Thoughts Running Through My Head During the Continuum Mechanics Final

Jeff, our professor, begins passing our tests out. Gosh, Jeff. What the heck, this test is huge! There are so many words! Uhh..let's see, do I have an equation for this problem? No? Crap crap crap crap crap. Test: "What is the word for the temperature gradient in the mantle?" Hot? Uhh...let's look at the quantitative stuff.  Better plug some numbers into my calculator and pretend I know what I'm doing.  I have literally never seen this type of problem before. Maybe I can figure it out. My brain hurts. Let's write down an equation and move on to the next problem. Test: "Explain in words..." No words, just math--wait I can't even do that so never mind. 

Well, it's been an hour and I'm getting nowhere. I'm kind of hungry. I wonder if everyone else thinks this test is terrible too. Emily sure is writing down a lot of stuff. Hmm, I bet Jeff thinks I'm stupid. Maybe taking his Planetary Geophysics class next Fall isn't a good idea for me. Hmm. Jeff: "One hour and 27 cupcakes left." Jake gets up. "Jake can you grab me a cupcake too?" I ask. "Thanks." Stuffing my face is the only good thing about this test right now. I hope I can still get into grad school after this test. Why am I in Geophysics again? Is it too late to switch majors? Yeah, it's pretty late. Maybe I should become a writer.  I bet English majors can BS their entire tests. I bet they hardly ever have moments where they are thinking, "I have no idea what to do right now and we never learned this before!" Maybe if I write an essay or story on this test, Jeff will be appeased. I'm getting really hungry now. Only had a sip of coffee for breakfast. 

Dimensional analysis...wait, okay so Pascals are Newtons over meters squared. But what's a Newton again? Oh God, oh God, I can't believe I forgot what a Newton is. How the heck am I supposed to figure this out?? I should have written it down on my equation sheet, dang it. [a few minutes later] Oh! I can just do F=ma. Bam! Better check and make sure...three times. I'm getting really hungry now. I wonder if people will want to go out to eat. BUZZZZZ. Oh crap, there's the alarm again. We have 25 minutes. In just 25 minutes, it'll all be over!! Maybe I should just turn in my test now...naw, I better battle it out. I wonder if I'll get partial credit if I write "42" on everything? BUZZZZ. Okay, fifteen more minutes. Better write down any relevant equations. Maybe I should write "I'm sorry" on the test? Why, Jeff, why? 

Jeff: "Alright, time to turn in your tests." It's all over...it's finally all over!

What to Do After a Test

• Watch a movie 
• Read
• Clean room
• Run around in circles
• Go for a drive
• Listen to music
• Go on a night hike
• Play ukulele
• Write
• Internet
• Do homework due the next week
• Take pictures
• Eat ice cream. Definitely eat ice cream.
• Breathe. 

What Happens When You Cross Dead Week With Finals Week?

Answer: a very crazy engineering student.

Due to awesome circumstances that will have me flying out to San Francisco next Sunday to attend the AGU (American Geophysical Union) Fall Meeting, I have to take all my finals early. In short, this week gonn' be cray. 

This week, I'm going to do a daily log like I did freshman year Fall semester here. See you on the other side, brother. 

Sunday, December 01, 2013 6:09 p.m.
Mental stability: Fine
Hours of sleep last night: 8

So this is what stands between me and being done with this semester:

I'm so unmotivated and want it to be next week already, but lab reports don't write themselves, so...yeah.

Monday, December 02, 2013 5:48 p.m.
Mental stability: Meh, alright
Hours of sleep last night: 7

Blehhh....this paper on elastodynamics that we have to read for extra credit for Dynamic Fields makes me want to punch myself in the face. Who knew math could be so aesthetically appealing yet comprehensively challenging at the same time?

Wednesday (but still Tuesday since the sun hasn't risen), December 04, 2013 1:32 a.m.
Mental stability: confused, caffeinated and yeah
Hours of sleep last night: 6 (I'm sensing a pattern here).

So in the midst of studying for our Dynamic Fields final tomorrow, the school got an email that the campus would close tomorrow, or basically we would have a snow day. So we were like, "woot", and then I was like, "Oh, hmm that means we won't be done with DF forever, oh wells." And then there was an email saying school IS NOT cancelled, and then we were all like "Noooooooooo," but a few of us have mixed emotions because I just want stuff tomorrow to be over with. Else, I'd have to reschedule stuff and that is very hard this week. Anyway, I buy into the theory that the first email was hacked and this was some cruel prank.

Wednesday, December 04, 2013 10:39 p.m.
Hours of sleep: 6
It's too cold to study. Bleh.
Also, I have forgotten how to study alone. I have zero motivation.
On the bright side, Dynamic Fields is over forever.

Thursday, December 05, 2013, 12:34 a.m.
Mental stability: alarmingly calm (not caring)

After the catastrophe (that did prove to be a hacking of some sorts), Facebook was flooded with very angry posts by very angry people, and my Snapchat was also flooded with crying and sad faces. A tragedy, indeed. However, I somehow felt pressured to hate the school, and how dare they not give us a school day, even if it was barely precipitating (but deathly cold), especially after we received an erroneous email!!!!!!!

Um, okay.

Honestly, I remember a day when I really used to care about school, when it was life and doing well was everything. This might have been way back in kindergarten, but why have we lost this love of learning so much, that we would rather do nothing on the day in which most would have critical review sessions, and for us, final exams that are a huge part of their degree. We pay so much money per credit hour; I would have been really mad had we not been able to go to school today. I don't want to sound holier-than-thou because I did really enjoy that snow day freshman year in February, but that was not one of the last days of class, there was way more snow on the ground, and the "brilliant idea" for a snow day was not put forth through a hacking.

But after celebrating for 30 minutes while being diappointed, I read the email and was disappointed and celebrating again. Then I studied more at The Stoop with Shane, which is a good thing because two-fifths of the questions that appeared on the final would not have been studied otherwise.

Also, something something about wishing upon a sigma-star (real and imaginary part of conductivity).

But anyway, I rocked my I Love Mines mug today with coffee in it. Rebecca glared at me. I rambled about how much I love my education.

Almost....there....

Al...most....there....

Friday (Thursday really), December 06, 2013 1:41 a.m.

Hours of sleep last night: like 8 (No Field Methods, woooo!)

Mental Stability: Pretty good

My predicament this deathly cold week in which I have realized that I would hate living in Hoth:

The cold and the need to study makes for an interesting combination. But they both add up to caffeine. Once consumed in the late evening, they both make for a night of sparse sleep. Once awake in the morning, the need for studying is heightened. However, my internet is slow and I cannot download the lecture slides. So I need to venture out into the cold. The cold intensified the need for a hot drink. And such and such.

Twelve more hours!

Saturday, (Friday really), December 07, 2013 1:38a.m.
This day combined everything I loved and hated about this semester and this school.

Sunday, December 08, 2013 11:16 a.m.
But yeah, as I was saying...
I woke up to take my AEM final, but made coffee first. I also needed to make my notecard. I had not studied at all. Then it was two cold hours in the Geophysics Reading Room trying to remember Partial Differential Equations because I had forgotten to put PDE stuff on my notecard. Then I went to Subway. Then I went back to Green Center and took the Electrical Methods test. After 40 minutes, I emerged, and was done with exams. Woot. After my professor told me again of how awesome of a class we were, I walked to across the hall and started the last homework coding assignment for Electrical Methods. My classmates had been working on it for hours. The Linux Lab was buzzing. And it would end up taking me 12 hours to complete. Thankfully not 12 straight hours, as I left at 5 to go to Bob's Atomic Burgers with Jayden and only worked for five hours on Saturday after sleeping in. After getting back to coding, we also had the Moonlight Breakfast (free food!) at Slate to look forward to. At about 11p.m., I headed to The Loft and got to hang out with a few IV people.

But as I told Rebecca Saturday evening while at Panera, it's been an awesome semester. How did Saturday (and the whole week) combine everything I love and hate about Mines? I hate the craziness, but love the craziness. I'm still in awe of how I've made it through it all, the five finals in three days with homework and stuff--not to mention three straight semesters with 18 or more credit hours. I love the craziness because it really brings people together. By studying with my geophysics friends and goofing off and going to Moonlight Breakfast at Slate, I can see that we've built an awesome community. I haven't had that much fun studying since freshman year in Maple 159, the Maple 1st study room. And Shane, upon learning that I'd leave the Linux Lab to eat and not help him with MATLAB said, "Why are you always going to dinner with friends?! Do you bribe them?". Haha, no, but I'm glad that I've been able to hang on to old friends too in the midst of craziness.

Next semester is going to be so fun. Spring semesters hold baseball, E-Days, Spring Break....and hopefully good times in geophysics and good times with old friends (oldies but goodies).

But for now, school's over and I'm out.

Sophomoritis, or The End v2.0

The lack of motivation that saturated the last month of sophomore year still numbs me now. In fact, as I write this, I'm eating the cereal I never ate during the school year because I'm too lazy to make any other meal. (Well I'm always too lazy to make a meal, but I usually hide behind the excuse of being too busy). I've been putting off writing this post for days (or a month, you could say, as my last post chronicled my E-Days adventures). The crash and lethargicness of the summer has hit me after eight months of the frantic rhythm of 18 to 18.5 credit hours. Now the only reason to get off the couch is because the leather has gotten warm and sticky in the heat of May. My room is a mess, full of boxes and clothes I've brought back from Golden. I've allowed my curly hair to roam free like always (because I'm too busy to tame it doing school anyway), but my mom has noticed and insisted I attempt to do something with it on occasion, comparing my locks to that of my sister's, whose owner has time to wake up at 7AM. But for me, waking up at 7AM has always been a sin-- even for 8AM classes I've woken up at 7:40-- and any sort of effort to do anything cannot be mustered.

I'm just trying to recover from this semester while being in awe of how quickly half of my undergraduate days have flown by.

***

"I wanted to kill myself," Michelle said of the last day of EPICS presentations and the last day of school. I doodled the earth's magnetic field and volcanoes and tornadoes on my team evaluation sheet. I hope my professor liked it. I don't think any of us had caffeine that morning. All six classes of mine were tiring, and most of them were review sessions. I looked at the clock in Static Fields more times than Shane, passed notes to Rosie, and made faces on my fingers. "What's up with you guys today?" my advisor/professor had asked. "We have Sophomoritis," I solemnly replied, "like Senioritis, but for sophomores."

Unfortunately true, that's pretty much how the semester went. Constant business and motion capped off by more intense business struggling to get done. I had the benefit of being certain to pass all of my classes and the attitude of being perfectly content to do mediocre. This time freshman year, I was going insane trying to ace tests and get a higher grade...what happened to my motivation?

I had forgotten how to study, anyway. All semester, homework and a slight review had been sufficient to get me through the midterms (not to brag-- and I DO NOT recommend this style of "studying"). So here I was, the Thursday before finals started Saturday, staring at the list of Linear Algebra theorems in Arthur Lakes Library, and starting to silently freak out that I wasn't prepared for this. Additionally, I feared I wouldn't have time to become prepared, for I was going to go see the Iron Man III premier that night. Friday, or Dead Day, was devoted to Differential Equations, though I really didn't need to study for it.

Finals Week actually flew by pretty quickly, though sometimes it seemed to drag. 5 more days, 4, 3, 2. I had been keeping track since Shane began asking me in January. The 100-plus days had dragged by in some moments, yet flew by all together. As I took one of my finals, the heading of "MAY 5, 2013" took me by surprise for a second. The year really was flying by, and sophomore year really was almost over. It took all my strength to muster up just enough motivation to get through the final five days though. So many times I wanted to give up and go to bed.

I finally got to go to bed May 8. After nearly nine months.

Today I Don't Feel Like Doing Anything

Last week killed me.

I'm dead. A goner. Dead meat. A floating fish. But not really.

I'm not surprised that I've started to get sick, honestly. I heard that getting less than 5 hours of sleep is bad for you. I haven't really been eating well. Or exercising or doing anything healthy or good at all. I had three tests within 18 hours, and that was after our third EPICS project was due (Wednesday).

I guess my whole goal this semester has been to simply survive, so I really don't care how terrible I did on those exams (that DiffEq test....ouch).

The great thing about 4 of my 6 classes having tests/projects last week was the fact that this weekend, President's Day weekend, I could be a lazy bum and not feel bad about it. I despise laziness, but I think in this case I get a free ride.

I hung out with old friends, went to a coffee shop by myself, covered the Mines baseball and softball series, watched movies, attempted to save incoming freshman's souls from choosing Physics or ChemE as a major, took naps and took naps.

The best thing is that I don't have classes on Tuesday, meaning: Four day weekend! But in reality, my laziness must cease for the next three weeks (until Spring Break), so I must get started on my Linear Algebra worksheet.

Four Final Days

This couldn't end well. The first question was bizarre: "There are M amount of positive charges in the universe and N amount of negative charges, and both have a magnitude of e. If two charges of magnitude e appear, what is the total charge in the universe?" I could not give an electric flux about the charges in the universe, I just wanted to do well on the last Physics exam I'd ever take. Questions baffled me. I didn't have my minty gum, rather I freaked out in the morning when I couldn't find it, then ran to the book store and bought some fruity gum. Bad decision. The Red Bull and Honey Bunches of Oats breakfast combo was fine, my focus was alright, but they didn't help on the weird problems. I wish I had more time to study the day (and week) before.

***

I barely woke up Tuesday morning. It was 7 a.m., and I'd gotten 4 hours of sleep. I thought about calculating my grade if I slept in and got a 0 on the Economics final. It wasn't good, so I reluctantly rolled out of bed, chugged some yogurt, ate the rest of my Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and cracked open a Red Bull as I meandered to Brown Building to take the test. The TAs were ten minutes late. I was tired, and  not amused. So tired, I don't remember much of that test. I was pretty out of it. I went back home and took a nap.

Tuesday evening: the last night of studying for exams for me. "All I need is a 76," Shane kept saying. After about the 5th time everybody wanted him to shut up. I tried to learn optics in one night, and was pretty successful as I went over homework while I ate the pizza we ordered. Eventually Lon-Capa went down, so we had to find creative ways to study for physics. I should have looked over the past homework, for "Hairpin Curve" would be on the final. But my professor had told me that a good night's sleep and good attitude was going to help me on the final, so I opted to get 7 hours of sleep. Brandon took me home at one.

***
My geology professor was probably printing out our finals, as he was late. "If you take the full two hours to complete this, there's something wrong!" he had said, so it was okay I guess. I sipped my Starbucks; the weather was cold and windy outside this Monday morning. He finally showed up, and we didn't take a whole lot of time to finish. "Extra credit: draw your favorite dinosaur!" I laughed.

Panino's and more Starbucks with Rima kept me going for lunch. It was great to relax with a friend even though my worst finals hadn't taken place yet. When I got back, my family dropped my off a huge care package of food.

I tried to learn Econ as I Skyped my friend at the Starbucks in Brown later. I was a hopeless case in this subject, but it did help. Brady texted me that his Calc final grade was up, so I checked mine. It wasn't up. But Geology scores were.

I got a 75. I was in denial, but I read my prof's message. He was curving the class by 1.7 percent.

I was excited, but I couldn't dwell on that for too long. Econ was tomorrow. Physics, more importantly, was Wednesday.

But first our Bible Study was going out for Pho for dinner. It was a great time to hang out and get hot soup, for it had been a great semester. The weather was getting colder too, so that warmed us up.

Exams were looming though, so afterwards I texted Brandon. Studying for Econ was for naught, we decided. The more one studies, the less one understands. He picked me up and another late night studying at the Stoop was ahead. "I got an A in Calc!" Shane said. "I need a 76 on physics, do you think I can get that?"

We studied physics until about midnight, then switched to Econ. It was snowing. 'Bout time. Brandon drove me home, and we noticed the snowplows hadn't been out yet. "The key to driving in the snow is to not freak out," he said as he drove sideways in the CTLM parking lot. "No big deal, just driving sideways." It was fun, as it was one of the first snow falls of the year and there was no one awake at that time. There rarely is at 2 a.m. Even the study room in Maple was not lit up as it was so frequently last year.

***
I walked from Marquez Hall to Brown Sunday night, the place where I spent most of my time this semester. I was just coming from studying for my geology final with classmates, but needed to go over the time scale and maybe some Econ.  I needed a 76 on Geology, and was concerned about not getting it. Alone in Brown, I wrote and rewrote the time scale in hopes of finally memorizing it. I hated studying alone. Maybe it helps focus, but certainly not motivation. I missed having people to study with every night without fail in the Maple study room. Maybe I just hate being alone.

I thought about how different this semester was. With only two more credit hours than the last, I was twice as busy, yet still managed to sleep some of the time. We had split off into majors, although not as completely as we will Spring semester. I missed old friends, had made new friends. Learned more intense stuff, lived more real life. Had kids look up to me as an old, grizzled sophomore yet couldn't get by without the wisdom of those older than me. The semester flew by quite quickly. I was surprised, no, blessed that I got through without too many battle scars.

Three down, five more to go...

Red Bull and Conquer

Remember this stuff!

"Every once in a while you come into a situation where you want to, and where you have to, reach down and prove something." 
~ Nolan Ryan

I think I'm getting used to it: being a Sophomore. I'm past the shock and differences between freshman year. Yeah, the classes are harder. I'm used to homework being infinite, whereas I would have been stressed out about just homework as a freshman. Hard tests don't hurt anything besides my head anymore. I've formed new friendships and stronger legit study groups for particular subjects. I'm getting to know people in my major, and they're pretty neat.

Yeah, I miss some things, like taking all the same classes and coming back to Digger Den to talk about it after an exam. I miss the accessibility of friends: just being able to go across the hall if I'm bored, or hearing Brady yell, "Saaaaa-raaa!" from down the hall even if we were doing homework. I miss "study breaks" in Maple, including throwing socks with Rebecca and Rima. I miss being innocent and not having to worry about the future as much. 

But not all change is bad, and not everything changes. I have to try and meet with old friends, but we talk about the same things. Everyone has the same quirks. (Brandon still gets up randomly and walks down the hall and forgets what he went down the hall for.) Mines is still hard. We still get through it. Time passes just as quickly. 

New friends are awesome. New challenges are good. And life goes on.

I'm trying to conquer physics this semester. (It's kinda crazy how I'm five-sixths of the way done with general physics here at Mines...) Anyway, it's the same but different. This semester the Physics Department isn't out to screw us, as proven with the biggest curve on a physics exam in the history of life. It's different for me a little: I still love physics, but I feel it is more conquerable this semester. That if I study hard it will actually pay off. I feel I have something to prove, with Physics II being related to my major. So I studied and studied for this circuits exam, which they generally say is the easiest, but prepared to score terribly without a curve. 

I studied with a few guys from The Stoop (one of the baseball houses) over the weekend, and Brandon gave me a Red Bull right before the test. Last year I would have declined, but I have found recently that Red Bull "increased performance, especially during times of increased stress...increases concentration and reaction speed..." blah blah blah. In short, I've did alright on the Calc exam while on Red Bull, so why not add it to my pre-test routine? I got my gum, my lucky pencils, and I was ready. Before the exam, I made an analogy of acing a physics test to throwing a no-hitter, which in turned apparently jinxed any likelihood of me getting an A. But during the exam, I tried to reach down into my weird brain, trying to prove  physics can be conquered. 

I'm sure some peeps conquered physics, I'm sure some were conquered. But for me, it was just the 6th of 8 physics exams I'll ever take, and by far the least difficult. 

Nothing's been proven yet....War is still on, physics. 

Here We Go Again....

IN A.D. 2012 FALL SEMESTER
WAR WAS BEGINNING.

Mines Kid: WHAT HAPPEN ?
Studio Partner: SOMEBODY SET UP US THE ELECTROSTATICS EXAM.
TA: WE GET BAD RESULTS.
Mines Kid: WHAT !
TA: MAIN SCREEN TURN ON.

Mines Kid: IT'S YOU !!
Physics II: HOW ARE YOU STUDENTS !!
Physics II: ALL YOUR GRADES ARE BELONG TO US.
Physics II: YOU ARE ON WAY TO DESTRUCTION.
Mines Kid: WHAT YOU SAY !!
Physics II: YOU HAVE NO CHANCE TO PASS MAKE YOUR TIME.
Physics II: HA HA HA HA...

Mines Kid: TAKE OFF EVERY APPROPRIATE 'DOT PRODUCT' !!
Mines Kid: YOU SLIGHTLY KNOW WHAT YOU DOING.
Mines Kid: MOVE 'VECTOR'.
Mines Kid: FOR GREAT JUSTICE.

***
I had two exams this week, and am so so excited to be done with them. The Physics II exam was really rough, I guess, but my cold emotionless heart couldn't tell because, quite frankly, it doesn't hurt anymore. Exams are beginning. Or rather, War.

Here we go again...

A Semester-Long Battle With Physics

It began with the chirp of a droid....

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

Then there was homework...

MissleDefense.Problem

GREEN BOXES YAY!

And studio....

"OM NOM NOM NOM NOM"

And studying...

And the Kinematics Exam...I was stoked.

(I was actually nervous inside.)

My grade before the exam.

Then Lon-Capa's all:

And I'm like:

Then we started torque...

Awesome TA's are awesome.

And I started getting less and less sleep.

People needed help with homework on Sunday night...

and I fought on until the Torque Test.

And then we saw it. And were like:

My life is a failure and surely I got an F or G!

People were mad...

Yeah, we mad, bro.

Then I got the test back and Lon-Capa said

"How'd the test go?"

Then I was all 

Heck, yeah. I got this stuff.

I studied hard. Sometimes I needed help.

I knew I could do really well and get an A if I tried (and didn't sleep). So I woke up early the day of the test and went to 8a.m. studio.

"If you don't define a system or axes or write equations in their general forms,
you're gonna have a bad time."

I was wrong.

You know, sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. 

And I had the worst luck for the Energy Test (stupid conceptual questions).

But upon further review, I shouldn't have had to rely on luck that much in the first place.

There were a few questions I had to make last second choices on. 

And when I woke up, I realized

It would now take a miracle to pull an A in physics.

I became angry and emotional.

Well, more angry and emotional than usual.

I got sad texts and awesome news from others. But I was stuck in the middle: the average, or right above it.

All week I went back and forth between wanting to try to ace the final so someone can make an inspirational movie about me or giving up and screwing physics and forgetting all the people that might want to study with me but focusing on other classes. I'm pretty sure I did a million calculations.

I still don't know what to do. 

But I'm proud. 

For: "I have fought the good fight, I have (nearly) finished the course, I have kept the faith." ~ II Timothy 4:7

And I only need a 35 on the final to keep my lovely B. 

They Said It Ain't Gonna Be Easy...

Hi people.

I've been really busy. I've been really tired. I've kind of been stressed. A lot of things go on and I don't get time to sit. But here we go.

(Dang I need to see when the last time I posted was and what I posted about....Oh that, haha.)

I'm already in the midst of "midterms" (which doesn't mean anything other than they are the second round of tests). Everybody's been freaking out. Especially those poor people who aren't Geophysics majors (or CompSci, or Math, or Electrical I think). I only have two tests this week plus my NHV paper (which I guess is a pretty major thing). I don't know. It's rough. I've had so much homework due so I don't study until late at night and as a result, don't sleep. I work my brain to mush for physics and then come out of the test dead. And I didn't even freak out during the test- must've been hard. Others concur. I reason that with the amount of guessing I did, I got a 55. The average turns out to be 57.

They said it wasn't going to be easy.

I knew that, but I thought it'd take a couple semesters for the average on an exam to be failing. It sucks, because I work so hard and now I'm sure of certain failure (which I now realize is repetitiously redundant). I feel like punching everyone I know that goes to non-engineering school in the face, which is extreme, I know but not as extreme as talking about assisted and attempted suicides for the kids that just took that test. Yes, it was that hard- some of you will not understand and I am glad for you. Lon-Capa takes forever to load and then finally does. I am never so happy to not fail a test.

And then I try to study two chapters of Calculus II material for the test today (this was yesterday). And then stay up 'til 4.

They said I'd have to work hard and late.

I never knew what that was. But now, I have to study everything before a test. Which reminds me, I have one in an hour and a half.

***

That test was easy. Way too easy in fact, that I know I screwed up and made a bunch of stupid mistakes and solved this one problem "The Physics Way" because that's the right way to. But it's over, and it was a big fat piece of chocolate cake compared to the physics exam.

We'll see. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. Like in Physics, I guessed three questions right out of six unknown with 5 different options each. Math you gotta know your stuff. So for luck you do your routine, maybe. My routine is eating dinner (I mostly have a post-test routine) and praying really really hard (it was only by the grace of God I got a decent grade on Physics). I have a CSM Department of Physics pencil I use for all things Physics. And for Math and CompSci I usually wear a baseball cap to the exam so I don't pull all my hair out- Physics assumes anyone wearing anything but clothes is a cheater and liar and out to kill people, so I don't wear a hat to that, obviously. Last Math test I wore my oldest Rockies hat, and tonight I wore my newest Mines hat. We'll see how this one performs- I gotta break it in. Anyways. I use yellow or orange colors of pencils for Math, because that's what color I think it is (Physics is blue, Chem would be red...).Water is good, but only sometimes. I like to be awake during my exams so sometimes I caffeinate up. And I don't look at the exam or try to read it turned over before we're supposed to. A lot of times, I don't even look ahead (especially for Physics) while doing it. And usually I have success with not freaking out.

It's weird having to think during an exam. There is always one (or 20) questions that will rack your brain. If you don't have a headache afterward, you're doing it wrong. And it's always funny when you score lower on the subject you work everything for than the others. But back to thinking- I don't think I ever thought or reasoned through any test in highschool (or kindergarten for that matter); they were just so easy. Formulas: memorize and bam. If I got an A-, I was doing it wrong. How things change. I guess it's good. I hope it's not too unhealthy. If it's not I have time to catch up on sleep for a couple days.

So the battle's half-way over. It was not easy.

They say the third Physics test is easy...

Time to study for an A in the class.

Just Another Ordinary Week at Mines

Brady and I finished Lon-Capa last Thursday night. I was proud of us. But I still had my Computer Science 101 homework to do that was due Friday. The thing was- a blizzard was expected to sweep through the Denver Metro area. And although I knew Mines never, ever gave snowdays off, I was counting on it all evening until I gave in and decided to do my homework. It started snowing- a lot. But not enough. So I did my homework, and went to sleep at around 2 a.m. This set the tone for the coming week.

I didn't have to wake up until 10:30 on Friday anyway..but when Sara told me class got canceled, I got so happy and fell back asleep. I awoke to two texts asking if I wanted to go sledding. People were in the hallway of my floor sitting and talking because there was no school. I looked outside and was surprised Mines canceled even though it was blizzard conditions. I put on my ski goggles and a skirt and went sledding. That's right.

When we got to Sorority Hill, I realized there was a lot of snow. Like, dude. It made a bank at the beginning of the parking lot and when you reached the bottom, you were covered. There were quite a few people up there already including some of my Bradford friends and some IV kids. We made a huge chain of disks and long sleds and everything else and went down at once- yeah, it was crazy.

Krista told us her great idea about ambushing the Sparkly Mancave...so after getting food from the Cruplex and sitting and drinking hot chocolate, we got a text that the Sparkly Man Cave residents were going to be sledding also...hmmm, the perfect time for an attack?

Seven of us went down to the Cave. Us three girls stayed on level ground, while the guys decided to built forts and arsenals on top of the roof. Yes, the roof. We packed the snow and engineered the trenches in the Cave's backyard and waited for them to return. A call was received...the response was given to not be suspicious: "Just chillin' with peeps". Indeed, it was chilly. Daniel got back and saw one of the guys on the roof. No biggie- just a friend on the roof, having a conversation. Then someone yelled, "This is Sparta!!" and we attacked with our awesome snowballs. Some more friends were expected to arrive from the front, so we made some more walls and waited. And waited. And got wet. And waited. And got cold. And shyly looked up when the targets finally arrived..."oh hi, there...".

Our jean fabric garments were not very comfortable, so we dried them and played Halo. I like guns. But I'm horrible, so playing with a few noobs was fun. Big guns are even better. And sniping. Aw, yeah. Connor and John walked it to find their houses overtaken with Halo playing people, some of which with fashionable blanket skirts. Some of us decided we were hungry so we went to Woody's and all had the buffet. Then we went back to our respective residences for a little while until going back to the cave for game night, and fashionably so. I remember being so tired though...walking up and down a hill is a lot of work- more than I do in PA.

And that was Friday, and that was epic. I woke up with the same amount of homework and tests coming up, but one less day to complete preparations for them. Here's what I had on my plate:

• Mathematica Project
• CompSci assignment
• Two weeks worth of Calculus homework due for a quiz
• Nature and Human Values paper
• Nature and Human Values extra credit paper (well...I never got to that, so I'll do it this week)
• Another CompSci assignment
• Physics studying (practice problems, test, studio)
• Math Worksheet
• Math studying (notecard and practice tests)
• NHV debate prep about GMOs
• Yet another CompSci assignment
• Laundry (to be continued)

How was I supposed to do this? One day at a time, I guess. I woke up early on Saturday and Sunday to get stuff done- which was good. The worst thing I knew looming was the Physics test and the Math homework I had to complete due before that. I studied for Physics most of the time, because it was fun. I revised my NHV paper after that, because that was also fun...not really. My teacher gave the advice "(such and such section) could be more clear". I looked over it and banged my head against the desk because I had no idea who wrote this paper and what they were trying to convey. I tried to give it to friends but they didn't know either, but said it was fine. Sigh. I mean, I do my best writing past midnight, but apparently before 3 a.m. It was kinda bad.

After Sunday morning, I had nearly done all the practice problems for Physics. So as much as I didn't want to move on to studying another subject, I had to get some Math done. Some IV kids were getting together for the Super Bowl. We brought homework and were actually surprisingly productive between cheering for Tom Brady's legs to break and watching commercials. Still- math never ends. So yeah, I stayed up late Sunday, but not as late as some. Good thing I did Capa (but that also means I got to help people with it too). 

Wake up. Classes. Lunch. Classes. Some homework. Dinner. A lot of homework/studying. Get to bed at 3. Repeat.

Physics test was fun, but challenged me mentally. It also didn't help that I started freaking out a half hour before. And the kids waiting outside of Metals Hall were being so loud...it's funny how kids act when they know they're about to fail a test. But anyway, I freaked out and stopped having the capacity to think until I got to the projectile motion problem, smiled, and went on. Phys I scores are posted the morning after (and I was almost up when they posted them). So I couldn't sleep soundly, not to mention just getting 6 hours after having to do the Math Worksheet. Whatevs. 

Wednesday...oh gosh. Normal stuff all the way til it came time to study for Calculus II- the worst math class known to normal mankind. I had t -20 hours to learn everything. I was so screwed. A few of us on the 1st North had the same test and occupied the study room: the room I had barely left the past week. I came to terms I would likely not get to sleep hardly at all. But thought about my schedule the following morning and then came to terms this would not be the night to pull my first non-recreational all-nigher. I started writing out my notecard, but it was looking like everything wouldn't fit on it. So I took notes of my 8923843298 thus far pages of notes, and then took notes of those and made my notecard. 3 a.m. I started working over a past test. I yawned. "Let me give you a Red Bull. Stay up with me," Brandon pleaded. I declined, knowing I needed some sleep. So at 4:45 I finally gave up and Brandon ended being Survivor: Mines Study Room while pulling an all-nighter. I still couldn't sleep. 5 o'clock, and I can't sleep?! I thought about how much this sucked.  And then thought if I'd remember that night, or if I'd remember the fun part of the night with all of us there, laughing every so often, working hard, hearing stories of superstition, and realizing "I'm in section F....that can't be good!" (cries).

I woke up alive and energized, but I still thought I was doomed. Maybe a little less now that I had studied, but still doomed. (Not sure if I went to Digger Den and bought two glasses of Starbucks then, or Tuesday....). But I was awake all day. Got through NHV debate. Realized I forgot to do an assigned reading and muttered "Oh, crap" under my breath as she passes out the quizzes. But yeah. I was pretty much reviewing up until exam time, something I never like to do (I have my pre-test routine, yo). But got through it. And was so, so happy when it was all over and did my post-test routine and when to Digger Den. Then we ended up having a jam session in Maple into the wee hours way past the time when the music practice room is supposed to be open. 

Yeah, tons of craziness this full week. And then I woke up and did my last CompSci assignment for the week.  Luckily I have work tomorrow (Go Orediggers!), RA interviews Sunday, and only the CompSci test this week. Only. Oh, and laundry. 

Finals Week Begins Now

 Here it is, the week we've all been waiting for. The week of mental breakdowns and physical sickness. Grades never mattered more in my life. All tremble and fear. I have one week to study- and it's not quite dead. But in 10 days, it'll all be over.
So I decided to do a mini-blog this week. Expect sporadic UPDATES in this post, updated below this text. Because I know you want to experience finals with me. 

UPDATE: Friday, December 02, 2011 1:00-1:50 p.m.

In Which I Postulate Everything is About Star Wars

(Notes taken in Earth Lecture)

Today- we learn about the Asteroid Belt. Prof. Duncan ruins everything and says there is no way Star Wars is right because asteroids are far apart. Wat! Next thing you know, he’ll say there are no such things as aliens. Oh, wait- he already did. 

Eros is a rotating asteroid. I think this is the one that has the creature inside that the Falcon landed on.

Undifferentiated asteroids, or planetesimal are the smaller ones. Like the kind the Millenium Falcon dodges through. Differentiated- larger one, like see above. Woulda become a planet. Huh. Ceres and Vesta are examples. 

NEOs are stuff that cross the earth’s orbit, and have the potential to kill a bunch of people and dinosaurs. AND OH NO COORS FIELD WOULD BE DESTROYED. 

Duncan says this crater that hit Arizona had a lot of Potential Energy in referring to its mass. Which is kinda WRONG- once it started going, it had a lot of KINETIC ENERGY too!

Huh. 

Well a while ago all the polar bears died in Siberia when a crater hit. Tunguska, Siberia. 

Chicxulub- THE ONE THAT KILLED T-REX.

Some dude that made shoes predicted comet impact.

TV IS BAD FOR YOU, PEOPLE!!!! A lady got hit by a meteorite!

DON’T GO TO SCHOOL EITHER!!!!

UPDATE: Saturday, December 03, 2011 6:20 p.m.
Studying while listening to awesome movie scores such as Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Return of the Jedi = win.
Thank you awesome friends for the awesome idea.


UPDATE: Sunday, December 04, 2011 12:51 p.m.
Working on my Math Worksheet in the library. I think it's stupid how we have a normal load of homework due. Mental stability: okay. Hours of sleep last night: okay.

UPDATE: Wednesday, December 07, 2011 1:16 a.m.
I'm awake. Trying to complete this Earth lab. EPICS report and board is finally done. It took me back to my high school days, procrastinating projects the day before. I didn't sleep very long last night, since I had to write the whole dang report. I'm not gonna sleep tonight either. I'm not stressed though. Getting my Calc test back was a huge confidence booster. Hopefully the A doesn't make me too confident. One week and I'll be home. One week.

UPDATE: Friday, December 09, 2011 2:13 a.m.
If you want to be technical about it, it's the day before finals start- DEAD DAY.
But I don't want to be technical so I'm gonna say it's still Thursday and I'm gonna tell you that today was a good day. I woke up from getting to bed at 4 all groggy, made my way to Slate to get some Cinnamon Toast Crunch, went to lunch right after to the Sherpa House restaurant with Sara and Jayden (which consisted of awesome Nepalese food and Jayden ordering yak), went to Calc with myself and only me (well one more student was there), watched crazy conspiracy theory youtubes with Jayden, made too much noise for "dead week quiet hours" (wut) and got into a nerf sword fight with our RA, went and studied Earth for a little bit, ate Slate for dinner, hung out for an hour with my blankie, started studying for the Chem final at 9 with Rebecca, Sara and Brady joined us, Brady wanted to Tebow so we did, Brandon joined us, and we studied Chem until 2. Woot.

Oh, and chocolate. And bad jokes.

Tomorrow is what it comes down to, almost. I have to actually study for Earth. Finish a little bit for Chem. Then kill Saturday.

UPDATE: Monday, December 12, 2011 1:18 p.m.
IT'S OVER!! AHHHH! I SURVIVED!!!!!

These past two weeks have been the most stressful weeks of my life. I've stayed up 'til 2-4 a.m. almost every night, getting homework done the first week and getting studying in the second. I've been calm about actual finals until 16 hours before, then freaked out, then did the tests and did okay, and on another hand, I've not freaked out at all about a different test, then opened it and thought,"what the heck?!". But I'm done. And the stressful preparation is done, including the stressful calculation of needed grades. I have four weeks before I have to worry about Calc II and Physics. I have four weeks of sleep and good food. Whew, it feels good. And I didn't even have to pull an all-nighter.

Small Victories

There are things in life that we celebrate that may seem so insignificant at the time.
But you have to celebrate them in order to survive.

Last week was insane. First round of testing has come upon me, and the studying that comes along with it, not to mention getting everything else done in time. I studied alright I suppose, remembering most of the concepts from 10th grade, and trying to absorb the new ones. But I am getting old, and my memory is not as sharp as it once was. Or I need more chocolate...that seems to always be a valid response.

The Chemistry exam was 25 questions, multiple choice. So pretty easy compared to a lot of standards. Plus it's so fun to fill in the circles! Anyway...So I was kind of nervous, it being my first test. I don't know why else I was nervous- I had no reason to be except maybe my memory might've failed me and I could've sucked on a test that was supposed to be easy. I got there early and jiggled my keys talking to people. I sat in the back although I hadn't intended to, but went to work. Half the test was no-brainer stupid questions (or so I thought) that everyone knows. After doing those, I calculated my score to be 54 so far, because that's how I roll- calculating things I know to be true. Then I continued.

I was one of the last to leave, but not in a hurry like the others to watch the Thursday Night Movie. I got out and drank a bunch of water since I was feeling deprived of life. I then became very tired, but not until I celebrated in the parking lot. I had to celebrate. I had just survived.

But you gotta do that. You gotta notice the small stuff (or large). Like not having to wait in line for ice cream. Or when my PA coach made note of my awesome baserunning skills and asked if I played softball (scrapiness, for the win!) and then me saying that I just watch a lot of baseball and then thinking "Aw, yeah". Or when there's actually washing machines not being used. Or when I woke up just in time to make it to my 8 a.m. labs or work two days in a row. Or actually being able to sleep in until 9. Or bombing a Math worksheet and then acing the next one.

I went to the Rockies game Friday night for the first time in 46 days. It was so relaxing to watch the balls arc and carry out to the outfield during batting practice. The temperature was around 70 degrees, and it was just amazing to sit there and not have to be doing anything. At college, I'm either in class, doing homework, or eating if I'm sitting down. So to just sit there and forget about everything for 6 hours was nice. The game itself sucked, but that's where counting small victories comes in again. The fireworks show was also amazing beyond words.

It's coming on to Week 5, and I've survived sanely so far. Stay tuned for further details on mental breakdowns, 'cause Calc exam is coming, and it's coming to eat me and spit me out. Or something.

Hmm. I'm gonna be really sad when summer (baseball season) ends. But until then, I'll keep counting.