CHEM
There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail
Last night, I stayed up until midnight with some classical music and Agatha Christie just to wait for my marks to be released. I’m far from disappointed but I know there’s room for improvement; I’ll just have to work harder! It’s been a great year though – I can really reflect on courses now:
- BIOL 200 – This course was actually quite interesting (considering I’m into cells and all) though it was a little poorly communicated exactly what was needed to do well. My section (Berger) did catastrophically on the section-specific midterm so we were scaled up. I’d advise regular studying for this course – it’s a lot of concepts and processes to understand.
- BIOL 201 – I really disliked this course for the sole reason that what was taught was not directly translated into examinable material; far too much material was expected to be gained by doing the problem sets. It almost seemed like lectures were extraneous.
- CHEM 233 – Difficult but rewarding if appropriate (i.e. lots) time investment is allocated for this course. It’s easy to fall behind so stay ahead by studying early and often.
- CHEM 205 – Straightforward and simple – there aren’t any tricks to this course. Learn the material, and learn all of it. Practice the problem sets, they’re harder than the actual exams.
- CHEM 235 – Fun and easy but deceptively tough on marking. Take the time to watch all the pre-laboratory videos and study hard for your written final.
- ENGL 221 – Easy, peasy and fun elective course. Covers Romantic era to modern-day literature. Should be popular with those who dislike older literature.
- ENGL 348 – Absolutely amazing. This class is by far my best class at UBC – sympathetic instructor, enlightening class and inspiring people. There isn’t a lot of work either, just walk in with an open mind and do attend as many classes as possible.
- ENGL 357 – Enjoyable readings and a great instructor made this one breeze by. I wish it were longer but I’m happy with the fair marking overall.
- PSYC 100 – Biggest mistake ever – this course sucked my soul from my body and left me an empty shell. Entirely rote memorization – the exams test on ridiculously minute trivia. Would not recommend to anyone who has a pulse and a brain unless it was absolutely necessary. UBC Psychology, work on your pedagogical development! Doing those psychology studies was fun though; especially for credits.
I woke up a bit earlier today to have breakfast with my dad and grandma. It’s always nice spending time with them; I find that I’m typically out of the house for most of the time during the school/work year so meals are good family times.
Afterwards, I promptly went to campus to return my boatload of books on collaborative authorship and the Augustan authors (evidently, I received 88 on my paper and 90 on my exam where I wrote two essays – one on the character of the Rake and the other on the character of the Coquette through the Restoration and eighteenth-century). I then met with J where I was a tad on the garrulous side, talking about OpenCourseWare and First Year Seminars. I know he’s still looking for an Associate Vice President Academic and several commissioners so I’d look out for those opportunities. J is driven, smart and diplomatic – I think he’s poised to effect real change this year. I hope he reaches out to S and J for their great ideas though.
Afterwards, I bumped into S at the Minischool office where we’ve got…let’s say…a pickle to sort out regarding bookings for Fall courses. While it will be a physical nightmare (can one of the prerequisites for my assistant be that s/he must be able to lift their own weight in wooden stages?), I’m crossing my fingers and praying that the bookings people can help us out. I found out that she might be heading to Edmonton which saddens me a little, but she’s doing what she’s always wanted to do so more power to her. We joked a bit, had a free lunch courtesy of the AMS (who says there are no free lunches in this world? mine had penne carbonara today!) then parted ways.
I went to go purchase my BIOL 334/335 textbooks which were exorbitant but thankfully K has assured me that I may borrow her set for the summer. I get to return my books and get my money back! Hurray.
All in all, not a bad day at all. I’ll be spending my day with S tomorrow doing Minischool turnover stuff. I’m still waiting on A to finish his turnover so I can begin Director of Finance duties at SUS.
Seems like I never take vacations.
On a happy note, I found a video of “My Boyfriend’s Back.” It brings back memories of ballroom lessons with L. Weren’t those fun, L? See the video after the jump.
morituri te salutant
Today’s CHEM 205 exam couldn’t have gone worse! Everything I studied in-depth (i.e. enzyme kinetics, Donnan equilibrium, etc.) wasn’t even covered. Utterly catastrophic by any measure. I can only hope that BIOL 201 will go a lot smoother, but somehow I sincerely doubt it.
Today I dropped by school early-ish to study and studied with J, N and V at Ladha. It was nice catching up with old friends, but just as nice to sip my Starbucks Doubleshot™ on Ice while returning L’s solutions manual.
I think I might briefly review PSYC 100 before Wednesday – I don’t want to be utterly unprepared but I don’t suspect I will do terribly well. Oh well, this term has been something of a disappointment, on the science side…we’ll see how I did on the English courses.
More lightheartedly, I noticed this link on Lifehacker this morning. I absolutely agree that Comic Sans ought to be banned in its entirety. It’s so utterly inappropriately used. And yes, I know, fonts don’t kill people – people kill people, but that never stopped us from banning certain weapons of mass destruction anyway. That’s how I feel about Comic Sans! Ban it for goodness’ sake, ban it now.
Additionally, I watched a cool 3-minute talk by Renny Gleeson at TED the other day, and thought about how I’m hyper-connected (i.e. blogging, Twitter, Facebook, MSN, etc.). During this exam period, I’ve become significantly more difficult to track as I’ve fallen off of MSN and Facebook chat (I still visit Facebook, read Twitter and read my emails though – and, obviously, write in here). It’s been nice! I think I’ll try to be a little more scarce from now on. Enjoy the talk after the jump!
Strapped, noosed, nighing his hour
I’m sitting at my desk, finishing up some review of Thermodynamics in CHEM 205 and frantically hoping that I won’t fail.
Nothing really happened today – I’m surrounded by the soft hum of my computers and piles of study material. The curtains are drawn closed, thank you very much, I don’t think staring outside into the gloomy rainclouds will do me any good. I still have a pile of books leftover from my ENGL 357 research paper – I should go return those.
My brother came home today from leadership training. It was quiet, too quiet, in the house without him. I wonder how he found it? I think I read something about advanced kayaking on one of his itineraries. He was so thoughtful – he clipped me a few coupons before he went. I wonder if I’ll get a chance to use them? I’ll have to remember to check the expiration dates on them.
I watched Desperate Housewives from 9-10pm today. It’s a luxury, considering that my exam is tomorrow but I don’t mind. I’ll get by this exam, I think.
I spent some of my breaks reading blogs of people I know and sifting through their words. I want to know more about people, I find. Everyone’s got a story; I want to read them all!
All this studying has made me terribly melancholy. I hope when exams are done that the sun is out and I can “sport in the wind.”
My parents brought me home brunch and dinner today – sometimes I wonder if I should mind eating takeout meals alone – whether they’ll be the norm when I get older. I do enjoy family meals but my schedule is just prohibitive sometimes. I hope I won’t have to eat too many takeout dinners alone. Though it’s sometimes quite nice – gives me time to think and to muse…I do that a lot.
I’m currently listening to “My Skin” by Natalie Merchant. It’s nice and soothing. I’d best be off to study more.
Edit: Is there anything Youtube doesn’t have? See what I mean after the jump.
hickory dickory
My dad brought me home a Tandoori Wild Salmon Salad for dinner today, but also went to Sushi Garden for a fourth-meal with my mum. They brought back some leftovers!
So I took a pre-emptive break (pre-emptive because the break would have snuck up on me anyway) and gobbled down the food with glee while listening to Rogue Traders.
I guess I’ll be staying up late studying again tonight.
Or surely you’ll grow double
My desk has taken on a most unkempt appearance since the beginning of exams which thoroughly disappoints me. Nevertheless, I think it’s something that ought to be documented.
There are several things to note:
- The coaster sitting at the top right corner of my desk – I drink a lot of ginseng tea now and I hate leaving stains on my desk. Anyone who will one day own a home, please – I implore you to invest in coasters! Otherwise, you’ll catch me unconsciously wiping the bottoms of teacups as they condense little rings of liquid on wood.
- My dual-monitor setup (thanks to my Dad for the new video card and monitors!). I can’t get by without them! They’re so useful and multi-functional. I’m a dork, I know.
- My Altec Lansing speakers. Love them so much – adore the bass I get from them from the subwoofer sitting near my foot, holding up the defunct flatbed scanner. I’m no audiophile but my family knows I love to study to music.
- The multiple USB keys dangling from my desklamp. At any point in time, I could have at least three of them there…I use Sandisk, Toshiba and Kingston drives.
- My laptop cooler. Anyone who’s used an HP laptop knows what I’m talking about – they’re cheap and mildly attractive (why do I make them sound like strumpets?) but they run hotter than the surface of Mars. My laptop cooling pad (again thanks to Dad!) keeps it frigid (so I can run on High Performance and not scald myself or melt the plastic enclosure).
- The multiple computer mice. One of these days, I’m going to figure out how to use Synergy correctly. Until then, I could always use VNC to control two computers with one mouse, but I’m not a big fan of it because my dual-monitors don’t translate well to my laptop screen. Ah well!
Oh! By now you can probably figure out that I’m procrastinating studying CHEM 205. Why yes, I am.
Saw another video of Susan Boyle, singing “Cry Me a River.” It’s amazing. I always assume everyone’s watched it, but I may as well post it! See it after the jump.
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