It doesn’t seem like often, especially lately.
I have 4.5 hours between classes every day. Initially, I thought this was going to be a terrible schedule. In actuality, things have conspired to make it an excellent schedule. Because I ride Yoshiko (the little Honda) to school everyday, I’m somewhat disinclined to ride home between classes. Each ride involves a fairly lengthy procedure of getting geared up then getting undressed at the other end. It just seemed safer, and cheaper, and more green, and mostly just easier to stay at school between classes. So I spend the entire time in the library doing school work.
This has transformed me from a truly awful student to a pretty good one. I still don’t really take notes, and don’t really know how to study for a test, but I do okay. I’ve got a solid A in 3 classes, and a B+ in the other one, which isn’t bad, all things considered. It varies from week to week, but most of my time is either taken up with Physics or Calculus. I’m doing astonishingly well grade-wise in Calculus, but the grades feel inflated. On the other hand, half the class has dropped, and I’m not sure how many of the others are actually passing.
I spent nearly all of my 4 hours on Monday working on Physics homework that’s due today. I had a bit more trouble than usual since I was in Highlands during the lecture Monday and Wednesday where I should have learned about RC Circuits. I spent most of my 4 hours on Tuesday finishing the physics homework. On Tuesday, I talked with a couple of my classmates about one of the more annoying problems. They agreed it was difficult. I eventually got to a solution on the worst of them, but it required a linear system of 6 equations with 6 unknowns. Which I could probably solve by hand, but which would take hours. So I let Wolfram Alpha do it for me. I got the correct answer, but there’s surely a simpler solution.
Before class this morning, one of my classmates asked if I’d figured it out. I told him about my cop-out, and he said he had a much simpler solution. I reached into my backpack to pull out my homework and discovered that I’d left it sitting on my desk at home. Which really sucks. Hours spent doing homework that now I couldn’t turn in. Not wasted hours, since I needed the practice with the problems, but still seriously annoying that I wouldn’t get credit for it.
I thought it was a bit strange that my physics professor didn’t wander outside for his pre-class pipe smoke. I often sit outside until he’s done smoking his pipe, since obviously class isn’t going to start before then, and sitting outside is generally much more pleasant than sitting in a hot, stuffy, and ugly lecture hall. When he walked into class, he didn’t have his physics book. He said, “Sorry guys, I feel like crap. You can just turn your homework in Friday.” And then he walked out.
So, the day I don’t have my physics homework is the day that class is canceled and homework is due the next day! One of my classmates asked, “Did you poison the professor?”
The even better part is that I needed the time. Since Jonah and I went to Highlands, NC last week, I had all kinds of things to catch up with. Worse, Noell is getting married this weekend, so I don’t have the weekend to do anything. I have a physics test the Monday morning I get back, and Calculus due Friday. With my extra time today I was able to not only finish the Calculus homework, but also finish the programming assignment due on Monday. Which means I’ve got plenty of time to study for Physics tomorrow. If only I knew how to study.
On the one hand, it’s been fun learning things. On the other hand, I’m a pilot, aren’t I? It’s been almost a year since I’ve flown an airliner, and a six months since I’ve been in an airplane. And I’ve got do this for another couple of years before I can graduate. Is it worth it? Can I afford it? I really don’t know. The deferment on my student loans from a decade ago finally went through. Getting a degree pretty much ensures that I’m going to be paying back student loans until I die.
I’m not at all sure this is a good decision. But I’m not sure what else to do.
It’s been a rough week, and I’m seriously looking forward to first Thanksgiving, and then the end of the semester. So I can do it all over again?