last post for ENDS (maybe last post for a long time)

The nearly semester-long assignment for my ENDS 101 class--basically to formally record our thoughts and such--is due this Thursday, two days from tonight. Sadly, I've only made a few posts here and there. The two reasons for my lack of posting are apathy (frankly, I grew out of blogging halfway through high school) and being busy with homework or finding other things to do. I will say I've attended every lecture so far, including today's, except for one I mentioned in the previous post, when I went to the bi-annual Lost and Found Auction on March 11, hosted by MSC Hospitality.

A few things that are going on:

I've put CrunchBang Linux 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) on my desktop. It's dual-booting with Windows 7, which I imagine I'll be leaving on there for as long as I have my current desktop; once I upgrade the parts and such, ideally I'd like to move completely over to Linux. Anyway, I planned on installing CrunchBang Linux 10 "Statler", Alpha 1, but it doesn't even install. Up until "statler", CrunchBang has been built from Ubuntu, but is now built directly from Debian. Soon, I will try installing vanilla Debian to see whether my problem with Statler stems from Debian sources simply being incompatible with my hardware, but for now I will be using 9.04. Annoyingly, "statler" installed fine on my netbook, which is now dual-booting CrunchBang 8.10 and CrunchBang statler.

I have been having problems with getting the ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) drivers to work with my motherboard's on-board sound card. My PCI sound card apparently isn't supported yet in Linux, so I can only use the on-board sound; sadly, it still doesn't work. I feel I may be getting closer, but I'm still not there. Luckily, my USB speakers (which I originally bought for my netbook) works just fine, so I still have that to fall back to. Other than sound, I still have to test out running games through WINE, mostly in Steam. The Steam Store and Community pages don't work, which is disappointing.

I haven't been listening to a lot of new music lately, probably because I haven't been home as much as I used to. Right now I'm listening to Alcest's second and latest album "Écailles de lune" (2010). It's pretty good, but I like their debut album a little more. Search Google for them if you're interested (probably not).

Wong Fu Productions came to Texas A&M this past Saturday, April 24. It was a very good event and I'm glad I went. Just getting to meet & greet them was worth it. After it ended at about 11:30pm, I went to dinner with some members from the A&M chapter of the Chinese Students Association (CSA), most of whom I had never met. They were all very friendly and it was fun hanging out with them. We went to Kettle on Texas Ave. and Southwest Pkwy; I'm very disappointed that I'm just now finding out about that place, because the food was pretty great.

And as much as I look forward to being finished with this semester, I'm not looking forward to the summer. For one thing, I detest moving out; it's incredibly tedious and I've grown tired of it. Secondly, the summer job that I was hoping to get here in College Station doesn't seem like it's going to happen. The recruiter that I've been talking to has told me that the higher-ups and HR still haven't made their hiring decisions yet, so he's just about as much in the dark as all the prospective interviewees like me. I do appreciate his help over the past few months, and I just wish I could hear back soon. This means that I'll be heading back home to work at the engineering firm where I've work the past three summers; I seriously don't want to live at home with my parents anymore.

One of my friends is having his ring dunk this Friday night that I am definitely going to, and another Thursday night that I might be able to go to, depending on how long my CSCE 431 group wants to work on our project. As depressing as this may sound, I hope to get drunk at both of these ring dunks. The one and only time I've ever been drunk was at my own ring dunk last November, and I vividly remember how much I enjoyed my own euphoria; considering how this semester has been and what the summer has in store, I'm afraid this weekend will be the most enjoyable days I'll be able to have in the next few months.

Speaking of which, I'm going home this weekend by Greyhound to go to the Finnish Metal Tour 2010 to see Moonsorrow, Finntroll and Swallow the Sun in Fort Worth, TX. It's their last stop in the tour here in North America, so hopefully it'll be a good one. It will be my first ever concert or show of any kind, so I'm not too sure what to expect. I'm most likely going with someone from the Facebook group "Metal Heads", which should be fun as well.

Anyway, as the title suggests, I doubt I'll be posting much anymore after this Thursday. It's been a long post, so thanks for reading the whole thing if you did.