ateolf | SCIENCE!!!

construction of the greatest guitar pickup ever has commenced...well, the greatest guitar pickup ever constructed by me anyways...last night i finally came across a spool of thread, for which i put to use as the frame of my currently-in-construction pickup...i found some wire and wrapped it around, but i couldn't find any magnets in the household...so this morning after class i went to Radio Shack and got a magnet (actually several small magnets, put together as one...) the spool is made out of hard styrofoam and the middle part was a little too small, so i got a big screwdriver and hammered it in the middle and twisted it around and stuff making it just the right size for the source of the needed magnetic field...i hooked it up and at first was dismayed as rock wasn't happening...but as i suspected, sound was coming out, just very very little and i had to have it turned all the way up to get a reasonable amount of sound...as i had feared as i was constructing it, the wire i was using was too big...so on my way to class this afternoon, i made another swing by Radio Shack and got some super-thin wire...my turn/length ratio has increased significantly...i think i'm about a third of the way through wrapping it...me fingers get sore and i gotsta take breaks...w/ the first wire, i just twisted it around the existing thread on the spool, but for the thin wire, i decided i needed ta cut the thread off 'cuz this wire would have a much higher potential for getting sucked down into it...i also hadta cut down the part of the spool on the sides where it's all raise up to keep the thread from slipping off and all, so i could use the whole length of it 'cuz i needed it (it wouldn't be long enough to cover all the guitar strings otherwise...) and i'm heavily using tape to hold the wire in place...well not *heavily*, but a good bit...oh, and cutting the side parts off was kind've a bitch 'cuz this styrofoam's pretty hard...but anyhoo...yea...soon i will have a guitar of much rock...after class this early evening i swung by The Apartment to get my tuner cleaner (the knobs on the guitar are hella dirty...), my itty Marshall amp, and my calculator...Jacques and Amber were there but "contained" in his room...it was good that the door wasn't locked...i just went in and got my stuff w/out a word from them...the others are at work now...except i couldn't find my calculator, i found the cover, but not the actual computing machine...and i also grabbed one of my cords for ze guitar and ze amp...i sprayed the guitar knobs down when i got back...hopefully they'll be workin' nice...upon taking off the pick guard and the knobs last night, i found that the previous owner of this guitar had actually glued the fucking knobs (well, plastic knob covers) to the fucking knobs (the actual knobs connected w/ the pots...or as i like to call 'em: potentiometers...) my first attempts of prying 'em off w/ a screwdriver failed so i had to use the pullin' stuff end of a fucking hammer to get 'em off...after they were off i saw the dried glue...what the logic behind that is i doubt i'll ever have a fucking clue...

in non-rock-related news: i think i did pretty well on my spanish exam this morning...i ran short on time towards the end and didn't get to write as much as i should've for the big essay question, but what i came up w/ to write amazingly impressed me...and i think everything i did get down was pretty solid, yo...so yea...

also i had a bout of insomnia last night...the kind i used to have all the time where i just was awake lying in bed for longer than i should've...it might've been the excitement of the pickup building and the anxiety of wanting to finish it but not being able to at that point in time...eh...but it led me to get up and review what all i have left to take...after this semester i'll have everything for my spanish minor under my belt...the only gen ed left is the phys ed class and two of the art appreciation type thingies...then i have one more core comp sci class and a little under 20 hrs for each of my majors' elective sequences...yes, a little under 40 total...but i'll prob'ly be able to choose a sequence thingie that'll have some classes in one count for classes in the other or something...i'll need further advising on this...there's also a math class i never noticed that i need to take for my comp sci requirements (probability and queueing...) i might be able to get that stuck w/ an elective sequence...who knows...but yea...i have somewhere in the low 40s hrs left...it could be worse...let's just hope i don't fail anything else...well, or get a d, but i'm counting that as failing, as for a class in my major, it technically is...that's all for now i think...i might twist this wire around this styrofoam spool a few more times before i hit tha hay...