wore a borrowed lab coat that was splashed with colored chemicals. Shabby public school kids ftw.

...Aaaaand of course we didn't win. Don't think anyone expected it though. We made it into the finals, and I'm happy enough about that. We were quite close to the actual value... it's just that we weren't close enough. Oh well. I thought it was a game of chance, anyway. We had to use the 4th decimal place. I messed up with the phenolphthalein, and my darker solutions used less NaOH than my lighter ones.

Then the competition was finally over, and we were invited to a supper. That was like 1/2 the reason I went to the competition in the first place. Food was good, I burnt my fingers grabbing it, shoved people out of the way to reach the plate, and took like a massive handful when I got there when everyone else was taking just one piece. I guess I'm a massive scrub.

In the end the results were announced, and ironically we beat most of those fancy private schools. My team ended up outside on a court, dancing in the middle of the night and blasting shitty pop music. I think we were happy about how we didn't completely fail.

Good times.

The Olympics Which I'm Not Watching

I'm not a big fan of sport, whether it's watching people play or playing myself. I know the Olympics are on, but I actually haven't sat down and watched a single event yet. Our massive TV in the lounge is broken, and Dad is too lazy--- oh sorry, too "busy" to find the warranty paper. If I recall correctly, he paid an extra hundred to extend the warranty for an extra year when we bought the TV. Gawd.

So I guess what I'm saying is I have no idea wtf is happening in the Olympics. All my sources of news come from the internet... and I can only hope it's reliable. I read about how that Chinese girl (Shiwen Ye) smashed a record, and was accused of cheating afterwards.

...because there's a correlation between one person breaking records and another drowning

My parents were enraged, and Dad started talking about how every other race was racist, in a racist way. Oh the irony. Personally I thought it was a bit harsh to accuse her of taking drugs when there's no evidence... and saying that "she's Chinese and the Chinese use advanced drugs but they'll show up 10-20 years later"...

Man I wish there was a way for us to round up all the stupid people in this world and wipe them out. Kill it before it spawns! (Wow, I sound like Hitler)

Then there are all these people yapping on about how the Australian team was disappointing and hardly had any gold medals... Even though I understand the concept of patriotism, I still can't understand why anyone is upset over that... Sure it's like your country is losing in sport... but so what? At least we're not like, a poverty stricken 3rd world country. Eh, I'm probably missing the point. I guess it's reasonable to feel disappointment, but I still don't see the need for causing such a large commotion over it.

The worst part of the Olympic news I'm receiving? It seems that almost every place is making a meme about some Australian weightlifter who didn't shave her armpit. The meme was funny while it lasted, but then the comments disgusted me. Like, this woman made it into the Olympics, and all people care about is how she has hairy armpits. I know shaving is generally expected of females... but that's no reason to insult someone.

*sigh*

I remember being excited about the Olympics, when I was younger. Now that I've grown older... all I see is how the Olympics brings out the worst in everyone.

Maths is going to my head

Weekend of maths maths maths maths. I feel as if I'm experiencing death by slow poisoning. Like I'm swallowing 5 grams of lead every day. For a month. Except it's only been 2 days. I have immense amounts of maths homework, and yet another lab report to write for chemistry. Due to my crappy work ethic, I've finished something like 1/5 of my maths and I haven't started chemistry. This is not going to end well, is it?

Sadly, I don't feel like doing anything else except for maths. It's like I'm procrastinating with more work. Except once I decide to start working I notice how cold it is and how many distractions there are. For every maths question I do I feel like taking a break.

Let me tell you what happened the other day. It was the 2nd of August. I have a habit of dating my pages. Sometimes I date every page, sometimes I'll only date the start of the section, but there's always a way to trace the date I wrote something. So as I wrote down 2/8/12, I thought to myself, "why do I bother writing 2/8? I could've just written 1/4. Then I saw the 12 and I thought wait, I can simplify down further, 1/4/3? No, I can't divide 12 by 4 there, that's not simplifying. I should've divided it by 2 with along with the rest when I started. But why is there a stupid 12 in this fraction?" I almost never write a fraction over a fraction, because I prefer to change it into multiplication. Then it struck me. 12 stood for 2012. I was recording the fucking date. I don't need to simplify.

At that point I buried my face in my hands, wondering whether I was insane. Then about a second later I continued doing maths.

...Can I go on a real holiday already?

If I Had A Theorem

In maths the other day we were discussing what it'd be like if we could come up with our own theorem. A friend and I thought we had found a way to count regions of planar graphs when they were still in their non-planar form, but then it turned out that our conjecture worked for all of 2 cases. Oh well. However, we were not discouraged, and then we thought, what if one day, we actually came up with a legitimate theorem?

Being the humorous person I am, I thought to myself: how funny would it be, if I gave my theorem a ridiculous name that teachers would have to teach in schools? I wanted something long and stupid sounding- then I thought: what if they abbreviated it? I'll just make the abbreviation a rude word. If they use only the first word of the theorem, they'll realise that it is also a rude word. The first letter? Heh, the first letter can be F. "The F Theorem". Then I was beside myself with laughter.

Later in the day, while I was with two other friends wasting time in chemistry, I told them about my idea. They found it highly amusing, though they commented on my immaturity. I must point out, however, that the following name was a joint collaboration:
Fukyu Armadillo Rainforest Kryptonite Theorem.


It was lucky that the noise of the chemistry lab drowned out the sounds of our laughter.

Then I recommended a more subtle name, as I am sure the Fukyu Armadillo Rainforest Kryptonite theorem would cause some controversy. Being the witty person I am, I said, "why don't we cut it down to one word? We'll call it... "Far-Q" It was a brilliant name, as we soon realised that everything, when renamed "Far-Q" became immensely more entertaining.

I spoke of my dream of becoming an entrepreneur, and I will be the president of Far-Q Enterprises. Maybe I'll go into pharmaceutical research, and sell Far-Q Pills. Then one day, when I take over the world---The United Nations of Far-Q. Maybe I'll start my own online-dating service, with the slogan "Far-Q, and only you." Maybe I'll be a jeweler- "Diamonds Are Forever"? Please, "Far-Q Forever". Or one day, when I receive a Nobel Prize for discovering the strand of molecules which cures cancer--- I'll name it "Far-Q". Though admittedly it'd be more ironic if it cured AIDS. Oooh, there's another one- "Far-Q Contraceptives". My friends, being the wonderful friends they are, soon joined me. "Planet Far-Q", "The Far-Q Galaxy"--- there was also the suggestion of creating a computer virus and naming it "Far-Q" "The University of Far-Q", located in the country of Far-Q. "Far-Q Funeral Services"


Maaaan, the list goes on and on. So many ideas, so many possibilities. All of them so very entertaining. If this is being immature- well I hope I never "grow up".

University Appications

The university admissions guide was handed out today- I flipped through it in the morning, looking at the courses I might be interested in. It gave me great satisfaction, seeing how my entrance score qualified me for the vast majority of the courses. I could literally pick and choose whatever the fuck I wanted. So I was pretty happy, and I checked out course descriptions, prerequisites, additional requirements etc., etc.

Then I came home and tossed the guide to my Dad. To nobody's surprise he was too lazy to look through it himself, and instead asked me whether I qualified for medicine. 

"Uh yeah... I've met the lower limit for med in every uni except for X"

Then Dad raged. The way my grandmother would if I ever said anything vaguely critical regarding communism and Mao. Then came the interrogation. What happened wtf did you do is there a chance of recovery how come you can't get into med now I thought you said you were okay before blah blah blah.

...I wish he actually listened to what I said. The only course which I didn't qualify for was a double degree of med + whatever else they offered. You need an entrance score of 99.95 to be considered. I'm... not going to get there. I'll be lucky if I hit 99. However, I can apply for med in every other university except for that one. Come on, there is more than one med school in this country. FFS.

Then at dinner he rewrote his fantasy for my future, now that he believes med is no longer an option. He reckons a double degree in law and accounting/economics/finance sounds good. I personally dislike accounting/economics/finance, though all 3 seem like they'd make good money. As for law... I'm unsure whether I like law itself or whether I like the prestige associated with becoming a lawyer. 

I wish I could be an author or an artist. I'd love to write all day, or draw all day.