explorer_ikan

6:00pm on a boring Sunday evening. Eating alone in the cafeteria. No one around. Nothing to do.
And then Wright happens. A scrawny punk-geek who joins my table along with mutual friend, Collin. He jabbers in a way that seems at once excited and slightly nervous. We talk and he mentions that he and some friends proposed a show idea to Adult Swim. (Its called ‘Olympus Burger’, keep a lookout).
I’m about to excuse myself when he lets it drop: Rasputina is playing in Ithaca at 8:00pm and the tickets are $12! After questioning him incredulously and being turned down for a ride, I begin my frantic search for anyone with a car and a pair of ears.
One borrowed bike and 2 hours later, I’m sitting in a junky looking bar waiting for Rasputina and observing the many characters which come to see them. Amongst the oddities:
-A few girls in corset dresses including a eccentric pink-haired perky goth who worked the bar and a small haughty girl in white with an ermine slung over her shoulder
-A fellow in Victorian bankteller’s outfit with a penchant for journalism. (At one point he got the camera so close to Melora that she scolded him)
-A balding goth guy with tattered clothes. Very creepy…..
-Many tattooed and pierced individuals of every variety

The show was excellent. The electric cellos roared and whined and sang as they moved through songs. The depth of the cellos’ sound can be heard in all the different synthesized sounds: when emulating an electric guitar, the cello has a powerful grind that even the real thing can’t achieve. And when Melora played, it was as if she were angrily thrashing the bow against the strings, yet somehow the music poured out perfectly in time and tune.
Rasputina’s sound is entirely singular. The combination of two cellos, a drum set (which includes tympanis) and the ghostly voices of the two women creates a surreal goth-metal barrage of sound. One must hear to understand.
Melora was quite a spectacle (as always). She was decked in an intricate white dress with huge white flowers wreathing her hair. She keeps an utterly deadpan face as she pushes through a dark, pounding song about being killed by werewolves, waltzes through a mockingly happy song about being addicted to TV-reality and sings the tale of a girl trying to avoid death with astrology. Between songs, the bizarrities flow from her lips like a madwoman: She rambles about hidden information in her songs incriminating the Bush administration for 9/11; about the bonding rituals of suicide bombers in North Wales; about the mayor of Ithaca being convicted of being a werewolf a year from now; about the national parks being closed after chipmunks with the Black Plague are found across the US.
In total: highly entertaining and unforgettable. Worth every ounce of sweat spent as I walked the bike back up the hill to the college, merrily humming ‘Transylvanian Concubine’.

I have yet to finish one my tales (Ikan and the New City of York) and I have so far omitted another (Ikan and the Epic Duel Against the Villanous Stephen Seaquist).
Time (and attention span) allowing, I'll add them soon. I still need to develop my pictures of NYC.
My deepest apologies.

Strangely enough, all the festivities here for the 4th of July happened on the 3rd.
Ken (a jock-looking Asian guy who is actually quite funny and a bit of a nerd) hosted a barbecue on the evening of the 3rd of July. I skipped out of work for an hour to go help purchase food and drinks for the party. There were many semi-interesting strangers there, including Henry--a guy who I played soocerball 'Keep Away' with and did very well other than collapsing in a breathless heap after 5 minutes of it-- and a great deal of asian kids who I didnt know (and still don't).
The Ultimate Frisbee posse showed up as well-- George (who I have challenged to a katana duel as soon as we get weapons), Alex(theatre majot, 'nuff said), Scott(quiet yet athletic fellow) and Nick(a snarky jock)-- all upstanding individuals. And everyone from the REU who was still cam as well.
Much fun was had: volleyball was played, events were discussed and a skirmish was conducted against the rain (it was using guerilla tactics, forcing us to half-cancel then resume our frollicking several times).

I also caught the fireworks later that night, trekking about the pitch-dark, unpopulated parts of campus in the hopes of somehow escaping the many hills and towers of Ithaca. I failed. ("I am not lost! I'm just a habitual explorer!")
But the show was still quite spectacular. There was a second-long sound delay in the booms and bursts of the fireworks, and I spent much of the time wondering how much energy it would take to create enough pressure that even so far from it as I was, I could still feel the wave of force in my gut.

With that done, I spent much of the night giggling with Jasmine over the Internet about many a naughty thing.

All in all, an excellent (if early) 4th of July. I have yet to see any flag-waving Uncle Sams cavorting about, but perhaps my trip to the Commons tonight will afford me the chance to see some patriotic spectacles. Although I'd be glad to skip the ancestor worship, the Celebration of Nationhood seems somehow incomplete without it.
That, and I'm afraid that the Founding Fathers will eat me in my sleep.

At 5:00pm Friday afternoon, I will embark to New York City! Needless to say, I'm flipping out.

I've mapped out an unorganized itinerary of sorts. I hope I'll be able to fit it all in:
-Central Park
-Sneek a look at the Googenheim Museum's architecture while there
-Statue of Liberty
-See if I can check out what evil schemes my Dad's up to there
-World Trade Center Ground Zero
-And since I'm in the area, Wall Street
-Times Square/Greenwich Village
-Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art
-Rockefeller Center
-And a super secret place.... Shhhh!

May the wind fill my sails!

Now that I’ve built the dramatic tension, let me switch to the vernacular and provide some details of the goings-on’s up here:

The Project: I am assigned to working directly with a sonar-equipped robot using a C++ library called ARIA to command and correlate with the robot. I am currently working on generating 2-D map of an area using a sonar-equipped robot. This is intended to test the capabilities of the sonar and serve as a prelude to the final part of the project: creating a virtual representation of the world using data from the robot’s sensors.
I am one of a two-person group working directly with ARIA and the robot. The other person is Liz, a blind Comp Sci major. We, in turn, are part of a 4-person team working on the Robotics Project. The other two, James and Allysa, are working on exploring software called Pyrobot, which is contains an alternate robot-controlling library called Player, as well as several programs to help run the robot like Gazebo, a realistic 3-D world simulator for trying our robot code in.
The other projects are the Virtual Reality Stroke Therapy, and Fractal Tree Analysis. The VR has two sub-projects: a
Our supervisors are John, Anne and Sharon. John is officially heading the project, though he doesn’t show up too much and is always sort of vague in directions. Sharon, who also heads the Virtual Reality projects, gives us our individual tasks and throws most of the weight concerning the project. Anne just seems to be designated to pick up on what we’re doing so she can explain it to future researchers.

Dramatis Personae (In order of appearance):
Ikan (Our hero): An intrepid and eccentric young man who I have the good fortune of being.
Sharon: An odd woman with ghostly white hair and a lazy eye. She is the headmistress of the REU project. She is a firm but amiable woman. However she becomes irritated easily, and is snippy towards those who disagree with her on even the most minor project issues.
John: A softspoken fellow with a bald pate and a sheepish grin. His method of management consists of walking in, looking at what we’re doing and soundly pronouncing “Good!” before leaving again. He is a fan of Linux and robots, though I have precious little other data on him.
Anne: A cheerful woman with a New Orleans accent. She reminds me powerfully of someone but I can’t figure out who. She’s very jovial and a little spacey. Her area of interest is Computer Science Education, which she gave a presentation on last Friday.
Perrin: A tall strange introverted boy who happens to be sharing the room with me. He is quiet and a bit backward socially, but very compassionate and well-meaning. He is very Christian as I discovered. My first hint was being awoken at 6:30 am to the blaring of the Narnia soundtrack from his alarum. The second was his complaint that Blizzard was too dark because they often made the dark or occult intriguing or cool (Night Elves and all their pagan imagery, an of course the Undead). Ironically, I let him play Warcraft and he is now quite addicted. He is blissfully unaware of my ardent, unrepentant atheism, and I hope to expand his narrow religious viewpoint before I go.
Keenerat: A Hebrew girl who remarks me as easy-going and very social. While she can’t resist going into every drug paraphernalia store she encounters, she also seems rather practical and down-to-earth. I first got to know her when I was dashing to catch the bus from the Commons back to Ithaca and ran into her. She was visiting a friend and invited me to come hang with her, where I soundly beat them all at Scrabble.
Liz: A blind girl with icy blue eyes and a Seeing-Eye dog named Olivia. Also, my partner on the Robotics project. She and Perrin get along well. I found the two of them playing Chess in the room at one point. (Perrin was blinded so as to level the field)
Mike: A laid-back hipster with a small gangly build. He seems one of the coolest people there and I talked at length with him on the first day. However, his previous social life here prevents those of us at the project from seeing much of him outside the REU.
Brianna: An upbeat girl who is often smiling and seems focused at work. I actually know precious little of her. Though she is outgoing, she doesn’t say much about herself. She has a boyfriend who goes to Cornell, whom I met last weekend. A fair enough fellow, little stuffy though.
(Chick-face?): I know almost nothing of her, as she lives in the area and goes home very quickly after she gets off. In addition she works in the other lab most of the time. I interacted with her directly only once when a group of us had gone to the Ithaca Commons for the Festival.
James: A computery type whose cool demeanor defies the nerd within. I have played him in Smash Brothers, and though he has excellent technique, he lacks the true rocktitude which I possess. As I found he is a 1337 Linux h4X0r and he studies Japanese. He also has a girlfriend named Julie who was down for the weekend. She was, to my inspections, a pretty cool cat.
Nathan: A tall athletic guy. Though I seem him frequently I don’t have much idea as to his character. Perhaps more will surface on him…
Perrocia(???): A truly odd person of indiscernible ethnicity. It later surfaced that he was half-Vietnamese though he could easily be mistaken as any Oriental or Hispanic descent. He is a very capable mathematician to the point of being eccentric. He scrawls equations on his mirror and has posted some of the fractals in the hall across from his door. His name is Ancient Greek. He and I have had many good conversations, though I am still at a loss as to how I should approach him. I can’t seem to read his face or tell what he’s thinking. Rather peculiar.
Ken: A fun and outgoing Asian guy who seems like a very casual guy with an intelligent mind. He goes to Ithaca during the school year and is doing Biology Research down here. I don’t know how he got in our circle, but I enjoy his presence. Though he might easily be blown off as a jock, I find him quite amusing and fun. I don’t know how he got into the social circle of the REU kids. I think he was a friend of Keenerat’s friend (which accounts for most of the people I meet outside the REU).

State of Affairs Thus Far:
I have gone to the Ithaca Festival. Had some really good Thai food (shrimps covered in hard noodles and curried pork on rice). I got separated twice from the rest of the group and then ninjaed back to them again. There was a parade, but the only part I saw was a group of Buddhists excitingly waving screen doors dipped in bubble-blowing fluid. There are 3 drug paraphernalia stores downtown, all of which I saw thanks to Keenerat.
I have been to a local Pizza Place called Sammy’s. The guy had an unplacable accent (might have been Italian) and he informed us that we’d have to eat quick since he was closing for the World Cup.
I have been to a 21st birthday. James recently had his 21st first birthday, which consisted of bowling with 3 pitchers of beer at a local bowling alley/bar. I was unfortunately the only one attending under 21. However, thanks to my days of bowling with my Mom and Nana, I was the 2nd best person there right below Ken.

What Next for Our Hero?
T’Ganok Falls. I’m planning on heading down to the largest of Ithaca’s many waterfalls when I can. The countryside around here is reportedly quite beautiful.
New York City. I’m currently scheduled to travel their by bus this coming Friday. I’ll be staying with my Dad there for the weekend (He’s currently on an Architecture project to scan the Statue of Liberty). I actually have no idea what to do while up there, but I’ll be researching it as soon as I finish this post. Hopefully, I’ll have time to meet Anna Troyanksy, and old friend from the IB program at high school.
A Meeting with Stephen Seaquist. Stephen is an old friend of mine who moved up to Pennsylvania to further plot his evil plans. I’ve only spoken with him occasionally for the past 4 years, but soon I’ll be confronting him in flesh and blood. It seems he’s taken up an interest in Soul Calibur III, and is anxious to battle me. I do not think he comprehends my incredible mastery of the game, else he might have fled in fear. But then, perhaps he hides his true power….

I set out that fateful day at 9 o’ the clock with head held high and determinedness in my step. Though my demeanour may have been diminished by my lack of sleep the night before, my spirit was nonetheless filled with that bold fire of the explorer which seeks to illuminate the unknown. It was a quick farewell to my family, and then I stepped onto the plane, 3 bags in tow, and embarked on my quest for Ithaca, that mysterious city within the heart of the New Province of York.

As the plane’s engine hummed and the clouds flitted past my window, my mind wandered over the events that transpired. How is it that I had become drawn to this land, this Ithaca? It all seemed to me most unbelievable now. I had, some time ago, sought out a place of employ for the holiday, a retreat from that long, hot summer which awaited me back in my hometown of Lubbockia. I had espied an article detailing these most curious events in which those enterprising souls with a prodigious understanding of the Sciences were called to a great many different ports and cities across the nation. The people were calling them, REUs-- no doubt some arcane Latin expression. Intrigued, I had sent letters to a few of them, presenting my credentials and inquiring into the nature of these events. Time progressed and I heard nothing back. I thought nothing of it at first, for I was engaged in my scholarly work, notably a most intense study of Intellegentes Factuus. It was not until the semester was drawing to a close that my mind turned again to the REU’s. It seemed a boring summer in my hometown was fast approaching and I began wondering about those exotic lands to which I had written. And then one day, I received a letter addressed to my person.

The strange make and writing of the letter suggested to me its exotic origin, and as I read the words within, its source became unmistakable. It was from a Dr. Sharon Stanfield, the scholar whom I had written to inquiring about the REU in Ithaca. It said merely this:

“We await you in Ithaca”

Elated and anxious, I set my mind on journeying to Ithaca. I returned home from Lubbockia and began preparing, testing my resolve in a regimen of DDR, WoW (with the aid of my compatriots Margaret and Zach) and various fencing exercises. I enjoyed the company of old friends: Becky, Sarah, Lindsey and Eric, knowing in my heart I might never see them again. I readied myself, packing the bare essentials and purchasing fare to Ithaca. I had been feeling distraught over how much the ticket had cost (nearly $600), when a letter came from the Doctor arrived promising exactly the amount I had spent reserving my ticket upon my arrival in Ithica, and describing the wondrous and sundry treasures which lay in that far city. It occurred to me then that it was not just luck that called me there, but destiny!

I was woken from my trance by the winds of turbulence. I had already faced a great many perils coming here. Time, my greatest foe, had ambushed right from the beginning, delaying my plane in Lubbock for nearly 3 hours and leaving me mere minutes to catch my next flight. I faced Hunger, stuck with only a paltry, over-priced snackbox after my plane-switching fiasco. And now traveling in a small propeller plane towards my final destination, a great storm came upon us, battering the plane with its wrath and evoking in me old memories of the Great War (May they remain forgotten!).

When at last I arrived, I found the airport empty, silent except for the one attendant and the sullen natives who had been with me on my flight. I spoke with the attendant, a native boy who spoke very convincing English, and was informed that the 2 bags carried in the cargo hold were missing! My heart leapt, suspecting thievery! But the boy convinced me that it was most likely the naivete of the company which misplaced them. Outside, I found my cab waiting, perhaps called by my worrying mother, or perhaps emergent from the shadows of the land; I shall never know.

And then, as I came past the lake on the outskirts of town, the moon shone upon an awesome sight: a great dark hill, and upon it, the mysterious ruins of the College of Ithaca silhouetted in the silvery light! The driver took me deep into its heart, winding through great and mysterious structures built by the Ancient Ithacans. I came to a bleak and dreary manor. Its architecture many decades old and its walls a dirty white. I was shown to my room and I found a young man sleeping in one of the two beds there, my roommate apparently.

Though weariness dulled both our sense, we introduced ourselves and it was immediately impressed upon me that he was an odd fellow. His hair was very short, a thin buzz cut, and he spoke with a thick accent. I learned that he hailed from the land of Minnesota and that he was likewise a Computer Scholar, though his trouble with English prevented me from properly learning his name (Paren, Karen? Something akin to that). I took a quick shower, glad that there were still luxuries of civilization in this far-off place, and then I slept, my head filled with anxious dreams of what was to come.