So, from comments that have been left here and from talking to people in person who read my blog (yes, people really do recognize me), I’ve noticed there’s a general miscommunication between what I want to say and what gets read. Let me set the record straight:
1) No news is good news. I’ve been told my blog is excessively negative. It probably is. However, there is a saying that goes “no news is good news”. I tend not to talk about the good things that happen academically, because I’m more focused on telling people about the mistakes I make and how not to do what I do. It’s easy to lead by example, but teach by counterexample, I’ve found. This is why my blog is so negative all the time and focuses on my mistakes.
2) I do not spend all my time goofing off. Yes, I do goof off on a weekly (sometimes daily) basis. It is true, I will not lie. However, I learned an important lesson early in high school: It’s not worth studying material you know. If you study too much, you lose time better spent enjoying yourself (life is short, University is shorter!), and, more importantly, you lose concentration. Staring at a book for hours on end reading material you already knew doesn’t help anything, plus it makes you tired and not concentrate on the stuff you *do* need to learn. When I study, I review what’s been gone over in class and bone up on what I feel I need to bone up on. I do my homework when I need to do it, and it almost always gets done (except for that one CS240 assignment I’m still kicking myself over). That method got me an A+ average in high school and is so far working in University.
3) I’m not failing all my courses. I’m not a 100% student, but my cumulative average to date, including the C- I got in Math 145, is an A. I have more A+es than marks below A- (in fact, with the exception of the Circuits course I failed, which, due to some administrative magic, is counted (both towards my average and my credit count, although not towards my transcript) as never having been taken, Math 145 is my only mark to date below an A-). The reason I write as if I’m failing everything is because I’m used to having really good marks. To me, a B+ and a D- are equivalent in stature. It’s a pass, but it’s a pass I’m not happy with. This is especially why when I get an assignment or test back that has a mark below an A on it when I feel (rightly or wrongly) that the marking scheme cheated me, I get really mad, more mad than I probably should get. It’s my standards. They’re probably too high. I know.
So how should you read my blog?
1) If I enumerate things that went wrong on a test without outwardly saying “it was a bad test”, it wasn’t a bad test. I’m simply saying “if you take this course, watch out for these things”. If I do badly on a test, I’ll say “I did badly on that test”. Otherwise, the test was fine and I’m OK with what I got, but I didn’t get 100%. Similarly for assignments.
2) If I say “I need to work harder”, that’s an indication that I need to work harder and that it’s a problem with something I’m doing, and I plan to work on it. It’s my acknowledgement of my own faults, and a memo to myself to improve myself. I’m not perfect, I know I’m not perfect, and there are things I need to work on. This blog is me thinking to myself about things I don’t mind the rest of the world hearing about. I’m OK with the fact that I’m not perfect, but I do my best and I always try to learn whenever possible.
3) If I write about a problem that’s going on, if it’s in my power to deal with it, I’m in the process of dealing with it. I’ve learned many of the channels to go through to resolve administrative issues, and I’ve become decent at dealing with them. Just because I say something’s a problem doesn’t mean it’s going to be that way forever. Again, it’s the whole “these are things to watch out for at UW” thing.
I’ll try to change my writing style to make my blog seem more positive and upbeat from now on, as I intend it to be, but in case I don’t, this is a short guide of how to read.
Lyle Waldman
