Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in zandor12's LiveJournal:

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Sunday, August 19th, 2007
3:33 pm	HAY GUYS I AM BACK IN CALLIDGE NOEW! FREE INTERNET WHOOHOO!! But then classes start on Tuesday OH NOSE. Will I be able to pass all my classes and graduate on time?! The final battle against my education is drawing to a close, and soon I shall finally experience the horrific freedom of adulthood! Yay!! (14 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 17th, 2007
6:23 pm	Wow, it's been over a year since I updated. Huh. For those who might care, my grade predictions in the May 11th entry were all correct and I got the 3.25 GPA, so about 3.67 for that year. All that worrying for nothing, and it was probably a big part of what led to my going to the hospital. It makes my joke about almost having a heart attack pretty eerie. The year since the last entry can be summed up fairly quickly SO HERE WE GO: I worked at Wal-Mart for the summer again; there was a new manager, Nita, who is a pretty decent person. My health was fairly crap for a decent chunk of the summer. I had another one of those shivering attacks a few weeks after the first one. Nobody was really sure what caused it, but I started taking Paxil and I haven't had another one since so hooray for me I guess. I'm experiencing what may be some of the nastier side effects Paxil can have though, so I'm going to have to see the doctor about that- the appointment's already been made. I made a ZZT game for the WoZZT that was held on May 12th-14th that was intentionally extremely hard to follow. I'm toying around with the idea of expanding and re-releasing it like I did with Betra, but don't hold your breath. Throughout the 2006-2007 school year I did a grand total of bupkiss on Huh?. This summer, however, has been slightly more productive; I've been going through the game and updating some of the jokes, adding new objects to the boards and whatnot (almost like the way Nadir updates Chickenwire). I've only started one new board so far though, so Huh? is still pretty far off. Man, remember when Ando was autistic? Good times. I had a pretty shitty year at college. For some reason, I just couldn't bother myself to get off my ass and do the work. My GPA dropped pretty badly and I'm going to have to somehow do the last year without my tuition scholarship. Since the stress of school and Wal-Mart messed with my health in Sophomore year, I tried not working this year so that I'd have more time for school work. The net result was that I spent more time on the internet. My roommate was pretty decent; instead of drinking he pirated movies so he was more pleasant to be around than my Sophmore year roommate. However, he moved out after the fall semester which left me without a TV; I wasn't able to get the TV I borrowed back in my first year of college back at VCSU when my roommate back at VCSU moved out after fall semester and took his TV with him OHSHITRUNONSENTENCEAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH. My roommates keep moving out after a semester or two... I hope I'm not the reason. During the summer break between Sophmore and Junior year I finally started playing Pokemon again after a three year break when my curiosity about Emerald wore down my resolve to never buy another one of those time-sapping games. Emerald is a pretty damn fine game, and I spent a lot of time working on its pokedex and on the Battle Frontier, a pretty awesome addition to the franchise. I also picked up FireRed when I noticed that it was only 20 bucks for some reason, and I had plenty of fun with it although I eventually got tired and stopped playing after logging about 160 hours, whereas Emerald stole 400 hours of my life. I'm playing Diamond now, and if it weren't for it just having a Battle Tower instead of a larger Battle Frontier-type area then it would be nearly perfect. I look forward to trying the online battles and trading once I get back to NDSU. As for other games I've been playing, ELITE BEAT AGENTS IS FREAKING AWESOME AND YOU NEED TO PLAY IT NOW AND MAYBE IMPORT THE JAPANESE VERSION WHICH HAS DIFFERENT STAGES AND SONGS OR SO I'M TOLD. Anthony from the For Better or for Worse comic strip sucks and I hate both him as a person and the huge amount of time it's taking for him and Liz to get together. The comic's making it so damn obvious that their relationship is inevitable, yet it's taking so damn long to get around to it. He basically represents the death of Liz's hopes and dreams; this post somebody wrote up awhile back explains it far better than I ever could. http://shaenon.livejournal.com/29475.html The next year will be my final year at NDSU. I'll have to take 17 credits per semester to graduate on time (last year was REAL shitty and that's all I have to say on the matter), so working is out of the question which combined with my losing the scholarship has created quite the financial predicament. I have very kind relatives who are decently well off and would probably gladly help if I asked though, so I have a safety net if I can't make my savings bonds last. Good thing too, since those will probably only get me through the first semester. I know which classes I need to take (or in some cases retake; shitty year, shut up), but those don't cover all the credits I need and I have no idea what to choose for my electives. I need to hurry up and finish signing up for classes before all the options dry up. By that, I mean that I need to start signing up for classes. I actually kinda missed talking about myself to nobody. It's good to be back. (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, May 12th, 2006
12:25 pm	So, I went to the hospital last night. I tried to go to sleep at about 2 am. At 4 am, I was still wide awake, plus I was cold, shivering, and had a messed up heartbeat. I was getting freaked out, and woke up my dormmate Derick, who after realizing that I was serious called an ambulance. I laid there shaking a lot until a couple of police officers showed up, an ambulance following soon afterward. The point between their arrival and the ambulance was when I was shaking the most. I put on some clothes and wrapped myself up in blankets, and by the time the ambulance got there I felt fine. Whatever the hell it was, it had passed. I decided that it would be best to go to the hospital anyway, to get some tests run and make sure that there weren't any serious problems. After about an hour, they couldn't find anything wrong with me; so far as anybody could figure out, it was just a nasty anxiety attack induced by stress over finals. It was pretty surreal when my parents called. At 5:50, I was discharged. I called Derick so he could give me a ride. An hour and 13 calls later I finally realized that he wasn't near his cell phone and called a cab instead. Got back to the dorm at 7:30 (That was the first cab I had taken in my life, oddly enough), and Derick had his phone with him; somehow, he had slept through 13 calls. I still felt cold, so I decided to have some breakfast. I didn't have much appetite, but choked down what I could and managed to get about four hours of sleep, after which I feel suspiciously fine. Yay!! (Now to figure out how the hell to fit into my car the six boxes of crap that I've packed, and still have room for the fridge. Adventure!) Current Mood: restless Current Music: Kishidan - One Night Carnival (Comment on this)
Thursday, May 11th, 2006
12:57 pm	VICTORY Finals ended yesterday. No academics lj-cut this time, I feel like ranting. --Monday-- Intro to Abstract Math: I actually did a lot better on this than I thought I would. I was worried that I might choke again like on Exam 2, but my mind was clear and I tore my way through the test. Four questions of eight were fairly rough, but my notes saw me through. I predict an A on the final, and a B for the class overall. --Tuesday-- Theory of CS II: I needed a 90% or so to get an A in the class, so that my GPA could stay above 3.5. I finished about 85% of the test, so my grade is probably 70-80%. I started choking mentally in the second hour, going all "OMIGODOHMYGODGDOGMDFKSLDFMDSLKFSL:DKVsdl;vkfjaslkjAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA". The test itself was about as hard as the Abstract Math, but John Martin doesn't let us bring in two sheets of notes (For some reason he wants us to actually remember things that we learn from him). Prediction: B- on the final, B in the class overall. Linear Algebra: I only needed 52% on this to get a B in the class, but I needed 102% to get an A overall. Plus, 40% of the test consisted of easy take home problems that I spent all of 2.5 hours on. So basically I was going to get a B in this class no matter what happened, so I took a piss on it so I could spend more time surfing the internet studying for Theory of CS II. The test was about what I expected; could've had a B+ if I had spent more than an hour studying, but even going in cold there was only one question that I absolutely could not answer. Prediction: C+/B- on the final, B/B+ in the class overall. --Wednesday-- Intro to Stats: Yong, Inflator of Grades didn't even make his final cumulative. It was just Chapters 11 and 12, with about three questions from Chapters 8-10 tossed in. I only got four hours of sleep the night before the test, and I didn't study at all. The seven sheets of Yong-produced formula notes (with step by step instructions for performing the calculations on your TI calculator!) Yong allowed us to bring granted me an easy A anyway. Prediction: A freaking A on the final and overall, dammit. In other words, I most likely have a 3.25 GPA, despite needing a 3.5 to keep my tuition scholarship, right? WELL IT TURNS OUT I WAS COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY HILARIOUSLY WRONG. I looked at an old letter from the North Dakota University System (the awarder of my scholarship), and it turns out that I don't need a 3.5 GPA for *each* semester. I only need a cumulative 3.5 GPA for each school year. I had a 4.0 during my fall semester, so it turns out that I only needed a 3.0 this semester! Stupid bastard luck wins the day again! I worried so much that stress nearly gave me a heart attack for no reason whatsoever! I fucking win. In other news, I move back to Devils Lake for three months tommorrow afternoon (nowhere to stay in Fargo while the dorms are shut down, y'see). See you guys later. Current Mood: relieved Current Music: Kishidan: Kira Kira (Comment on this)
Thursday, May 4th, 2006
11:55 pm	BLATHER ( Oh hey I actually got an A for once ) In other news, my transfer to the Devils Lake Wal-Mart is going to go ahead after all; I talked to a different manager who was at the store when I worked there, and she (one of the roughly 273 women there named Barb) immediately set the paperwork in motion. There was only a part-time cashier position available, but it beats Lawn and Garden. 30-33 hours weekly is a hit from the 38-40 I was hoping for, but I'll take what I can get. I would've lost a lot of money if I had to waste a couple weeks finding another job elsewhere. ( I've registered for next semester's classes. ) I've signed up for 17 credits total; I got into my waitlisted class this semester no problem, so if I can't get into one of the classes I'm down to 14. If I get into all five, I'll withdraw from the hardest math class. Trying to do more than four classes and a part time job is tantamount to suicide. One week to go. Bring it on, motherfuckers. (Also, did Madtom delete his journal or something? I know he changed his name and I updated my bookmark, but now the page seems to be gone.) (Also also, have you ever been to the square dance, or tickled a million stars?) (Comment on this)
Friday, April 28th, 2006
9:46 pm	Styx Greatest Hits is a very good album. The songs I was anticipating (Fooling Yourself, Come Sail Away, Mr. Roboto) lived up to my memories, and the rest of the album is packed with so much awesome. Renegade, Blue Collar Man, Miss America, The Grand Illusion; this is seriously one of the bestest albums ever. That's right, I have to make up words to describe it. ( As for college, horrible flaming doom awaits! ) Grade Predictions! Linear Algebra : B Intro to Abstract Math: B Intro to Stats: A Theory of CS II: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA OH GOD MY LIFE IS OVER (A-?) Next Semester: HARDER CLASSES EQUAL MORE ADVENTURE In additional fun, there's no cashier position at the Devils Lake Wal-Mart to transfer back to! The fuck? That place was always looking for new people when I worked there. Or maybe my mind was playing tricks on me and my not recognizing half of my coworkers was due to my horrible memory. Haha, twenty years old and already senile! Go me. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, April 20th, 2006
11:21 pm	Dammit, where is my autographed picture of Mario Lopez? And why do I have a strategy guide for Yugioh Capsule Monster Coliseum?! (Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 19th, 2006
4:17 pm	It rained yesterday and it's probably going to rain today, The trees are finally getting their leaves in at any rate. ( I got the results for Exam 2 in Intro to Abstract Math today. ) So basically, I did better on the Intro to Abstract exam than I thought I would, and can keep a B in that class by getting a C or better on the final. I need at least low As in Exam 3 and the final of Theory of CS II to get an A in that class, though. Plenty of homework, but not as much as I thought and plenty of time to do it in. Click here to experience a happiness seizure (Comment on this)
Monday, April 17th, 2006
11:22 pm	Got some stuff done today, should've got more done. I mailed off my taxes (along with a check for $9.50 for a used copy of Styx's Greatest Hits off of eBay), did homework in the campus coffee shop, then eventually moved to the library. It was a beautiful day; the snow's been gone for weeks, and I don't even carry my jacket around anymore. Now that I'm no longer a dependant of my parents (three months a year in Devils Lake vs. nine months in Fargo taking care of all of my own expenses except for car insurance [parents] and tuition [scholarship] = they are providing less than half of my care) and can claim myself as an exemption, my tax refunds are going to be pretty kickass this year. I should still hock some stuff on eBay though. I saw one of those question blocks on campus by the Memorial Union. Even though it had fallen out of a tree, it was still pretty cool. There was a small crack on one of the edges through which I could see a coin. I should've taken the block and replaced it with one that looked like it had been hit, and had no coin inside. Too much homework awaits, though. I didn't do anything on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday for homework that's due on Wednesday and Thursday (plus I work on Tuesday and Wednesday). I am pretty damn pissed off at myself over wasting this much time on the internet. I'm having trouble finishing homework, I'm behind on videogames, and in general I'm less happy with my life than I was two years ago. So, to elaborate on my previous post, fuck the goddamn internet in the ass. Sure, I like blathering about myself on Livejournal, hanging out on Z2 and reading webcomics, and email is too useful to give up, but this shit and my lack of willpower with it is making my life a lot harder than it has to be. I am going to rip that green cable out of the wall now and put it in my closet now. I'll probably still come online, but goddamn I need to cut down on this shit. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
12:27 am	You know what? Fuck the internet. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, April 14th, 2006
7:51 pm	One of my favorite things is hearing a kickass song for the first time. Have you ever heard a great song on the radio, but didn't catch whose song it was or even the name of it? It's happened to me more than once throughout the years. Sometimes I never find out, but when I finally learn the name of one of my favorite songs it's a great moment for me. That just happened to me the other day. Styx. Fooling Yourself. I have another CD to buy. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, April 13th, 2006
10:03 pm	ANGST ( Blathering about college ) Other than bombing big time on a fairly important exam, things are going fairly well. I had my employee evaluation at Wal-Mart a couple weeks back. It was supposed to be my annual eval. I first joined Wal-Mart in late June 2002, then left August 2004 to attend VCSU (I intended for it to be a leave of absence, but there was major miscommunication and I somehow ended up quitting by mistake), then rejoined in May 2005, before transferring from Devils Lake to the Fargo Wal-Mart last August. So getting the review in March makes perfect sense. I met expectations, although they noted that I've been taking more days off than I'm allowed... almost twice as many. Ouch, I didn't know my horrible time management wrt homework was screwing me over that badly. So, as punishment for this egregious violation of company policy, I got a 40 cent raise and am now pulling in $8.05 an hour ($9.05 on Sundays), as of May 15th. Yay! Which, oddly enough, is pretty much exactly when I transfer back to Devils Lake for the summer; I refuse to waste time in compacted Summer classes, and have nowhere to stay in Fargo if I'm not in a dorm at NDSU, so the plan, much like with last year, is to move back home with my parents for the summer and work full time at Wal-Mart to save up money for room and board, which I could really use since the Mall of America trip took a bigger bite out of my finances than I had anticipated. Who knew that you could buy things at a mall? Why didn't anybody tell me that? (Also where are those pics Dennis had?) I may have to eBay some stuff; I should probably get started on that. I could borrow Dennis's camera and kill two birds with one stone, taking auction pictures and getting the MoA pictures with my own bare hands. Hrm, I think I just got my Monday afternoon planned out. Holy crap, I can't believe Finals Week is less than a month away. I can't wait to get back to Devils Lake and spend three months with my mind off, just working and playing video games. My parents no longer have internet, however; it makes sense since they don't have a computer of their own and my sister Tia and I were the only ones using the internet anyway. I can live without internet for three months just fine, but that week after I get back to NDSU and try to catch up on... lessee... 42 webcomics is going to be weird. I read too many of those things. I'm a sucker for continuing plot and random insanity, what can I say. Also, Kishidan and KaW are both totally awesome and I am so going to buy some of their CDs. I should've done some homework today instead of spending an hour writing this and getting nothing else done. Ah well. (Comment on this)
Thursday, April 6th, 2006
12:40 pm	I'm sure that everybody who cares has already seen it, but after seeing it I feel that I must link to it anyway: Snakes on a Plane Trailer (scroll down) This movie is going to be all kinds of retarded awesome. Unless it becomes self-aware. And they recently did an extra five days of filming, so it probably has, but still- they're snakes. On a plane. (Comment on this)
Thursday, March 30th, 2006
1:36 am	I AM THE CHEESE! I AM THE BEST CHARACTER ON THE SHOW!! ZZT drama aside, I am completely serious: You need to watch Wacky Delly right now. It is not just the best episode of Rocko's Modern Life, but quite possibly the greatest thing to ever come from Nickelodeon. I still can't believe that the segment with the actual Wacky Delly cartoon came as close to meeting my impossibly nostalgic memories as it did. Mainstream TV needs more Arfenhouse-style freakouts. ( Oh, so this is how I do a lj-cut. ) FUN FACTS THAT SOMEHOW ENDED UP BEING PREDOMINANTLY ABOUT CEREAL: -In that last post where I gave Huh? its mercy killing I came up with more ideas for it than I have in the last 5 months. -Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance is a good game. -I think they stopped making Waffle Crisp, but it's okay because Kelloggs put out an Eggo-licensed clone of it that tastes just as good. -Multi-Grain Cheerios are better than plain Cheerios, and at least equal to Honey-Nut Cheerios if not a little better. I feel confident in stating this opinion as fact. -There is/was a Pirates of the Caribbean cereal. I bought it solely because it was a box of cereal with a picture of a pirate on it. I'll probably never get around to eating it. -Chuck Norris can kill most small birds by glaring at them. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, March 27th, 2006
8:57 pm	DUH, I HATE BALONEY!! BALRJAHRLAGHRLHBLASA Hey everybody You need to drop what you are doing and watch this right now. Also, after seeing MadTom's livejournal entry where he quit ZZT, I got to thinking about Huh?. Yeah, it's a good idea for a game, and what's done isn't so bad. But the rate at which I've worked on it has come to a screeching halt over the last year and a half. It would be cool if I finished it, but it was planned as four parts and would suck if I tried to condense it down below three. There were also big gapping holes in content in Parts 2 and 4, and the improv I would fill them up with would most likely have either terrible or no gameplay. If I get a kickass idea for finishing Huh? fast then maybe I'll pick it up again. But, for now, I am officially Probably Quitting ZZT, Unless I'm Not. (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006
12:15 am	Got back to Devils Lake from Minneapolis on Wednesday, got back to Fargo from Devils Lake on Sunday, will get back to reality from Academia after I turn in Wednesday's Intro to Abstract Math assignment and make it through Theory of CS II's second exam. I just bombed the chapter 8 assignment in Theory of CS II pretty badly; this is the first time ever where I made a serious effort to do well on a assignment but scored below 50%, and this isn't even my hardest class. Speaking of which, I'm actually doing rather well in Linear Algebra; I scored an A- on the in-class portion that will be become an A after Martin corrects Diane's grading mistakes, and the take home questions were pretty easy as well. I don't think I have to worry about my B in that class becoming a C anymore. If I can't do well on the CS exam though, my A in that class could become a B; sure, homework is only 20% of the grade, but my homework grade was already a B and this might push down into a C. My first exam was an A-. John Martin (Not the Bill Martin who teaches Linear Algebra; I should probably refer to them by first name) drops a student's weakest exam when calculating grades in this class, and I'd love to have that A- be my weakest exam so that it gets dropped, and my Exams+Final that form 80% of my grade are a solid A that can't be hurt no matter how badly I fuck up my homework grade. I tend to do better on tests than I do with homework. ...I should probably go study for that exam. That might help. But I think I'll try getting up early instead of staying up late. Once Dennis sends everybody else the pictures he took, I'll get to work on a write up of the goings-on in Minneapolis. Non-Sequitur Preview: http://www.namcoarcade.com/nai_gamedisplay.asp?gam=flamfing (Comment on this)
Friday, March 10th, 2006
10:43 am	The other day, I took the green stairway in my dorm to get to the basement instead of the blue stairway, which leads to the underground tunnels that link together the four high-rise dorms (I'm on the second floor of Sevrinson) with the West Dining Center, and instead of leading to the tunnels, I ended up in the kitchen. How do I live in a dorm for over six months without realizing that there's a kitchen? I mean, it's not a great one (no fridge), but at least I finally have access to a stove. Macaroni and Cheese-related celebrations ensued. Dennis talked to me yesterday; it turns out that Alan has taken the initiative in planning the trip. I had found a Holiday Inn with good prices and shuttle service to the Mall, but Alan found a Mariot that's only $15 a night more, and still has the shuttle service. So, it's settled then; Alan comes to Fargo in a few hours, then leaves with Dennis for Devils Lake around 3. I leave when the campus closes down at 6, then general hanging out ensues on Saturday, until we arrive at the train station by 11pm to leave at 11:30. We arrive at the train station in Minneapolis on Sunday morning, where Alan is hoping that he can get a nearby relative to pick us up and drop us off at the hotel. We stay two nights, then leave... sometime Tuesday. Between train tickets and the hotel, with the bill split evenly both ways, it'll be about $100-$120 per person. It feels good to have this mostly planned out. It is time to get it ON. I used to not trust Alan with much ever since I borrowed my then new GBA to him while he was moving into his new house, but he failed to get it back to me before I had to spend four days in Valley City over Easter with literally nothing to do but play Pokemon Silver and try not to go insane from boredom. But man, he has been a lifesaver with this trip. I'm going to buy a nice top hat at the Mall. I am serious. I want a freaking top hat. ...and a monocle. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, March 9th, 2006
10:26 pm	Hehe, owned. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, March 7th, 2006
7:30 pm	Minneapolis: The Gathering So anyway When I was 10, I went to Minneapolis with Grandpa Al and Peggy (she's good people, but for some reason I never did end up calling her Grandma). We drove eight hours, spent a total of about three hours at the Mall of America, checked into a hotel, took care of some medical-related errands that they were making the trip for, and drove eight hours back. A decent visit all in all, except for the hamburger I ate that made me throw up. Also Legoland, although cool, was a lot smaller than I had imagined. Six years later, in sophomore year of High school, my friend Alan and I were totally going to with his family to Minneapolis and funk up the Mall of America in its funkhole. We were ready, packed even, and then the weather turned crap in Minnesota (hooray for Januarys in the Midwest!) and ended up going to Grand Forks instead. It wasn't Minneapolis, but we still had a pretty awesome time. Cut to the almost present. Brandon and I always talk about how we should go on a road trip 'one of these days', but 'these days' keep sliding further and further into the future, dashed against the cold rocks of reality. But no more. Brandon, Alan, Dennis, and I are SO going on a road trip to the Mall of America for Spring Break. But first, transportation. Initially, I was planning on just booking a hotel and driving the four of us down there for a few days. Then, somehow I decided it would be best to go by train instead. THEN, Alan let me know that his stepdad Dan (a little strict, but awesome sense of humor) was heading to Minneapolis at the same time we were, and would not only be willing to give us a ride but also hook us up with accomodations at the Mariott, which had a shuttle service direct to the Mall of America, which would tie up all of our problems in a nice little package of awesomeness. He just needed to clear up the details with Dan. Cut to a couple of days later, just about now in fact. I call Alan to see what became of Dan's bizarrely generous offer, and it turns out that Dan might not be able to get the hotel room (at least not at a price where we wouldn't have to chip in as well), and was in fact leaving for Minneapolis on the morning of the 17th. I got the 10th-18th off for Spring Break, which means that if we went with Dan it would be a trip as short as that one I had back in '95. Plus, since NDSU closes down during Spring Break and I don't feel like paying rent for the honor of staying in a dorm, during Spring Break I'll be staying in my hometown of Devils Lake, which would mean I'd have to get from Minneapolis to Devils Lake, and then to Fargo in time to work at 6 pm, which would require some form of time travel. It'll take more than setbacks like this to kill the trip though; my will is absolute, Dennis and Alan are on board, and I'm at least fairly sure that Brandon knows that we're doing this. Alan is securing information on the Devils Lake train schedule while I look up hotel accomodations online. The current plan is for Me and Dennis to head to Devils Lake on Friday evening when NDSU closes down, then Brandon, Dennis and I will hop on the 11pm Saturday train to Minneapolis, with Alan joining along at the Fargo stop. Once in Minneapolis, we shall use the last of the three wishes from Dennis's magic lamp to safely obtain an affordable hotel near the Mall of America plus a reliable method of travel around the city. Evening at Mall, night at hotel, Day at Mall, ???, then PROFIT. We're doing this. The Mall of America is going to be our bitch. I wonder what the Camp Snoopy arcade is like these days. (Comment on this)
6:26 pm	ACADEMIA RANT ENSUES; 45 CONFIRMED DEAD, HUNDREDS MISSING I just called in to work. Between the two largish assignments that I have due (One for Theory of CS II, the other for Intro to Abstract Math), and the Exams I have Thursday in Intro to Stats and Linear Algebra, plus the fact that I work on Wednesday... something had to give. Of course, had I known that the problems from section 3.2 of Linear Algebra weren't actually due today (or at all, for that matter), that would've been four hours that would've been exactly enough time to get things done and go to work without having to stay up until three or four am working furiously on homework. I feel bad about calling in to Wal-Mart again so soon after calling in on Sunday, but what can I say? At least I made decent/good use of Sunday and Monday; I finally managed to get caught up in Linear Algebra by taking notes on 2.6, 3.1, and 3.2 (I almost understand Linear Transformations and Orthogonality now, kinda), and doing the assignments for 3.1 and 3.2. Bill Martin's grading in Linear Algebra is annoying me a lot more than it should. He'll assign anywhere from 6 to 13 questions out of a section, yet never collects more than 4 when that section's due. He doesn't tell you which problems he's collecting beforehand, so there's no choice but to spend seven hours doing them all. Plus, homework's only 10% of the grade in the first place. I know the main point of the assignments is to build up knowledge for the more important exams, and I've never had a problem with most of the grade in a class being determined by exams before. Intro to Differential Equations, for example, was just last semester and was 100% graded on two exams and a final. There were homework assignments, but they weren't graded; Olson just went over the problems in class. I guess that's what gets me about this. It's not just that most of my hard work isn't being graded; I've been fine with that in the past. It's not that out of 13 problems, he'll have us turn in our choice of four out of six problems, making for the the weirdest pseudo-curve I've ever seen. It's certainly not that homework isn't being given a large enough share of my grade; in Linear Algebra, homework is 35% of the grade, which is the most I've seen in some time (I'm actually a little worried about this, since I tend to do much better on tests than on homework) It's that although he tries to go over problems in class, we invariably spend so much time going over new stuff instead. There's never a reprieve; how sad is it that I'm a fourth-semester Sophomore, yet I'm still adapting from high school to college's faster pace? To be fair, a lot of the grading problems in Bill's class come from his grader, Diana. On about 2/3 of my assignments I've been able to argue with Bill over mistakes she made to get my grade raised. If she went unchecked, my homework grade in that class would be a C instead of its current low B. Friedlich Littman teaches Intro to Abstract Algebra. His grading scheme is an amplified, cartoonish caricature of Bill's. He'll assign anywhere from 12 to 30 problems, and always grades exactly four of them. Last time, he graded two. Every assignment is 12 points, so every problem is worth 3 points (or 6 that one time). He seems to choose which problems to correct completely at random; he'll even sometimes choose two parts of the same large problem, and doesn't seems to be trying at all to get a sample that reflects the assignment as a whole. When you get an 10/12 in that class, there's no way to tell whether that was how you did overall, or whether your grade as a whole is closer to an 8 or a 12. I have a B+ in that class that, if my calculations are right, is exactly one point short of an A. I guess that I'm just a little mad that I don't know for sure whether I'm doing so many of these problems correctly. In AP Calc, or more recently in ItDE, we would go over almost every assigned problem, and move at a slower, more human pace wherein we could actually get to understand the material and the theories behind it. For the last couple of years though, everything's been moving so quickly that it's all I can do to complete the assignments. I can still get the good grades, but the deeper understanding is gone; I barely know what I'm doing anymore. Hooray for Mathematics Majors!!! (Comment on this)