It’d be great if I could manage to update this regularly; I suppose I’ll settle for “when I can get a chance.”
Anyway, lots of interesting stuff has happened recently:
I got to judge at the Magic State Championships at Dream Wizards. Fun day, including watching another student from Hopkins, Nick Scamman (aka the Jedi, due to his long Padawan braid), take the first steps toward certification by shadowing a judge. We also had to handle a medium-sized crisis due to a player not understanding that in order to play in States, you have to prove in-state residency-- but things were handled eventually.
I attended the Blumenthal Lecture for this year, given by the CEO of Northrop Grumman, Dr. Ronald Sugar. It was an interesting day; I was able to chat at lunch with a variety of the NGC leadership about the work and research they're pursuing, and then see Dr. Sugar's overview of all the new toys NGC is building, like giant lasers and new aircraft carriers. Interesting to hear their take on the direction defense needs to go-- and also interesting to watch them build a relationship with Hopkins and its students.
I got my flights and hotel information for Grand Prix: Daytona, and so it's real: I'm finally going! I'll be a real invited judge and everything, which will be really excellent. I fly out there the night of the 15th of November, and then I'll drive back to my grandmother's in Jacksonville for Thanksgiving, before flying back to Hopkins on the 25th. A host of really great judges will be in attendance, including my L1 mentor, Toby; it should be a great time.
JHUMagic (37 members! Holy crap!)has advanced in its quest to become an official student group; all we have left is to submit a constitution (which will be done this week), but we've already received approval from Student Council. Yay! (Now we can do room reservations, which is really helpful.)
I'm starting the internship grind one last time. I've had a few interviews already, and only one of them made me flatly cross the company off my list (no, I won't say who); the rest were very interesting. I'm seriously considering staying in Baltimore this summer (shocking, I know), depending on who I end up working for-- but we'll see. It will, of course, depend in large part on which offers I get, and which sound the most interesting.
And now, naturally, I have to run off once more; I have two examinations in the next ten days, in addition to a violin lesson, a host of emails and phone calls with Important People both in and out of industry, research checkpoints, building a server, and– oh right!– packing and studying for Daytona and Thanksgiving. Hopefully the vacation will allow for more reflective posts– but wait, when did I last relax during a vacation? :-)