On IAP by Mimi S. '22

Hiiiii allll!!! It’s been far too long since my last post! Let me update you on my life since October!

First, I’ve passed every class that I’ve finished! Yay! Seeing the P on my report card brought me tears of pure joy. No, not that kind of P. The pass kind of P! I passed calc, writing, and music tech! My physics class continues into IAP (more on that later). It was all relatively painless, although my music tech final project stressed me out a bit. See, I was gonna write a musical programing language. “A novel way to write songs”, I described it as! Then I started writing a parser and was like, “Aww crap. This is harder then I thought,” so a few days before the project was due, I restarted using Lua. I ended up not finishing it. I had nothing. When I went to give my presentation in front of the class I was like, “Uhhhhh, I don’t have anything??” It was very sad, but I talked about what I wanted it to be and I ended up getting full points on my project. Yee!!!

Now, onto IAP. Between the Fall and Spring terms lies the mystical land of IAP. Throughout the month of January you can take classes, work on personal projects, do UROPs, or just hang out. Here is a full outline of all of my plans for IAP.

Physics My physics class, 8.01L, goes on until the end of IAP. Really breaks my poor heart T-T. As you can guess, I’m not a big fan of physics. Oh well, that’s why I’m in 8.01L.

Jojo Jojo? JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOJOOOOO! Yes! Episodes of part 5 are being released and I’m watching them v slowly because I refuse to pay for Crunchyroll premium. Also, I introduced my partner to Jojo and we’ve been watching part 3 together. A quality bonding time for us :3

For your viewing pleasure, the torture dance from part 5:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7dvXosg7H4

Dark Souls Dark Souls? DAAAAAAA- I’ve loved Dark Souls since forever (I may or may not have talked about it during my MIT interview and included a quote in my FUN form), however I’ve never met another person who loves it as much as I do. Until I came to MIT, that is. Since September, we’ve been playing through Dark Souls 2. She is the Invincible Shield, and I am the Annihilating Sword. Literally, I use two of these bad bois: https://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Fume+Ultra+Greatsword

We’re a great team, crushing everything in our way! *Warcry* *Praise the sun* *Well, what is it?*

Game Development I’ve talked about it before, but I’m very into game design and development. I recently applied (as in, 30 minutes before I started writing this post) to UROP with the MIT Game Lab. Hopefully I get it, but we’ll see. Regardless, I’m going to work on a little Megaman demo project. I highly recommend looking up Megaman if you don’t know what it is, it’s a really incredibly game and is what got me interested in making video games in first place. I just want to work on simple Megaman game. Nothing fancy, just the basics. It’s been my dream project since forever and I’ve started and stopped similar projects several times in the past, but hopefully I can remain focused during IAP.

Focus is really the hardest thing to maintain during any project. You begin in a sort of honeymoon phase, and then you start actually working on it and realize that it’s going to be a lot more work. You start to work on the project less and less before ultimately getting a passion for a different project. You drop this one and start work on the next one. Happens all the time. I haven’t figured out how to break it, but I’ll keep you posted.

True crime podcasts My sister got me hooked on true crime podcasts. I can’t stop listening to Casefile. Does it make me scared and nervous? Of course! Am I going to stop listening to it? Of course not! Other good ones that my sister introduced me to: Serial, In the Dark, Dirty John, and Dr. Death.

Video games Steam winter sale. I bought Outlast 2, the Penumbra series, and EU 4 (people on my hall have been playing it :P) for around $20! Just in time!

Finally, I just want to talk about my schedule for next semester. Here is my planned schedule in all it’s glory:

• 8.02 (Electricity and Magnetism)
• 6.009 (Fundamentals of Programming)
• 21M.301 (Harmony and Counterpoint)
• 18.100B (Real Analysis)

Most of my choices aren’t that shocking. Students take 8.02 after 8.01. 6.009 is a prerequisite for many course 6 classes. And, ya know, I’m into music. 18.100B is probably the most out-there class on my list. I have no analysis background. I have no proof background (unless you count geometry, which I don’t -_-). I’m gonna be busy af next semester. I’m both excited and scared, but that’s ok! I may not have PNR as a safety net, but that’s ok! I feel like I’m taking a really big step, but at the same time I feel like I can manage. If I can’t, well, here is the great Joseph Joestar with some wise words:

PS: I highly the recommend the album Heir to Despair by Sigh. Super cool prog metal.