It's been a very filled 3 days since I got back. On Wednesday, I got my Probability midterm back with a score of 100 as previously stated, then went to the library to study a bit for history, got dinner, and then went with my Christian fellowship here to Columbia to hear Chuck Colson, former special counsel to President Nixon, speak about his conversion to Christianity at an event called the Veritas Forum. I liked very much that Colson was not politically correct: the professor doing the "interview" repeatedly tried to get him to say that all beliefs are true, which is of course logically impossible but is politically correct. The real meaning of tolerance is that I will let you say and believe what you want even when I disagree. It does not mean I must agree with everything you say!
It was a very nice night with pleasant temperatures: we drove up to Columbia in a van and returned by subway. NYC is quite beautiful at night when all the lights are on. It was not necessary to show ID (nor did one have to be a Columbia student) to go onto the Columbia campus, or into the ticket box office, or the auditorium where the talk was held. Why must one show NYU ID to go into just about any NYU building? It's absolutely ridiculous. This is especially true as many events held in NYU buildings are open to non-NYU students also, as is the case at Columbia, but I'd imagine it's quite a hassle for non-NYU students to go to these events at NYU.
Thursday started off with Magus taking a small lead on Sandbag during the first hour of the poll, and accelerating his pace as the night went on. I went to bed at 2 because I had a midterm at 9:30, and I needed to sleep (at some point, sleep helps test performance more than further studying- besides, I wasn't going to get much studying done while refreshing sc2k5.com every 5 minutes). I got up at 7, and somewhat to my surprise, Magus still had a 900 or so vote lead, and had reached 1000 overnight, a number I'd thought earlier he probably wouldn't reach, but would be fairly safe at if he did. Magus then went almost even with Sandbag from 7 to 8, and gained back almost all of what he'd lost from 8 to 9- and the morning vote hadn't even ended yet.
I'd had breakfast and done a little more studying during this time, and I went to take my midterm, on which I feel I did fairly well. Perfectionism on the first part of the test resulted in a shortage of time at the end, but all in all, I was satisfied. I got back and to my joy, Magus was tearing Sandbag apart with the During School Vote. By 3 PM, the lead had reached 2150 and Sandbag had shown no signs of life really- he'd only won 2 hours, and gained a total of 150 votes or so during those hours. Magus had been pummeling him for hours since during the DSV, during which CT characters are good but not that good.
Then, it began. I've seen it happen enough times to dread it, to fear it even with a 2150 vote lead in a 4-way poll. Every year, it seems, everyone believes a CT character's lead is simply too large; that no one could lose THAT huge a lead. And every time, the CT character pulls off a shocking day vote collapse. I knew Sandbag still had a small chance here from past experience, but still, it hurt. Sandbag came back rapidly, gaining 400-500 votes an hour. But there was hope. The lead was big, and we knew Sandbag would slow immensely or stop past 8 PM. Axel had taken the lead on Frog then after coming back 1900 votes the previous year, and Frog had later pulled off a miracle comeback in the last hour.
But Frog was Frog- Frog simply does not lose close matches: first he finds a way to shock his supporters by pulling gigantic day vote collapses against characters he was supposed to beat handily. Then, when all hope is lost, Frog pulls off the impossible and WINS THE MATCH. Magus hadn't done anything impressive since 2003, and while he is in all likelihood stronger than Frog, he is not known for his prowess at winning close matches. But surely the CT fans who rallied Frog to victory would rally Magus too, right?
I went to the honors scholars seminar at 6 or so, and got back around 7:45. I'd been hoping that Magus would still have the lead when I got back- and he did! I thought if he could hold off the lead change until 8 he would have a good chance- because Sandbag's second night vote ought to be worse than Axel's. Sandbag ended up taking the lead on the exact update that Axel had taken the lead from Frog. He built his lead to about 100 votes higher than Axel had done, but then Magus started making sustained cuts earlier than Frog had done. There was hope!
10:45 approached. I'd had the Sox game on the past few hours and had been studying for today's architecture midterm. Magus's chance of coming back looked good, while the Sox looked hopeless as they were down 7-0. 10:45 was when Frog had started going berserk on Axel. But no change happened here. Magus continued making small cuts, with even a few Sandbag gains. Magus was not getting Frog's rally, or Sandbag was getting his own counterally (probable, given that we've never seen a joke character lose a close match). The Sox, however, did rally, getting 4 runs in the 7th, 3 in the 8th, and 1 in the 9th to WIN GAME 5!
In retrospect, while it's disappointing he lost to Sandbag, Magus actually put up a very impressive performance (better relative to expectations than either Frog or Crono this year) in breaking 40% on Sonic and nearly beating a joke character. As for the Sox: we're going to win the World Series again this year!
So, I did some more studying this morning, and I took the midterm after lunch. Then the class went on a walking tour even though we'd just taken a midterm. 'Twas a very entertaining walk, and I learned a lot about the history of NYU and the area today, but it was also the longest walk we've done yet- 2 and a half hours right after taking a midterm. But it's Friday, and we're going to the World Series. BELIEVE!
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