Long Ass Post Part 2: Work
So the thing that everyone thinks about MIT is that it is comprised of work, work, more work, and finally death because you couldn't handle doing all of that work. And in some ways they are completely true. I mean if I wanted I could easily spend days doing nothing but the work that is required of me. (This is especially true if you try to work on something alone, god don't ever try to do something alone!) I mean just the week before last i spend 4.5hrs finishing 1/2 of my Calculus P-Set(problem set), and that was the supposedly easy half that was worth less than half of the entire grade. Its especially easy to get bogged down when you know that you have tests coming up and that these require actual studying, not the fake shit you put together in high school with popcorn and soda and Sarah's mom's nachos. The actual buckle down, no distractions studying that I cannot for my life seem to do. This is in fact what led me to last weeks terrible realization, and subsequent notification confirming, that I was going to fail my first calc test. Now this was not at all a shock to me, I mean what the hell is a vector in space and how does that intersect a plane in space using matrices?!?!! Its like the math from the Hell Planet in alternate universe Omega Perseii IIX. So I did in fact fail, but I didn't check to see my actual score as much as my friends wanted me to. I just took the email from my TA for granted "Stephen I am sorry to inform you that you did not pass....." I mean its even depressing as a little snippet in gmail. So didn't go online to look up my score until Monday and low and behold I failed by a whopping 2 points. It goes without saying that I was pissed....at the grader. How dare they hold me back by two damn points!?!?! So that made up mind to go to my TA's office hours and figure out how the hell I would do 2 points better on the REQUIRED makeup test that afternoon. But when I get there and we go through the test I find that I made a stupid sign change mistake and lost 5 points because of it. Now generally I have some underhanded plan to try and get points back, but here I was just confused. I mean matrices have never been my strong point so I must have screwed much worse than a negative, right? Apparently not, so he gave me back 4, count 'em 4 points, and I....PASSED!!!! Without a makeup test or anything. Twas wonderful. Best Wednesday ever!!! but still, even though this time things worked out I should probably learn to study better. And do so as soon as humanly possibly considering I have two tests this week.
That is enough about actual work though. In reality most of my time is spent in class falling asleep or not doing work. I went to a movie this weekend, Choke, which was really funny and everyone should see it cause it is worth seeing, after I frantically finished a paper that I had forgotten about (texting is a total godsend when it comes to remembering assignments). I also just hang out with friends a lot. Every Friday we get together in my dorms lounge and have Wii night to celebrate the end of the week. Its a whole lot of fun and I think it will become a staple of our lives here at MIT. So there's a lot of fun stuff that just goes on around campus because no one likes to work themselves to death, although I am sure that some people find it harder to separate themselves from their work, but that is life here at MIT.
And now that I have lured you into a false sense of security it is time for me to spring the giant work bomb on you.....I have an actual paying job! I work with TechCallers, which is a department in the alumni association that calls MIT graduates and hits them up for money. Its a pretty easy job though sometimes I want to smack the rude people. I mean how hard is it to be courteous and give like $25?? Or at least avoid lying to my face ear and hanging up on me. But other than that its pretty chill. My boss is really laid back, in fact he is a former journalism major from some other school. How he ended up here I don't know but he doesn't wake up until like 2 in the afternoon, so I guess his job is pretty cosy. I make $12/hr and work 6hrs a week in two 3 hour shifts so its not terrible or anything. And tis a great lesson in personal finance management because I am saving half of each paycheck, like $31, and am going to put that toward my future senior trip to Ibiza, Spain. Speaking of Ibiza, everyone should come! Giant clubs, great beaches, Spain!, FUN!! So start saving now too!
Well that's all for this LAP, I am coming back for winter break and should be in NC around the 22 or so, and I don't think I come back until mid January or sometime around the 22nd or something, so we will all get together and have much fun! Have a great October and don't forget not that we're in college Halloween isn't about candy, but fun theme parties with alcohol!!! (but beer is so nasty and I'm like the only one of my party friends who doesn't drink so whatever) but yay Holidays!!! Have loads of fun and good luck on all future tests!!!