And the Word of the Day Award goes to . . .

NERDGASM!!!!

nerdgasm, n. (according to our trusty friend, Urban Dictionary):

When someone has experienced just too much nerdiness at one time, they are said to have a nerdgasm. The person usually goes into a state of shock and can't speak for up to one hour. Never disturb someone who has recently nerdgasmed because the person is prone to just spurt out random nerdy things that regular people could never comprehend.

Why do I bring this up now, you ask? Well, dear readers, this is because I have just experienced a nerdgasm of the first degree over the book Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Seriously, this is how my roommate described my behavior after listening to me shriek and exclaim with every plot twist and dramatic moment.

Ready Player One is the story of Wade Watts, an Oklahoma City teenager living in the not-too-distant future. Rather than spend his life as an ordinary person in the wasteland that is our world post-fossil fuels, Wade prefers to adventure inside the OASIS, a virtual reality anyone in the world can access for free. There he plays as Parzival, an avatar who goes on adventures, attends high school on a planet called Ludus, and searches for the ultimate prize: Halliday's Easter Egg.

For those of you who don't know, an easter egg is a little joke programmers leave in games. It doesn't really do anything, and it's usually activated by some occult sequence of in-game commands. For example, in one of the point-and-click adventure games I play, one of the easter eggs involves poking an in-game stick into a prairie dog hole to unlock the surprise. Bizarre, right? Easter eggs often hide in plain sight, but they're usually hidden behind a veil of obscurity.

In the book, James Halliday, master programmer and creator of the OASIS, leaves an easter egg in the OASIS after his death. Whoever finds it will inherit the entire Halliday estate and become rich between all imagination. The storyline pits independent egg hunters, or "gunters," like Parzival against a monolithic corporation that wants to find the egg so it can exploit the OASIS for commercial gain.

This book is chock-full of classic 1980's geek culture, which becomes an essential part of Parzival's quest to think like Halliday in order to find the egg. Hence, I experienced multiple nerdgasmic moments when Parzival has to play the perfect game of PacMan or quote Monty Python and the Holy Grail in its entirety.

There is also a lot of in-depth characterization, which, coupled with an engrossing narrative, managed to compel me into reading the entire book in less than 48 hours (a rather astonishing feat when you consider I also had to go to class, preside over Shakespeare in the Park auditions, do my homework, gulp down food, and sleep . . . well, maybe sleep took a backseat to this book.)

I was so immersed in this story it was like being in the OASIS itself: I read it while I was eating, while I was walking across campus between classes, when I should have been sleeping . . . my every waking moment for two days was consumed by the world within its pages. When I finally finished it, I had a very intense ten minutes of geek-squeek-ery--that's when my roommate made the comment about the nerdgasm :) Little did she know she'd be experiencing the same thing only hours later when I gave her the book to read . . . but I digress.

It would be an understatement to say that I love this book. This book goes beyond love: it reaches into the very depths of myself, my most cherished dreams, my most secret fears. This book is what I wish my life was, who I wish I was, every adventure I've wanted in the world. I've enthusiastically recommended it to everyone among my group of friends, and I recommend it to you as well, especially if you are a geek, like adventures, or are looking for something to get you out of a reading slump. This book will deliver, I promise you.

Until next time,

Anna

P.S. If you've already read the book and you're looking for something to remedy the killer book hangover this story leaves behind, check out castleanorak.com, a Ready Player One fan site dedicated to help those of us recovering from this whirlwind journey enjoy our lives once again.

The Most Impossible Short Distance in the History of Humanity

Greetings, fellow readers! I am in the midst of a slight schoolwork slam right now: we're heading into the first round of papers and exams, and it seems like no matter how much preparation I do on the front end, I'm still behind when it comes to studying and writing. Below is a short comic from one of my favorite websites detailing exactly how I feel right now.

Speaking of comics, I'd like to take this opportunity to mention what excellent procrastination aids they are. Whenever I sit down to study or write, there comes a time when my brain reaches what I like to call "critical mass," aka the point where it's so flipping stuffed with information that it's like an engorged Christmas goose ready to spew the contents of its belly all over the feasting table.

At this point, I have to take a break (for my mental health, of course). I don't want to read a Fun Book because the amount of required reading I've completed at this point has not only shattered my concentration, but also scattered the fragments far and wide across the universe, so much so that "reading" at this juncture mostly consists of me looking at pages full of words for an hour without comprehending anything that's going on.

Enter comics. They're just short enough that my poor fractured consciousness can handle them, and just funny enough that they actually make my head hurt a teensy bit less. The beauty of comics is that by breaking up my Fun Reading into short, manageable episodes, they actually make me read a greater volume of material than I would if I sat down with a novel. I feel about comics the way the xkcd guy (sorry dude, not sure if you have a name) feels about spinny desk chairs.

As we know from the old Lay's potato chips commercials, it's impossible to read just one comic. Inevitably, I end up clicking the "random" button on xkcd, and before I know it, 45 minutes have gone by. I do not, however, believe that reading comics while studying falls under the category of Time Wasted. As someone close to me once said, time you enjoy wasting is time well spent. Well, I enjoy wasting my homework time with comics, and to all of you suffering from similar midterm pains, I offer this list of my favorites. Have fun!

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/

http://xkcd.com/

http://phdcomics.com/comics.php

http://www.beatricebiologist.com/

http://harkavagrant.com/

Until next time,

Anna

Enough is Enough: A Response to the Recent Attacks Against Women on Campus

Fair warning: this is not one of my usual blog posts. Like Lemony Snicket advised, if you'd like to read about happy elves frolicking in the woods or sweet, docile children going on a picnic, then this is not the blog post for you. Put it down, walk away, and go on with your merry little life. If, however, you are looking for someone who, like you, is similarly outraged by the escalating numbers of women being sexually assaulted on campus, then stay.

Fair warning: I am a feminist, and I am angry about this situation caused by the rape culture that is rampant in America, especially on college campuses. Thus, this blog post will be something along the lines of the ANGRY FEMINIST RANTS dismissed by so many people as "hysterical women on their periods" or "bra-burning feminists who don't shave a hair on their bodies." If this kind of thing makes you uncomfortable, close your browser window and walk away from your laptop RIGHT NOW.

You're still here? Ok, here goes: just don't say I didn't warn you.

I have been back at school for less than two weeks, and already there have been three attempts of sexual battery and/or assault against women on campus. That's one every five days--think about it. At 3:41 this morning, I was rudely awakened by the University Police Department's UF Alert text messages warning that a woman had been attacked right in front of the school library. Two other women reported being grabbed and battered by a male assailant: the University Police Department believes the perpetrator is the same across all three cases.

While many well-meaning officials and friends have urged female students to stay in well lit areas, not walk alone at night, and be aware of their surroundings, this does nothing to actually solve the problem. It is unacceptable that the focus remains on what all women on campus should not do rather than on what the male attacker should not do. College women's lives should not be dictated by regulations designed to prevent them from being raped. Though I believe the people who advise women to take precautions do so with good intentions, their efforts are misguided. Until we teach men not to rape, we will never end the rape culture endemic on our college campuses.

I am tired of being told not to walk alone at night. I am tired of hearing that "she was asking for it" because "she was dressed like a slut." I am tired of feeling unsafe on this campus, which has been my home for almost three years now.

I demand a safe campus. I demand that we teach men not to rape instead of cautioning women against being the victims of crime. Is a murder victim "asking for it" by "being in the wrong place at the wrong time"? Does a victim of theft "get off" on having their home invaded? We need to apply the same standards to rape as we do to any other crime.

If the streets of our campus are not safe, then where is? It's time to put a halt to this: enough it enough. It's time to take back the night and stress that whatever we do, wherever we go, yes means yes, and no means no.

Final thought: if this post provokes you to leave a comment or to share the link with others, I ask that you remain respectful and civil when leaving feedback. This is a serious issue, and I will delete/ban comments that are offensive or insensitive.

That being said, if you agree with me and would like to spread the word to end rape culture on campus, pleas like this post, share the link, and promote it in whatever way you wish.

That's all for now, dear readers.

Until next time,

Anna