What could be more natural than getting sick? Yep - I managed to get sick again. Hopefully this one won't stick around for over a month again, but really, who knows. The snow is almost as bad a problem. My car can't move on that at all, which means I either have to wake up /super/ early tommorow to walk to class in the dark, in snow, and sick, or I have to miss yet another session: neither option sounds like a smart choice, and I have no clue what I'll do.
Tests are coming up too. Slowly, but surely. The first Physics test is going to be in a bit under two weeks. The material seems a bit more managable than last semester, but I'm pretty sure we won't get any re-tests this time around, so that more than balances it out. Chemistry should be having a test around that time as well.
In Physics, someone else joined our lab section, so being in the only group of three I had to leave my old partner and join her. She seems nice, although the two of us aren't really on top of the Physics ball, so to speak.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Insomnia
Well, it wasn't a great week.
I'm actually up to speed schedule wise, at least. I may even be getting physics a bit better than last semester's material, although the chemistry we're working on is clearly harder than last semester. And then I talked to some of the grad students in the Chemistry department who're in charge of helping undergrads. I didn't really get much out of that little review session, but it was a good thing to go to, and I'll try to do it again. So you'd think things were going well. Not so.
I got really stressed. I'm not sure why. It's probably because of Chemistry getting so much more involved. Whatever the cause, I didn't handle it well. It's kept me from falling asleep until ridiculous hours (despite trying to get in bed by 10 or 11). So I've just been lying there, awake, trying to sleep, for 3, 4 hour stretches. With no luck. I ended up skipping some classes last week, just because I couldn't deal with going on 3 or 4 hours of sleep. Doing that makes everything worse, of course. Not just because I can't cover the material, but because being out of class makes me stress even more. Which makes the insomnia even worse.
Needless to say, this can't continue.
So I'm going to start using sleeping pills, I think. I made a bad habit out of those in college, and it took me a long time to be able to get back to sleeping without them. So it's really not something I want to do. But I can't miss any more classes, and I personally can't manage to go to them without sleep the night before.
Apart from academics, I've been using my time well. I'm up to speed on the reading in everything, I'm starting all the assignments a good bit before they're due, and I'm getting time to cook up tasty and healthy food for a change. I finally made a beef stew I really liked the other week (tip: using wine instead of beef stock really helps the flavor. The beef itself gets it tasting "beefy" enough. Lots of fresh herbs helped too).
My lab partners are set now. I'm in a three person group for Physics, and one of my partners there is the Korean I worked with last semester. That's great, cause he's really smart, and he's easy to get along with. The other person seems a bit slower, but it should be fine. In chemistry my lab partner doesn't seem quite as good as last semester's either, but we'll get along fine.
I'm actually up to speed schedule wise, at least. I may even be getting physics a bit better than last semester's material, although the chemistry we're working on is clearly harder than last semester. And then I talked to some of the grad students in the Chemistry department who're in charge of helping undergrads. I didn't really get much out of that little review session, but it was a good thing to go to, and I'll try to do it again. So you'd think things were going well. Not so.
I got really stressed. I'm not sure why. It's probably because of Chemistry getting so much more involved. Whatever the cause, I didn't handle it well. It's kept me from falling asleep until ridiculous hours (despite trying to get in bed by 10 or 11). So I've just been lying there, awake, trying to sleep, for 3, 4 hour stretches. With no luck. I ended up skipping some classes last week, just because I couldn't deal with going on 3 or 4 hours of sleep. Doing that makes everything worse, of course. Not just because I can't cover the material, but because being out of class makes me stress even more. Which makes the insomnia even worse.
Needless to say, this can't continue.
So I'm going to start using sleeping pills, I think. I made a bad habit out of those in college, and it took me a long time to be able to get back to sleeping without them. So it's really not something I want to do. But I can't miss any more classes, and I personally can't manage to go to them without sleep the night before.
Apart from academics, I've been using my time well. I'm up to speed on the reading in everything, I'm starting all the assignments a good bit before they're due, and I'm getting time to cook up tasty and healthy food for a change. I finally made a beef stew I really liked the other week (tip: using wine instead of beef stock really helps the flavor. The beef itself gets it tasting "beefy" enough. Lots of fresh herbs helped too).
My lab partners are set now. I'm in a three person group for Physics, and one of my partners there is the Korean I worked with last semester. That's great, cause he's really smart, and he's easy to get along with. The other person seems a bit slower, but it should be fine. In chemistry my lab partner doesn't seem quite as good as last semester's either, but we'll get along fine.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Commitment
This first week saw me already fall behind, because of some non-academic commitments I made to take care of people's dogs while they were out on a fancy cruise to somewhere far away from me, and the freezing temperatures/snow that decided to become my best friend. It's nothing too serious - you can't fall behind by /that/ much in one week, and they're back now. I'm more or less caught up after this weekend anyways, since I got to spend today (Martin Luther King Day) studying up more.
That said, I think it's time to look at commitment. Getting by on an A/A- seems great. It would have seemed fine with a B+ too, probably. But in reality, it's just not. It's pretty bad, too much material didn't stick with me, and you can only get carried so far in life by being somewhat "above average".
If I'm serious about this, and I am, I need to start taking everything much more seriously. I shouldn't have free time, because free time is just another way of saying "time I could be using on physics". Chemistry looks like it's going to be more difficult this semester too, although still I doubt it will trouble me like Physics does. So.... down-time needs to get /radically/ stripped away, if not entirely tossed out the window. I need to work on living this stuff until I'm flawless at it, or have spent all of my time attempting to become such. I need to get started thinking seriously about my MCATs, and about this coming Summer.
And I very much plan on doing all this.
As far as my teachers go, I think I'm more or less happy with them. The physics teacher is probably not quite as good as my last one, but she seems just fine nonetheless. It's a bit off-putting that she's about as old as I am though; it definitely makes me feel self conscious and slow. My chemistry teacher seems much better than the last one though (and is pretty old too, so I guess the age thing balances on the whole).
I don't really know who my lab partners are yet. I have the same TA in Chem lab that I did last semester, which is great, and the TA in physics seems decent enough.
That said, I think it's time to look at commitment. Getting by on an A/A- seems great. It would have seemed fine with a B+ too, probably. But in reality, it's just not. It's pretty bad, too much material didn't stick with me, and you can only get carried so far in life by being somewhat "above average".
If I'm serious about this, and I am, I need to start taking everything much more seriously. I shouldn't have free time, because free time is just another way of saying "time I could be using on physics". Chemistry looks like it's going to be more difficult this semester too, although still I doubt it will trouble me like Physics does. So.... down-time needs to get /radically/ stripped away, if not entirely tossed out the window. I need to work on living this stuff until I'm flawless at it, or have spent all of my time attempting to become such. I need to get started thinking seriously about my MCATs, and about this coming Summer.
And I very much plan on doing all this.
As far as my teachers go, I think I'm more or less happy with them. The physics teacher is probably not quite as good as my last one, but she seems just fine nonetheless. It's a bit off-putting that she's about as old as I am though; it definitely makes me feel self conscious and slow. My chemistry teacher seems much better than the last one though (and is pretty old too, so I guess the age thing balances on the whole).
I don't really know who my lab partners are yet. I have the same TA in Chem lab that I did last semester, which is great, and the TA in physics seems decent enough.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Back To Part Two
Happy New Year Everyone~
It's been a long vacation of doing nothing, and getting back into things is going to be tough, but get back into things I must. Classes start tomorrow morning, and I've got to manage to do as well as I did last semester (if not better).
I expect things will be more or less the same, as is fairly natural since I'm still taking the same two subjects. Getting new teachers is always exciting, and could be a positive or negative in either class. The responsibility for getting things done well is on me though, and not them, so even that can't change /too/ much.
The course sections should be a bit smaller (the people who did badly will have given up on their pre-med track, or failed out), and the curves will (probably) be a bit smaller as a result. So I'll probably have to do a little bit better to stay on par.
My classes are spread across each day of the week this time. It gives me a bit less in the way of pure vacation days, but means I don't need that much of an attention span on any given day. I guess it's nice. My week is bookended by Chemistry Lab on Monday evening, and Physics Lab on Friday at noon. I think I'll enjoy that set up.
Time has managed to flow by both quickly and slowly at once so far: it's a hard feeling to explain. I'm looking forward to getting this semester done with, getting some warmer weather, and getting to take a summer course where I can study at the pool again. So with no further delay, let's kick things off - now.
It's been a long vacation of doing nothing, and getting back into things is going to be tough, but get back into things I must. Classes start tomorrow morning, and I've got to manage to do as well as I did last semester (if not better).
I expect things will be more or less the same, as is fairly natural since I'm still taking the same two subjects. Getting new teachers is always exciting, and could be a positive or negative in either class. The responsibility for getting things done well is on me though, and not them, so even that can't change /too/ much.
The course sections should be a bit smaller (the people who did badly will have given up on their pre-med track, or failed out), and the curves will (probably) be a bit smaller as a result. So I'll probably have to do a little bit better to stay on par.
My classes are spread across each day of the week this time. It gives me a bit less in the way of pure vacation days, but means I don't need that much of an attention span on any given day. I guess it's nice. My week is bookended by Chemistry Lab on Monday evening, and Physics Lab on Friday at noon. I think I'll enjoy that set up.
Time has managed to flow by both quickly and slowly at once so far: it's a hard feeling to explain. I'm looking forward to getting this semester done with, getting some warmer weather, and getting to take a summer course where I can study at the pool again. So with no further delay, let's kick things off - now.
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