More with fights and Quant midterms…which is worse, tell me?

March 13, 2003

It sure has been a short week, at least it feels like it to me. I could have made it go even faster if I’d worked on my paper, but alas, it was not to be. I actually haven’t done anything on it since about Saturday or Sunday, and since the first draft is due tomorrow I’ll have to do some revisions today after class, after dinner, and during work. After work is strictly off-limits, because tonight is the conclusion of my three nights of “Dune”. Yes, OK, so this was something I constructed and is under my control, but there are several people depending on the conclusion being tonight. The sequel to the Sci-Fi channel’s version of “Dune” they aired two years ago is on next week, and Dan and a few other people expressed interest in watching the original before the sequel comes out. Since it’s six hours long, we had to space it out over three nights. I asked a couple of my underclassmen friends if they wanted to watch, and after hemming and hawing for awhile, they finally agreed to come and watch the first part–reserving the right to leave if they wanted to. They stayed throughout the whole thing, and when part one ended, my friend Julie said: “OK, I’ll be back tomorrow night for part two.” Esteban, a freshmen from my floor, has gotten hooked on it, too. So like the first time it was on two years ago when it started off as about three of us watching, there will be a crowd by the time we’re done. This means, of course, that the people who got hooked on the first one will show up for the sequel next week, of course. I know *I’m* looking forward to it.

I got my midterm in Quant back, and I got a 50 on it. I’m not exactly sure what the total score was, but the class average was 58–none of us did very well. Even the “smart” peopel in the class who knew what they were doing didn’t score much better than me. He allowed us to redo some of the problems to get credit for them after the fact, though, and thankfully all three that he suggested I redo ar worth 10 points apiece, so I might pull my score up a bit. I’m not too worried, though. I talked to several people who said that they did very poorly on the two tests but still pulled a B in the class. Since I need the class both for my major and to graduate, I’m doing my best. I also got back a paper for my Africa class, and I got a B- on it. Beth is a pretty tough grader, so that’s about what I expected, but unlike some of my other papers for her in the past, her comments were mostly positive and supportive, though she graded me down because she felt it was about a page too short in order to cover everything that I should have. I’m satisfied, though.

My fight over IM that I mentioned the other day seems to have resolved itself, though with some help from myself and the other party involved. Basically, the solution is that they’re not going to talk to me ever again. I know that I can be stubborn, and it’s probably one of the most grating things about me, as any family member can tell you, but I think this is taking things a bit too far. My opinion is that this was a classic case of killing the messenger, and there’s nothing I can do about that. It pains me to have a friend “break up” with me, ie, not want to talk to me anymore, but if they’re going to be childish enough to do such a thing maybe it’s for the better. I apparently stepped out of line somewhere, but they weren’t kind enough to let me know what I did wrong, instead choosing to shut me out, call me names, and then refuse to apologize for them. I was less than considerate for pressing the topic trying to find out what I’d done wrong, but if I can’t learn from my mistakes then what’s the point, you know? Anyhow, I guess that’s the last I’ll hear of that. You too.

I had a sudden flash of fear today as I could not remember whether I had a presentation today or a week from today. I’d been planning on it being next Thursday, but my brain, fearful as always that I’m forgetting something, starting planting seeds of doubt. I checked my syllabus, and sure enough, I’m scheduled for next week. Disaster averted. My work load is a bit heavy for the next week or so, with my paper due tomorrow, another paper due Tuesday (possibly Thursday, actually), and a presentation on Thursday, in addition to my standard busywork that gets assigned in Quant.

Dan gets to take a little trip next week, off to Hamburg, Germany. The software development project he’s been working on in his spare time is having a conference in Hamburg starting next week, and they’re paying for him to fly over and attend. Wow. I wish I could go to Hamburg at the drop of a hat. I’ll drive him to the Ramada Inn next Wednesday so he can take the Van Galder bus down to O’Hare, which means of course that I have free run of his car while he’s gone. (Just kidding, Dan! I promise I’ll put gas in it!) I, on the other hand, will be still here, working my butt of as usual. I need a vacation. My sister said that the other day, and I believe her. I just need a vacation from work for awhile, not frilly drinks with pretty umbrellas in them, but a short period of time when I dn’t have looming deadlines, no work on the horizon, not needing to apply for jobs, that sort of thing. I guess that won’t be for awhile.

I think that’s about it for the time being. Should be an interesting weekend with some of the things I have planned, but I’ll get everything done. Off to class in a bit. Have a good weekend.

Why isn’t all my work magically done?