I've spent the past week or so running about in flip-flops, taking advantage of the sunny, 55 degree weather to catch up on all the vitamin D I failed to absorb in wintry days past. In celebration of this meteorological grace, my writing professor agreed to move the location of today's class from the obscure whereabouts of Building 1 to the calm expanse of Killian Court. It was due to this decision that I spent an hour and a half of this afternoon utterly distracted. As my classmates read their stories out loud, I found my attention drifting away from their words and towards the glinting of the Charles to my left, the elegant pillars supporting MIT's dome to my right, and the pleasant breeze that blew all around me, harassing my already chaotic collection of curls.

I figure that with decisions coming your way in four days and an orgo test coming my way in a week, it'd be better if you guys were distracted in my stead. It is with this notion in mind that I present you with the following means to prevent the insanity inherent in counting down the hours, minutes, and seconds to 3/14 at 1:59 pm:

1) xkcd

2) sporcle

3) ImprovEverywhere's many accomplishments

4) hulu

5) Potter Puppet Pals! (Yes, I realize this is old, but it's funny anyway :D)

6) StumbleUpon

7) iSketch!

8) The Onion :)

9) I Will Derive!

10) And my most favorite lecture in the world:

Just four days of waiting left! ‚ô•

(P.S. Thank you, Kuljot '13, for helping me come up with this distracting list ^_^)

Comments (Closed after 30 days to reduce spam)

first!

Posted by: Hania ('14?) on March 10, 2010

I had to do that, sorry :D
Oh, thanks Hamsika, things like these are really useful this week. I really can't stop thinking about the Pi Day.
And xkcd - I know it and love it!

Posted by: Hania ('14?) on March 10, 2010

Thanks for the list. :D
I'll get to it if I can tear my self away from this site.

And I'm so sure I'm gonna curse myself later for being so anxious about everything.

X

Posted by: Muskan on March 10, 2010

So what do you call that? The holy guide to procrastination?

I love #9!, of course I love #1 too, what self respecting nerdgeekscientistmath guy doesn't?

I would add Megatokyo to the list, you'd have to go back to chapter 0 though.

Posted by: Ammar'14 on March 10, 2010

Abstruse goose is quite nice as well, although it's pretty much the same as xkcd.

Posted by: Brolin on March 10, 2010

This is pretty distracting as well.

Posted by: moar on March 10, 2010

Great advice!

Posted by: genius ('18) on March 10, 2010

sporcle's countries of the world!!

i challenge anyone. period.

Posted by: oasis '11 on March 10, 2010

xkcd! Fun stuff! I learned about that last year, but it's like someone stole my brainwaves of things I was about to think. Exactly.

Posted by: Jacob ('14?) on March 10, 2010

I love potter puppet pals!

Posted by: Ragini ('14?) on March 10, 2010

Thanks for THE ONION!

Posted by: tree on March 10, 2010

I loved the Randy Pausch lecture! Thank you for sharing it.

Posted by: 0 on March 10, 2010

You are so sweet! Thank-you for all the distractions!

But no, I'm playing piano until my fingers ache. It's what I wrote in my application as the thing I LOVE to do.

reCaptcha: "the alcove", what a cool idea

Posted by: Matto on March 10, 2010

The Last Lecture! I had read the book but hadn't watched the video yet. It's actually pretty awesome. :]

Hahahah @ "catch up on all the vitamin D."

Snow is amaaazing though. Hahah it snowed like 5 times in Texas this year! :D

Posted by: Shivam on March 10, 2010

#3's broken ^^;

Posted by: Helena on March 10, 2010

@ Helena - oops! thanks for catching that it should be fixed now.

Posted by: Hamsika '13 on March 10, 2010

@Hamsika Didi,
Best of Luck for your Organic Chemistry test !!
So, hows prep. going on ?

I think that you can practice some name reactions on this website (only if you need to ),
http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/vrchemistry/NOR/default.htm

I think this website will help you, but incase it doesn't help., then don't waste time on it ! Haha !

Thanks !

Posted by: Sambheet Krishna, Class of 2014, India on March 10, 2010

The sad but cool thing is that I am already familiar with so many of these...

Also, check out Mental Floss for your daily brain-picking trivia...and make yourself an account on Pandora.com for your music needs. Or watch the video clips on NovaScienceNOW's webpage--some may find it interesting to watch the ones about several MIT people.

Posted by: Amethyst ('14?) on March 11, 2010

@Shivam--Lucky! There's some kind of inversion zone just up in the Texas Hill Country that seems to prevent snow from dipping anywhere below...we've had oodles of rain, though.

ReCaptcha: howard the...(duck?)

Posted by: Amethyst ('14) on March 11, 2010

www.addictinggames.com please? procrastinate 'till pi day when you realize you got rejected

ReCaptcha:
Spoon Nader

I don't know what this thing is trying to tell me... gosh

Posted by: me on March 11, 2010

Funny Farm-- you forgot Funny Farm!

Posted by: anon on March 11, 2010

lol! I love that you guys are adding to the list Keep it going!

Posted by: Hamsika '13 on March 11, 2010

You are soooo sweet! thanks! a great distraction list!

Posted by: Dawn's coming... on March 11, 2010

DO NOT look up reddit.com. It's the killer of all productivity.

Posted by: 0 on March 11, 2010

Thanks for the list that lecture was amazing!

Posted by: Harry on March 11, 2010

yay. more distractions
as if i dont have enough already....

Posted by: jialing on March 11, 2010

Thanks so much. I already watch ImprovEverywhere and PotterPuppetPals of course but "I will derive" is hilarious. hahaha

Posted by: Christine on March 11, 2010

@ Amethyst - Awhhh. Where are you from?

Another distraction for the list: Listen to all of Jay Sean's songs everrr. :D

Hahahah I'm like obsesseddd with him

Posted by: Shivam on March 12, 2010

If, on the other hand, you'd like to join us in counting down the last couple of days and collectively freaking out, there's usually a few of us in here:

http://www.airpoke.com/mitchat/

As for distractions, I'm finding Twitter pretty helpful
Also http://typeracer.com is inexplicably fun.

Posted by: Anshu Chimala on March 12, 2010

In my opinion, there are two solutions:

1. Explore Hamsika's list

2. Take two pills of Bromazepam right now and set your alarm clock, at maximum volume, to 1:57PM of Sunday. You'll need those two extra minutes to realize that you woke up.

Posted by: Caio ('14?) on March 12, 2010

" ..and the pleasant breeze that blew all around me, harassing my already chaotic collection of curls.."

Sounds like the magic of story writings..I could feel the warmth of fresh Spring..Hahhaha!

Good going, Keep it up and hope to read more.
Well Good lucks for your 'Orgo'.

(Recap: school waterway )

Posted by: Mac on March 12, 2010

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