Home Ugly Home...
So I got bored of hanging around and decided to clean up the pigsty I live in at school and head on home. Managed to get stuck behind three trains for a total of about an hour, including the same train TWICE while in Oxnard (I know, I counted the cars both times) due to it making a stop in between the two times I crossed it and therefore allowing me to catch up and wait... Also managed to pick the most congested way home, or so I thought, until I heard on the radio the amount of accidents and SUV flippings that took place on the alternate routes. Ended up taking me over 3 hours when a quick trip is less than 2. Gr.
There are rumors of me heading up north tomorrow for the weekend, but there are some issues that need to be worked out there so who really knows. Had a lot of mail when I came home which was nice, always fun to feel popular, even if 90% of it is junk. :)
Happy to see familiar faces and some not so familiar popping up in the guestbook, neat to not have to tap the mic saying "Is this thing on?" and wonder if anyone is listening. Although even if I knew no one was, I'd still do this. Helps me somehow, haven't quite figured it out, but it does.
Thursday, March 21, 2002
Update...
They threw up the key to the Stat Final, and according to my calculations I managed a slightly better percentage than my second midterm, although not by much. Could have been better, could have been much worse. So it ends up replacing it for the final score, and after doing all the calculations it appears that I was right on the nose with my prediction of a B in that class. Its funny how they tend to surprise you though somehow... At least I'll know to go complain if I end up with something lower than that. So, after one grade I have a 3.0 GPA! Woo! For those who aren't impressed you must realize that a different statistics course was one of the ones I took on three separate occasions trying to raise my grade during my previous life on the CS path... Nothing like being done with Statistics, FOREVER, and get a not so bad grade in it too! Too bad I'll have to wait like 10 days for the other grades. :/
They threw up the key to the Stat Final, and according to my calculations I managed a slightly better percentage than my second midterm, although not by much. Could have been better, could have been much worse. So it ends up replacing it for the final score, and after doing all the calculations it appears that I was right on the nose with my prediction of a B in that class. Its funny how they tend to surprise you though somehow... At least I'll know to go complain if I end up with something lower than that. So, after one grade I have a 3.0 GPA! Woo! For those who aren't impressed you must realize that a different statistics course was one of the ones I took on three separate occasions trying to raise my grade during my previous life on the CS path... Nothing like being done with Statistics, FOREVER, and get a not so bad grade in it too! Too bad I'll have to wait like 10 days for the other grades. :/
DUN, DUN DUN DUNT, DUN, DUN DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNNN...
Anyone watch Square One when they were kids? How about 3-2-1 Contact? I think they were on KCET. Mathnet was a segment of one of them, Square One I think, and the above is an attempt at the riff they play at the end of each episode... Yeah, guess you have to know what I'm talking about to get it. :/
So, eeeets all ooooova ladies and gents. There were a couple hiccups during the Econ test, one of which was when I decided I hadn't the foggiest idea what I was talking about as I was writing the essay, so I switched to the second prompt, and it went muuuuch smoother. Basically out of the 30 questions I was positive on a bunch, pretty durned sure on a bunch more, and then there were the "well yeah, this must be right.... right?" ones where you never really know. Unfortunately there's a huge difference between a 20/30 and a 29/30 when it comes to percentages, so we'll have to see where this takes us. A little luck is always nice. Actually compared to my other classes, this one was my highest "going into the final" grade, so worst comes to worst it still should be pretty good.
So, its time for the ever fun GRADE PREDICTIONS:
Classics 102: A lot changed today, and after an A on the paper and what appeared to be a good grade on the final, I'm going to have to go with a B in the class. Higher than that would be pleasantly surprising, but since this one doesn't count towards the major or anything important, that's just for overall GPA help.
Econ 3A: I knew more going into the final of this one than most of the others since it was only worth 20% of the final grade. My range of possibilities uncurved was somewhere between about a 75 (50% on the final) and 85 (do good) percent overall in the class. Given how I felt I did on the final, I'm going to go with a B here too. A curve here would be most helpful though, and its quite possible there will be one (the final wasn't easy), which could bump that up a notch or two.
Pstat 5E: Aced the first midterm here, but scored lower on the second. Catch there being that if you do better on the final than one of the midterms, it replaces that score as well as counting for the final itself. So a whole lot of movement possible there depending on final results. As with my others, I felt pretty good, but the downside to multiple choice is you miss a couple here and there and it adds up. However there's curve possibilities there as well. Possible ranges in there are about the same as Econ 3A uncurved. Guess I'll go with a B.
Econ 1: Well, here I actually had a B+/A- going into the final, but its really a wild card. Just to continue the conservative theme with every grade, I'll go with a B+ here.
I guess those are pretty much middle of the road numbers. Some of them are pretty much guaranteed that good IE Classics, and some have it more in the middle of their range. However, given my GPA performance over the last four quarters before the major change, just about anything even remotely close to these grades will significantly and positively affect my GPA. Ya gotta start somewhere, and possibly more than doubling my GPA from one of the quarters last year would be a pretty impressive place to start the upward swing.
Okay just for kicks, the best case scenario. We'll say A in Classics if he for some reason decides to ignore the Midterm given excellent performance on the paper and the final. We'll say A- in Econ 3A if I managed to rule the final and there's any sort of curve. We'll say A in Pstat too, again if the final gods enjoyed my worship and the focus is placed on the latter parts of the class. Actually if I aced the final there then that cancels out the second midterm giving me basically 100% in the class. Obviously the final score will be key, and that's the one I'll get to see within a day or two. Econ 1 there's definitely A possibilities with an excellent score on the final. So looking at it that way, there's the possibility of an outright fabulous GPA this quarter. I won't wory about the "worst case" because there's always possibilities that the Scantron machine will eat my test. [knocks on wood]
Anyway, grades are posted online sometime late next week or early the following one.
Meanwhile, its SPRING BREAK BABY! Now the question is, what in the heck to do with myself? :)
Anyone watch Square One when they were kids? How about 3-2-1 Contact? I think they were on KCET. Mathnet was a segment of one of them, Square One I think, and the above is an attempt at the riff they play at the end of each episode... Yeah, guess you have to know what I'm talking about to get it. :/
So, eeeets all ooooova ladies and gents. There were a couple hiccups during the Econ test, one of which was when I decided I hadn't the foggiest idea what I was talking about as I was writing the essay, so I switched to the second prompt, and it went muuuuch smoother. Basically out of the 30 questions I was positive on a bunch, pretty durned sure on a bunch more, and then there were the "well yeah, this must be right.... right?" ones where you never really know. Unfortunately there's a huge difference between a 20/30 and a 29/30 when it comes to percentages, so we'll have to see where this takes us. A little luck is always nice. Actually compared to my other classes, this one was my highest "going into the final" grade, so worst comes to worst it still should be pretty good.
So, its time for the ever fun GRADE PREDICTIONS:
Classics 102: A lot changed today, and after an A on the paper and what appeared to be a good grade on the final, I'm going to have to go with a B in the class. Higher than that would be pleasantly surprising, but since this one doesn't count towards the major or anything important, that's just for overall GPA help.
Econ 3A: I knew more going into the final of this one than most of the others since it was only worth 20% of the final grade. My range of possibilities uncurved was somewhere between about a 75 (50% on the final) and 85 (do good) percent overall in the class. Given how I felt I did on the final, I'm going to go with a B here too. A curve here would be most helpful though, and its quite possible there will be one (the final wasn't easy), which could bump that up a notch or two.
Pstat 5E: Aced the first midterm here, but scored lower on the second. Catch there being that if you do better on the final than one of the midterms, it replaces that score as well as counting for the final itself. So a whole lot of movement possible there depending on final results. As with my others, I felt pretty good, but the downside to multiple choice is you miss a couple here and there and it adds up. However there's curve possibilities there as well. Possible ranges in there are about the same as Econ 3A uncurved. Guess I'll go with a B.
Econ 1: Well, here I actually had a B+/A- going into the final, but its really a wild card. Just to continue the conservative theme with every grade, I'll go with a B+ here.
I guess those are pretty much middle of the road numbers. Some of them are pretty much guaranteed that good IE Classics, and some have it more in the middle of their range. However, given my GPA performance over the last four quarters before the major change, just about anything even remotely close to these grades will significantly and positively affect my GPA. Ya gotta start somewhere, and possibly more than doubling my GPA from one of the quarters last year would be a pretty impressive place to start the upward swing.
Okay just for kicks, the best case scenario. We'll say A in Classics if he for some reason decides to ignore the Midterm given excellent performance on the paper and the final. We'll say A- in Econ 3A if I managed to rule the final and there's any sort of curve. We'll say A in Pstat too, again if the final gods enjoyed my worship and the focus is placed on the latter parts of the class. Actually if I aced the final there then that cancels out the second midterm giving me basically 100% in the class. Obviously the final score will be key, and that's the one I'll get to see within a day or two. Econ 1 there's definitely A possibilities with an excellent score on the final. So looking at it that way, there's the possibility of an outright fabulous GPA this quarter. I won't wory about the "worst case" because there's always possibilities that the Scantron machine will eat my test. [knocks on wood]
Anyway, grades are posted online sometime late next week or early the following one.
Meanwhile, its SPRING BREAK BABY! Now the question is, what in the heck to do with myself? :)
High, High Into The Sky...
Nope, didn't have my first experience with marijuana.
I did however just get out of a Classics final, which I now feel MUCH better about. Going in I was pretty worried about my grade in the class, having absolutely eaten it hard on the midterm, and written a relatively crappy paper, and having gotten neither back yet with the only other grade being the final. Turns out after a marathon reading session last night and finding some awesome online classics study sources with summarys, analysis, quizzes to test yourself, and character evaluations, I managed to know a huge portion of the multiple choice section, and actually knew what I was talking about in the essay, with a full on thesis with three main points, body paragraphs, conclusion, witty ending, the whole bit.
So I turn in all the paperwork and Scantron thinking well, hopefully the final was worth a large percentage... Then I notice he has the stack of essays to pass back... I walk out of the class thinking, well shit, hope this doesn't totally ruin my high, hoping to see maybe a B- if he was in the right mood...
Basically clocked this guy as I bounced out around the corner pumping my fist having seen that I got an A. If I knew how to make that letter bigger I would. BOOYAH! No idea how it happened, but no reason to complain. I think it was my witty ending. "As far as I know, I was actually born the Prince of Wales."
...
Okay I'm a dork. But I guess you have to read the whole paragraph to understand. Yeah, that's it.
So anyway, we've gone from man it would be nice to get some kind of a C to not totally kill my GPA, to holy junk I might actually get something higher than a B! Phew. One more to go, and I've studied more for this next one than any test in my college career strangely enough. Only thirty multiple choice on it though as well as the essay, so a few booboos and your grade falls in a hurry. Nice thing is the essay is scored either a 1 or a 0 and multiplied by the multiple choice percentage, so as long as you pretend to know what kind of concentrated stuff you're smoking while you write it you'll get the 1 with no problem. Pretty sure if I get an A on that final I'll get an A in the class. In fact given the only other two grades were the midterm I got a 13/15 on and quizzes and I got an even higher percentage, my grade on the final will probably be my grade in the class unless its horrible.
I vote I not screw up this high, and go kick butt on Econ too! Yeahhhh! More later, we'll see what the aftermath looks like.
Nope, didn't have my first experience with marijuana.
I did however just get out of a Classics final, which I now feel MUCH better about. Going in I was pretty worried about my grade in the class, having absolutely eaten it hard on the midterm, and written a relatively crappy paper, and having gotten neither back yet with the only other grade being the final. Turns out after a marathon reading session last night and finding some awesome online classics study sources with summarys, analysis, quizzes to test yourself, and character evaluations, I managed to know a huge portion of the multiple choice section, and actually knew what I was talking about in the essay, with a full on thesis with three main points, body paragraphs, conclusion, witty ending, the whole bit.
So I turn in all the paperwork and Scantron thinking well, hopefully the final was worth a large percentage... Then I notice he has the stack of essays to pass back... I walk out of the class thinking, well shit, hope this doesn't totally ruin my high, hoping to see maybe a B- if he was in the right mood...
Basically clocked this guy as I bounced out around the corner pumping my fist having seen that I got an A. If I knew how to make that letter bigger I would. BOOYAH! No idea how it happened, but no reason to complain. I think it was my witty ending. "As far as I know, I was actually born the Prince of Wales."
...
Okay I'm a dork. But I guess you have to read the whole paragraph to understand. Yeah, that's it.
So anyway, we've gone from man it would be nice to get some kind of a C to not totally kill my GPA, to holy junk I might actually get something higher than a B! Phew. One more to go, and I've studied more for this next one than any test in my college career strangely enough. Only thirty multiple choice on it though as well as the essay, so a few booboos and your grade falls in a hurry. Nice thing is the essay is scored either a 1 or a 0 and multiplied by the multiple choice percentage, so as long as you pretend to know what kind of concentrated stuff you're smoking while you write it you'll get the 1 with no problem. Pretty sure if I get an A on that final I'll get an A in the class. In fact given the only other two grades were the midterm I got a 13/15 on and quizzes and I got an even higher percentage, my grade on the final will probably be my grade in the class unless its horrible.
I vote I not screw up this high, and go kick butt on Econ too! Yeahhhh! More later, we'll see what the aftermath looks like.
Wednesday, March 20, 2002
Halfway Home...
Oh how I love multiple choice exams. Oh how I love them Sam I am. There's nothing like having absolutely NO CLUE what the correct answer would be, but since the next question is based off the answer to the previous, figuring it out from there, or working backwards with each of the choices, or guess and checking, and eventually getting it right. Luckily there was only a few of those on the Stat final that I was boggled about, other than that it went pretty well. They let us keep the test and they're going to post the key online, so I should know within a day or two what my final grade is and be able to work out my grade in the class, something most classes usually don't allow you to do. Always nice to know ahead of time what you're getting before the two week period before the grades actually show up on your transcript.
Two more chapters of Econ as well as the review and four plays to read by tomorrow for Classics, those are from 12-3 and 4-7, and then, I'm free!
(ignore the time on this, its actually 6:30pm I'm just using a post I accidentally duplicated earlier, oopsie)
Oh how I love multiple choice exams. Oh how I love them Sam I am. There's nothing like having absolutely NO CLUE what the correct answer would be, but since the next question is based off the answer to the previous, figuring it out from there, or working backwards with each of the choices, or guess and checking, and eventually getting it right. Luckily there was only a few of those on the Stat final that I was boggled about, other than that it went pretty well. They let us keep the test and they're going to post the key online, so I should know within a day or two what my final grade is and be able to work out my grade in the class, something most classes usually don't allow you to do. Always nice to know ahead of time what you're getting before the two week period before the grades actually show up on your transcript.
Two more chapters of Econ as well as the review and four plays to read by tomorrow for Classics, those are from 12-3 and 4-7, and then, I'm free!
(ignore the time on this, its actually 6:30pm I'm just using a post I accidentally duplicated earlier, oopsie)
Cheerful, For Some Reason or Another.
This one goes out to all my friends, especially the ones who've made me smile in times when in seemed impossible.
"Thought I'd seen everything
There was to see in this world
Now I'm not so sure
I've really seen anything at all.
I thought life could show me no surprises
And then you came and showed me I was wrong.
I have seen the bluest skies
Ranibows that would make you cry.
I have seen miracles
That moved my soul
Days that changed my life.
I have seen the brightest stars
Shine like diamonds in the dark.
Seen all the wonders of the world
But I've never seen a smile as beautiful as yours..
I thought I'd been everywhere.
I'd climbed the mountains so high
Sailed the sea, crossed the sky
And still I was nowhere at all.
Until that day
You came to my senses
And you smiled and made sense out of it all.
I have seen the bluest skies
Rainbows that would make you cry.
I have seen miracles that moved my soul
Days that changed my life.
I have seen the brightest stars
Shine like diamonds in the dark.
Seen all the wonders of the world
But I've never seen a smile as beautiful as yours.
Things so beautiful comes one time in a lifetime
A smile this beautiful I never dreamed I'd ever see.
I have seen the bluest sies
Rainbows that would make you cry.
I have seen miracles that moved my soul
and days that changed my life.
I have seen the brightest stars
Shine like diamonds in the dark.
I've seen all the wonders of this world
But I've never seen a smile as beautiful as yours."
Awwww wat a pwetty song.
This one goes out to all my friends, especially the ones who've made me smile in times when in seemed impossible.
"Thought I'd seen everything
There was to see in this world
Now I'm not so sure
I've really seen anything at all.
I thought life could show me no surprises
And then you came and showed me I was wrong.
I have seen the bluest skies
Ranibows that would make you cry.
I have seen miracles
That moved my soul
Days that changed my life.
I have seen the brightest stars
Shine like diamonds in the dark.
Seen all the wonders of the world
But I've never seen a smile as beautiful as yours..
I thought I'd been everywhere.
I'd climbed the mountains so high
Sailed the sea, crossed the sky
And still I was nowhere at all.
Until that day
You came to my senses
And you smiled and made sense out of it all.
I have seen the bluest skies
Rainbows that would make you cry.
I have seen miracles that moved my soul
Days that changed my life.
I have seen the brightest stars
Shine like diamonds in the dark.
Seen all the wonders of the world
But I've never seen a smile as beautiful as yours.
Things so beautiful comes one time in a lifetime
A smile this beautiful I never dreamed I'd ever see.
I have seen the bluest sies
Rainbows that would make you cry.
I have seen miracles that moved my soul
and days that changed my life.
I have seen the brightest stars
Shine like diamonds in the dark.
I've seen all the wonders of this world
But I've never seen a smile as beautiful as yours."
Awwww wat a pwetty song.
Tuesday, March 19, 2002
Its All A Haze...
Okay so I tried putting the alarm clock down on the desk instead of up where I can reach it for the first time last night. My theory was I'd have to get down to turn it off, and its so much work to get all the way back up there I'd stay up, important given I had a final at 8am.
I vaguely remember trying to reach down to turn off the alarm even though it was all the way down on the desk (bout a four foot drop) and eventually getting it, after sliding out of bed and crashing onto the floor, hand still on the clock. Interesting thing being I was so tired I managed to climb back into bed and fall asleep without the thought of the final occurring to me at any time. Even more bizarre is the fact that I managed to wake up unaided at 7:46, and even managed to avoid faceplanting the ceiling as I leaned forward with the classic "OHMYGAWD PLEASE SAY ITS NOT PAST 8." Eh, I always manage to make things interesting.
Good news is I nailed the final pretty good (I always think that) and should have locked down a decent grade in that class (I always predict that too). Bad news is somehow I managed to slice across my middle and pinky fingers last night, just a paper cut style wound across the tips, while the finger between them was untouched. Weird. Very weird.
Anyway, tomorrow's is at 4pm, should be able to wake up easier for that one. ;)
Okay so I tried putting the alarm clock down on the desk instead of up where I can reach it for the first time last night. My theory was I'd have to get down to turn it off, and its so much work to get all the way back up there I'd stay up, important given I had a final at 8am.
I vaguely remember trying to reach down to turn off the alarm even though it was all the way down on the desk (bout a four foot drop) and eventually getting it, after sliding out of bed and crashing onto the floor, hand still on the clock. Interesting thing being I was so tired I managed to climb back into bed and fall asleep without the thought of the final occurring to me at any time. Even more bizarre is the fact that I managed to wake up unaided at 7:46, and even managed to avoid faceplanting the ceiling as I leaned forward with the classic "OHMYGAWD PLEASE SAY ITS NOT PAST 8." Eh, I always manage to make things interesting.
Good news is I nailed the final pretty good (I always think that) and should have locked down a decent grade in that class (I always predict that too). Bad news is somehow I managed to slice across my middle and pinky fingers last night, just a paper cut style wound across the tips, while the finger between them was untouched. Weird. Very weird.
Anyway, tomorrow's is at 4pm, should be able to wake up easier for that one. ;)
Think Of A Restaurant That Rhymes with Sparrows...
And you'll know where I've been for the last few hours. Nothing like setting a personal record downing four strawberry lemonades while spreading all types of paraphernalia around a booth and working your way through a prolonged study session. Got a lot done, and am feeling much better heading into my 8am final tomorrow.
Damn, 8am? That means up at 7, well, should probably study a bit more and look over things, so 6:30. Hm, 3:15 now, sounds like after the test I'll be comin home for a wil nappie. :)
Oh and on a totally irrelevant subject, we had an argumnet today about whether cereal without milk could be referred to as "naked," much in the same manner as toast without butter, toes without polish, and other random objects that tend to generate usage of the word. To me it seemed like quite the logical placement in a sentence, but my lunch buddy vehemently disagreed this afternoon. There's must be some grains or carbohydrates rights group on campus I don't know about.
And you'll know where I've been for the last few hours. Nothing like setting a personal record downing four strawberry lemonades while spreading all types of paraphernalia around a booth and working your way through a prolonged study session. Got a lot done, and am feeling much better heading into my 8am final tomorrow.
Damn, 8am? That means up at 7, well, should probably study a bit more and look over things, so 6:30. Hm, 3:15 now, sounds like after the test I'll be comin home for a wil nappie. :)
Oh and on a totally irrelevant subject, we had an argumnet today about whether cereal without milk could be referred to as "naked," much in the same manner as toast without butter, toes without polish, and other random objects that tend to generate usage of the word. To me it seemed like quite the logical placement in a sentence, but my lunch buddy vehemently disagreed this afternoon. There's must be some grains or carbohydrates rights group on campus I don't know about.
Sunday, March 17, 2002
A Slight Miscalculation...
So I finally made it over to the actual track today. Since it was Sunday I was pretty sure the track team wouldn't be invading the place, and I was right. Unfortunately it started to rain shortly after I got there, and so it ended up a pretty damp workout. I'm sure I can blame the wetness for part of it, but my lap times ended up a good 15 or 20 seconds per lap over my average for the previous two running workouts for the entirety, which put me a good minute plus over my target two mile time even though I maintained a steady pace throughout. :( I was confused at first until I decided to pace out the track and see how "off" my little wanna be lap setup over at the Rec Cen was, and it turned out that every 120 paces of mine end up 100 yards, not 100/100 as I expected. This made me feel better, because after adding 1/5 of the total time at the Rec Cen onto itself a time appeared that was basically identical to what I ran today. The bad news being that means I'm not in the shape I thought I was. This actually doesn't hurt too bad, given I just started seriously working out within the last week or two, and it makes sense I shouldn't instantly be able to run at the speed I'm shooting for. More important is trying to keep the mental focus necessary to keep the workout schedule going and not slack off. I figure there are a lot of people here who can't even run the two miles without stopping, so nyah nyah to them! :)
Feels good to come home tired though, after a good series of stretching, slowly I'm becoming slightly more flexible than a two by four.
First final is Tuesday at 8am, then I've got a 4pm Wednesday, and a 12pm and 4pm Thursday.
So I finally made it over to the actual track today. Since it was Sunday I was pretty sure the track team wouldn't be invading the place, and I was right. Unfortunately it started to rain shortly after I got there, and so it ended up a pretty damp workout. I'm sure I can blame the wetness for part of it, but my lap times ended up a good 15 or 20 seconds per lap over my average for the previous two running workouts for the entirety, which put me a good minute plus over my target two mile time even though I maintained a steady pace throughout. :( I was confused at first until I decided to pace out the track and see how "off" my little wanna be lap setup over at the Rec Cen was, and it turned out that every 120 paces of mine end up 100 yards, not 100/100 as I expected. This made me feel better, because after adding 1/5 of the total time at the Rec Cen onto itself a time appeared that was basically identical to what I ran today. The bad news being that means I'm not in the shape I thought I was. This actually doesn't hurt too bad, given I just started seriously working out within the last week or two, and it makes sense I shouldn't instantly be able to run at the speed I'm shooting for. More important is trying to keep the mental focus necessary to keep the workout schedule going and not slack off. I figure there are a lot of people here who can't even run the two miles without stopping, so nyah nyah to them! :)
Feels good to come home tired though, after a good series of stretching, slowly I'm becoming slightly more flexible than a two by four.
First final is Tuesday at 8am, then I've got a 4pm Wednesday, and a 12pm and 4pm Thursday.
