I think that's my problem, honestly. I keep promising myself that I'll do better in my classes, that I'll get my work done on time and make sure it's quality stuff... and I do, for a while.
Then something goes wrong.
Whether it's my fault or not, something happens, and everything goes to hell. I miss a homework assignment, I get sick and miss a quiz, I realize that I slept through a class... whatever it is, it throws me off, and my grades tank. Not just in the class that I screwed up (or got unlucky) in, but all of them.
I hate it, but I don't know what to do about it. The only thing I can think of is to take a trip to the counselor's office here on campus and hope that they have some tips. At this point, though, this semester is probably unsalvageable.
Thanks to everyone at the JREF chat room for all your support. It's reached the point where I just can't talk to my parents about it any more, because I can't stand their reactions. Your combination of sympathy and tough love has helped a lot.
I'm going to try to raise my grades as much as possible in what little time there is left in the semester, but I don't think that there will be much change. All I can do is visit my counselor, try to get over this and hope that I'll be able to suppress it next semester.
Him who mountain crush him no
Him who sun him stop him no
Him who hammer him break him no
Him who fire him fear him no
Him who raise him head above him heart
Him diamond
- Translation of troll pictograms
Terry Pratchett, Thud!
Showing posts with label college. Show all posts
Showing posts with label college. Show all posts
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Cash Flow, Social Lives, and Majors... and Introductions
Well, this is strange. I have a problem, but it's not something that most would consider a problem.
I have too much money.
Yeah, I know. I said it was weird.
Anyway, it makes sense in this situation. See, I'm a college student, and one of the requirements for living on-campus is that you pay a certain amount for food. This is put into an account that you can withdraw funds for to pay for food.
Pretty straightforward, right?
Not really. See, it's use-or-lose. But I haven't been using much, so it looks like I stand to lose. Specifically, I stand to lose $1,202.70. That is, unless I can find some way to spend it before the end of the semester.
So I'm basically buying everyone food. And by "everyone", I mean "random people". I buy Goldfish and give them to random strangers. I figure, hey, I can't use this stuff, but I'll be damned if I'm giving this university over a thousand dollars for free.
There is an upside to this, though. My social life is getting a huge boost. I'm making friends all over the place. You'd be surprised how much people like you when you walk up to them in the street and push some Oreos into their hands. I'm getting a reputation as "the Food Guy", on top of my previous reputation of "that one atheist who got into a shouting match with the sidewalk preacher" (I was totally justified - no, really, I was - but that's another story). Perhaps I'll finally be able to meet some girls.
HEY. I saw that look.
Well, no, I didn't.
Anyway. It's not my fault that I can't meet any women. Seriously. I'm an engineering major. Do you have any idea how few female engineers there are in the first place, let alone in computer engineering? Let me give you a hint: not many.
Okay, there's two. One is married, though, so she doesn't count, and the other is a rather militant young-Earth creationist. Neither prospect really appeals to me. One would cause constant friction because of religious differences, while the other would result in my shattered carcass being found in an alleyway after her husband found out.
So my only options right now are elective courses. And the elective courses won't help me meet chicks either. I did meet one girl who was funny, smart and pretty in one class, and we hit it off, but it turned out that I was attending the wrong course.
How was I supposed to know? I mean, the two classes were taking place at the same time, had the same syllabus, had identical rooms and were literally right next to each other. Funny, and an entertaining story, but not really that fun to be the subject of.
There's a slight chance of change in the future, though. I'm considering switching majors. Biology seems like it would be a much better fit for me. The classes I'm taking simply... bore me. Animals, on the other hand, don't, so Bio looks like the best option for me. And there are many more girls in Bio courses than CECS.
...Oh, yeah. I forgot to introduce myself (not that anyone will read this blog). I'm Mister Shine, variously known as Unbeliever, Pure_Argent, and TheWildMagic around the internet. I am a skeptic, an atheist, a gamer, and a geek. I'm also very fond of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, which is where I got my username: in Thud!, "Mister Shine - Him Diamond!" is a message found scrawled on walls by various members of the troll community. It turns out that Mister Shine is their code name for Diamond, King of Trolls, who has come to the city where the book takes place in order to avert a war between dwarves and trolls. The title of my blog comes from the same book. The full thing is a troll legend about the coming of Mister Shine:
Him who mountain crush him no
Him who sun him stop him no
Him who hammer him break him no
Him who fire him fear him no
Him who raise him head above him heart
Him diamond
I have too much money.
Yeah, I know. I said it was weird.
Anyway, it makes sense in this situation. See, I'm a college student, and one of the requirements for living on-campus is that you pay a certain amount for food. This is put into an account that you can withdraw funds for to pay for food.
Pretty straightforward, right?
Not really. See, it's use-or-lose. But I haven't been using much, so it looks like I stand to lose. Specifically, I stand to lose $1,202.70. That is, unless I can find some way to spend it before the end of the semester.
So I'm basically buying everyone food. And by "everyone", I mean "random people". I buy Goldfish and give them to random strangers. I figure, hey, I can't use this stuff, but I'll be damned if I'm giving this university over a thousand dollars for free.
There is an upside to this, though. My social life is getting a huge boost. I'm making friends all over the place. You'd be surprised how much people like you when you walk up to them in the street and push some Oreos into their hands. I'm getting a reputation as "the Food Guy", on top of my previous reputation of "that one atheist who got into a shouting match with the sidewalk preacher" (I was totally justified - no, really, I was - but that's another story). Perhaps I'll finally be able to meet some girls.
HEY. I saw that look.
Well, no, I didn't.
Anyway. It's not my fault that I can't meet any women. Seriously. I'm an engineering major. Do you have any idea how few female engineers there are in the first place, let alone in computer engineering? Let me give you a hint: not many.
Okay, there's two. One is married, though, so she doesn't count, and the other is a rather militant young-Earth creationist. Neither prospect really appeals to me. One would cause constant friction because of religious differences, while the other would result in my shattered carcass being found in an alleyway after her husband found out.
So my only options right now are elective courses. And the elective courses won't help me meet chicks either. I did meet one girl who was funny, smart and pretty in one class, and we hit it off, but it turned out that I was attending the wrong course.
How was I supposed to know? I mean, the two classes were taking place at the same time, had the same syllabus, had identical rooms and were literally right next to each other. Funny, and an entertaining story, but not really that fun to be the subject of.
There's a slight chance of change in the future, though. I'm considering switching majors. Biology seems like it would be a much better fit for me. The classes I'm taking simply... bore me. Animals, on the other hand, don't, so Bio looks like the best option for me. And there are many more girls in Bio courses than CECS.
...Oh, yeah. I forgot to introduce myself (not that anyone will read this blog). I'm Mister Shine, variously known as Unbeliever, Pure_Argent, and TheWildMagic around the internet. I am a skeptic, an atheist, a gamer, and a geek. I'm also very fond of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, which is where I got my username: in Thud!, "Mister Shine - Him Diamond!" is a message found scrawled on walls by various members of the troll community. It turns out that Mister Shine is their code name for Diamond, King of Trolls, who has come to the city where the book takes place in order to avert a war between dwarves and trolls. The title of my blog comes from the same book. The full thing is a troll legend about the coming of Mister Shine:
Him who mountain crush him no
Him who sun him stop him no
Him who hammer him break him no
Him who fire him fear him no
Him who raise him head above him heart
Him diamond
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
