Tuesday/Wednesday – Day 131/132
December 7, 2012
Finals period is fast approaching. Though, for some reason it seems like it’s already here. I have so many tests and assignments due that I feel as if the exams crept up on me and then even passed by without a chance for me to jump on the horse. Tuesday saw the submission of my last Operating Systems homework, along with a final lecture that was a combination of revision and just fun presentations, to mark the end of semester. However now that that was over it was a bug in my algorithms code that was driving me to distraction!
The Glee Club rehearsal in the evening was quite enjoyable with more directors being trialled and more theatre sports and games played. Also, final prep for our concert on Shabbat, that though the music is perhaps not my favorite, I’m still looking forward to.
Wednesday saw me in two almost empty classes. Apparently everyone but me had already realized that midterms placed in the last week are in fact, exams by another name.
At this point in semester, every spare moment was spent working on something or other, jumping between the various things that needed completing.
Tonight after Glee Rehearsal I interviewed one of my favorite baritone personalities, Mr Mychajlo Kosyk, of a definite notoriety. It was a fantastic opportunity to get to know him a bit better and I was sorely disappointed when our time ran low and we both returned to our respective workloads. In my case this meant preparing for both the final physics assignment and, the OS final exam the next day. Needless to say, as much procrastination as work followed and I didn’t get all I wished done.
Sunday/Monday – Day 122/123
December 4, 2012
Sunday was a last day of quiet. One that I much appreciated. Most of today was spent in, after waking up too late to get much done! To add to this, Tammy’s deployed friend was visiting home for thanksgiving and she needed to spend at least a little time with him. On her return we started packing up things and a few more of her friends visited before everyone returned to their schools and homes. Again, I packed by bags and, was driven to the Greyhound Station by Tammy, with her friend Anthony, in tow.
The bus back wasn’t quite as good as on the way there, it was cramped and I hardly slept, working on the operating systems project for most of the ride. After waking up from a brief nap on one particularly unpleasant leg of the journey, I skyped one of my closest friends in Melbourne to wish her a happy birthday and we ended up chatting for ten minutes at 3AM while I was travelling along the middle of nowhere.
I arrived back at Market Street Greyhound Terminal perfectly on time, at 8AM. Just enough for me to catch a taxi back to Penn in time for my first class, algorithms. I struggled through what work I could and ended up missing Glee Rehearsal due to illness and tiredness from the bus ride combined with an urgent meeting for Operating Systems.
I went to bed far too late, coding well into the night, in an attempt to move the team along somewhat. This was going to be an unpleasant week.
Thursday/Friday – Day 112/113
November 21, 2012
Today was thankfully the last of the days of torture…
I arose today from my slumber hardly rested at all. I mas as well have not been in physics and, I missed my Operating Systems class to try and help out Deepthi and Jonothan, who, had unfortunately not completed their part of their assignment, the filesystem. Deepthi had been sick for a while and this had impacted their ability to contribute but it was still disappointing when it came time to demo our project and we didn’t have anything to show for a good 50% of it.
More than that I had made a tiny error in the code which prolonged the length of time it took for our demo to get started, another minor disappointment.
Friday we were given an extra chance to try and pass the filesystem requirement. Unfortunately we still didn’t manage to pull through and I received my first ever University fail. Not fun. Luckily though, it didn’t contribute to my final grade.
Today I also started recovering from the whole ‘balagan’ (mess) of the last three weeks and was ready to take some well deserved sleep.
The afternoon was spent with music, both in my singing lesson which, went splendidly and, with Melody Cooke, learning a little piano and teaching a little singing myself.
Shabbat dinner tonight was most enjoyable. Ariella Levine of the OCP (Orthodox Community at Penn) hosted all the Jews doing computer science related majors and minors and I got to spend time with a good number of very interesting people and meet a whole lot more.
Finally, after all that, I sunk into a stupor, not to wake for a long time.