sometimes it feels so good to do math in mccabe. when i go to cornell i can feel the (nonexistent, probably) disdain of the more-brilliant-than-me. it is very quiet and on every floor, people seem competent and collected, though Very Intense. in mccabe, on the other hand, people are having inappropriately loud conversations in the computer area, someone is always sound asleep on the couches in the main lobby, there are grungy kids reading comic books in the coffee bar, and everyone thinks the fact that i'm even attempting mathematical statistics gives me some sort of intellectual guru status. or so it seems.

not that it helps *that* much. i spent a non-negligible portion of both yesterday and today crying and/or restraining myself from beating my head against my study carrel. i feel better knowing rabi can sympathize.

in any case. today, while i couldn't figure out the problem i was working on for EIGHT FUCKING HOURS, i occasionally soothed my addled brain by wandering the first floor, spouting my issues about Gamma (alpha, lambda) and Poisson (theta) distributions--and their possible relatedness to the negative binomial--to anyone who would listen. i was generally rewarded with a blank, somewhat intimidated stare, which certainly made me appreciate my own relatively mild noncomprehension. but still: eight hours!!! i will have you know, though, that i eventually solved every %$#@ing problem on the final, including that one, and handed it in an hour early.

also, when i complained about the Poisson distribution to alyssa, she laughed and said,

fish!!?!?!?

which, i have to say, made my day, even though she said it last night.