Well, I'm back. I wish I could say that finals kicked my ass. I wish I could say that this week was my Vietnam. But, it actually wasn't that bad and I came out of it more cocky and conceited than I was going in. But some interesting things happened to me and occurred to me while I was away. So, here it is... The Week in Review 1. Finals.
I think that I did well, actually. What I thought would be the hardest exam was actually the second easiest and on what actually was my hardest exam I did pretty well.
On the eve of my East Asian final (the one that I thought would be hardest), I found myself hoping that there would be snow and Prof. S would be stuck in Queens or wherever he lives and not be able to make it. I woke up Monday morning and left the building to discover snow on the ground. I arrived at the classroom and, with other students, noticed the clock tick more than a couple of minutes past 9AM with no Prof. S in sight. Then entered our TA. "Prof. S was unable to come this morning, but here is your exam." Yay the power of positive thinking, but damn the cruelty of oversight!
Before going to my final final this morning, I woke up having slept the whole night and not studied a damn thing. With only 40min to go before the exam, I resigned myself to not studying, knowing that my teacher is more interested in an understanding of concepts rather than esoteric details, and I instead tried to figure out the least I could do and still receive an A for the course. Assuming I get all of the participation credit, then I could get an 81.75% on my final (that's a C/C+), and still pull off an A for the semester. Realizing this I felt an aberrant desire to just not really try on the test and see what happened. Luckily that desire faded as soon as I had the blue book in my hands.
2) I finally got around to adding A to my speed dial. He's 8. This is important because, for me, the speed dial placement is extremely important. For instance, Josh is 5. Why is my best friend 5, you ask? Because 5 is the easiest number to dial on the pad. It's in the center and the actual key itself is bigger than all of the rest (well, it is on my phone). In the same way, numbers 2, 3, 4 and 7 have all been taken up. The left side of the pad is all used up, as I'm a right-handed cell phone user. All that remained was 8 and the right side of the pad, numbers 6 and 9. 8 was the obvious choice, as it's easier for my thumb to move down than right. 3) I have discovered THE key to staying up all night to study for one's finals: Sex and the City. But only with friends. If my roommate's gf had not insisted on downloading the last season and watching it every 20min or so, then I would have gone to sleep long before I'd discovered why 1895 was a pivotal year for Korea, China and Japan and been able to give a perfect answer to that question on the final. Oh, and while we're still flitting about the topic of finals: CRAMMING WORKS! 4) I've applied for a community service internship at Columbia. While I have no community service experience, I still wrote (according to some) a kick-ass application. If I get it, it would be essentially like working a third job. It means I'd have to drop Cheer New York, and maybe other things. It's paid, that's why I am interested in doing it. It sounds fun, that's why I want to do it. I know this semester I could have gotten all A's, but maybe not, because it wasn't just not going to class, it was also not having time between working two jobs and other things. But I want it. 5) For the first time in a long time (not counting Provincetown which was less a vacation and more a job) I will be leaving New York City, and not returning in the same day. I'm going to stay with a friend of mine in her hometown of Altoona, PA (although actually, she lives just outside of Altoona, but no one really needs to know that). A town that should be off the map and barely on the radar, but for the fact that most trains traveling in the NE must go through Altoona, as that's just the way the rails were built scores ago. So, come Thursday morning, we'll be: Loadin' up the truck And movin' to Dixieeeee... PA, that is! Swimmin' holes! Coal mines! 6) Yesterday, at Job #2 (in Butler Library), we received a book in our department. It came with the note, "This book has no identification on it. We thought it might be yours." We didn't bother to save the box or envelope that it came in. The book said "Butler Library" on it, but nothing else that would indicate it belonged at Columbia. And then one of the women in the office was looking at it a little more closely and chose to regard the whole stamp: "Butler Library CF" on one line and "Minimum" below it. "Ha! Maybe it's a prison," she joked. "It says 'Minimum.'" Me: "But, 'CF?'" Then she gasped and calmly replied, "Correctional Facility." And indeed, a quick googling revealed that there is a Butler Minimum Security Correctional Facility in Wayne County, New York. So, someone mistook a book that was intended for prison as being intended for Columbia? There's a joke in there somewhere. I just gotta find it. 7. Lastly, why will there be "scarey ghost stories" told with the "tales of the glories of Christmases long long ago"? That's always bothered me. Who tells ghost stories at Christmas? The English, that's who. Thanks, Google.
I went to an Ivy League undergrad.
I go to a top NYC law school.
I date men (well...).
I live in Bed-Stuy.
I don't need more to say,
just more room to say it.
Etc.