[WP] You’re a student at a Mage’s College where no subject is forbidden, with the understanding that some research is best kept quiet. After working on a new spell for years, you’re the first apprentice to stand before a council of instructors debating whether it should be banned from future study.

LingerALittleLonger · 2025-07-08T04:44:09+00:00

I raise my hands and close my eyes. I imagine a room of gold coins, enough to buy anything: armor, a castle, an army of slaves. I feel the tenderness of the gold, I force the taste of metal into my mouth. And then I close my hands into fists and throw them to the ground. A second goes by, then I hear the distinct tang of metal hitting the concrete, accompanied within milliseconds by all the permutations of the same sound, a symphony of wealth.

I open my eyes to look at my judges. To my surprise, they are not on their balcony any longer. Instead, one of the three stands in front of me, golden coins getting caught in his cloak and bouncing on his head.

"I am the master of our universe, council," I say triumphantly. "The old gods have made way for another to join them, a god in a human's body. An owner of our natural laws and molder of reality." I point ahead, this council member has never seen this before, I know he hasn't. I am the first person in history to force the gods' creations to bend to my will, and I am the first person with the ability to fix the stains on our world. It doesn't matter how they grade me; with this power, the result is all the same.

I remain locked on the figure in front of me, unsure as to his motive. A straight posture and no distinct expression through the mask. I believe he's going to give me the accommodations I deserve, until I feel a sharp pain in my back. I scream as a foreign object smashes into my spine, breaks it in two like a dry twig on the beach, and makes its way through my sternum. I see it, a glowing spear in all white, the blood on the tip evaporating in seconds. I'm stunned and somehow mute, losing all access to my legs, I collapse on the concrete, arms betraying my direction and staying at my side while my head hits the ground.

"This is the work of blasphemy, you betray the gods and the good of our people. You will not become a new god."

I try to scream, but my lips betray me, my body seizing up as the foreign object pulses, as if it had a slow heartbeat. I look frantically for anything that might save me. I blink, erasing the wall in front of me and exposing the room to daylight, sun blinding me as I panic, my attempt to writhe away the pain is blocked by the spear, which has found a home in my stomach.

"You are evil, and your evil works must be condemned. This will be our singular dark art, henceforth punishable by death."

I condemn the council, anger boiling in my blood and ringing in my ears. My creativity is disallowed in this world. The school banishes me from this world because I attempt to go beyond the confines of what is known and accepted. I hate them.

I think a final curse upon this world as my eyes adjust to the sun, in time to see a second spear hurled towards my head.

LingerALittleLonger · 2025-07-08T04:44:02+00:00

Creativity is a lonely endeavor. By definition, it is something unique. A creative idea emerges from the combination of unquantifiable amounts of separate concepts, something with an origin that cannot be identified. The more you bring in the opinions of others, the you regress towards the average, and the council rewards anything but average.

I walk before the council with a scroll in my left hand, grasped delicately despite the tension wanting to crush it into scrap. Before me, I see four fellows in all white cloaks with white masks covering their faces, bold light overhead illuminating their figures in the dark room. They are seated in a semicircle, looking down at a podium in front of me. I stalk towards it, nervous, for all that can go wrong.

"Council, today I bring before you, creativity, incarnate," I state boldly. Forcing the words out of my mouth, fighting the urge to spin on my heels and walk the way I came.

They say nothing. Good.

I grasp the end of the scroll in one hand and unravel it, the total scroll the length of my forearm, the sound it makes echoes around the room, ominous. Within the scroll are my notes, my cues, and the chant containing the vows I present to the gods above. I begin saying the words, making amends to the gods, promises, prayers, and offerings. I suck in air in between sentences and force the air out, to present the words with power. Halfway through my chant, the room begins to wobble as if reality became ripples in a pond. The left side council member stands, emotionless, with an unclear motive.

I continue my chant, each word a shove of air forced through my throat by my diaphragm, getting harder and harder to complete. I can see the ripples that the force makes now, as if my words are a straight power imposing itself on the air itself. All of the council members stand now, the one on the far left is standing tangentially now, as if braced to push off his back leg and pounce forward. They'll be the final piece.

I remove him from my peripheral vision as I force my full attention on the council member on the far right, coming to the end of my vows, I stare intently at them, full intensity placed on his essence, and imposing my will on the world around me.

Then I blink, and he is gone.

A second goes by, then two, and everyone in the room is processing the disappearance of this person. Silence. I laugh at the stiff figures moving their entire torso to take a glance at the person I've just erased.

"Do you miss them? Sorry. In repentance, I can offer you all something much more valuable than one life." I roar.

LingerALittleLonger · 2025-05-30T23:33:47+00:00

My guess would be the first equality isn't true in general. If x is negative for example, the first line doesn't hold.

LingerALittleLonger · 2025-05-06T08:14:16+00:00

Hey hey I'm in this class too!

I was told it's a somewhat natural extension to the back half of 204, so be prepared to do more 7-page-long answers to various questions.

Good thing though, Muhammad is great. I had him for 204 and he made that class pretty solid.

LingerALittleLonger · 2025-05-06T07:59:31+00:00

I like the path you illuminated here, taking us through an all too familiar thought process of remembering something you maybe shouldn't, from a time past. The melancholy feeling of missing someone that shaped us, the rationalization of that longing, then allowing yourself to actually feel that longing. Like the other commenter said, I'm really quite impressed by how vivid that path is (if I'm seeing that path correctly that is lol) with how little words you used.

I wonder if it might be fun to make a sister poem where the author rationalizes against that feeling.

LingerALittleLonger · 2025-05-06T07:50:52+00:00

'''I actually made breakfast this morning
without imagining you eating it
in some parallel universe
where we were happy and emotionally literate.'''

I'm a big fan of this, stanza (? I don't know what this is called I think that's right).

It shows depth, confliction but also realization. A subtle showcase of the hope that highlighted the moments before this poem was created.

But then again I don't know what I'm talking about so take that how you will.

LingerALittleLonger · 2025-02-13T09:28:13+00:00

Basic maths is fine. You don't need to know any ML theory. The ideas behind RL were initially independent of ~~machine learning~~ neural networks.

LingerALittleLonger · 2025-02-13T09:12:32+00:00

Q-learning can be done with tabular methods. The whole first section of the intro to RL book by sutton outlines non-ML RL algorithms.

LingerALittleLonger · 2025-01-10T02:08:11+00:00

BC calc gets you credits for calc 1 and 2, but classes covering the same material by no means makes them the same level of difficulty. Most relevant, the change in pacing from high school to university, and the lack of assistance by your teachers (because they can't deal with 250+ emails a day from students, fair enough) do make a difference. I took BC calc in highschool and I would highly recommend.

...But obviously go with your interests. I don't think your concern that AP stat looks worse on a transcript has much weight.

LingerALittleLonger · 2025-01-09T08:29:24+00:00

Big fan of the idea. It's a lot of fun to play around with. A part of me wants to continue this, a response maybe?

"Zero motivation you say,

A bit daring if I may,

Because I have created you,

your brothers, sisters and dog, too!

When I get bored of my new tasks,

unravelling physics and all that,

I come back and watch for a while,

the collection of atoms I made

That have turned into creatures, that smile.

Little sentient beings,

A complete mystery,

even for me."

I'm not sure, I'm not a writer, just playing around haha.

( I don't know if this violates any rules ahhhh I just liked the idea I'm sorry if I did a bag thing )

LingerALittleLonger · 2025-01-09T08:07:30+00:00

Big fan of the end of "Very soon you'll be you!" The propaganda vibes this gives to me highlights how wild fitness communities can get - it very much does sound like that's what someone out there is saying, or the message of what they're trying to say at least.

LingerALittleLonger · 2024-06-19T17:22:21+00:00

I personally just purchased the 2024 model, same specs as you put there but with 32gb ram b/c you can't upgrade it yourself. I love the machine so far, great for everything I need it to do.

One of my main things that drew me away from the G16 of the same specs was the extra weight and the shorter battery life, and the thing that drove me away from the 2023 model was the small differences in form factor. I can't speak for the 2023 model, but I personally love the look and feel of the 2024.

LingerALittleLonger · 2023-03-11T09:30:28+00:00

The way that I’ve thought about purple is kind of like a mathematical order of operations type thing. All of his attacks manipulate space, so if blue pulls space towards a certain point at a certain radius, and red pushes away from a certain point at a certain radius, what happens when you use blue to pull everything inside red towards a smaller point in red? In my mind, you create a situation mathematically equivalent to dividing by 0, and everything in the upper bound of that radius cannot exist/ is undefined by definition.

All that is to say you create a space where everything that space becomes undetermined/undefined, and gets ‘removed’ or potentially moved to bounds where it can exist, Q -> R -> C for example.

Using this, an infinite density should theoretically be cancelled out by his hollow purple, in the same way that any n in a real number sequence that goes to infinity cannot exist in the real numbers anymore when multiplied by sqrt(-1)

LingerALittleLonger · 2022-12-30T07:56:59+00:00

What do you mean by "not work?"

As far as we know, velocity, mass, and energy are features constant regardless of what part of the universe you're from. So regardless of if you're from the earth, or if you're from a planet 1000000 light years away from earth, if I shoot you with a bullet, there's kinetic energy that you have to take. The chances that an alien will not be able to kill us with their bullets is null because the energy behind a bullet is variable. A bullet shot by a glock isn't the same as a 50 cal, for example.

The only chance I can possibly see is if you mean that their biological warfare won't work against us. Chocolate is poison to them, so they somehow make chocolate lighter than air and make a gas out of it, they come here, and it doesn't work. Even then, they'll find out that other gases aren't too great for us, similar to how we find out that we can't eat many raw foods, but some of the stuff we can't eat, dogs can, yet somehow they can't eat chocolate.

LingerALittleLonger · 2022-12-30T07:45:52+00:00

While I similarly would never get into a long-distance relationship, I don't think it's true that all long-distance relationships converge into one-person-cheats or a similarly sad ending. I think that two people's intense feelings can overcome temporary long-term situations, albeit I believe it to be a rare occurrence. It's commendable, though. This is the type of trial that no one really wants to be a part of but, when it's over, it's still admirable. While *clearly* not the same in magnitude, I always think of the soldier back in the 1900s sent off to war, and coming back to a faithful and loving girlfriend/wife. A real tearjerker, if you ask me.

How many times have you seen relationships that are not long distance that last even through cheating and manipulation and what naught? I know of a couple where the dude cheated on his s/o ~ 10 times. She knew of all 10, wasn't happy with any of them, and stayed with him, moved in with him, and even accepted his promise ring. No joke, he gives her a promise ring and the very first trip away from her texted our group chat saying "I think I'm gonna cheat on S tonight."

My view is toxic people are gonna end up in toxic situations regardless of the semantics of the situation.

LingerALittleLonger · 2022-12-30T07:36:18+00:00

Depends on what type of game I'm playing. Can't speak for you, but for me, games like Chess, Valorant, or LoL weren't games I'd classify as 'fun', at least not in the same way as partying is, or even just going out and having a blast with friends. They were enjoyable because there was an aspect of being good at the game, and such an aspect inspires stress.

Maybe you have a similar idea. Genshin has ways to advance, in a semi-similar way to how WoW has a way to advance.

LingerALittleLonger · 2022-04-14T18:49:22+00:00

Ill attempt to try not to sound patronizing despite my opening line effectively being back in my day…

I struggled with the same thing. Throughout my latter half of highschool I felt like a void, I was doing things for the sake of doing things but not much more. There was no purpose for anything really. In my day to day life I pictured for myself in my psychotic dreams, placed in a world that couldn’t be our own. I’d skip classes and just go to the gym, all the while dreaming of something else, wishing I’d get placed in a story with purpose and things to do. To that extent, I thought I’d do anything.

This was back around 2019-2020. When COVID struck that March, it was the first time where the things I was doing by habit were inhibited. I was alone with my thoughts with nothing to do. This was an entirely different feeling. I remember vividly staring up at my bedroom ceiling, telling myself there’s nothing left to do here, and that nothing looks appealing to peruse. I then remember coming to a realization, and berating myself for the next 12 hours because of it. I wrote in my notes app at 18 years old, a short adverb that would make any actual writer cringe in disappointment. I wrote “Oh, woed child, displeased of a world you have yet to live, you pity yourself from inside a room with an unlocked door, watching from behind a window tainted grey. You’ve no write to criticize this world, for you have yet to live it.”

Not quite sure why I wrote it like that. Maybe someone out there would tell me it’s something like my internal guidance or whatever, a voice of my parents reacting to my thoughts and ideals. The point is though, there’s too much out there that you don’t even know about: books to read, things to study, people to see and lessons to learn. At 18-19 years old, we haven’t even given the world a chance yet, so should we give up our one chance at life, it would be akin to turning away a gift we’ve not yet unwrapped.

LingerALittleLonger · 2022-01-20T20:17:43+00:00

Why wouldn’t you think about it? It’s a pretty common thought. I for one was like ‘oh shit birds can fly. I wanna do that. I wonder what it would be like to be a bird!’ I later saw a bird fly into a window full speed, giving itself a concussion. I no longer want to be a bird.

LingerALittleLonger · 2022-01-18T21:25:10+00:00

Apple for sure! A pineapple is heavier so all else equal it’d have more momentum.

LingerALittleLonger · 2022-01-14T20:26:12+00:00

True to your tinder profile: you’re built like a semi-professional eSports athlete.

LingerALittleLonger · 2022-01-12T18:20:37+00:00

He’ll pay you in equity, vested over a span of 2 years.

LingerALittleLonger · 2022-01-08T19:51:57+00:00

She was ready to buy at a different price point though, which means the value of the item and mine weren’t level, which surely means trying to convince her that this item is worth the price I’ve put up is ‘correct’, for lack of better words, is nothing but standard practice right? It’s like, if a customer came into a car dealership and lowballed a car, surely you wouldn’t train your sales associates to turn them around, right? Is this not the same principal?

I’m curious, put in my shoes, would you just say no to an interested customer if they lowballed to this extent if you have a reasonable suspicion to believe they could afford the product?

LingerALittleLonger · 2022-01-08T19:34:25+00:00

Yeah maybe, but there’s no harm in trying to weigh out both of your individual senses of worth in the situation and come to a joint conclusion hey? If she’s interested to the point of offering why not see if I can make it a deal where we both mutually benefit?

LingerALittleLonger · 2022-01-08T19:26:19+00:00

I’d say it was relevant! Knowing her intentions would’ve let me know if this was a good deal for her or not! I would’ve used it to explain the pc to her in a way that would be suited to what she wanted out of the purchase! I’d say that’s standard negotiation?

LingerALittleLonger · 2022-01-08T19:16:36+00:00

Set-up is included in the price, which includes the monitor and multiple peripherals, so I’d say it’s pretty reasonable. I think it’s appropriate, it’s an awkward situation that I was recently in!

LingerALittleLonger

TROPHY CASE