Thursday, September 08, 2005
So This is What "Independence" is Like
I finally discovered why Calculus is so boring and somewhat difficult to me.
You see, in the IB, we started Calculus by talking about derivatives. That was fine. But here at NCSU, we just got to derivatives. All of the stuff we've been doing for the past few weeks has been leading up to derivatives. It's basically the long way of doing derivatives, so now we know how and why derivatives act the way they do.
My point of view: Who cares?
I know how to work with derivatives. I already know a much easier way to handle things of that nature. Now, I can understand how some people in the class might need to start from the very beginning, but I never did. In high school, I found out what derivatives were and why they worked how they did, without needing to go into all the little details and long formulas and stuff that becomes pointless once you know how to manipulate derivatives. The worst part of all this is that the stuff leading up to derivatives is harder than derivatives themselves; as a result, I probably won't do as well on the Calculus test I have tomorrow as I would if the test was on things we'll be studying in the coming weeks. Isn't that messed up? Tests are supposed to be hard when you're learning something new, not when you're learning what leads up to something you already know.
Tuesday night I went with Cherry to a brief concert put on by A Cappology, a campus a cappella group. They were pretty good. However, an a cappella group from Oxford, The Alternotives, were also there. They were awesome. Those Brits really know what they're doing. They brought the house down.
I'm discovering that "independence" is tough. Finances are tough. Yesterday I spent at least 25-30 minutes walking to the Credit Union that's "close by." I left at 5:30, and got there around 6:00. I went there so I could go to an ATM without having to pay a $2.00 fee. Yes, I walked for half an hour in order to save two bucks. Guess what? I got there, and discovered that they closed at 5:30. Not to mention the fact that there was not a single ATM around. This is like, the central headquarters of the North Carolina State Employees Credit Union, and there was no ATM. I wasted an hour of my day. Wonderful. Now I'm going to have to figure out how to go inside and demand, "Give me 20 bucks! Now!" or pay a $2 fee at another ATM on campus.
One of the side effects of going to Washington, and Labor Day, and the fact that I've been really busy, is that I've only worked for 1 hour so far this week for my job. The new week begins Saturday. That means I'm going to have to spend 2.5 hours today and tomorrow working on job-related stuff. I also still need to watch and summarize my weekly Spanish news reports. And do my weekly Spanish chat, since I missed it on Monday as a result of being out of town. Not to mention that I have things to do in my spare time, such as:
1) Find a church/Bible study.
2) Work on a script.
3) In the next 2-3 months, I'll most likely be working on a different script for someone else to direct, and directing someone else's script, as part of another film festival.
4) I really need to get back into my movie watching habit. I think I should make it a goal of mine to watch at least 3 movies a week, and fully review at least one of them. My movie reviews site needs to be revived.
5) I need to buy items necessary for survival.
6) I also need to save up money so I'll be able to be able to afford things like trips to Washington, or filmmaking accessories, or a gaming PC. Speaking of which, I don't think I'll be able to have a PC unless I move into an apartment or get a roommate without a television that takes up desk space. Not that I don't like Cherry, it's just that we both already have lots of stuff.
Yup. Independence is slang for "really, really busy." Next time someone asks me to do something I don't have time to do, I think I'll just turn to them and say, "I can't. I'm independent."
Random change of subject: The Daily Show is great. So is whatever that HBO show is that Bill Maher hosts. If we ever stop getting free cable, I'll seriously consider paying just so I can watch those two shows (and Comedy Central in general).
Quotes of Da Moment:
"Women cannot complain about men anymore until they start getting better taste in them."
--Bill Maher
"The president boasted at the top of his press conference that we have the support now of Britain and Spain for our attack on Iraq. You know, when you want to make it perfectly clear to the world that you're not an imperialist, the people you want in your corner are Britain and Spain."
--Bill Maher
You see, in the IB, we started Calculus by talking about derivatives. That was fine. But here at NCSU, we just got to derivatives. All of the stuff we've been doing for the past few weeks has been leading up to derivatives. It's basically the long way of doing derivatives, so now we know how and why derivatives act the way they do.
My point of view: Who cares?
I know how to work with derivatives. I already know a much easier way to handle things of that nature. Now, I can understand how some people in the class might need to start from the very beginning, but I never did. In high school, I found out what derivatives were and why they worked how they did, without needing to go into all the little details and long formulas and stuff that becomes pointless once you know how to manipulate derivatives. The worst part of all this is that the stuff leading up to derivatives is harder than derivatives themselves; as a result, I probably won't do as well on the Calculus test I have tomorrow as I would if the test was on things we'll be studying in the coming weeks. Isn't that messed up? Tests are supposed to be hard when you're learning something new, not when you're learning what leads up to something you already know.
Tuesday night I went with Cherry to a brief concert put on by A Cappology, a campus a cappella group. They were pretty good. However, an a cappella group from Oxford, The Alternotives, were also there. They were awesome. Those Brits really know what they're doing. They brought the house down.
I'm discovering that "independence" is tough. Finances are tough. Yesterday I spent at least 25-30 minutes walking to the Credit Union that's "close by." I left at 5:30, and got there around 6:00. I went there so I could go to an ATM without having to pay a $2.00 fee. Yes, I walked for half an hour in order to save two bucks. Guess what? I got there, and discovered that they closed at 5:30. Not to mention the fact that there was not a single ATM around. This is like, the central headquarters of the North Carolina State Employees Credit Union, and there was no ATM. I wasted an hour of my day. Wonderful. Now I'm going to have to figure out how to go inside and demand, "Give me 20 bucks! Now!" or pay a $2 fee at another ATM on campus.
One of the side effects of going to Washington, and Labor Day, and the fact that I've been really busy, is that I've only worked for 1 hour so far this week for my job. The new week begins Saturday. That means I'm going to have to spend 2.5 hours today and tomorrow working on job-related stuff. I also still need to watch and summarize my weekly Spanish news reports. And do my weekly Spanish chat, since I missed it on Monday as a result of being out of town. Not to mention that I have things to do in my spare time, such as:
1) Find a church/Bible study.
2) Work on a script.
3) In the next 2-3 months, I'll most likely be working on a different script for someone else to direct, and directing someone else's script, as part of another film festival.
4) I really need to get back into my movie watching habit. I think I should make it a goal of mine to watch at least 3 movies a week, and fully review at least one of them. My movie reviews site needs to be revived.
5) I need to buy items necessary for survival.
6) I also need to save up money so I'll be able to be able to afford things like trips to Washington, or filmmaking accessories, or a gaming PC. Speaking of which, I don't think I'll be able to have a PC unless I move into an apartment or get a roommate without a television that takes up desk space. Not that I don't like Cherry, it's just that we both already have lots of stuff.
Yup. Independence is slang for "really, really busy." Next time someone asks me to do something I don't have time to do, I think I'll just turn to them and say, "I can't. I'm independent."
Random change of subject: The Daily Show is great. So is whatever that HBO show is that Bill Maher hosts. If we ever stop getting free cable, I'll seriously consider paying just so I can watch those two shows (and Comedy Central in general).
Quotes of Da Moment:
"Women cannot complain about men anymore until they start getting better taste in them."
--Bill Maher
"The president boasted at the top of his press conference that we have the support now of Britain and Spain for our attack on Iraq. You know, when you want to make it perfectly clear to the world that you're not an imperialist, the people you want in your corner are Britain and Spain."
--Bill Maher
# posted by Andrew Johnson : 9/08/2005 10:10:00 AM 
