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~Draguunthor:iconDraguunthor:

Ketrina Yim  

  • Status: Member
  • Cartoonist
  • Female/United States
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  • Deviant since Apr 5, 2005, 7:44 PM
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*throws SIGCSE swag*

Journal Entry: Mon Mar 17, 2008, 2:19 PM
  • Mood: Pride
  • Listening to: "Chocolat" by Cornershop
  • Reading: The Internet Galaxy
  • Watching: The scroll bar shrink as I write more
  • Playing: Megaman Battle & Chase
  • Eating: Haven't had food yet...>.>
  • Drinking: Well, not anything right now...
I started out thinking that my trip to SIGCSE was going to involve seeing professors present papers and getting a bag full of flyers. Well, it turned out to be just that--and so much more! An experience of this magnitude can only be described day-by-day, like they would in the game Oregon Trail, if you didn't succumb to dysentery or fall off the wagon. :XD:

Tuesday:
Departure from Berkeley at 9am. We intended to depart at 8am, but considering most CS students are not morning people, lateness was expected. Also, let it be known that sleep in a van is not equivalent to sleep in a proper bed. However, we did play car games, listen to Pink Floyd, and do a lot of shouting. Yes, a van full of nerds can get rowdy. Obviously, by the time we got to Portland, we were all pretty dang tired.

Wednesday:
I woke up earlier than the rest of the group to get my 5 hours of volunteering out of the way sooner. After stuffing conference bags with swag and registering countless teachers and students from all over the world, I met some volunteer students from the East Coast and inevitably proceeded to compare things from opposite sides of the country (In N Out vs. White Castle, various phrases, etc.) and swap CS jokes. It's great to be in a place where you can make all the geeky references you want and have people laugh with you instead of being confused. In the afternoon I went to Powell's Bookstore, an immense establishment full of tomes and a very tall shelf full of manga. I think I could have spent all day in there.
Later at night I wandered around downtown with one of them and got lost. Turns out after 9p, most of Portland is closed. Except for the microbreweries and bars. It wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't raining...and if I hadn't forgotten my umbrella.

Thursday:
The conference officially began. To kick it off, there was a keynote speech dedicated to Randy Pausch, an incredible professor from Carnegie Mellon who designed Alice, a programming language designed to be accessible to children and people who are afraid of windows full of code. It was truly moving to see someone so dedicated to making programming less intimidating and setting the foundations for creating the next generation of computer scientists. Afterwards, I helped out at a paper session where teachers present ways to help students understand compilers through simplified programming languages and robotics. I also attended a session where teachers showed off their most interesting CS assignments, such as independent research groups to encourage creativity and programming Asteroids to teach object-oriented programming.
At night, most of the student volunteers went to the SIGCSE Reception. We ate, drank, and made merry amidst the horde of professors socializing, and got incredibly noisy when my professor led us all into a whimsical and CS-related game. Fortunately most of the reception goers had cleared out at that point, so we weren't too disruptive...

Friday:
Another day, another keynote. This time it was from Marissa Mayer, VP of Google. There she spoke of how many of Google's major services were the products of creative innovation from the individual employees, rather than formulated by the company itself. It offered the message that although many computer scientists would work on legacy code, there were always opportunities for working on something new and world-changing. After the speech, I attended a session discussing how CS could be made fun again and I explored the exhibition hall, where company representatives handed out flyers and swag. I also somehow managed to get around to doing some of my homework, despite having to make signs to direct conference attendees to certain events. Making signs was quite fun, since I could cover them with CS-related drawings and put them up for people to enjoy.
In the evening, there was a party for all the student volunteers. Pizza was consumed, random raffle prizes were handed out, and games were played. I can't describe how much fun it all was with just words, but I think at some point there will be pictures of it all on the SIGCSE '08 site.

Saturday:
Though I didn't really feel much like attending any of the morning events, I got to the convention hall at 8a anyway. I met my friends from Jersey and decided to head to Finnegan's Toy Store downtown. On the way, however, we discovered Portland's Saturday Market and could not help but get off the train and take a look. We marveled at handmade ocarinas and artwork, gushed over the unique designs of handbags and various articles of clothing, and laughed at drug-themed jokes written on t-shirts (such as "Only Users Lose Drugs"). Though I didn't get to see the toy store, visiting the open market was absolutely worth it.
The keynote happened in the afternoon this time, and it was from Ed Lazowska, discussing how CS could be put to use in some of the world's greatest challenges. He encouraged the audience to speak out against the established myths about the CS community--to say that we were not just an army of nerds and geeks who spend all day in front of a computer coding away and to say that our work can have and is having a significant impact on the world.
And as a member of Upsilon Pi Epsilon, I felt legally obligated to attend the UPE business meeting that happened that afternoon. Needless to say, I was a bit happier to attend the workshop I registered for: Active Teaching with Toys, Games, Stories, and Play. Who would've thought that Dr. Seuss books could teach CS concepts? =D

Sunday:
After seeing how quickly all traces of the conference were taken down Saturday night I became painfully aware of the fact that I would soon be back in Berkeley and attending class again. We packed up, checked out, and hopped onto the van that would take us back. But fortune determined that even our return trip would be memorable, as we saw that all the rain in Portland translated to snow up in the mountains that we drove through. At one point in our journey we had to stop and have several rounds of snowball fights. It was truly glorious as we pegged each other with powder and risked frostbite from rolling snowballs with bare hands. The delay meant we returned at around 10p, but a great time was had by all (well, all who didn't stay inside the van, that is).

A lot of fun was had outside of the conference, but SIGCSE itself was an incredible experience. I am warm with the knowledge that people of all ages, races, creeds, and orientations could come together to further the great cause known as computer science education. I'm very happy to know that out there are people who understand that lectures and programming drills are not the only ways to teach students the wonderful world of CS, and that CS education can start earlier in life through entertaining activities and easy-to-understand programming languages. Most of all, I'm excited and overjoyed that my research project, CS Illustrated, is contributing to this great cause and helping the next generation of computer scientists be at their very best.







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w00t! Check out da clubs I'm a member of!
:iconfortefans: :iconfortefanclub: :iconzero-club: :iconlinkedbyfate: :iconstar-craft: :iconala-club:

Devious Information

  • Current Age: 22
  • Current Residence: Aboard the Sephiruvi'Isenkarne (which is in high orbit above Berkeley, CA)
  • Interests: video games, comics, anime, drawing, programming
  • Favourite movie: Moonraker, Goldeneye, Akira, Star Wars 4-6, Spaceballs, any Pixar movie, Monty Python
  • Favourite band or musician: DaRude, DJ Tiesto, Gigi D'Agostino, Linkin Park, Rammstein, T.A.T.U, Beethoven, Mozart
  • Favourite genre of music: Trance, Disco, Classical...oh heck, if I like it, I like it.
  • Favourite poet or writer: Douglas Adams, Dante Aligheri, Roald Dahl
  • Favourite style of art: Mostly sci-fi and Egyptian art, but anything that catches my attention works too
  • Operating System: Windows Vista (If I could, I'd be dual booting)
  • MP3 player of choice: WinAmp
  • Shell of choice: Um...Zerg Carapaces.
  • Wallpaper of choice: The ones I make
  • Skin of choice: My Forte Amp and Zerg Amp
  • Favourite game: Super Smash Brothers Melee, Unreal Tournament: GOTY and 2004, StarCraft, Megaman Power Battle
  • Favourite gaming platform: It doesn't matter! I just love video games!
  • Favourite cartoon character: Bass, Zero, Kirby, Samus Aran, Garfield
  • Personal Quote: I like throwing random things. *throws Turing machine*
  • Tools of the Trade: Pencil, Ink, Watercolors, Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Maya, Spontaneous Inspiration

deviantART Notice

Devious Comments

~maleiva:iconmaleiva: Jun 15, 2008, 6:26:46 PM
Hi ^^ your gallery is good.

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Visite mi friki y bizarra galeria de arte :gallery: [link]

Visit my frik and bizarre gallery of art :gallery: [link]
~Animeartist569:iconAnimeartist569: Apr 20, 2008, 4:11:55 PM
Your work is the best! Are you thinking of adding to your RBB series?

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Animeartist569!
~Slothu:iconSlothu: Apr 15, 2008, 3:43:06 PM Mood: Joy
Owesome work ! Plz Plz Plz Make more Starcraft Mini's ^^' !! thats like the cutest things ive ever seen <3 and just cant stop looking at them <3
~DavionX:iconDavionX: Feb 20, 2008, 7:35:08 AM Mood: Joy
like your works, your charakters are very interesting, faved a few pics.
hope i get as good as u when im 22 :D

check outta my gallery ;)

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Need Somebody to Hold;
Need Somebody to Love :(
~HronawmonsTamer:iconHronawmonsTamer: Feb 7, 2008, 4:18:47 AM
I luv your gallery!Woot!

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I'm da crazy dragon! :3 No one can catch me,not even inteligence! XD :sprint:
We are the crazy trio! :crazy: We are:
Me (Lava)-:chainsaw:
Bomb-:psychotic:
Sparks-:typerhappy:
Crazy for evah! :chainsaw: :psychotic: :typerhappy:
~Gourmandhast:iconGourmandhast: Jan 15, 2008, 10:13:00 AM
That's some nice art you have i like your coloring style the shadown and lighting are very well done, I specialise in art such as Soul Calibur and King Of Fighter art style, drop by my gallery when you time

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Soul Calibur,Sci Fi warriors, Original Characters, FanArt, Samurai Flash movies all that shit! can be found at [link]
~Ty-san:iconTy-san: Jan 1, 2008, 8:40:37 PM
for damn sake >.< took me ages to find your page again!
o.o ikno u dont know me.. but i realy like your art
it even helpede me to create a image of my charecter
~Sovietcommando:iconSovietcommando: Dec 9, 2007, 10:49:49 PM
Yarr, it's yo birthday. WHEEEE!!!

*Drops a smoke bomb and flees*

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7#3 |)4|2|< |)0|\/|41|\|

Chaos, string theory, impossibilities are all here!

Caution: "Excessive" cuteness may activate defensive emplacements in the vicinity.

Clubs: :iconstar-craft:
~Norsehound:iconNorsehound: Nov 4, 2007, 9:56:28 PM
Tag.
[link]

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"It's not about following the rules. It's about how you break the rules that makes you noticed." -Me
~firewolf7789:iconfirewolf7789: Sep 22, 2007, 12:20:16 AM
awesome artwork... and i LOVES your avatar ^_^

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:strip: NAKEY!!! :strip:
~mimithebrain:iconmimithebrain: Aug 26, 2007, 11:17:33 AM Mood: Joy
Keep up the good work!!!

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have a nice day

mimithebrain
~steelwater:iconsteelwater: Aug 3, 2007, 5:10:43 AM
you have wild ideas and i like it, keep it up!

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[link] -my old stock gallery
[link] -my flash gallery
~Draguunthor:iconDraguunthor: Jul 17, 2007, 8:55:28 AM
Eeep! :XD:

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Draguunthor Industries: "Creativity guaranteed...or your money back!"

Warning! Contains Dragons, Battlecruisers, Chibis, Unreal Tournament, Sharp Objects, Too Much Hair, and Nuts.

Oh, and Pie. Lots of Pie.
~Sadie-Dkirin:iconSadie-Dkirin: Jul 4, 2007, 8:31:10 AM
ROAR! :D

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NEWS FLASH! This Chair on display NOW only at ~TYPE-MOON!
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Fight for your Afterlife!
---Reaper's Union---
[link]
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Crusaders of the Dark Croissant - An EPIC in the making!
~croissantmunchers
~Draguunthor:iconDraguunthor: Jul 3, 2007, 1:12:55 PM
Thanks! =D

--
Draguunthor Industries: "Creativity guaranteed...or your money back!"

Warning! Contains Dragons, Battlecruisers, Chibis, Unreal Tournament, Sharp Objects, Too Much Hair, and Nuts.

Oh, and Pie. Lots of Pie.
~denniscmhmy:icondenniscmhmy: Jun 24, 2007, 5:55:46 AM
Hello, nice to meet you. I like your Deviations. I really enjoy it ^.^

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Don't be sad cause it ended , be happy cause it started
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Come visit my gallery when you are free! You are welcome. ^.^Y
~Norsehound:iconNorsehound: May 29, 2007, 8:24:37 PM
Among my friends and forum circles, there's a lot of debate on what Starcraft will have, in terms of content from Warcraft 3. Some randomite out there wanted autocast everything for a number of abilities... but you tell me, would you want seige mode as autocast on your tanks?

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"It's not about following the rules. It's about how you break the rules that makes you noticed." -Me
~Sovietcommando:iconSovietcommando: May 29, 2007, 4:03:41 PM
Yep, and this was the gameplay demo shown in S. Korea: [link]

(It's 20 minutes long, but totally worth it.) =D

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7#3 |)4|2|< |)0|\/|41|\|

Chaos, string theory, impossibilities are all here!

Caution: "Excessive" cuteness may activate defensive emplacements in the vicinity.

Clubs: :iconstar-craft:
~Norsehound:iconNorsehound: May 21, 2007, 12:04:20 AM
For whatever it's worth, Starcraft is back.

No joke

[link]

--
"It's not about following the rules. It's about how you break the rules that makes you noticed." -Me
~Norsehound:iconNorsehound: Apr 4, 2007, 10:24:36 PM
Several variants converge: Subject no longer exists.

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"It's not about following the rules. It's about how you break the rules that makes you noticed." -Me
~jewelbox1576:iconjewelbox1576: Mar 9, 2007, 1:59:55 AM
uhhh i don't see no pie or sharp objects hair,nuts and ummm batlecruisers

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Asia rocks and you know it!

I leik milk! :milk:

Proud Member of this club![link]

Guy,MUGEN player and Yuri fan
~Norsehound:iconNorsehound: Dec 26, 2006, 2:02:16 AM
By all that is holy, where is she?

--
"It's not about following the rules. It's about how you break the rules that makes you noticed." -Me
~Sovietcommando:iconSovietcommando: Dec 9, 2006, 11:32:04 AM
Iiitttt's yo Berrrrf-deyyyyy!!!!!!

...............___......
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...\\//....||.......||..
...//\\....||.......||..
..//..\\...||___//...
...........................

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7#3 |)4|2|< |)0|\/|41|\|

Chaos, string theory, impossibilities are all here!

Caution: "Excessive" cuteness may activate defensive emplacements in the vicinity.

Clubs: :iconstar-craft:
~Norsehound:iconNorsehound: Nov 10, 2006, 11:38:50 PM
"Scanners show no sign of life at these coordinates..."

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"It's not about following the rules. It's about how you break the rules that makes you noticed." -Me
~Draguunthor:iconDraguunthor: Oct 8, 2006, 6:25:02 PM
Aw, I don't have an MSN.

--
Draguunthor Industries: "Creativity guaranteed...or your money back!"

Warning! Contains Dragons, Battlecruisers, Chibis, Unreal Tournament, Sharp Objects, Too Much Hair, and Nuts.

Oh, and Pie. Lots of Pie.