In the famous words of Strong bad, "It's over!"
Hooray. I took my last two finals yesterday and did all types of crazy stuff. I returned stuff to the mall, got my dress altered, sold my textbooks back. I need to clean my room, though. Stupid room. It can't stay clean longer than 13 seconds.
Anyway, I won't be posting this weekend because McKay and I are going to Chicago so he can meet my parents. It's going to be quite the busy weekend.
is real life.
It is my firm belief that Star Wars had most accurately demonstrated what the last week of school is like:
Time is short.
The walls are closing in,
And you are just trying to climb over the rubbish of the semester,
But there's a slimy monster called GPA out to get you,
And your only hope is that a little computer will change it all.
Let's all pray that BYU's grading system fails in 3...2...1...
I never thought that the idea of losing "Moore" as a last name would be saddening.
But it is. And it became increasingly apparent today.
Today, Dr. Forcade presented our research at the Colloquium for the grad students and faculty of the math department here. I was on the list as co-author, so I came to show my support and watch my research appear on the board. This is much different from when I gave the presentation last month. It's a whole new experience to have someone else present for you. Honest.
So Dr. Forcade had some overhead transparencies. He went through the history of the problem labelling the important people who had worked on it: D. D. Wall, D. W. Robinson, D. Bailey, Sun & Sun, etc.
And then, he got to the present day. And there it was:
H. Moore
And then I stopped breathing. There I was mentioned with all these great men. My name. My initial (you know you're a mathematician when you use initials instead of names).
Later on in the talk, Dr. Forcade presents our main theorem. It's labelled:
Theorem (Forcade, Moore)
Isn't that beautiful? Moore is a really great last name, I think. It looks elegant. It looks refined. It looks mathy. You can trust a person whose name is Moore. Look at it. Solid beginning, solid ending. No frills. This person is the real thing. Many brilliant people carry that name. I'm not brilliant, but with a name like Moore, people sure will believe it.
And then I realized it. After August 19, my name will be Moore no more. The solidity, the unmoving genius that comes with "Moore"-- all gone.
Dr. Forcade and I are writing a paper to be published. It'll (hopefully) be ready for publication in June. It won't be published in June, just submitted for publication and it'll be submitted under Moore. It may happen that when it's published, I'll be a Farley. Can you imagine the terror? Here I am going by two names in the mathematical world. You can't do that. It's just not done. How will people trace your work to you? How will MathSciNet remember you?
And this is why women don't go into math.
It comes down to this: I'm going to take McKay's name when I get married because I've always imagined doing that. It's right for me.
But I mourn the loss of "Moore." It really is a good name. And it's been me for a score of years. And I'm going to miss it. I'm sorry. "H. Moore" nor "H. R. Moore" will ever become a real mathematician. The person who I am right now, and have been all my life will never be a mathematician. H. Moore's dreams, H. Moore's aspirations die on August 19.
But I guess H. R. Farley can dream.
The other day, I was drinking some lemonade, but did not have enough for a full glass. So I made some cherry kool-aid and added it to the lemonade...
AND IT TASTED LIKE HEAVEN.
I can't think if a better taste in all the world.
If I were God, the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden would taste like cherry kool-aid and lemonade mixed all together.
Sorry about the lack of updates in the last month or so. If it's the Lord's University, then why are the tests hell?
and don't give me any "opposition in all things rant"
actually, I have 2 ideas for a next post and I've been trying to type them up for a while, except I don't have enough time. When I have time...will be after finals...will be eventually...
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