Sitting in a cafe-type restaurant on campus at lunch, I overheard snatches of a conversation behind me.
Girl: We think we might be going to Peru next spring because (couple that I don't remember names) is getting married there. Except that she can't make-up her mind about it and has had several break-downs and blow-out fights about it with him and threatens to call it off and yeah... its not a great situation.
Guy: Are they from Peru?
Girl: She is, he's not. We don't think this is the best idea for him (to marry her) but... what can you do?
Guy: Yeah, that's hard.
Girl: We've already made up a schedule of whose house he'll go to when she kicks him out. I'm first because I'll be the most sympathetic apparently.
Guy: Wow.... that's... not a good sign.
--------------
Maybe you had to be there, but I had to restrain from laughing at his statement, which might be the understatement of the year. When your friends are already making contingency plans for your marriage -that hasn't taken place yet- to fall apart... that's not a good sign :P
The adventures and day-to-day life of a Hokie that enjoys traveling, nature, people, and public health.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
7 Quick Takes
7 quick takes:
1. I think I need a tape-recorder for my brain. I think of all of these good ideas for posts, and then I forget to actually write them. Could someone please invent that for me? Thanks :)
2. I survived my first round of mid-terms in Grad school, huzzah. Of three tests, I did great on one and so-so on another, with another not returned. For my 4th class, I actually have received no grades yet even though I’ve turned in two papers. So really no idea how I’m doing in that class. But I still really like my classes, so all is well.
3. I need to get on the ball in finding a job. I’ve sort of neglected that, but I really should try to obtain some income :P
4.I have to pick classes for next semester soon, and so I’ve chosen a concentration (infectious diseases) and have an appointment with my recently assigned advisor. Here’s hoping I can figure out what I’m doing soon.
5. Mom came and visited me two weeks ago and it was a lot of fun! We talked and ate a lot, went to the Greek festival, and hung out a lot between me trying to study for midterms. There will be some pictures of the Greek festival at some point.
6. Over fall break I went and visited my aunt and uncle and cousin and sweet dog in Columbia for a long weekend. It was nice and relaxing and fun to welcome my cousin home after he just completed the entire pacific crest trail. I’m sure impressed!
7. Last weekend I went to my friend Katherine’s house Friday night and Saturday we hiked for several hours in the North Georgia mountains, on the approach trail to Springer mountain and the Appalachian trail (which said cousin also hiked all the way through in 2001). Pictures coming soon of this as well.
1. I think I need a tape-recorder for my brain. I think of all of these good ideas for posts, and then I forget to actually write them. Could someone please invent that for me? Thanks :)
2. I survived my first round of mid-terms in Grad school, huzzah. Of three tests, I did great on one and so-so on another, with another not returned. For my 4th class, I actually have received no grades yet even though I’ve turned in two papers. So really no idea how I’m doing in that class. But I still really like my classes, so all is well.
3. I need to get on the ball in finding a job. I’ve sort of neglected that, but I really should try to obtain some income :P
4.I have to pick classes for next semester soon, and so I’ve chosen a concentration (infectious diseases) and have an appointment with my recently assigned advisor. Here’s hoping I can figure out what I’m doing soon.
5. Mom came and visited me two weeks ago and it was a lot of fun! We talked and ate a lot, went to the Greek festival, and hung out a lot between me trying to study for midterms. There will be some pictures of the Greek festival at some point.
6. Over fall break I went and visited my aunt and uncle and cousin and sweet dog in Columbia for a long weekend. It was nice and relaxing and fun to welcome my cousin home after he just completed the entire pacific crest trail. I’m sure impressed!
7. Last weekend I went to my friend Katherine’s house Friday night and Saturday we hiked for several hours in the North Georgia mountains, on the approach trail to Springer mountain and the Appalachian trail (which said cousin also hiked all the way through in 2001). Pictures coming soon of this as well.
Friday, October 1, 2010
I'm not a fan of tests...
Okay, I'm pretty sure no one is a fan of tests. Mostly because of the grade-obsession I think my generation has, at least that's my theory.
But I also feel like they aren't really practical. Most of the stuff you have to learn for a test, you promptly forget. And most of it you can look up if you need to know it. Unless you are going on a quiz show or want to rock trivial pursuit, you life will be okay without being able to diagram the Krebs cycle or list all of the major baroque composers. No one has ever stopped me on the street and demanded dates of World War II battles or a plot summary of The Odyssey.
That being said, I'm a huge proponent of education. I feel like it can be the great equalizer. I happen to love school and learning. ( I'm a nerd, its okay- I came to terms with that a long time ago.) I think that education can be the solution, or at least indroduce you to possible solutions, to so many problems in the world. But that's another post for another day.
I do however, enjoy things that I feel are useful learning tools. This includes writing, and projects, and some test-like things. For one of my mid-terms next week we can use a page of notes. I really like this idea for several reasons. One, it takes the pressure off of studying, so I feel like I will actually study better. Two, making that sheet of notes is actually a great way to study. Three, I feel like its more like the real world. When I said above that you can look up information that you need, the caveat is that it's impractical to look up EVERYTHING. That just becomes obnoxious. But to have a reference sheet that you can quickly use means that you are familiar with the subject enough to reference it if you need it, especially where there are formulas involved, yet it's okay that you don't have the field memorized. And I feel like that's like the real world. I used wikipedia to look up a lot of structures and molecular weights at my old jobs, because memorizing all of that information for every chemical I worked with would be... well, impossible without a photographic memory. But I could calculate what I needed to pretty easily, and that's a combination of access to formulas and experience with the material. I think a lot of people feel like if you can use some notes during a test, anyone can ace the test. That's not true with a well-designed test, and its not true in life either. Sure, you can probably figure some things out on the fly, but mostly, a notes sheets helps the prepared student.
I'll muse on papers and projects another time. Ta!
But I also feel like they aren't really practical. Most of the stuff you have to learn for a test, you promptly forget. And most of it you can look up if you need to know it. Unless you are going on a quiz show or want to rock trivial pursuit, you life will be okay without being able to diagram the Krebs cycle or list all of the major baroque composers. No one has ever stopped me on the street and demanded dates of World War II battles or a plot summary of The Odyssey.
That being said, I'm a huge proponent of education. I feel like it can be the great equalizer. I happen to love school and learning. ( I'm a nerd, its okay- I came to terms with that a long time ago.) I think that education can be the solution, or at least indroduce you to possible solutions, to so many problems in the world. But that's another post for another day.
I do however, enjoy things that I feel are useful learning tools. This includes writing, and projects, and some test-like things. For one of my mid-terms next week we can use a page of notes. I really like this idea for several reasons. One, it takes the pressure off of studying, so I feel like I will actually study better. Two, making that sheet of notes is actually a great way to study. Three, I feel like its more like the real world. When I said above that you can look up information that you need, the caveat is that it's impractical to look up EVERYTHING. That just becomes obnoxious. But to have a reference sheet that you can quickly use means that you are familiar with the subject enough to reference it if you need it, especially where there are formulas involved, yet it's okay that you don't have the field memorized. And I feel like that's like the real world. I used wikipedia to look up a lot of structures and molecular weights at my old jobs, because memorizing all of that information for every chemical I worked with would be... well, impossible without a photographic memory. But I could calculate what I needed to pretty easily, and that's a combination of access to formulas and experience with the material. I think a lot of people feel like if you can use some notes during a test, anyone can ace the test. That's not true with a well-designed test, and its not true in life either. Sure, you can probably figure some things out on the fly, but mostly, a notes sheets helps the prepared student.
I'll muse on papers and projects another time. Ta!
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