originally posted april 15, 2001
oh, the humanities!
Important things in my life always happen in threes. Unfortunately, lately bad things have been happening in threes. With three weeks left in the semester, I get to look forward to three final projects. All three are in my humanities classes. It's going to be a very, very long three weeks.
Taking three humanities classes as a computer science major is never something to look forward to, even if two of them are vital to the minor and the third is a qualification for the major. Still, humanities involves a lot of reading, a lot of research, and a lot of whining about said reading and research. In one of my classes, I've heard two different people complain about how they hate the class so much that they would drop it if they could. Of course, dropping that class would mean not being able to graduate on time. It's easy to determine the priorities when one has to choose between a few six-page papers and another $15,000 in semesterly fees.
My general humanities requirements (freshman English, plus three courses from three different lists) will be done after this semester. The minor in Japanese is just two semesters away. I could potentially spend a summer or even a semester in Japan in 2002, although I would have to take a relatively heavy courseload to make up for it. Computer science is hard enough in English, thank you very much. Perhaps all these humanities courses will build a little character.
hey, I know that guy!
I attended "TRASHionals 2001: A TRASH Oddity" during my spring break. That's right: I took time off from my break to ride some 760 miles to Evanston, Illinois to spend time with lots of twenty- and thirty-something people (almost all men) who know obscene amounts of popular culture facts. It was a fun experience, and I also ran into some folks who would go on to gain a national presence through "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?" James Dinan, the organizer of the tournament, was skunked on early questions about the use of a settee and the definition of "stays" (those plastic strips that keep collars straight) and became the tenth person in the history of the show to win $0 after making it into the hot seat. Meanwhile, Michigan coach Kevin Olmstead, who helped to create the now-popular NAQT questions for tournaments, set an American television record by winning $2.18 million. Congratulations to Kevin!
Seeing as though I don't know either James or Kevin personally, I'm not going to drop their names any more. Still, it's nice to have at least seen them in person.
three words: "no math skills"
So I've decided to be a TA next semester, assisting a professor for a course known as Data Structures. It's a programming course, taught in Java, designed for non-majors. Most people are taking it as a general requirement, just like the humanities courses that I take. Most seem apprehensive about taking computer programming courses; I'll have to deal with them. It should be an interesting new job: I get to work more closely with Java, and it also pays better than my current jobs. However, now I have a difficult decision to make: which of my desk jobs should I leave behind?
class-by-class
Just three weeks to go!
15-213, Introduction to Computer Systems. Well, I should be studying for the next exam. The assignments have been pretty manageable so far, but I need this A. I need it. My in-major GPA desperately needs to be improved, and hopefully this is the semester to do it. It's tiring to answer the question "What's your in-major GPA?" with "It's improving." Outlook: Good.
21-125, Maple Lab. Quick. Easy. Filler. Outlook: Good.
33-224, Stars, Galaxies, and the Universe. Every semester seems to have just one course that puts me to sleep consistently and completely. This year, astronomy is it. The material is pretty dull, the mostly-empty lecture hall has a lot of echo to it, and it's late enough in the day for me to be exhausted. If I can just figure out what the professor has been talking about for the last month, I may have a prayer in this class. Outlook: Uncertain.
80-242, Conflict and Dispute Resolution. Well, this humanities course has actually been interesting, although it doesn't help that I know practically nobody taking the class. Our final presentation: analyze a web site. That's right: take a web site of an organization, about a social controversy, and prepare a 20-minute presentation about its contents. At least I have some control over it, and the take-home final means I get to go home that much earlier. Still, the professor seems pretty strict when it comes to giving out A's. Outlook: Moderate.
82-272, Intermediate Japanese II. Continuing on with my minor, Intermediate Japanese II puts up the same heavy nightly workload with several ongoing project. One twist: instead of a final exam, we have a final presentation about a research topic of our choice, with a question-and-answer period. Of course, it's all in Japanese. It's all about the planning. Given the sudden jump in the difficulty of the course, this could ruin my minor-GPA 4.00. Still, a B wouldn't kill me. Outlook: Moderate.
82-273, Introduction to Japanese Language and Culture. Hey, you wanna take a survey? The dreaded data-collection step is part of my final project in this course, which also requires research from published sources. Another presentation to worry about, but overall I've found the course to be interesting in content without a very heavy weekly workload. I guess I should enjoy it while it lasts. Outlook: Good.
Just end the semester now, please...
Back to April 2001, or to the year 2001.
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