Veggin'

Rest. Relaxation. Vacation. Holiday. Time off. Time off for good behavior. Quietus. Whatever you call it, it's nice to be able to just veg for a while. 

I really feel for those who are still writing exams. I mean, how can you effectively decompress over Christmas with an exam on the 21st? I'm just glad that I got my stuff over with right away. 

I applied to the coop program prior to December 1st as required. Now I've registered for my interview (January 10th) and there's a mandatory workshop at the end of January for those who are accepted. Gee, I hope I'm allowed in. I can't see any reason why I shouldn't be, but you never know...

I actually met with a recruiter on Sunday and had a nice little chat about things. Karen - obviously smart and intelligent (Hi Karen!) seems convinced that I have some advantages over the other 'kids' in that I have experience in the workforce and am a mature individual. I reinforced this of course with a reminder that I am a self-starter, well-organized and most enduringly compassionate about problems when they arise. I think on my toes and have a good sense of how to empathize with people in difficult times. I honestly think I'd be a great fit for PR - I have a lot of related skills. We discussed things in great depth, and I realized that I really wouldn't mind the chance to work a little while I'm doing this studying. Truth be known - as my mother has reminded me - I worked all the way through my last degree and still managed to make the Dean's list, so I'm sure I could do it again if the opportunity arose. Of course others gleefully remind me that I'm older now than I was - that I need more rest to maintain my devilishly good looks - I just ignore them. Ultimately, I do what I have to do as well as I can.

Anyway, this is starting to sound a bit too much like a resume. I'll move on for today.

J

Reflections

From orientation to exam day it's been a radical experience - like, you know, radical man. 

Most radical has been muscle memory - recalling this or that from the first go-around. 

Like reading. Reading has its own muscle - one I must say that in my case has been very sparsely used over the past 20 years. And cramming - that's another one; it's 21 years since I had to do much of that - insurance courses don't count. Paying attention in class - that's another one; I confess that I almost nodded off once, though only once and in my defense I had a heavy cold at the time. Also, how to write an essay and cite a source - these have changed a great deal since my days at York.

Every day it's a new project, a new milestone. There are a few big ones left, and there's still plenty to do, and there's a corresponding tendency to look back on what was and wonder how it could have been better. This is important because of other semesters ahead. I mean, at the end of this thing I really want my grades to be as high as possible. I have a sense that this has been something of a throw-away semester in this regard, as I have battled hard to figure out the best way to organize myself. 

For example, for the first half of the semester I took notes by pen and paper, and they were terrible because I kept getting writer's cramp; I couldn't keep up with the free-flow of concepts, and so when I tried to type my notes up later - by way of tidying them up and reinforcing them - I had problems understanding what I'd scribbled! 

Then, just after the first midterms I remembered the laptop. I type much faster than I write, I can type without looking at the keyboard, and when typing I don't ever have to worry about running off the edge of the page. Also, instead of worrying about typing notes after the fact, when I get home I can launch right into review, re-reading, and 'reading around' the material. I started doing this and it became a lot easier to actually participate in class.

It has taken long enough, but now that I've got that figured out I can move on. 

Exam day

Yes, it's finally here. Exam day. The day (well, one of two) that it has all been working towards.

Behind me are all the classes, lectures, tutorials and long hours reading the material. Gone is the angst that comes from wrestling with tough stuff. Awa' the anger (yes, I said anger) that comes from trying to figure out the inscrutable professorial method. In my rear view mirror now is all the misery that comes from trying to physically force new facts into a tired old brain.

Over the past three months I have decided that my brain (mine in particular) is like a dirty old sponge - all scaly, with hard, crusty bits on the outside, and it reaches its daily saturation point a lot faster than the youth-rabble around me. Oh, it still wants to learn. It desires it, craves it, demands it! But it knows its limitations even if I don't. I have learned that this is called the cognitive wall, and some days I hit it pretty quickly.

Of course, we go into this kind of thing with all of our baggage intact. The baggage doesn't go away just because we're otherwise engaged for a while. It might be possible to move it to the back burner, but it will still eventually boil so it must not be ignored. It's like having a child that will get cranky if you suddenly stop paying attention to it. Baggage must be factored into all aspects of this degree pursuit. Baggage can be deferred, but not discarded.

Anyway, exam day. It's 720am and there are a lot more students here today than usually at this hour. Laptops blazing, notes flying, lips moving silently in time with their thoughts. Cramming.

My exam is at 330 this afternoon. My plan is to get some breakfast, then spend the day in the library - cramming. Tomorrow I'll be one of these early crammers, preparing for the 8am slugfest.

Now, off to the library.

J

Electric

The semester is winding down - tomorrow is the last class - political science. I got the prof-tech-Comms report done on Tuesday - the deadline was Tuesday. They actually offered a grace period but I didn't use it because I have other courses, too. After the project I did the 201 take-home exam. The deadline for submission is tomorrow - I submitted it today. I had a GNST class this morning. That's a big, chunky course and the review session was a huge benefit. At least, I hope so.

So now all there is left is tomorrow's class then the political science exam on Monday and the GNST exam on Tuesday. Then I'm done. Then Christmas can start: I can go get some 'stuff' and get it packed and shipped; I can put the tree up - yes, I'm putting the tree up; and I can see about trying to fix the house lights which we bought last year.

That's a story in itself: cheap crap purchased at the new Lowe's store last fall. By the time last Christmas arrived half the lights on the garage weren't working. In the spring we took those sets back for a refund. This year half the house lights aren't working! You know, we had the 'big' bulbs all around for 20 years - we had to replace the bulbs from time to time, but never the whole set! We never had any serious issues with them. Then people talked us in to getting the LED lights and for us it has been a royal pain in the petoot. No, we're not taking these back - its too far to go and it's not worth the hassle.

Anyway, how did I get here!!?

I need to decompress.