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wSpring Tide |
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The tandem pull of the sun and the moon
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wFriday, January 25, 2002 |
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Two butt kickings and one slam dunk.
Ochem: no verdict til I see it. Need to make study adjustments, clearly. Unlike the prof's promises, 50% of the exam wasn't from the homework, and it wasn't designed to be completed in one hour. At least not by the class I'm in. Definitely not by me with my level of knowledge. Walked into the exam thinking I was going to fly through it, walked out demoralized and bumming. Feel like I've been working my butt off in that class but apparently not enough. Scores won't be curved either.
Marine environment. Slam dunk. Ocean sort of a hobby of mine anyway. The class is a ton of fun for me. The material so far is pretty easy.
Physics. 1/2 of the exam was on material we haven't covered in lecture or homework. I'm sure I'm well above the average, but I still felt like I got my butt kicked. I "get it" better than all other students I talk to, but not well enough to walk out of the exam feeling good. Could be that my sample size is limited... we'll see how the curve shakes out.
Does anyone else think its odd to have someone link to your blog from theirs, but block your ip in return? Strikes me as weird. I think its cuz she moved her server location to her new husband's server and he has my ip blocked (I presume because I have a character in PM.) But still, its odd knowing the link to here is there, but I'm not allowed to read her blog in return. Ah well. No biggie. Her blog title rocks anyway.
Somewhere in this house is a beer with my name on it... I best go claim it.
Oh, and this is day 25 of no smoking. Keep those kudos coming.
posted by
Just Mary at 6:14 PM
20 comments
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wFriday, January 18, 2002 |
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Life moves fast in the quarter system. My first exams are in a week. 3 exams over 2 days. yippee skippy.
I'm enjoying school a lot this quarter. My physics class is great fun -- I enjoy the mental gymnastics of doing the problems and Gandolf is a pretty entertaining lecturer. The Physics lab is annoying, but oh well. Ochem is well... Ochem. I have lots of pens in pretty colors to write out reaction mechanisms, to ease my pain. I even have two that write in glitter ink. Heh. Hard to complain when you have so much color in your notes. And I'm in the face of the TA's and instructor a lot, getting answers to my questions. Its been 3 years since I took the first quarter of this series, so "review" has been my middle name in this class.
Of course, my marine environment class rocks. I've privately dubbed my prof "Opie" cuz he looks about 12 to me, but he's a great guy, really smart and quite accessible. I've had some good talks with him about my paper topic and presentation. And who can complain about learning more about ocean environments?
I continue to be struck by what meek sheep most of the students are. Most folks know who I am in a very short amount of time, because I ask questions (appropriate ones) and in general speak up when the prof wants a response from the class (you know... an interactive learning environment). I guess being older (old?) also makes me more recognizable to the students. I think being older also makes me less self-conscious about looking like a moron. Plus, since school is on the verge of bankrupting me, I'm pretty determined to get my money's worth.
I feel pretty swamped. My financial aid continues to be delayed, but I haven't had time to work. After these exams next week, I plan on jamming on work stuff. But in the interim, I'm living on monetary fumes. I'm tired all the time and I'm FREAKIN COLD! What is this temps in the 20s and 30s at night BS?
I continue in my search for a warm place in the library to study. The lecture halls seem to be unheated, so I sit in class, all layered up, gloves and polarfleece hat on. I feel like I'm stuck in some dickensian drama, only not, since the sweater is italian wool and cabled and none of (well most of) my clothes don't have holes in 'em.
I've collected some phone numbers of places to live, only I haven't had time to look into 'em. (sigh) But I gotta get moved and soon. Only problem is, I can't see getting the time free during the quarter to deal with it. Not without sacrificing study time.
Ah well. Back to the books.
oh. And I'm on the 18th day of being smoke free. Yay for me.
posted by
Just Mary at 11:53 AM
15 comments
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wSaturday, January 05, 2002 |
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First week of classes down. Well, 1st 2 days. Close enough.
Love love love my marine environment class (like that suprises me...). Turns out my prof is into harmful algal blooms. And I'm being taught physics by Gandolf the Particle Astrophysicicist (ok, so he's a lil shorter, but he *really* reminds me of the actor in LoTR, and particle astrophysics strikes me as somewhat wizardly). I think the class will be fun. Even Ochem isn't so bad... I like the prof.
Its so so good to be taking classes again.
posted by
Just Mary at 9:35 AM
0 comments
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wThursday, January 03, 2002 |
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Faithful readers of this sometimes published blog might recall that wacky time when my sluml... I mean landlord made me move all my books into storage.
Update to the tale: Yesterday I went to get something out of storage... what did I discover you ask?
Boxes of books sitting in about an inch of water.
I share this unit with the people who live in the main house. Someone from that house had been into the unit, moving their damp boxes to higher ground. Did they tell me? No. Did they move my stuff? No.
I don't necessarily expect them to deal with my shit. But failing to have the fucking courtesy to inform me blows.
I spent most of yesterday hauling them out of the unit and back into my house... opening damp and soaked boxes, surveying destroyed books. Sobbing intermittantly. It broke my fucking heart.
I ran a space heater on the ones that weren't super bad with mold.. dried and cleaned them as best I could. But I lost some books that meant something to me... like my anthropology books and some volumes on ancient near east myth, culture and history.
Its not that my books have a high monetary value. I couldn't have resold them for a lot of cash. But all the books that I've saved after culling my collection were books that have a lot of personal meaning for me. They affected me and how I think. They are, in many ways, signposts to who I am.
I called my landlords early yesterday evening. I talked to him.
I say " I went into the storage unit yesterday. Remember those books you and Sandy made me remove from my unit? They were sitting in water. Many were destroyed."
Him: "oh well, those sorts of storage units always leak. You should have covered your stuff in plastic."
Me: "I had NO idea that unit would leak. Why didn't you tell me this?"
Him: "oh yeah, those sheds always leak."
There was no point into going into the discussions I had with his wife over the safety of my books. She was convinced the storage unit was water proof. We talked about this in great detail. She wanted me to put my rare 1912 Modern Readers Shakespeare in there.. she wanted all my textbooks out. I refused.
To sum up, I've been screwed again. Not only by the landlords, but by the people who live in front who are so fucking thoughtless they couldn't let me know what was up with the unit.
Mostly I'm pissed off at myself.
So I'm apartment hunting. I'm going to look for a share situation. I know some faithful readers will suggest I demand monetary compensation from my landlords. I don't see the point in it, frankly. Pushing the issue will only result in an eviction (they will decide "its an illegal unit and we don't want to break the law anymore"), and I want to leave this place on my terms, when I'm ready, with a minimum of stress. These people will only fight me, and I'd like to leave with some of my deposit.
I can't believe I've let this happen to me, however. I can't believe I'm living in this place, paying money to these fucking assholes.
In other news, but related, I quit smoking on 12/31 at midnight.. the standard resolution time. A friend bet me $100 for additional incentive that I can't stay smoke free for 2 years.
I'm doing the nicotine gum, but I'm ultra bitchy in spite of it. Which may be why I was spewing tears of rage as I pulled my ruined stuff out of storage. I should prolly go hide under a rock until this passes...
In more positive news, started school today. I'm happy about it. Got into all the classes I need. My physics lab time is sorta sucky (7pm to 10pm thurs nights) but maybe I can get into a more sane daytime one. (I hate hate hate night labs.) I kind of like the rest of my schedule... 5 days a week an 8:00 or 9:30 class, an afternoon class on MWF.. which puts me in a good place for getting work done in the library. I also really like the mornings.. and its nice to be on a schedule where I see it regularly :)
I'm hoping to leave the house at the same time each day and use the free time on MWF (before my 9:30 class) to swim or study.
posted by
Just Mary at 7:04 PM
14 comments
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