I'm perched by the windowsill outside Brenda's French Soul Food as I reflect upon this grim reality: only two weeks remain in the fantastic ride that has been (and, for now, still is) my last co-op term down here in San Francisco. (Why Brenda's? I yelped reasonably-priced breakfast joints and sorted by top rated, and this is what I got.) Two weeks - not enough time to seriously launch into a new project at work, nor enough time to truly complete my haphazard exploration of this most multifaceted of cities. Every end-of-term comes with equal parts trepidation and excitement, and this one is no exception.

What next? I'll be heading back up to Waterloo to cap off my undergraduate education. Before that happens, though, I've got (in no particular order) a company holiday party to attend, a certain club by the name of DNA Lounge to pay one last visit, a game of Capture-the-Flag to play, a bottle of tequila to buy (so I can take advantage of the token customs allowances!), a work term report to write, two presentations to give, a couple of projects at work to bring to a satisfactory close, a handful of friends in Vancouver to visit...the list goes on; as usual, it's so much to do, so little time. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Then what? I've studiously ignored this question for much of the past four years, pausing only briefly to give it any thought whatsoever. As I approach graduation, however, this question seems to be popping up with exponentially increasing frequency. According to the hard-earned wisdom of generations past, it is considered Unconscionably Short-Sighted to not have A Plan - and yet that wisdom seems quaint now, politely antiquated when faced with the constant upheaval that has come to characterize modern life. It has never been so commonplace for best-laid plans to go awry. Insofar as I have made any post-undergrad decisions, here they are:

• My decision to spend a while travelling after undergrad is absolutely non-negotiable. I will have spent the better part of five years in the teeter-totter rat-race training ground that is co-op, flipping like high-voltage AC between work and school, and I desperately crave the opportunity to sample the other possibilities offered by this short existence we have on Earth.
• That said, I'll be signing up for the next round of GREs - why not? - and making the round of grad school applications at some point.
• I'll also keep contacts at the places I've worked for. This is rightly considered Good and Smart, and I've no qualms with jamming my feet into as many doors as humanly possible.

Context switch - having finished my breakfast in the cramped temple to tastiness that is Brenda's (Yelp does not lie - the beef cutlets and grits are indeed both packed with deliciousness, and the bottomless watermelon iced tea is wonderfully pulpy), I've meandered my way over to Ferry Building to borrow wireless and power off Peet's. The hallways are packed on weekends, tourists and locals alike buzzing around in the frantic search for produce to the reverberating refrains of street performers - a lucrative profession in this part of town, where no one sets foot without consciously agreeing to part ways with their gold. This may very well be the last time I set foot in this building for quite some time; next weekend is decidedly busy, and the weekend after is earmarked for the aforementioned jaunt up the coast to Vancouver.

Anything else? I still haven't seen Alcatraz, but I consider this no great loss; the only proper way to see it would be late at night, a sort of reverse infiltration that would ideally be carried out by boat. This is my first real post at the new site; it remains to be seen whether this will precipitate a noticeable shift in writing style. I should start posting more regularly, if only to prepare for my travels next summer - my less itinerant friends and relatives will demand compensation for my absence in the form of chances to live vicariously through me, something which I certainly owe them more of.

Anyways, that's it for now. Owing to my unusually pensive state, I've rambled on for far longer than I had hoped - and so, my fingers having reached exhaustion, I shall leave you all with a simple exhortation: keep posted!

6:00 am. There is something brutal and savage about stepping off a red-eye flight into the flickering fluorescent wash at Philadelphia to the tune of stock classical music, like a low-budget stage production of Clockwork Orange - any second now, I fear, my generally unorthodox wardrobe will spark senseless violence and mayhem. Then again, anyone voluntarily leaving California - especially as we begin this inevitable march towards Winter - is clearly expecting a rude shock to the system. Cats meow from somewhere in the open-concept holding cell known as The Waiting Area; before my sleep-deprived sensory apparatus has time to square this with the whole airport thing, a woman starts jerkily dancing along with the classical fare over out front of Gate B-13. There is a scent of rank feral desperation about the place, augmented by the ringtone interjections of crudely-produced hip-hop. The double shot of bourbon back in SFO has long worn off, leaving me woefully unequipped to handle the sort of ultraviolence that is surely headed my way. I hear they still have Public Lynchings in those pleasant atavistic backwaters of this fine country, and I can certainly muster enough blasphemy to make the ticket...

God Jesus! It seems the spirit of Hunter S. Thompson has crept into my brain, a direct frontal assault from the pages of my newly-finished copy of Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72. If you would claim to understand the intricate meanderings of politics, read this book - a better account of the haphazard chaos behind your average televised presidential campaign has never been given. No major newspaper could print this with a straight face without immediately forcing the termination of half their editorial staff, with the heads to be mailed to Washington for public display...and it seems my connecting flight is boarding, judging by the impatient queue slowly lurching towards the open gate. More to follow...

Aside from being the title of an awesome children's book (which may or may not still reside on my shelves), this phrase adequately sums up my situation here. I've got slightly under 72 hours to polish and document my Graphics project, touch up an essay on Church's solution to the Entscheidungsproblem of Hilbert's Program, and - of course! - push the trains struggle as far as possible.

(Yes, I know you can see the edges of the skybox in the above image. I probably won't have time to change that before the Graphics demo.)

On the real-time front, we've had a very fortunate breakthrough; the sensor polling bug fell before a quick debugging sprint yesterday morning. We're driving hard to get route-finding working tonight, as this will leave us all of Tuesday (as mentioned, I have other things to worry about tomorrow!) to put together our final demo. Given the time constraints, we'll likely have to go with something almost braindead-simple; the plan currently being floated around is to hack together a cat-and-mouse game using the trains.

But enough about schoolwork! I'm off to Germany on the 30th. Let's hope I manage to drag my bedraggled body to Pearson in time!

Final note: this blog has been very one-dimensional over the last month. Given my situation, this is perhaps understandable; nevertheless, I shiver with antici-

Delay(60);    // pause for 3s (one tick == 50 ms)

-pation at the prospect of having something other than Graphics or Real-Time to talk about.

(Not to be confused with Big5.) 5 hours of plane travel each way (despite the fact that a direct flight would probably take less than 2.) 5 pictures (four of airports and one of the best beer selection I've seen since...so I forgot to take real pictures. Oops.) 5 ten-spots laid out for extended-stay parking at YOW. 5 pancakes shuttled down my gaping maw. (At least I think it was 5. Really, the pan-sized ones can count for anywhere between 2 and 3 - say, e pancakes.) 5 bottles/cans of beer partaken of in the weekend. Coincidence? I think so. Anyways, Little 5 weekend was an absolute blast - I'd write more about it, but that's already been done for me.

A while back, I promised some basic regularity in my postings here. I've been somewhat lax with that, so here's the first in a rapid succession of updates covering my numerous activities this previous fortnight.

The weekend of April 17-19 brought me the inestimable bewilderment and pleasure of two lifetime firsts. It was my first visit to the beautiful bastion of historical import that is Quebec City. I only received a cursory overview of the city proper, however; the bulk of my weekend was spent engaging in the sort of faux-chicanery alluded to by the above snapshot. (I've got a few more here, among other random photos.) Yes - it was also my first time engaging in the bizarre yet alluring world of Live Action Role-Playing, which translates in French to the somewhat more poetic Grandeur Nature.

Imagine a weekend-long costume party where the attendees actually put in some effort, throw in some overtones of medieval fantasy, toss it all together with a heavy dose of guerilla theatre, and garnish lightly with pencil-and-paper role-playing geekdom. That gives some idea of the atmosphere here.

Of course, Imagika is one of the more politically-involved games out there, and so I spent much of my time randomly milling about while grasping desperately for some context as to how exactly a debate on slavery, a war against the descendants of dragons, the birth of a new god, a wayward monk whose teachings instilled madness, a roving band of necromantic cultists, and countless other subplots were connected. Owing to my status as a weak newcomer, I also spent a good deal of time faking death while awaiting the kindness of capable healers. Peu importe - it was still loads of fun, and I might even consider taking part in Waterloo By Night if my habitually overloaded schedule permits!

Speaking of Japan, the pictures from that trip are now available for public consumption. Enjoy!