[VOID] Cafe Society

Rohit Khare (rohit@bordeaux.ICS.uci.edu)
Mon, 27 Apr 1998 03:11:27 -0700



I don't even want to begin toting up how many cafes I went to in order
to complete that last VOIDpost. Even less want to consider the total
tab. Just to remind you it's not a new post-Brisbane phenomenon,
though, here was the log of the final eighteen hours I spent drafting
'the evolution of W3C' paper after I dropped Adam off at LAX for his
trip to Glasgow.


===========

Adam, I thought it would help to let you know how my time went after
you left.


6:30 left LAX and headed to the Newsroom caf. Lots of traffic. Got a
raspberry-mango smoothie, loitered, only got one-charge worth of
writing on this Agre paper done. Decided I like the Newsroom a lot
more, Sarah Michelle Gellar's endorsement notwithstanding.

8PM drove around Hollywood looking for another caf with 110v AC.
Failed

9:10 arrived in OC, went to the Lab. Shopped at Tower for a bit.
Looked up Curve and Freaky Chakra; dance music, might even be my kind
of shit. Electronic dance music is so very white.

Here's a meme: "coconut" as a sellout desi: brown on the outside, ...

9:30-11. Writing on Agre. Finished (polished) Section 1. Panic setting
in at this slow pace!

I'm still quite tired -- yawning all the time, really want to go
crash. I don't know why: I've been drinking lots of caffeine and
sugar!

11:15 Went down the 55 to Rock'n'Java, got a Jolt ("We're out of tea."
What, the hot water part?!)

12:15 finished Section 2.0. Just that first part, but trust me, that's
a big achievement. Let's see if we can finish 2 by 1AM. If I can find
power... ok, had to pull the plug on a lamp, but I did.

1:15 Almost about to finish Section 2.1. Had to leave. Went to Sid's
to grab a beer --they said it was a slow night, post-Paddy's day, so
they were closing up. Went to Higher Grounds, my til-3AM fallback --
it was shut down for good!

1:30 Norm's. "Since 1949". You know, after accounting for Carrow's,
Toi's, and Sushi of Naples, this is an eight-restaurant paper...

2:15 Finished Section 2.1. Time to recharge the batteries and actually
eat the food which has been sitting here for the last half hour.

While chowing down, made small talk with the blonde studying the
Constitution in the next booth. I asked if it was 'the advanced stage
of law school' (I had my reasons to guess), and she said it was for
her GED. Ooops! Actually, no harm, no foul. She was talking about her
kids, which were the reason she was going back after all. And as for
law school -- eventually. Good luck to her -- we need more folks on
the Norm's overnight study crew...

2:50 Finished through 2.2. Got home at 3:08. Read the NY Times until
3:40.

4:50 After nodding off for half an hour, section 2 is complete! To
sleep, or not to sleep? Must... push... onward...

5:07 Section 3.0. Of course, it's the shortest .0 section of them
all...

6:00 Section 3.2 done!

6:18 Section 3 done! Time for a nap. Except I can't get "are you Jimmy
Ray" out of my head -- thanks a lot, rifkin!

8:55 Back awake. Physical at the doctor's in two hours; that's a firm
deadline, basically, since I need the afternoon for another project I
haven't done. Damage assessment: time to finish the conclusion and
then race through the cases in rant-mode.

10:16 Finished the conclusions! Now all that's left is to write up the
raw data all this analysis is built on! One hour to go precisely..

10:30 Section 4.0. OK, so this one was the shortest .0 of them all.

10:57 Up to Section 4.3. I could make it! Well, maybe not... Time to
go to the doctor's and write in the lounge.

12:28 No writing time; talked about my good health; cholesterol of
145! Saw a story that Mariah claims she was a virgin for Tommy. Doc
asked me if I was sexually active; such is the prejudice that his
automatic reflex was to say "well, that's good news for me at least".
Insidious, society's expectations...

Time to finish this %#%er -- Adam's 6pm-yesterday estimate of 18 hours
should be just about perfect, modulo sleep.

1:01 PM. Finished T&S. Architecture domain and a few undone spots to
go... c'mon, baby! Time for lunch. Indian curry hot pocket and two
strawberry-banana SnackWell's bars.

1:34PM DONE!!! Time to ship...