61 posts tagged “aside”
MATH 247 (also known as Calculus) and I have a very tense, love-hate relationship. Given the fact that I've been up all night (literally all night) taking coughing up fluids, helping friends with personal problems, and taking care of a sick boyfriend, I'm going to keep this brief.
Reasons why I like Calculus:
1. My professor is awesome. Really, she is.
2. The labs are easy.
3. My professor made me realize how much I liked math in the first place. For those of you who don't know, I was a math whiz as a kid -- I won quite a few tournaments in school and outside of school. When I got into middle school, I got very sick and basically had to learn three years of math based on instinct and a textbook. It made everything after that a lot harder. Add to that a really mean teacher for two years, and I just didn't want to be anywhere near math again.
4. There is, in the academic world, nothing better than taking on a difficult problem and solving it. Do it one day. It's fantastic.
5. I feel this wonderful sense of balance for the first time in college. Taking a math course (that isn't a dumb one: no offense, statiticians) and knowing that I can relate it in some way to language and what I ultimately want to do is pretty nice.
6. It's forcing me to study. I'm flexing mental muscles I forgot I had.
7. It's lighting a fire under my butt to get myself onto a schedule of work -- for reasons which you can see below.
Reasons why I feel Calculus must die a slow, painful death:
1. It's an 8 AM class, four times a week. NO.
2. Prior to this, I hadn't taken a math class in three years.
3. The homework isn't collected, which means I slacked off, didn't do them for unit 1, and got a 68 on the first exam.
4. I got a 68 on the first exam.
5. It's making me realize how much I don't know and don't remember.
6. It will most likely be the class that destroys my GPA.
7. I GOT A 68 ON THE FIRST EXAM HOLY CRAP PANIC ATTACK.
8. Graphing calculators aren't allowed on the exams, but I know I'll need a graphing calculator for damn near every other math course in the CS sequence.
9. ...68. Ouch.
I now understand why that "in sickness and in health" clause is included in wedding vows: being sick with your significant other SUCKS. Both of us have been on and off sick, and now it's just hit a peak. I have a very weak immune system (due to several factors) -- you name it, I've had it, have it, or will probably catch it in a few weeks. It's illness season on campus: sore throats, stomach viruses, and the flu. Jon got sick first with a bad cold. I caught a cold from him, and it morphed into the OmniCold (patent pending) with Supersore sore throat technology -- I couldn't talk for two days. It's finally getting better, but my voice still breaks every couple of lines when I talk. I took half of the day to rest up, and it did a world of help for me.
Jon, however, is another story. Jon does not get sick -- he had perfect attendance in high school (pretty sure), and he prides himself in being "impervious to illness". He's got the flu, and it's the most horrible sight to be seen. Since he got off from work tonight, I've been taking care of him -- giving him cold rags to put on his head, helping him clean his room, getting food, drinks, and medicine for him, and even preparing a barf bag.
It's a random thought, but here goes: the risk of me getting sick isn't what hurts me the most. It's the fact that he's laying down, in bed, literally two feet away from me right now, and there's basically nothing I can do. He looks like hell. He's shaking, coughing, and he's basically unable to speak. I've been sending emails around to his professors and his boss to make sure he doesn't get behind in class (I'm picking up some of his work), and I'm going with him to the wellness center (think "nurse's office") tomorrow to make sure he's okay.
God, now he's looking over at me. He looks like he's in so much pain. THIS IS KILLING ME. I wish I could just stay in his dorm, make sure he's alright over the night, and bring him something to eat. Unfortunately, he can't/won't eat anything, he's barely drinking any water (I'm forcing him to drink it since I can pretty much tell he has a fever even though we don't have a thermometer), and he's very tough to understand when speaking.
How do you wives/husbands handle this stuff...I've never seen him like this, and it just pains me so much. Thank goodness he won't be at work tomorrow -- once I'm done my shift at 3:30 I can come right down here and check on him.
I just saw a mouse in the kitchen. I FREAKED OUT, screamed (almost dropping the glass I had in my hand in the process) and ran right back down to the basement. I then went downstairs and, upon looking at one of my accounts, found out I got a credit increase. Oh goodie. Mom is getting a nice gift this year -- if she can stop going to the BAR all the time!
Sorry about the lack of updates, yet again. There really hasn't been much to write about. It's mouse season and we live near a field, so I'm constantly afraid of seeing ANOTHER one of those little critters, so I've been in the basement, which has proven to be the only place that's immune (knock on wood). My books have been purchased, my bags are packed, and really, I'm just ready to go HOME.
I don't know if that's a good thing to say or not, but I don't feel like this building with my family in it is my home anymore. I don't have a room, I've been told I don't live here anymore (my my Mom), and I've basically been thrown out on my ass for "leaving the family". Hey, it doesn't make sense to me, either...I stopped trying to make sense of it years ago.
On Thursday, Chris and I will be visiting the high school together, and I guarantee that we will have stories. I haven't seen Chris in almost a year...I miss him so much.
Again, I'm sorry that I haven't been posting as much. Right now I'm just trying to help my Mom get the house back into ship-shape before I leave. I've been doing a lot of sleeping, a lot of eating, and a lot of reconciling with my boyfriend.
Oh, yeah. We broke up. For a week. It's long, complicated, and I just don't feel like talking about it. Right now, I just want to make sure that I get back into this habit of writing somehow.
When the new semester starts, and as part of my multi-part 2008 resolution, I will be writing at least once a day, and you can also expect to see paid posts, too (I gotta pay the book bills somehow, and I don't have enough boobs to start doing nudie pics).
Christmas went well -- got a bunch of sweet-smelling stuff, gift cards, and money. I'm happy.
I go back to the Mount on January 14th. I'm insanely excited, but I still want to visit my friends while I'm here -- unfortunately, Matt has pneumonia, Liz is always busy, and it seems like I never have a ride to get ANYWHERE. Gah. I'll get my license by May if it's the death of me.
My brother told me that if I made "straight As" during any point in college, he would take me out and get me drunk.
Details are pending, but according to my school's website, I have a 3.734 GPA...which places me not only on the Dean's list, but in what qualifies as an A- average. Depending on how that's distributed, there's a chance I made straight A's (low A's, but A's nonetheless).
The school doesn't have the grades up, merely the GPA...so I will know by around 9:30 EST (I will edit this post with the grades when I find them).
WOOHOO!
Edit @ 2:10 PM: Fail. I got a B+ in one of my classes. I have a feeling it's an 89%, which makes me even more upset...
Freshman Seminar: A
Spanish Written Composition: A-
Foundations of Education: A
Beginning French: A-
Origins of the West: B+
Literally, two minutes ago:
Phone call: Hello, this is not a telemarking call. I'm doing a survey and I'd like to speak to someone in the household over the age of 40.
Me: Well --
Phone call: Would that be you, ma'am?
Me: Actually, there's no one in the house over 40, sorry. (I'm staying with my brother at the moment; he's 27.)
Phone call: Oh, well thank you anyway!
Me: Alright, goodbye.
I'm kind of insulted. I always thought I had a girlish timbre to my voice. Apparently not.
I'll explain this all later. I just want you to see how NUTS this is.
Key
+ - Core curriculum requirement
@ - Computer Science requirement (per course sequence on site)
$ - English requirement (per course sequence on site)
! - required elective for either major
Credits Earned Before Sophomore Year
FRSEM 101+
FRSEM 102+
CVOR 101+
CVEN 102+$
CVHI 102+
ENGL 100$
ENGL 380$
AMC 201+
Sophomore Year: Fall 2008
PHIL 211 - From Cosmos to Citizen+
GSCI 101 - Physical Science+
CSCI 120 - Intro. to Computer Programming I@
ENGL 275 - Intro to Literary Study I$
CV 201 - West in Modern Society+
Sophomore Year: Spring 2009
PHIL 212 - From Self to Society+
GSCI 102 - Biological Science+
CSCI 125 - Intro. to Computer Programming II@
ENGL 276 - Intro. to Literary Study II$
MATH 247 - Calculus I@
Junior Year: Fall 2009
THEO 200 - Foundations of Christian Theology+
MATH 228 - Discrete Mathematics@
CSCI 246 - Assembly Language@
MATH 254 - Data Structures@
ENGL 330 - Early American Literature$! (1st Am. Lit. Class)
Junior Year: Spring 2010
THEO 201 - Foundations of Christian Theology II+
AMC 202 - American Experience+$ (AMC 201 and 202 count as 3 credits towards an English major)
CSCI 264 - Computer Organization@
MATH 285 - Data Analysis@
ENGL 325 - The Romantic Movement$! (Post-1600 European Lit.)
Senior Year: Fall 2010
PHIL 301 - Moral Philosophy/Ethics+
ENNW 368 - Japanese Literature and Culture+$ (Non-western core course; non-western English course)
CSCI 385 - Theory of Computation@!
CSCI 475 - Senior Project@
CSCI 453 - Algorithms@!
Senior Year: Spring 2011
ENGL 318 - Shakespeare$! (Brit. Lit. pre-1600)
ENGL 331 - American Renaissance Literature$! (2nd Am. Lit. Class)
CSCI 449 - Intro. to Artificial Intelligence@!
CSCI 491 - Independent Study@! (presumably in natural language processing)
CSCI 499 - Special Topics in Computer Science@! (presumably in natural language processing)
I never expected to get back into this. My new year's resolution, in addition to losing 20 pounds, is to blog on here every day. Right now this may not even be coherent; I've been fighting some kind of sickness for the last three weeks and it seems to get worse at night. Thankfully, I took a very long nap (from 5 to 9:30!), so I may be able to give some kind of update.
So, next week is the start of finals week. Right now, to my understanding, I'm staring down possibly straight A's -- maybe not a 4.0, but hey, straight A's for the first time in my life is nothing to sneeze at! I still have no idea what my major is going to be -- all I know is what I don't want it to be.
I will never be a business or accounting major. EVER. Suits, numbers, and money are my mortal enemies. I will never be a chemistry major, and so help me, I will never, EVER do what Jon is doing -- a double math and comp. sci. major. Pardon me while I vomit over the idea of that many numbers in one place.
I'm debating language majors at the moment, only because with the number of core classes my university requires, doing a double major is damn near impossible; a triple like I want to do is...unheard of, unless you have a lot of money. Guess what? I don't have that kind of money, school! So, we shall see. To my understanding, I would have 1/4 of a Spanish major done this semester, so we shall see. I love French, and I really want to start German. I've taken Romance languages, but never a Germanic one (unless you count English). Why not? I'm just sitting here trying to strategize how in the world I could do that.
Also, one of my professors refuses to let me leave this institution until I declare an English major or minor. I have no idea how I'm going to do that. I registered for an English class next semester that apparently "kills GPAs and spirits of the strong-minded", so we will see how I fare. It's a linguistics-rooted class rather than a literature-based class, which is right up my alley. It's English 380, "Analysis of the English Language". I had to get clearance to take it. I'm the first freshman to take it.
I would love to double major in two languages and minor in two others. I think I may be too ambitious, though. Whatever...graduate school is in my future anyway. What I don't know, though, is that even though I love language, what the heck am I going to do with it? The NSA wants Pashto, Urdu, and Mandarin right now above anything -- those languages aren't offered here at all. If anyone has suggestions for jobs in linguistics, tell me. Please.
I can't focus anymore. My head is hurting my my body wants me to move around. I could also really, REALLY go for a sandwich, but I don't have one. Dammit.
So, how have you been? I promise I haven't forgotten this place!
Originally published at Marsofel. You can comment here or there.
So, a random thing about my upbringing: while we never really went to church very much, my family really tried to be a religious, God-fearing one. We weren't allowed to wear makeup for a while, we couldn't invite boys over, we couldn't dress up as witches or monsters for Halloween (in fact, my Mom had some issues with us even celebrating Halloween), and a bevy of other weird things. She had a problem with us playing Pokemon. Seriously. She also had issues with the game "Magic the Gathering", mostly because of its "gross" illustrations and references to the occult.
Well, when Jon and I started dating, he tried to get me to play. He loves anything relating to games, and Magic's one of his favorites. Well, I continually declined, trying to make sure I didn't upset my parents. Well, for Christmas last year, I bought Jon a DVD of one of his favorite shows (Undergrads, a cult favorite that got canceled after one season) via a company on eBay. It looked like it wasn't going to arrive on time due to a shipping error (I will never buy from a Canadian company again), so my Mother and I went to a card store to buy Jon a few new packs of cards from Magic that he had been wanting.
I don't know the man's name, but the man working there that day has earned my undying love. He was the sweetest person I've ever met; well-spoken, didn't use coarse language, and was willing to explain things. He explained all of the different games to my Mother, and proved to her that the game wasn't "Satanic": "Ma'am, you'd learn more about evil and 'real' magic from watching a Disney movie. There's no actual magic involved in the game at all." He also explained to her why 20-sided dice are more "fair" than six-sided ones, and also gave her a piece of information that I had been trying to give her for years: "The kinds of kids who play Dungeons and Dragons...it's not the games themselves that make them 'go nuts' [her words]...I think it's more of the fact that the games are slightly counter-culture...it's something they can latch on to." Besides -- who wants to watch the news and hear that everything went wonderfully? The news is for tragedy and the absurd. After the conversation, she gave me permission to play -- which has made Jon unbelievably happy.
I'm not the best player on the face of the planet (definitely not), but Jon gets excited when we play -- apparently I'm better than his usual sparring partner (Sean), and he sees a "lot of potential" in me. Also, he says he likes it when he sees how competitive I get. It makes things interesting. Example today:
[while playing a game]
Me: OK...Sean, I'm going to block you with...*starts laying down card*
Jon: No you won't. Instant. Destroys target enchantment. Sean's monster still attacks you.
Me: ...
Jon: *gets up* So, does anyone want something to drink? Marisa, you thirsty for anything?
Me: Your BLOOD. Sit down. You're not going anywhere, and nobody's getting anything to drink.
Jon: Ooh! She's mad!
Well, he invited me to play a game with him online with an online deck builder -- you have every card available to you, and you can make any deck you want (whenever I played, I was limited to the cards Jon had). Well, I made one that I didn't think was very good -- no artifacts, one color -- and played against his deck, which had "six different ways to deal infinite damage".
I won. He was TICKED. Impressed, but ticked. For those of you wondering how I did this (this is where the conversation gets really nerdy), I think Jon would describe it as being an "Aggro [aggressive] Green" deck. Every single creature in the deck was an Elf, and the deck had four Heedless Ones. Heedless One is a powerless card, that is, until you play an elf. It gets +1/+1 for every elf in play. On top of that, the deck (of 60 cards) had 25 lands, and the card "exploration" in it (which allowed me to play two lands a turn instead of one). I had him dead in (I think) six turns. Two Heedless Ones, an Elven Riders card, Gaea's Herald, and a "growth" type card that gave the Elven Riders +3/+3. So, that meant at the last turn of the game (Jon was at 13 health at this point), even though I couldn't attack with Gaea's Herald (it had just come into play that turn), I had two 4/4 Heedless Ones, and a buffed up 6/6 Elven Riders -- 14 damage.
I still call it luck, but it was nice to be able to do that. :) Now I gotta watch it though...now he thinks I know what I'm doing!
