Updates on My Life 4/3/22

Yesterday was the CHMMC (http://chmmc.caltech.edu). It was pretty fun, especially the team rounds and getting to work together with some friends from PROMYS. Before the competition began, we played fish (https://cfish.herokuapp.com), which was also fun. Unfortunately we didn't place. To be honest, there wasn't really a chance. individual scores were a factor in placement, and 4 of our 6 member team didn't do individuals, and 2 of our members couldn't do the entire team round. Afterwards, I spent some time doing competition math problems again (I haven't really looked at them for a while, about since the AIME). It was refreshing to get a change of pace from my focus on researching math of the past couple of months. It also made me realize how much I unconsciously drift towards security (in the sense of conservatism). This is not ideal considering I believe in specialization and know that successful people have taken big risks. USAMTS scores for round 3 also came out today. It was a surprise to see me receive points for problem 4 (it was a very complex/hard to keep track of proof) and receive only a 3 on problem 5. I thought that p5 would be an easy one considering I've seen problems like it before, had an intuitive feel for it, and thought my proof pretty solid. It turns out I missed a condition and so my solution had less generality than needed. I didn't realize this, but I think I'm going to be on the edge for bronze based on past years. I thought I would surely have bronze in the bag considering how much I've improved compared to last year. I believe I can get a point from a protest this round, and maybe some points for a protest for round 2. Hopefully that will make me a solid bronze.

I'm now on chapter 6 of part 2, and I think Rodya's guilt is really beginning to be emphasized. TBH, how do his friends not suspect him for the murder yet? He seems to have no care for money anymore (perhaps he acquired a large sum recently from a crime?), acts extremely suspicious whenever the murder is brought up, had the opportunity, knew the murdered, and seems to have police interest. This leads me to believe that perhaps they already know that he did it, or at least suspect it and want him to confirm. This would make sense considering a police search would yield nothing, requiring the police to investigate further. Then again, we know Rodya has had hallucinations about his being sussed out, so all o this could be a delusion.