My poor brother is having trouble learning C++. Not that it's anything to be worried about -- C++ is not an easy language to learn well enough to be conversationally fluent in. Really, the key thing is to implement programs. Code, compile, try to run it, see what dies, fix it, try again. That's the way I've learned and how everybody truly learns a language. Books are nice to learn the semantics of a language and the standard libraries. Unfortunately, books don't deal with the intricacies of actually writing programs in a specific environment. Only by writing do you learn the idiocyncracies of an editor and a compiler and an environment.

So although I can answer his questions and suggest he do this and that, it's not going to sink in until he actually does it and tests it out for himself. I'm not too worried yet, since it's early in his second year. I know I had a lot of trouble learning C and I spent long hours trying to figure why some part of my program wouldn't work (heck, I still have those problems today). And it's always some little problem that makes you say "of course! How could I have missed that!" Everybody goes through that.

My parents though, are worried. Christopher's Grade Point Average hovers at about 2.5, which is not that great. They give him a lot of negative feedback, which is not going to help. I try to comfort him by telling him how bad my grades where after Freshman year. Physics really killed me. Not as bad as Christopher's, and not as bad as I told him, but still not good for someone who had done well in High School. In the end, the kid has to do it himself. He has to come arond and either get it or not, develop a good work ethic or not, come up with his own way of dealing with life...

Chris sleeps a whole lot, or at least he does when he's at home. Much like Steph and I did when we were in college. There's something about coming home and not having anything to do except study. The problem for me at least is that there is not enough stimulation to keep me awake. I could study or watch television or read, but it wasn't as stimulating as being in my apartment back at Berkeley. So I can understand when Chris sleeps a lot.

But he does sleep more that I did. I think on Thursday he slept from lunch until Thanksgiving dinner. Then the next day he woke up at noon and he kept falling asleep. Home does that to you. For me, I tihnk I've grown out of that a bit. Both the last time I visited and this time I haven't taken a nap and I've only slept eight or nine hours a night. I think that constantly changing activities helps. I'm reading half a dozen books, each for a few pages at a time. There's also my compute where I can play a bit of Angband. And there's the video tape I brought with some programs to watch.

Speaking of Angband, once again I have a character that's doing well. This is my 30th character and if I can only remain careful and controlled maybe she'll make it farther than dungeon level 30, which I haven't hit in a good long while. Level 26 Dunadan Warrior currently on dungeon level 20. Not great stats yet and not great items yet. A Mace of Westernesse which gives her Free Action and See Invisible. That's pretty much it -- I'd dearly like a Defender weapon which also gives you Resistance to the four basic elemental attacks. Of course every time I write about a great Angband character it soon dies...

Sheesh, I've been home for two and a half days and I'm already itching to leave. It's not my parents' fault, but being here I revert back to my childhood -- I'm just not an adult here. Not that I'm all grown up outside, but at least I'm my own person. I feel like I'm getting nothing done, though on the positive side I'm getting a lot of reading done. It's just that I could be reading and watching television, getting both things done at once.

Steph and Chris are leaving after lunch. I'll wait until after dinner, that way I'll at least have Sunday to work on my Star Trek campaign. Man, I'm totally procrastinating there. There's so much I need to develop and write that I'm putting it off. That's so like me at times...