Tenerife Sea

Doing CSS styling for webpages is a bit fun, a bit boring. But it is certainly a learning experience one should never let go of.

Or I just think so.

This was like upgrading your HTML into some intermediate level of webpage designing. You are confronted with colors, balance, texture, opacity (but not in this case) and other elements of design. The catch is, you must do this layout to please unknown viewers, and so you really have to exert effort and time in making decisions with every element you are going to put inside your webpage of cascading style sheets.

The codes of course are getting more complicated. This then takes a more focused mind and a more patient entity to make precise and accurate details work well in doing the web page designing. Starting from the # in the hex codes for each colors, up to the { } for the internal and external CSS, there really is a need to pay ample attention.

Doing this activity may be boring, I mean really boring, if one does not enjoy working with codes and the principles of design. Well, a relaxing music like Ed Sheeran's Tenerife Sea is highly recommended.

A Cloud9 Feeling

HTML has been my favorite being once a student in a computer science class. It changed my perspective on those interfaces with the Internet. Before, I think of webpages as dehumanized versions of human cognition, that a certain huge machine was responsible of creating and designing these webpages.

But this hypertext markup language they call makes me realize that still, humans are in control.

HTML5, to be precise, liberates human beings for giving them the decision on how to structure their webpages to suit their needs and wants. Of course, there are still limitations to it but the world of the Internet and of the Information Technology knows no boundaries, and it feeds on its own demands.

A refresher on this topic proves the existence of this dynamic development in information science. And this should come in handy, for who knows how essential it would be in the near future.

Another Great Thing from a Seven

The number has always been related to the concept of nature. There are seven days in a week. There are seven notes in a musicale scale. There are seven directions (left, right, up, down, forward, back and center). This week, this seventh exercise we had in IT1 is another world wonder, this time, in the world of computing.

When I was younger, I was always been acquainted with games requiring logical skills. And I always find it interesting. This is not just because I’m just another genius who always wants to prove others about my impressive passion for such problems. More than that narcissism, I believe every one should strive to do better, and that’s what I was really thinking when I was enjoying logicn problems, and even craving for some more until now.

My encounter with blockly was summarized in this intrapersonal conversation I am hoping to be accurate. Here it goes:

            Blockly: Here goes my computing problems. Nail them.

Me: I will, as always.

Blockly: Here goes my another set of relatively harder computing problems. You think it would really be that easy? This ain’t another game you think was just created for kids. You need to use your brain, dude!

Me: Oh c’mon! I got these.

Blockly: You’re one cool tough guy. But I will make you doubt your awesomeness with all these drawing and computing and functions and numbers and variables and more. Bwahahahaha!

Me: As if I’m not going to nail them all.

Blockly: You really one cool dude who almost genius. Yet, you tend to forget watching the videos. Winning over Stage 11 won’t suffice what your laboratory instructor is demanding you to do.

Me: Oh man! I never saw that coming. Thanks! I hope I can still play with you after Stage 11, and that’s not just for bonus points.

Blockly: Sure. GTG!

Me: Okay. Bye.

That’s it. An experience which is indeed quite challenging, I mean literally mind-blowing, but wholeheartedly I will say that this will yield computer programmers one kid at a time.

The 6:00 PM Despair

The hardest part of failing is not really because you didn't try at all, but because you weren't given the chance to do so.

It's about 6:00 PM of this evening and I can't help but be in great despair of doing this Boolean Logic exercise. I expected it to be very easy, because (1) I already have an idea of truth tables after my MATH 1 days, (2) I have this passion with anything close to Math, like this one, and (3) I believe it would really be that easy. Nothing more, nothing less.

But circumstances are really up to violating expectancy.

I had trouble accessing the file for the exercise questions. Nah, great trouble rather. Of course, my goal is to have the exercise done until Sunday, and yet, even until 6:00 PM of Sunday, I wasn't able to see even the glimpse of the exercise sheet.

This made me think that life is crap.

Of course, I was just kidding.

After n times of inputting the password we were told last meeting, I dunno how, but the screen suddenly showed a white page inculcating me the word hope.

And so the genius in me started dwindling with our sixth exercise. Drawing digital logic diagrams? Proving identities? Evaluating Boolean expressions? Simplifying Boolean expressions? I nailed them all!

So my despair at 6:00 PM didn't really lasted for an hour. Close enough.

High Five Groupmates

Addition (or subtraction) should never be alien to any college student, most especially those who had the opportunity to experience studying in one of the most prestigious universities in the country (to think that it's like a basic requirement before one can surpass elementary). This is how easy it is expected for everyone to master this.

But as people grow, so are the expectations and the competencies required of them.

Even arithmetic takes into a higher level.

Doing the binary arithmetic is a new thing. (Actually, I already did some binary addition way back in Grade 3). However, the introduction of negative numbers (and thus, subtraction) in the situation made me realize that it [arithmetic] is not really as basic as adding one and one to get two. Sometimes, one plus one is equal to 10.

Anyhow, it was really fun exploring new things, and more fun when done with groups. I really do enjoy group activities most especially when I was not asked to show  the leader in me. Why? First, because I am not really sure if there's one. Second, because in those cases, I know everyone's doing their part in their most awesome ways. Last, it makes me challenge myself.

So, from arithmetic to binary arithmetic to appreciation of group activities, and now, to nowhere. Doing blog posts makes me feel weird, and normal.

PS. We could have been given more time to appreciate binary arithmetic first before we did the exercise. Anyhow, it really was fun.

Four Ways to Write Four

One of the basic requirements of being literate is to be able to count, and that is called numeracy. This involves not just the familiarity with how to pronounce each number, but to be familiar with how to write those right digits to represent them. Knowing all these, one can say that he/she is already knowledgeable of how to read numbers.

But college life, as usual, has its own way of telling that our childhood is full of lies - even with numbers.

Who would have thought that with the demands of this information age, numbers were given new ways to represent vast quantities?! 

The so-normal decimal number system found new companies - the binary, octal, and hexadecimal number systems. All these serve various purposes not known to many. Good example is the notation for colors which uses the hexadecimal number system.

It's just surprising that I learned this revelation exactly on the 6939th day of my existence (1101100011011 in binary, 15433 in octal, and 0x1b1b in hexadecimal -which I justfound online).

And just so you know, the day I knew all these was my 19th birthday.

Three Things to Say to a Mother(board)

It's like, I want to thank a mother.

The third laboratory exercise for my IT 1 (Information Technology Literacy) made me look back, and rediscover the genius machine behind every great time I've been having with the virtual extension of my world. I never had this recollection of sentiments with regards to how much I've been appreciating computers from the time they helped me unleash my vanity, and so much more.

1. Thank you!

The virtual world where I spent, spend, and will spend great amount of my lifetime must have credits from the physical components of computer, those which assures that every processes or commands I've been having with computers were right. To be more specific, she does all these:

• Make sure that she's good with the source of power for the whole unit;
• Make sure everything's on their right place before they go to work; and
• Make sure everything's connected with each other.

2. Aren't those motherly stuff worth appreciating?

3. Thanks, motherboards, and the rest of your hardware family. Words aren't enough to suffice how much I owe you, being one of the most amazing creations in the world.

Two Tough Tasks

Make a choice. Be consistent.

Who would have thought that blogging could teach a life lesson? Never have I imagined this wonder of having such authority in making one of the greatest (for me) artistic interventions in the history of blogging. (Of course, I was just kidding.)

You are destined to make choices - even in blogging. Believe me, it can also be tough.

There's so much vanity in me

that I just can't hide them.

(Photo by Aira Kissa Edduba)

But seriously, from choosing a blog title, to the manipulation of the aesthetics of a blog post, these remind me that some things in life are products of the choices we make. And whichever you choose will also choose the succeeding options you'll be having in the future. If you choose this particular layout for example, then you would have to abide with the options left for you (i.e. text colors, typefaces, font sizes, etc.). Who would have thought that it will take a good command with your decision-making skills in order to make a blog post worth seeing? I may be in need to humble myself in terms of making the world know that I am really happy with the design I've been doing with my blog layout. Perhaps, I may be the only one who gets convinced that my blog post is aesthetically amazing, and I am already happy with this choice. 

However, not all the choices we make will satisfy us - and I believe it’s deeply rooted with our innate nature to strive for betterment. Of course, the same principle applies with this blogging. One must ensure that he/she will keep on making this blog not just worth reading, but worth seeing as well, consistently. 

First Thing You Should Know

Imagine a eukaryotic, multicellular organism who has this ability to convince himself that there is musicality in every kind of sound, in defense of his inability to make music out of his vocal chords. Music has been his passion since then. He loves to listen and get acquainted with other people’s music. He even had this urge to make his own too. However, the inspiration to start his career in songwriting seldom gets him enthusiastic.

"Capture every DECISIVE moment with your smile." (Carreon, 2015)

A smile may lead us to places no one ever imagined.
(Photo by Aira Kissa Edduba)

Imagine him being a guy who believes that prime numbers are created for some unknown legacy of love, although he was still uncertain of what really is it. For three long years, he’s been making himself believe that his line of work will be on the path of communication, not with his favorite subject - mathematics. He was just actually convincing himself that mathematics can still be the subject matter of his communication projects.

Then, still having this weird yet awesome guy as the subject of your imagination, think of him as a stubborn adolescent who aims to get married by 2025, thus making himself worry a lot about the future. No more further explanation - he’s gonna be a husband ten years from now.

"Happiness CAN BE a choice." (Carreon, 2015)

To add with these crazy imaginations, picture out a man who is very willing to wait for this certain girl who captured much of his attention, this girl who made him realize that some things are worth the wait. He also thought that this girl was just his imagination too.

*****

It's been a pretty messed up way of imagining this guy, right? Tired of imagining already? Why so? You should enjoy having that gift of imagination. The guy you are imagining believes in that as well. PS. You're not even with a thousandth of facts to know about him, so better get yourself ready with a huge wave of crazy introductions.