A serious post…for once

Well, once again, it appears I’ve lied. I haven’t recieved any more replies from my professors about the e-mail I mentioned in my last post, but I’ve decided to make another post, because I think what I’m about to say is very important. I honestly don’t care if anyone reads it, but I believe that, of all my posts, if you’re going to read one, it’d better be this one.

See, every once in a while I get into what I like to call my “emo phase”. I get really depressed and emotional and anxious for no real reason at all, and then it goes away a day or two later. However, this “emo phase” happened to me about 3 weeks ago, and it’s not over entirely yet, and I’ve finally realized why, after some grand soul searching and spending $100 on a bunch of crap I didn’t need or want in the first place (of course, I only realized I didn’t want it AFTER I’d spent the $100, but nevertheless…). It all ties into University. If you’re anything like me, for the past 2 years you’ve been pretty much living in your basement (or other room-of-choice where your video games and computer are located) with the exception of the time you’re at school or eating with your parents (or watching 24, House, American Idol, or The Amazing Race…yeah, I watch American Idol…it’s one of my very few vices ). So you get to University, in V1, with your single room, hang out in your room all the time, and it’s just like being home cause you’d hang out in your room by yourself playing video games anyway. Then, 4 months later, you come home for your work term and it’s all changed. Well, perhaps that’s wrong. Nothing’s changed, I suppose, and there’s the rub. Nothing has changed in 4 months. You’ve made all kinds of new friends, met all kinds of awesome new people, both students and faculty, and you realize that, because you’re on Stream 4, you come home and these people seem to cease to exist. It’s as if the last 4 months have gone by without meaning anything, without accomplishing anything, with nothing actually happening, and it’s really disorienting, frustrating, and awkward. In high school, you couldn’t make the same argument, because, while you had 10 months together and then had to break for 2, over those 2 months, your friends were almost always in reach to hang out or anything like that. Not so much in University, especially in Co-Op, because everyone goes everywhere. I have friends in Ottawa, in Waterloo, in British Columbia, everywhere, and we’re not going to see each other again (or at least I won’t see them) for another 3 months, whether I want to or not. It’s as if these people seem to cease to exist, even though I hear from some of them almost daily. And then you realize that this is how it’s going to be for the next 5 years and it makes you want to puke now, although you know (and hope) that sooner or later it’ll all make sense and you’ll be better for it.

So, people will tell you, especially if you’re not a “townie” (i.e. someone who lives in Waterloo) that University is different. If you’re anything like me, you’ll go through your 1A term thinking they’re crazy. Well, they’re not. University is a complete lifestyle shock, and you’re going to have to deal with it. So take it from me, someone who’s on his first work term and is going through it now. Brace yourself. It’s a bumpy ride.

I’m not even going to pretend to try to promise that I’m not going to write again till May, cause it’s just not gonna happen (I’ve already lied twice). As always, feel free to contact me at uwmathblogger@gmail.com if you have any questions or comments. I’ll be more than happy to hear from you. Until next time,

Lyle Waldman

An Update

Well, I promised my last entry would be my last till May, but it seems I’ve lied again. Something recently occurred that I think is definately worth sharing. But the story really starts about a month ago, so I’ll begin there.

At the end of term, QUEST (a system you’ll become painfully familiar with over your stay at UW, especially during admissions time) said that course marks should have been up about December 26th. As it turned out, I didn’t get most of my marks until about 2 weeks later. I suppose that was likely because of the approaching Christmas break at the end of exams. So, lesson #1: If you get a date for marks and such on QUEST, it’s not stringent. Don’t have a heart attack if you don’t have your marked by the “supplied date”.

My marks were mostly pretty good. I didn’t hit any of my goals, but I came pretty close to most of them. I was 2% short of my 85% goal in Japanese, 1% short of getting “strictly” over 90% in Philosophy, and I didn’t fail Calculus (Math 137) miserably (although I didn’t do nearly as well as I did in High School). However, my final exam story came back to haunt me when I saw my Math 145 mark; turns out I did a lot worse on that exam than I had initially thought and/or hoped. I’m not going to give specifics, but that one course, by itself, lowered my average by about 5%, and was the only mark lower than my average (which was barely over 80%; another one of my goals I hit). I know I really should have done better on that exam, though, and that mark isn’t going to stop me from taking Math 146 next term with Professor Marcoux.

But this blog entry isn’t really about that. It’s about my CS 134 mark. See, with the exception of Assignments 0 and 1 (yes, there’s an Assignment 0 in CS 134; it’s an introduction to the course and getting you set up with the compiler and the course newsgroup…I didn’t do it in time, so I got 0% on that assignment, which was worth 2% of my final grade), I got over 90% on every assignment and test in the course. When I found out my mark was in the low-80’s, I was particularly unnerved, especially since I thought I did pretty well on the exam. So I E-mailed Professor Case about this. She looked over my exam and, indeed, I wound up getting a 4% boost in my final grade because my exam was marked incorrectly, bringing my mark into the high-80’s. I’m still a tad disappointed, because most of my other marks were in the low-90’s, meaning I still got below 90 on the final, but at least it’s reasonable, and now I at least have the peace of mind that it was my own fault this time, not the markers’. So, lesson #2: If you feel that your mark should be higher than it is, talk to the professor or the TAs. Often, you’ll be right. This is the fourth time this term (and third in CS 134) that I’ve been given marks back because the markers marked incorrectly.

I sent out an E-mail to 6 of my professors from this term, Professors Willard, Zorzitto, Case, Marshman, Tremblay, and Maruoka, asking them if there’s anything they would like to say to incoming students about their course. So far, only Professor Willard responded, saying “BTW, the next time I teach MATH 145, it really WILL be harder. Really. Spread the word.” So, Professor Willard, consider the word as “spread”. If I get any more responses, I’ll make another post. Until then,

Lyle Waldman