The Finals Dance
I am currently in the middle of my finals week. I had my easiest test Monday night which I got a B+ on. All I had to get on it was a C or so to maintain an A- overall in the class, and it was impossible for me to get an A overall so the test was pretty pointless. That was for Personal Wellness, a class which is two-thirds pointless; hence, my lower grade in it. I do not do well with pointless schoolwork. I never have.
I spent the vast majority of today studying as I have my three hardest tests tomorrow: Ancient Near East, History of Ireland, and the dreaded Perspectives on Death & Dying. I have to get a B on my Death & Dying test to pass the class since I need an overall C to have it count for a major requirement. It will be my lowest grade ever largely due to difficult content, busy work which I also do not do well on since I see it as pointless, being in the thick of my mono during the first test, an overwhelmingly busy semester anyways, and all topped off by the fact that my professor and I do not see eye to eye. The class and his test questions are all highly philosophical with no single correct answer. Unfortunately, the only answer he accepts is his. I tend to be too stubborn to go along with such games, and it gets me into trouble.
As for the other two classes, my Ancient Near East test will be fine since that professor and I get along great as far as class content is concerned. This is my third time having him. I got an A- and an A in the previous two classes with him. The only reason I got an A- in the first class, Ancient Greece, was because I was not quite sure what to expect of him in regards to his tests and paper right away. His classes are just tough enough that it cost me an A. The second class, Ancient Rome, I passed with flying colors. I expect the same for this class. History of Ireland will be difficult, but I should do alright on it. I am expecting somewhere in the B+ to A range overall in the class.
My last final is a presentation for my Translation of Programming Languages class. It will simply be a demonstration of our semester long project, the language we designed, and our compiler for it. Our compiler still needs some serious work to be ready for this; not to mention, we have some documentation to write up as well. My last final tomorrow ends at 7pm. After that, I will grab some "Vitamin C", Skittles, and prepare to go to work. I expect to pull the stereotypical CS all-nighter to complete as much of the compiler as possible. I have to take a break at 10am on Thursday to go into work to have a meeting with my boss and Jess who is filling my position over the summer. The meeting will be rather simple and straightforward to get Jess caught up on anything and everything she needs to know to pick up where I have left off. After all of that, it is time to hit the parties Thursday night and catch some undergraduate research presentations on Friday morning.
Right now my latest tweet on Twitter is "am in the calm before the storm." In a very sick and morbid way, finals week is kind of fun for me. It is stressful due to the importance of it along with the amount of work to be done. Yet at the same time, there is a lot of fun to be had in destressing and taking breaks from studying. This has been one of the busier finals weeks for me due to the difficulty of my classes, the business of my semester, and the lateness in the week of my actual test times. Normally, I have bought a new videogame as a sort of destressor. This year I have simply made good use of my NHL 08 videogame while watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs on television. Attempting to balance the work and play gets interesting. In some ways, it becomes like a dance as the two play off each other. The harder you work, the harder you need to play to make up for it. Every once in a while, there is a chance to sleep. I guess you could say the expression "work hard, play hard" could not be more fitting. I normally prefer the altered phrase "work hard, play harder" but it just does not always work that way during finals week alone. The week following is another story...
I spent the vast majority of today studying as I have my three hardest tests tomorrow: Ancient Near East, History of Ireland, and the dreaded Perspectives on Death & Dying. I have to get a B on my Death & Dying test to pass the class since I need an overall C to have it count for a major requirement. It will be my lowest grade ever largely due to difficult content, busy work which I also do not do well on since I see it as pointless, being in the thick of my mono during the first test, an overwhelmingly busy semester anyways, and all topped off by the fact that my professor and I do not see eye to eye. The class and his test questions are all highly philosophical with no single correct answer. Unfortunately, the only answer he accepts is his. I tend to be too stubborn to go along with such games, and it gets me into trouble.
As for the other two classes, my Ancient Near East test will be fine since that professor and I get along great as far as class content is concerned. This is my third time having him. I got an A- and an A in the previous two classes with him. The only reason I got an A- in the first class, Ancient Greece, was because I was not quite sure what to expect of him in regards to his tests and paper right away. His classes are just tough enough that it cost me an A. The second class, Ancient Rome, I passed with flying colors. I expect the same for this class. History of Ireland will be difficult, but I should do alright on it. I am expecting somewhere in the B+ to A range overall in the class.
My last final is a presentation for my Translation of Programming Languages class. It will simply be a demonstration of our semester long project, the language we designed, and our compiler for it. Our compiler still needs some serious work to be ready for this; not to mention, we have some documentation to write up as well. My last final tomorrow ends at 7pm. After that, I will grab some "Vitamin C", Skittles, and prepare to go to work. I expect to pull the stereotypical CS all-nighter to complete as much of the compiler as possible. I have to take a break at 10am on Thursday to go into work to have a meeting with my boss and Jess who is filling my position over the summer. The meeting will be rather simple and straightforward to get Jess caught up on anything and everything she needs to know to pick up where I have left off. After all of that, it is time to hit the parties Thursday night and catch some undergraduate research presentations on Friday morning.
Right now my latest tweet on Twitter is "am in the calm before the storm." In a very sick and morbid way, finals week is kind of fun for me. It is stressful due to the importance of it along with the amount of work to be done. Yet at the same time, there is a lot of fun to be had in destressing and taking breaks from studying. This has been one of the busier finals weeks for me due to the difficulty of my classes, the business of my semester, and the lateness in the week of my actual test times. Normally, I have bought a new videogame as a sort of destressor. This year I have simply made good use of my NHL 08 videogame while watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs on television. Attempting to balance the work and play gets interesting. In some ways, it becomes like a dance as the two play off each other. The harder you work, the harder you need to play to make up for it. Every once in a while, there is a chance to sleep. I guess you could say the expression "work hard, play hard" could not be more fitting. I normally prefer the altered phrase "work hard, play harder" but it just does not always work that way during finals week alone. The week following is another story...
Labels: College
posted by Shawn Sparks at
11:40 PM
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