Poi!
So, I headed into Uni today to meet up with people and avoid studying - it was just too nice a day to stay in (and coming from me, it's got to be a really nice day to drag me out of doors...) I randomly met one of my old school friends, whom I bump into every few months, and we chatted on the train about the End Of It All (after almost twenty years in full-time education, it's gonna be weird to leave) and moving out and suchlike (I lived in Dundee over the summer, and living with the parents again feels pretty weird).
After a short detour via L10 - which we left at speed, due to potential impending Drama - we ended up heading to the Counting House for lunch. I partook of a bottle of Herold Black, a Czech black lager which was really rather tasty - I think I may be buying it again. Another detour via the shops (ink for the fountain pen, as I seemed to have thrown out my packet of cartridges, and some nice shirts to go with my suit) then we ended up lounging on the grass in George Square soaking up the sun and enjoying the summery atmosphere.
I'm usually a winter person, but this winter just got me really down - mostly the lack of any decently cold frosty weather, and an overabundance of obstinately overcast dreary dull days. It's been great seeing the sun again, and not being constantly cold any more. Hmm, I sound like my mum ... perhaps I'm just getting old.
So, six o'clock rolled around, and I still didn't feel like heading back home to the prospect of studying or sitting bored in my room. I ended up following everyone else to SURGe, despite not actually being in any games - which turned out not to be a problem, since Jamie had brought a pair of poi.
I've seen people playing with these in L10 (there's a Union club called 'Devil's Playthings', centring around juggling, poi, diabolo etc, and many of the members are L10 regulars) but I'd always been too shy and unconfident to ask for a shot - I'm terribly uncoordinated, so I guessed that I wouldn't be able to do anything with them without hours of practise.
The poi were immediately seized upon by Pirate Euan (who's been practising them for months), who proceeded to teach Mike how to spin them. After a while, I ended up having a go - and, while I hit myself with them plenty of times, I did manage to get them spinning and crossing. I practised some more while people obtained and ate food, and while the game was setting up, and after about twenty minutes of wrapping poi round various body parts and hitting myself in the head, I eventually managed to get the three beat weave (one of the most basic patterns, and the one which Mike learned in minutes, damn him) down pat. Mike and I ended up taking turns at practising throughout the entire evening, with Euan occasionally popping up to show us a new trick. I managed to get a reel turn working, too, plus some random other moves.
I'm really rather pleased about all of this - as I mentioned above, my dexterity is awful, so being able to do something like this (even if it's only at rank beginner level) is great fun! It's also somewhat applicable to drumming, in that my lack of manual dexterity and timing adversely affects my performance on the drums - if I can improve these via poi, it might make me suck less as a drummer.
I may actually end up obtaining my own set of poi, if I can find somewhere to practise with no breakable objects within poi reach. I just need to remember to take my glasses off when practising - at one point I hit myself so hard in the face that I fell over and my glasses flew off; once I recovered and retrieved the glasses, I had to readjust the nose pieces which had gotten a bit bent.
---
Speaking of the suit, I had my project demonstration a couple of days ago - both to my supervisor and second marker, and an 'industry showcase' to interested employers. There weren't many employers who turned up, and those who did only seemed to speak to a few people - but of the two who did speak to me, I had interesting half-hour conversations with each, which was rather encouraging. I even got a business card from one of them, who seemed interested in sponsoring projects. The project demo also went well - basically, I sat with my supervisor and second marker and enthused at them for half an hour, after which they seemed quite impressed.
So, that's my project finally over - just the marks to get back now. Had a conversation about releasing it as open source - I might do this at some point; I'm not entirely sure what use it would have to anybody, but what the hell, it's better than burying it on a hard drive and forgetting about it (although, come to think of it, given the flakiness and weird design of some of the code, perhaps that is a suitable fate for it...)
---
Last weekend was also fun. I was feeling really down - again, from being shut away in my room for too long, unable to convince myself to study despite looming exams. Nate had been trying to entice me up to Dundee, which I'd declined, since I was planning to use the weekend for studying. He even promised that we'd splash out on a bottle of wine if I came up. Eventually, I realised that I really wasn't going to get anything done, and booked last-minute tickets up ... then kept it quiet from Nate until I wandered into the flat on Friday evening. He made good on the promise of the wine, too - we ended up having a lovely dinner, followed by a generally great weekend. I can't wait to move up there permanently - what with the exam-related stress and suchlike things, it seems like an age between the times that we're able to see each other.
After a short detour via L10 - which we left at speed, due to potential impending Drama - we ended up heading to the Counting House for lunch. I partook of a bottle of Herold Black, a Czech black lager which was really rather tasty - I think I may be buying it again. Another detour via the shops (ink for the fountain pen, as I seemed to have thrown out my packet of cartridges, and some nice shirts to go with my suit) then we ended up lounging on the grass in George Square soaking up the sun and enjoying the summery atmosphere.
I'm usually a winter person, but this winter just got me really down - mostly the lack of any decently cold frosty weather, and an overabundance of obstinately overcast dreary dull days. It's been great seeing the sun again, and not being constantly cold any more. Hmm, I sound like my mum ... perhaps I'm just getting old.
So, six o'clock rolled around, and I still didn't feel like heading back home to the prospect of studying or sitting bored in my room. I ended up following everyone else to SURGe, despite not actually being in any games - which turned out not to be a problem, since Jamie had brought a pair of poi.
I've seen people playing with these in L10 (there's a Union club called 'Devil's Playthings', centring around juggling, poi, diabolo etc, and many of the members are L10 regulars) but I'd always been too shy and unconfident to ask for a shot - I'm terribly uncoordinated, so I guessed that I wouldn't be able to do anything with them without hours of practise.
The poi were immediately seized upon by Pirate Euan (who's been practising them for months), who proceeded to teach Mike how to spin them. After a while, I ended up having a go - and, while I hit myself with them plenty of times, I did manage to get them spinning and crossing. I practised some more while people obtained and ate food, and while the game was setting up, and after about twenty minutes of wrapping poi round various body parts and hitting myself in the head, I eventually managed to get the three beat weave (one of the most basic patterns, and the one which Mike learned in minutes, damn him) down pat. Mike and I ended up taking turns at practising throughout the entire evening, with Euan occasionally popping up to show us a new trick. I managed to get a reel turn working, too, plus some random other moves.
I'm really rather pleased about all of this - as I mentioned above, my dexterity is awful, so being able to do something like this (even if it's only at rank beginner level) is great fun! It's also somewhat applicable to drumming, in that my lack of manual dexterity and timing adversely affects my performance on the drums - if I can improve these via poi, it might make me suck less as a drummer.
I may actually end up obtaining my own set of poi, if I can find somewhere to practise with no breakable objects within poi reach. I just need to remember to take my glasses off when practising - at one point I hit myself so hard in the face that I fell over and my glasses flew off; once I recovered and retrieved the glasses, I had to readjust the nose pieces which had gotten a bit bent.
---
Speaking of the suit, I had my project demonstration a couple of days ago - both to my supervisor and second marker, and an 'industry showcase' to interested employers. There weren't many employers who turned up, and those who did only seemed to speak to a few people - but of the two who did speak to me, I had interesting half-hour conversations with each, which was rather encouraging. I even got a business card from one of them, who seemed interested in sponsoring projects. The project demo also went well - basically, I sat with my supervisor and second marker and enthused at them for half an hour, after which they seemed quite impressed.
So, that's my project finally over - just the marks to get back now. Had a conversation about releasing it as open source - I might do this at some point; I'm not entirely sure what use it would have to anybody, but what the hell, it's better than burying it on a hard drive and forgetting about it (although, come to think of it, given the flakiness and weird design of some of the code, perhaps that is a suitable fate for it...)
---
Last weekend was also fun. I was feeling really down - again, from being shut away in my room for too long, unable to convince myself to study despite looming exams. Nate had been trying to entice me up to Dundee, which I'd declined, since I was planning to use the weekend for studying. He even promised that we'd splash out on a bottle of wine if I came up. Eventually, I realised that I really wasn't going to get anything done, and booked last-minute tickets up ... then kept it quiet from Nate until I wandered into the flat on Friday evening. He made good on the promise of the wine, too - we ended up having a lovely dinner, followed by a generally great weekend. I can't wait to move up there permanently - what with the exam-related stress and suchlike things, it seems like an age between the times that we're able to see each other.