diploma award ceremony

the official ceremony of receiving diplomas took place at what we used to attend as university.

i must say that i expected worse organization - but oh my goodness! they actually started at 2 as planned! where the ceremony was taking place? no not at the hall, no not at some other university or vuilding. it was taking place in the front yard of the university. at 2 the sun was shining brightly and we had to stand there, and there was no shadow!

so slowly the majority of students moved to the shadowy areas and sat on borders, stones, on the ground.. while the boring part was taking place.
that is to say rector and other people from administration where telling what a great place we were attending for 4 years :D:D

the "cool" moments were:
1. the bachelors were wearing a ribbon (the color depended on the faculty)


2. when the ceremony started they set doves free and they flew into the sky


3. we were given these ... tasteless congratulation papers with poor design symbolizing our diplomas.


4. we were given 2 "red bull" energy drinks and a congratulation paper. the paper was fine, the congratulation was funny.. you can compare the 2 congratulation papers yourself. i will say no more.


5. at the end of the ceremony they fired colorful paper into the air.


you can find the rest of the photos by clicking on links below:

Oct 07 - receiving diplomas

this one photo is uploaded at flickr because i needed it for 365 days project


and Mary's post about the same event is here.

graduated!

HOORAY! we are not students any more!! the university is left behind and crossed out from our lives! what can be better? mm well a few certain things i guess ;)

anyway. all of us have got the best marks! that's nice too, especially taking into consideration all the stress caused by the university... it was at least smth comforting :D.

several words about the defense itself. of course, it was awful. we stayed at uni from 10 am till 8 pm. for 2 hours we were just helping at the chairs of informatics to sort things out, to find necessary papers and have professors sign them. as usual it speaks of great lack of organization. we had our interest in it.. the sooner they'd finish sorting things out the sooner the defense would start. so yes if we didn't help them probably we would go home on the next day :D

the terrible part for me was that i had to defend in armenian.. when i said the name of my project, i actually forgot how to start in armenian :D and i was terrified :D then slowly-slowly i pulled words out of me, constantly thinking what to say in the next sentence. however it all was good and they asked me to show the program (!!!). then my supervisor, mrs. Alaverdyan, had to say several words about me. somewhere in the middle she said ".. i'm surprised that in such a small-bodied person there's so much energy .." and i hardly managed not to laugh out loud. this is very amusing for some zzvanq people like Michael :D.

in the end Anya said "why didn't she say 'humble' about me? she said it about you and about Alex" that made us laugh a lot too. 'Anya' and 'humble' can't even be used in one sentence :D.

And yes, a big thank you to Michael for his help and patience and for just being there all the time :) i love you zzvanq :D(L)

yesterday we went out to celebrate. after thinking where to go we decided to check out if we could sit at Jazzve. and there was practically nobody there! then we walked some, sat at a park, then walked to the Republic Square. The view of the fountains awed me! they were really beautiful! and the evening was beautiful, and it felt so right and easy to be standing there with friends with that great weight off our shoulders! we are FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Photos

diploma defense

22

from Alex

diploma defense celebration

Also, Alex's post about diploma defense is here

hectic

1. I've got a new pet, a male budgerigar for my old virgin Lyuki. the new guy's name is Rikky. I hope that he will fix the .. hm-hm .. situation ..with Lyuki :D He's sweet and nice and doesn't scream at the top of his voice all day long like the previous parrot did. So even if nothing turns out of my plans, at least there still will be something good :D
For more photos go here:
http://photo-blog-121.blogspot.com/2008/05/new-pet.html

2. "pet sematary" by Stephen King
i have a lot going on as anybody else. translating the diploma, some other issues. the defense is on 21st and i can't say i have much spare time. however for several days i've been doing nothing but reading this book. it was the first thing i'd do in the morning (well after talking to Michael) and the last thing before i went to bed. it was absolutely crazy and insane for me to be reading it all day long, hour after hour, page after page... but i just couldn't stop as if i had to know the secret, the mystery..... but oh the book shows that there are some secrets that are to be left secrets.
there was a strange effect of this book. at first it seemed scary, especially when people went to that pet sematary, were in the dark woods, heard voices and such. but oh it wasn't creepy or scary later on. it was really terrible not because of going to pet sematary at night.. but because of how something could destroy the family, how wrong it all was, how very not fair.
analyzing the book, i noticed smth peculiar.. Stephen King has used little children in almost all stories i have read. that's part of what gets you. such things should never never never happen to kids. to anyone, but especially to kids. the other thing is that somewhere in the story, when things seem so very bad Stephen Kind will write a chapter that it all was a dream that things were good. too good. and then it would turn out that that good reality was a dream.
i can't say whether i liked the book or not. maybe if at least its end was some different i would like it more. when i read the last word i just shut the book and threw it on the shelf, feeling that i can get back to my activities, free of that book. maybe it was just wrong to me and against my nature.

anyway, enough of this.

3. Mary's defense took place today. she has got "A+" (the best) and is very happy (of course she should be :D) Finally she has graduated from this wonderful circus called university, has a BA degree and is just waiting for their certificate.. oops diploma i mean :D. and yes she is being mean to us, saying that we are still students and that she's already a graduate (not certified just yet). She can be mean until 21st. then we will be uncertified graduates too. really the diploma should also give us medals for the patience and endurance we showed during 4 years, that during the 4 years (why.. 5 really. forgot the prep. course) we have been able to stand them, their dumbness and unlawfulness.

4. oh i don't want to speak about this. this is really another pain in my ass. the Tamanyan website. The guy who worked on it before me (Mika) for some reason moved the site from one domain to the other. so i had to fix things. that was bad but i survived it. BUT. now there is a new problem. the old webmail doesn't exist anymore and its address book is lost. what's my fault? that i didn't back it up. but oh wtf, i had to work on their site and i did back up that. why would i interfere with their mails? i've already done way too much for them and i know it. just it was my first site (order) and i wanted things to be nice.. at the beginning. now me and Mika talked on gmail chat and oh yes it was gossiping but we understood each other from just a word. so now what Hayk Tamanyan wants is that Mika has no access to anything. but the site is on Mika's domain :D from many funny things Hayk believes that creating a webmail is as easy as opening a yahoo account, even he could do that (but he won't of course). and oh the only reason that stops him about buzzing me to be their webmaster is that i'm leaving for IDAHO soon :D:D:D looks a lot like OHIO no? it's stressful... but oh it's getting really funny, as funny as it has never been. i really hope with all of my heart that they will find a webmaster somewhere who will be the whipping boy for them... and i will run away to Ohio :D:D. let them think to IDAHO, they will never find me :D

things happening at ERIICTA

i'm feeling very numb right now. so it all has been true and we have to hand in the armenian version of diploma project by 15th.

Instead of going to work for a full day today i spent half of it at university and when i finally got to work i was so pissed off that didn't even manage to right a normal "good-bye" letter as it was my last day at work.

i can say that this has been one of the worst days in my life. the thing is there was a law adopted by the country that the diploma project can be in any language but you will have to present the armenian copy or you can bring only the armenian one. i'm not sure when this law came out but definitely long ago. last year some people defended their projects in english, this year we were told that it's great to have it in english. then a new rector comes to our university, and last week a new vice-rector is elected. The vice-rector says that there is this law and all projects have to be in armenian. it was signed yesterday.

we talked to everybody at the university except for the rector who was 'too busy'. when we went to the vice-rector he said that he doesn't want any problems with the government and that whatever took place before him doesn't touch him in any way. Now he is the vice-rector and everything has to be legal. in other words he is just covering his ass.

even the professors are mad but nobody can do anything. they just played one of the meanest tricks on us. as usual the side for who things turn out the worst are the students.

i just still can't take it in... i can't believe they can do this (in fact already did) and that nothing absolutely nothing can be done. they think they can do everything and that they have the power. Now it is so. but tomorrow things will change. once (actually if..) i graduate, i will write open letters to some newspapers letting everybody know how things really were at this university and what we went through during these years. it won't affect anything but at least the university will gain some bad fame.

i will do my best to cause them as much stress as they caused for us.

they won this battle.. but not the war.

there are many good things about Armenia, but sometimes some bad things outweigh. One of those things is that the country never protects the citizen and that the only thing that can give you a green light in any situation is money.

ERIICTA is not an exception of course. and yes "E" in ERIICTA stands for "European" but it's only the name - long and promising - the european regional institute of information and communication technologies. what stands behind the name? nothing... imagine a balloon with ERIICTA written on it. what will be inside of the balloon? some good stuff? no just old smelling air from somebody's lungs. That's exactly what are university is.

P.S. visit these links:
http://517design.livejournal.com/84920.html
http://517design.blogspot.com/2006/05/eriicta-european-regional-institute-of.html

Khaki university

it's not enough that 90% of professors are badly educated and have no idea what they teach. it's not enough that university's administration is one big mess. it's not enough that they move the deadlines daily and that it's already a habit like Alex says. Now, just now, when the deadline of handing in the 60+ pages of diploma thesis and of its overview of 10 pages is tomorrow, the new rector has decided that all diploma works have to be in armenian. It's done in order that the university commission and commission from other universities are able to read and understand the projects. People who have graduated last year and had projects in english have to translate them now.

we will find out the details tomorrow. if this is true we will just hold a rally.

soon i will make a post under "only in ERIICTA" title. it will be a long post. once i graduate i will have it printed and translated into armenian and will stick to all doors in university. and will make sure all professors and students have copies.

i have bigger plans. since i will have much spare time this summer, i will make a website with photos and stories on ERIICTA.

no need to say how very mad we are now.

diploma

just one big stress for all of us. things would be very good if people at university stopped shifting the deadlines back and forth and giving us unrealistic information daily.

me, Alex and Anya have chosen such a supervisor who will not help us with the project at all, but will cover us, sign papers etc. She let us work by ourselves without sticking her nose into what we do. Fine, that's what we wanted. And that surely was great for her since she just didn't do anything but had 3 people who have good projects. But she could have at least keep an eye on the deadlines and let us know, and not have us waste time on coming to university every time to hear that the deadline was shifted. Now we have the pre-diploma defense on monday, but she won't be present as she will be in Albany on business.

What for Mary, oh really she is an extremely patient person to have that supervisor. the man is a mathematician.. and a painter (he believes he is and that his pictures are wonderful). He would have her take photos of his pictures, help his other student and god only knows what. she would have her run here and there, pressed with every possible way... but didn't help her project in fact. So yes, we better not complain :D i would have killed that supervisor on the next day!

Anyway. Yesterday Mary and Vova had their pre-diploma defense. the committee was the head of chair of "multimedia and programming", the supervisor, a professor of network, 2 of his students, and us.

I can't decide who of them was the dumbest. probably to decide that we should have given them a test or something like that. i was there, i listened to Vova and Mary for the first time but somehow i understood what they were explaining. the questions that the professors asked were really professionally dumb.

Vova is a designer, he is not a programmer. his project was organization of a virtual museum. he designed the museum using 3dsmax, added music background and when you went on a tour in that museum, a 'guide' would tell about every picture on the wall. i think it's a great idea and the museum itself was a very interesting and useful project. any painter can have his virtual museum as it doesn't make much difference what paintings hang on the walls.

Q.: so you can add any photos?
A.: yes any.

Q.: even from a digital cam?
A.: .. any photos ..

Q.: so what was the 3dsmax part there?
A.: .. the whole museum.. everything except for the paintings..

Q.: ah so you designed just a museum, that's all.
supervisor: why don't you say that the frames of pictures are your work too??
Q.: really? wow!

Q.: so if i am a painter, photographer or whatever i can use that to put my paintings into the frames?
A.: well it will take me smth like a day to replace the photos and to add the necessary information, change the menu etc.
Q.: see? if that was a program that you could sell to a pinter..
me: i'm sorry but he is a designer.
Alex: if a programmer writes that program it will be what you want.
Q.: but didn't he study programming?
me,Alex: surely he did, but do you really believe that it was enough to write such a program?? :D:D the programming taught here is definitely far from being enough to write any normal program :D:D

etc. Mary's project was too complicated for them to understand, but she spoke in such a way that they didn't ask much questions and just were absorbed by the pictures and all. Check out her blog for more information :)

Now some photos..


head of chair of multimedia and design... who knows pascal, some algorithms of Noah's times and how to convert digits from binary to 10-based, 16-based system etc. He has some cool degrees and was educating people in... Algiers.


Mary's supervisor smoking at the chair of informatics.


reflection in the notebook

for the rest of the photos, go here:

Friends - ERIICTA

Essay - 03 - homework :(

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? It is more important for students to study history and literature than it is for them to study science and mathematics. Use specific reasons and examples to support your position.
First of all, imagine a society without scientists. People, who know history quite well, are well-educated and well-read. But there are no scientists and mathematicians in this society. The following questions derive: how will they build new houses? How will they cure diseases? Etc. In a very short time it will result in a catastrophe. People will go thousands of years back, to the times when they had many pagan gods and explained natural processes with the moods or actions of their gods. It will be a complete regression.

Besides all this, some people are right-brained while the others are left-brained. The left semi-sphere is responsible for mathematical abilities, logic, and analytical way of thinking. The right semi-sphere is responsible for visionary arts, imagination, and creativity. People who are left-brained won’t be good at history, drawing, designing, etc. Their views are radically different and even when they design things, they pay more attention to how rational all elements are placed and how they function rather than think of what effect this or that color will have on the person who will look at the final result. On the other hand, it will be a very bad idea if a right-brained person starts programming or solving mathematical problems. First of all, it will be boring for him and will probably have him very depressed and unhappy.

So, in this society of historians and artistic persons, left-brained people will be unhappy and will perform poorly. They will cause much stress for the society. So it’s definitely better to let them do what they are supposed to do. Or we will somewhat have something close to soviet Russia, when farmers started managing the society, working as teachers and doctors. If a person is a scientist he shouldn’t be giving history classes. Of course, it’s good to know history and literature and to be educated, but the scientists are perhaps the most important people in the world. It is due to them that the human society has developed this much and has gone a long way from a monkey-like human being to a 21-century’s man.

All professions are important and it will also be bad to have a society of only scientists for similar reasons. Everybody should do what he is good at, what makes him happy. There should be some balance in this all.

Now, you can check out whether you are left-brained or right-brained. See the picture below. In what direction does the girl turn?


If she moves clockwise you are left-brained, if you see it counter-clockwise, you are right-brained. :) (I see it clockwise)

Essay - 02 - homework :|

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Reading fiction is more enjoyable than watching movies. Use specific reasons and examples to support your position.

Actually I've just used my old blog post about books. It sounds kind of harsh maybe (concerning the movies) but I think it's ok. :)

Here's the link:
http://cogito-ergo-sum-121.blogspot.com/2007/03/books.html

Essay - 01 - homework :)

In some countries people are no longer allowed to smoke in many public places and office buildings. Do you think this is a good law or a bad law? Use specific reasons and examples to support your position.

As we all know smoking is a bad habit which results in cancer of lungs in some cases. People get addicted to it and sometimes have to go to special courses to get rid of this very bad habit which destroys not only the health of the smoker but also that of people nearby and also pollutes the surroundings. If a pregnant woman smokes it has a very bad influence on the development of the child. And there are many other reasons not to smoke. Also, smoking has no good effect; it’s a way of making money for tobacco industries. As a consequence people spend money on destroying their health. Knowing all this, each person should think twice before lighting up a cigarette.

But what if he lights up one? Forbid him? He’s addictive to it, he realizes how bad it all is but he feels the urge to smoke. And there are many people like this, especially those who carry out difficult mental work: programmers, engineers, scientists, mathematicians, etc. When they work and think hard, they need to go out and have a smoke, or smoke while thinking. If you forbid them to do that, it will affect their work, their character. And this is just one example. Smoking isn’t as bad as drinking Coke. So if people take care of their health they better stop drinking Coke and Pepsi and eating junk food because that can cause worse health problems.

Nobody makes anybody smoke. It’s the choice of each of us. Yes, but it’s also bad for other people you will say. Special rooms at the building and halls at the restaurants and cafes are a solution. Finally, the smoker can open the window. Will it pollute the atmosphere? Yes it will. OK, let’s forbid smoking, stop all factories, stop using cars, airplanes, spaceships etc. Smoking isn’t the main ecological problem, it is a minor compared to others.

Once I’ve heard one phrase said by a very smart professor at my university who is a doctor. He said “Smoking is one of the vestiges of the past, of the 20th century. It’s time to build a healthy (in 2 meanings) society.” He is absolutely right, but it’s not the vestige of the 20th century. Less people smoke from day to day but it’s still alive. Smoking should not be forbidden, just every individual should come to this himself, should understand that smoking is bad by himself not by reading it out on the pack of cigarettes or somewhere else. Restrictions only slow down the process of giving up on smoking because the forbidden fruit is sweet. And people in the entire world should know about the effects of smoking right from their birth. Education is very vital in such a question. Say “no” to smoking but let it be your “no”, don’t let it just be put into your mouth.

last time at uni on last day of autumn

Well I have 2 stories.

1st. University. Today we had to hand in some papers on diploma project. The papers must have been signed by the supervisor and the digester. The papers should be handed in in 2 copies. Me and Anya were done with all that issues several days ago. Mary and Vova went to their supervisor's place yesterday (see her blog) and he signed their papers (one copy, and only under supervisor). Alex filled in the papers right on spot but he needed 4 signatures (2 per copy). Mary and Vova needed 3 (2 digester's and 1 of the supervisor on the other copy). None of the supervisors was at uni today. What do?
Irene: I'll just draw it.. or copy it using the window glass.

so me and Mary went to uni and entered a room. It was on the first floor. Many students passed by university then and looked in surprise at me pressing some papers to the window. So I copied some signatures and then the door opened! It was smth like "Freeze, hands up!" for me.. and that's what i did and the papers fell to the ground. It was smb from the administration! Mary said "hello!" but the man quickly closed the door. (phew) he didn't come to see what we were busy with..

then we handed in the papers. The head of informatics chair said that the concept of the diploma manuscript should be ready by the following week!!! None of us has done anything! OMG! The deadline was Dec 15!!!

Mary went to the other chair.
head of chair: ts! why did your supervisor sign the paper here too? I am your digester. ay-ay-ay...

Mary, after leaving the chair: OMG Irene! I hope they (supervisor and the digester) won't talk about this!