Well, I hate to say it ladies and gentleman, but I lied. I'm really not going to recount the adventures I had during Winter term at OSU. Why is that, you may ask? Well, because nothing happened. Really. It was just an oil spill and a flock of seagulls. THAT'S ABOUT IT (movie reference). It was as dull as sin, and cloudy the whole time. Nothing exciting happened, and my life had no hilarious antics to retell.
So. That being said, I've decided that for the next two segments of this series, I'm going to tell all sorts of stories from Spring term; which was, by far, the best. So sit back. Enjoy the ride. Grab yourself an iced beverage, and maybe a plate of fancy hors d'oeuvre to partake in. I know I would.
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When it comes to holidays, my family has always been very... Well, family oriented. We would have large get-togethers for pretty much every major holiday, and family birthday. I loved these to death, as I thoroughly enjoy spending time with my family. At any rate, I found myself faced with some rather troubling news when I got to college: I wouldn't have any more of these. I mean, I could have if I REALLY wanted to, but the 400 mile separation and the outrageous gas prices kind of put dampers in those plans.
So it's with that sentiment in mind, that I lead you into my next story. Easter time was quickly approaching, and I came to the tragic conclusion that I was going to be stuck at OSU by myself. My roommate was going home, and 90% of my friends were leaving as well to spend happy time with their families; getting home cooked food, and going Easter egg hunting. Bastards. I was so jealous.
Alex and I were out getting gelato one night, and he was telling me how he as WELL was going home for Easter. I grimaced, and started eating my gelato with FAR less gusto than what I originally started out with. I think he got the point that I was not really content with staying in the dorms and eating delicious dorm food, as he suddenly added "Well, Calan.... You know, I'm sure you could come over for the weekend and spend Easter with my family if you want."
YES!!! MOPING AND GLOOMINESS FTW!
I immediately took him up and thanked him for such a generous offer. I mean, I realized the implications. I was going to intrude on a family's holiday routine. This could be especially heinous. But then I thought... It's ME. Everybody loves me, so there really wasn't going to be too big an issue. At any rate, the next week or two came along, and suddenly we were faced with our departure to McMinnville for the weekend.
Alex had procured tickets to the Mexican cultural event that was taking place on campus the Friday before Easter, as it was a required presentation for his Spanish class. That being said, he invited me, Virinda, and our friend Mackenzie. On our way to the event, Alex looked over and asked Virinda if she had thought about his "offer" any.
What? Why did that sound like a drug deal? I was rather curious as to what the hell he was talking about.
APPARENTLY, Alex had invited Virinda as well to his place for Easter, as she wouldn't be going home either! Neat!! It'd be a Vale invasion in McMinnville, and it'd be a trio of great friends hanging out all weekend! After a bit of prodding, we got Virinda to agree to going as well. We went to the event, and sat through a painful presentation from a man who I swear to you sounded as though he was high. "You've got to open your minds, MAAAAAAAAN!!!" Yeeeeaaaahhh.... At any rate, it was an interesting presentation to say the least, and I got to write a paper about it for my START class; so it was especially helpful.
As we left for Alex's place, Virinda suddenly exclaimed that she needed a grey cardigan for her outfit she was to wear on Easter Sunday. Sigh.... Alright, Virinda, we'll go find you a cardigan. We tore up pretty much every store on our way out of town, to no avail. Well, Virinda and I did. Alex refused to leave the car. In the end, we finally found one in McMinnville. No thanks to you, Alex. But that's all irrelevant.
Upon our arrival at Alex's place, we were happily greeted by his family who were more than willing to put up with Virinda and I for the weekend. How thoughtful, right? Anyway, we hung out a little bit before we all went to bed. Virinda and I were to share Alex's room, and he was going to sleep on the couch. I went even further to give Virinda Alex's bed, and I was going to sleep on the floor. As we were going to bed, I went to shut the door. I was abruptly stopped by Virinda, who sharply yelled at me to leave it open.
What the hell. I asked her why, and here was her answer.
"I want Trixie (Alex's dog) to come in and sleep with me!" Well. I DIDN'T want that to happen, as Trixie was not going to sleep with Virinda, but sleep with the lump on the floor. In other words, me; and I had no room to sleep as is. So, I told Virinda no, and went to shut the door.
She LUNGED at me. Well, it escalated into a really, REALLY loud whispering (yelling) fit. Virinda had her foot firmly wedged in the door, and I had both of mine firmly planted on the door itself pushing it closed. We sat there stubbornly for a few minutes before Alex came knocking. "Would you two KEEP IT DOWN?! Jesus!!" As he left, Virinda and I glared at each other and both of us sulked off to bed. And wouldn't you know it; the little cheat went and opened the door after I fell asleep.
Moving on. At one point in our weekend of fun, we decided to go play tennis. The three of us went to a quaint little park surrounded by trees, and a huge slide/play area. After a game of intense tennis (well, intense for Alex and I. Virinda kind of curled up in a ball in front of the net and cheered me on the whole time) we were headed back to my car when I started wearily eyeing the play area. Virinda must have been on the same wavelength as me, as she ran over and started playing on it.
Well. Not to be left out, I immediately joined, and started going down the slides that were much too small for me. Hell, even Alex, who is MUCH too mach to ever partake in such activities broke down and started climbing on the mini rock wall they had.
And then shit got intense.
In our state of exhausted tennis delirium, we started playing "lava monster." Virinda was the evil lava monster (of course) and Alex and I had to escape her wrath. Everything that WASN'T the slide was hot lava, and thus Virinda's territory. It was an EPIC battle. Virinda fought hard, and even started shooting laser blasts at us for some odd reason. I don't know, I guess lava monsters can do that sort of thing. At any rate, it was alright, because Alex suddenly spawned the ability to create forcefields; effectively warding off Virinda's attacks. We were in a deadlock.
Trying to take hold of another part of our "ship" that we were on, I made a mad dash towards the other side. It didn't end well for me, as Virinda ran up and tackled me to the ground. I was effectively dead, and dragged across the rec area. Literally dragged. Virinda then thought she'd add insult to injury by shoving me head first down the slide, but holding my legs so I wouldn't go all the way down. The insidious witch held me hostage this way and went on to taunt Alex with my "dead" body.
BUT WAIT. I forgot I had the power to revive myself, so I did, and drop kicked Virinda down the slide. Running back over to where Alex was, we celebrated our short-lived victory. Immediately afterwards, we found Virinda climbing up the slide. She grabbed Alex, and dragged him down into the fiery pits of Hell from which she came. It was a tragedy, and I had to save my friend. I shot a revival beam at him, and he managed to start climbing back up the rock wall to safety. Virinda would have none of that though, and she ran up to where the rock wall ended, and started freezing Alex's hands. How lava monsters gained the ability to freeze I'll never know. In the end, we called it a draw. Alex and I had managed to extinguish Virinda's fire, but she burned down our whole ship in the process.
And then I realized just what the hell we had been doing for the past hour, and went into peals of uncontrollable laughter. We all did. By God, it was like we were seven again; and to be frank, it was probably one of the most fun times I had since going to College. Sad, I know, but every once in a while one must embrace their inner child; and not in a creepy molester-esque fashion.
The rest of the weekend went very smoothly. On Easter Sunday, I woke up to find that Alex had a Easter basket in his hands. Before I could even get a word out, he told me "Dude... My mom hid Easter baskets around the house for us. You have to go find yours!" I was elated. I got my Easter hunt AFTER all!! Not only that, but once I found my elusive basket, I was overjoyed to find that it had been stuffed with all sorts of candies and treats. And socks. Of which, I was incredibly grateful for. I mean, really. Alex's family had brought us in and went through all of the effort and trouble to make sure we had a good Easter, since we weren't spending it with our own family. How awesome is that?
Afterwards, we attended a very nice church service of which I wore white tie attire. But not really... We did dress up nicely though. A DELICIOUS brunch followed the service, and we then packed up and headed back to school. It was a great weekend to say the least. I'm going to have to make holidays at the Geelan's a regular occurrence.
Oh, and Lava Monster, I'm going to kick your ass next time we fight.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Sunday, June 12, 2011
College: Part 1
Well. One year down. It's rather surreal, I must admit, to comprehend the fact that I've finished my first year of college already. It's even more amazing to realize that I've finished my first year in a Chemical Engineering curriculum. Yeah, I think at some point I'm going to fall over in a mental exhaustion from all of the super duper fun science and math classes I'll be taking in the very near future... But as far as right now is concerned, I still just love me some good ol' fashioned Chemistry. Weesnaw.
As I sit here on my back deck on this BEAUTIFUL Sunday morning in Eastern Oregon, I can't help but reflect on my first year at OSU as a whole, and all of the incredible things that have happened over the course of the past year. I suppose thought that incredible could be substituted with a lot of other words as well. Interesting... Hilarious... Sickening... Disgraceful... Yeah, go ahead and use your imagination to fill in the rest of these words. And then, I started thinking.... "Wouldn't some of these stories make absolutely hilarious blog posts?" The answer, is yes.
This particular post is going to be broken up into three seperate parts: Fall term, Winter term, and Spring term.
To be frank, I only have a handful of memories of fall term at OSU. Maybe it's because it was such a long time ago, that I've forgotten most of it. Maybe it's because all of the hardcore drugs I've been taking as of late have wiped my long term memory out entirely (only kidding, to those of you who are inept in the ways of sarcasm). At any rate, the following story is one of laughs, tears, drama, heartbreak, adventure, and a dashingly handsome protagonist.
But in all honesty, it's about chemistry.
Fall term, I was enrolled in Chemistry 221, which is the upper series of General Chemistry. For me, it was a snooze. It was all about stuff I had gone over in GREAT detail my senior year of high school, so I literally slept through the class and waltzed away with a high A at the end of the term. Most of my friends were in this class as well; my roommate, Virinda Boyle, and a vast majority of my friends that I would meet through my classes as the term progressed. At any rate, there was one friend of mine in particular who was in the class as well, and is subsequently who this story revolves around.
Alex Geelan.
I had met Alex the summer before leaving for college, through my friend Connor. Throughout the summer, we'd talk about how excited we were to finally be going off to school. We'd talk about where we were living, what we were planning on doing throughout the year, what classes we were taking, and the like. At some point, Alex had mentioned to me that he was taking CH 221. "Hey!" I said. "I'm taking the exact same class!!" Alex, "No way!? Dude.... I'm going to hate it. I suck at chemistry." Me, "Well, I'd be HAPPY to help and tutor you as the year progresses! Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I'm a PRO when it comes to chemistry."
Needless to say, he ate the offer up.
Throughout the term, my friends all realized that I was really good at chemistry. This prompted even MORE asking of help. Well, that's fine, I like helping my friends; so it's no big deal. It was at this point that I came up with the most INGENIOUS idea of a Chemistry Study Group! My friends and I would all meet in the library once or twice a week and keep up on all of our homework, while bouncing extra problems off of each other to make sure our knowledge of the material stayed fresh in our minds. It was an ingenious idea, and for the most part, went very smoothly.
Finally, we found ourselves faced with the first midterm. Confident in my friends' abilities to do well on the exam, there wasn't much studying to be had between any of us. Wishing everyone good luck, we all dispersed to our separate rooms and took the exam.
Getting done with the exam in ten minutes, I stood outside and waited for Alex, who took the exam in the same room as I did. When he finally came out, we started walking back to my room together so we could check the answer key and see how we did.
"Psh; easiest exam EVER, right?" I asked Alex with a confident smirk plastered on my face. "Uhhh.... Yeah, I don't know, dude. There were some questions that I was kind of iffy about." Alex responded. Well, I wasn't too worried. After all; with subject material like significant figures and basic, BASIC reactions, it had to have been a cinch.
Or at least that's what I thought.
Alex ended up getting a high D on his first exam. WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOA. What?!?! I stared incredulous at his exam, as he stood there with total nonchalance. "Dude. Don't worry about it! The final wipes out the two midterms anyway. This is just a minor snafu; you're freaking out way too much about this." He tells me reassuringly.
What the hell!? A D in significant figures!?!? I just couldn't wrap my mind around the idea. It looked at this point as though I had a project, I did. I was going to make Alex a chemistry God if it KILLED ME, as this was unacceptable. At this point, you're all probably wondering why I cared so much. Here's why: I simply couldn't have a moron as a friend. Granted, he'd fill the affirmative action quota I have when it comes to friendships, but I simply wasn't going to stand for this.
Our chemistry group started to dwindle. Mainly because I was so dedicated to making sure Alex understood what was going on, I seemed to neglect... Well, everybody else. The second third of the term came and went, and we were faced with our second midterm. I wasn't taking any chances this time. Putting aside all of the studying I had to do for other exams, I spent a good 20 accumulated hours prepping Alex for this exam. The exam came and went, and afterwards, as usual, we strolled back to my room to check the key.
"................................. A 68 percent, Alex. You got. A high D. AGAIN." It was at this point that I started banging my head on my desk in utter disdain. I think Alex was sitting there telling me AGAIN that it was alright due to the fact that the final would just replace it, but I wasn't listening. At this point, it wasn't about Alex passing chemistry at all. Oh no; it was about my utter FAILURE at being a tutor. So, as only I could do, I managed to turn a totally selfless act into one that was all about me. I had to maintain my dignity. If my ward was failing Chemistry, what did this say about me?! The implications were numerous. And also a total figment of my imagination.
I was instilled with a new fiery passion. Alex was going to DESTROY the chem final by God, or suffer the dire consequences. The two weeks between the second midterm and the exam came and went without much thought, and finally, we were faced with Dead Week. I told Alex that we were going to start studying RIGHT NOW; a full week before the exam, all day, every day. And study we did. We went over every single practice exam, old exam, and problems from the book to make sure he had a grasp on the material. If he didn't breeze right through a problem I gave him, I'd tell him exactly how to do it, and make him do several more.
The day of the exam came, and I was proud of my efforts so far. Alex was able to do pretty much all of the math intensive problems. He was going to do great; I could feel it. We went our separate ways to take the exam. I destroyed my exam. HOWEVER. There were several questions that I would look at and think "Oh God... Alex is going to struggle with this one..." But I pushed on and tried to take my mind off of that.
That night, my roommate's girlfriend had pizzas delivered to our dorm in celebration of the completion of our Chemistry final. It was an incredibly generous offer, and it was greatly appreciated. All of my friends had migrated to my place as they finished, and we gave our minds a break as we devoured free pizza like most college students would. Finally, the exam keys came up, and I ran off to check both mine and Alex's scores.
I missed about two or three; no big, I still did quite well. I was pleased. It was then time to check Alex's. It was only my roommate and I in the room, as everybody else was in the lounge eating pizza. I started to go through his exam.
First question: Wrong. Hmmm... Okay. Second question: Wrong. ..... Uhh... Third question: Wrong. Fourth question. Wrong. I started panicking. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Right. Wrong. Wrong. Right. Right. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. See the pattern?
By the end of the exam, my eyes were the size of dinner plate, and I'm sure I was as pale as a ghost. Failed. He had completely and utterly FAILED. He didn't just slip up and get a few wrong, he DISMALLY FAILED HIS EXAM. But wait; he didn't just fail, I did. My week of intense prepping was all for naught, as he had failed this exam. I was distraught. I was in disbelief. I was FURIOUS. My roommate was snickering quietly to himself as I stormed out the door; at what, I wasn't quite sure. I'm sure it was my melodrama, but whatever.
I marched into the lounge and had the exam clutched in my hand like a death grip. "YOU FAILED, ALEX. Your failure on this exam is rivaled by NONE." I was livid. How on EARTH could he simply FORGET everything I had spent countless hours teaching him!? At that point, I knew what it was like to be a teacher. The frustration one feels after spending so much time trying to get a subject across only to find it fell upon deaf ears.
Suddenly, Alex started busting up laughing. He sat there for a solid minute and just laughed, and laughed, and laughed. I was incredibly confused, to say the least. When he finally composed himself, he looked at me and said "Dude. I circled the answer below the one I ACTUALLY put on the scantron, just to make you flip out when you checked my score!!"
.... Touche, Alex. Touche.
As the anger in me slowly subsided, annoyance quickly took its place. Alright... Nice joke, Alex. That was funny, I'll admit. As I, defeated, shuffled out of the room to RE CHECK his answers, Alex sat there and howled with laughter. I went back into my room, and my roommate was ALSO busting up. Apparently, he was in on it the whole time.
Bastards.
So I went through, and re-evaluated the exam. Sadly, the ones he had gotten RIGHT (however little there were) were now WRONG. But that was irrelevant. After the calculations, I had his exam score sitting in front of me heavily underlined on his exam. I strolled back into the lounge, and threw (literally threw) the exam at Alex, and told him to take a gander.
Alex wasn't laughing this time. "Congrats, Alex. You got a 58% on your final." I told him wearily. He up and rushed back to my room to check to see if I had made any mistakes. I hadn't, and the score I gave him was truly his exam score. With no reassurance of another exam to replace this one, he started to panic a little bit. At this point, I had exhausted all of my negative emotions, and all I felt was sympathy. I mean, boiling it down, I was sad that my friend didn't do too hot on this exam (and I was also upset that I actually HAD failed as a tutor).
At this point, a glimmer of understanding danced across Alex's face. "Wait, dude..." He slowly said. "Look at the questions I got wrong. They're all conceptual word problems. All of the math problems that YOU taught me, I got right!!! You aren't a failure after all!"
Thanks, pal. ".... Are you serious?" I managed to finally say. Duh. DUH. Chemistry is ALL CONCEPTUAL. THAT'S why Alex wasn't getting it!!! I was trying to explain math that made PERFECT sense to me because I could see what was going on, but it was complete gibberish to Alex! So of course, he could simply memorize the process to find an answer, but it didn't MEAN anything. That being said, the word problems that actually asked about chemistry totally kicked his ass.
EPIC FACEPALM.
A bittersweet ending, it was. He was right; I had done my job in making sure he knew how to do the problems, so that was something. But, he still failed the exam. We were both thinking at this point that he probably did rather poorly in the class, but it was irrelevant. We were done, and it was time to head home for Christmas break. Thus ended my fall term at OSU, and Alex's last term of Chemistry. Yeah, there was no way in hell he was doing that again. He chickened out and switched from a general science major, to a psych major.
What the hell, Alex. Really?
P.S. The lucky bastard managed a B in the class. I was incredulous.
As I sit here on my back deck on this BEAUTIFUL Sunday morning in Eastern Oregon, I can't help but reflect on my first year at OSU as a whole, and all of the incredible things that have happened over the course of the past year. I suppose thought that incredible could be substituted with a lot of other words as well. Interesting... Hilarious... Sickening... Disgraceful... Yeah, go ahead and use your imagination to fill in the rest of these words. And then, I started thinking.... "Wouldn't some of these stories make absolutely hilarious blog posts?" The answer, is yes.
This particular post is going to be broken up into three seperate parts: Fall term, Winter term, and Spring term.
To be frank, I only have a handful of memories of fall term at OSU. Maybe it's because it was such a long time ago, that I've forgotten most of it. Maybe it's because all of the hardcore drugs I've been taking as of late have wiped my long term memory out entirely (only kidding, to those of you who are inept in the ways of sarcasm). At any rate, the following story is one of laughs, tears, drama, heartbreak, adventure, and a dashingly handsome protagonist.
But in all honesty, it's about chemistry.
Fall term, I was enrolled in Chemistry 221, which is the upper series of General Chemistry. For me, it was a snooze. It was all about stuff I had gone over in GREAT detail my senior year of high school, so I literally slept through the class and waltzed away with a high A at the end of the term. Most of my friends were in this class as well; my roommate, Virinda Boyle, and a vast majority of my friends that I would meet through my classes as the term progressed. At any rate, there was one friend of mine in particular who was in the class as well, and is subsequently who this story revolves around.
Alex Geelan.
I had met Alex the summer before leaving for college, through my friend Connor. Throughout the summer, we'd talk about how excited we were to finally be going off to school. We'd talk about where we were living, what we were planning on doing throughout the year, what classes we were taking, and the like. At some point, Alex had mentioned to me that he was taking CH 221. "Hey!" I said. "I'm taking the exact same class!!" Alex, "No way!? Dude.... I'm going to hate it. I suck at chemistry." Me, "Well, I'd be HAPPY to help and tutor you as the year progresses! Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I'm a PRO when it comes to chemistry."
Needless to say, he ate the offer up.
Throughout the term, my friends all realized that I was really good at chemistry. This prompted even MORE asking of help. Well, that's fine, I like helping my friends; so it's no big deal. It was at this point that I came up with the most INGENIOUS idea of a Chemistry Study Group! My friends and I would all meet in the library once or twice a week and keep up on all of our homework, while bouncing extra problems off of each other to make sure our knowledge of the material stayed fresh in our minds. It was an ingenious idea, and for the most part, went very smoothly.
Finally, we found ourselves faced with the first midterm. Confident in my friends' abilities to do well on the exam, there wasn't much studying to be had between any of us. Wishing everyone good luck, we all dispersed to our separate rooms and took the exam.
Getting done with the exam in ten minutes, I stood outside and waited for Alex, who took the exam in the same room as I did. When he finally came out, we started walking back to my room together so we could check the answer key and see how we did.
"Psh; easiest exam EVER, right?" I asked Alex with a confident smirk plastered on my face. "Uhhh.... Yeah, I don't know, dude. There were some questions that I was kind of iffy about." Alex responded. Well, I wasn't too worried. After all; with subject material like significant figures and basic, BASIC reactions, it had to have been a cinch.
Or at least that's what I thought.
Alex ended up getting a high D on his first exam. WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOA. What?!?! I stared incredulous at his exam, as he stood there with total nonchalance. "Dude. Don't worry about it! The final wipes out the two midterms anyway. This is just a minor snafu; you're freaking out way too much about this." He tells me reassuringly.
What the hell!? A D in significant figures!?!? I just couldn't wrap my mind around the idea. It looked at this point as though I had a project, I did. I was going to make Alex a chemistry God if it KILLED ME, as this was unacceptable. At this point, you're all probably wondering why I cared so much. Here's why: I simply couldn't have a moron as a friend. Granted, he'd fill the affirmative action quota I have when it comes to friendships, but I simply wasn't going to stand for this.
Our chemistry group started to dwindle. Mainly because I was so dedicated to making sure Alex understood what was going on, I seemed to neglect... Well, everybody else. The second third of the term came and went, and we were faced with our second midterm. I wasn't taking any chances this time. Putting aside all of the studying I had to do for other exams, I spent a good 20 accumulated hours prepping Alex for this exam. The exam came and went, and afterwards, as usual, we strolled back to my room to check the key.
"................................. A 68 percent, Alex. You got. A high D. AGAIN." It was at this point that I started banging my head on my desk in utter disdain. I think Alex was sitting there telling me AGAIN that it was alright due to the fact that the final would just replace it, but I wasn't listening. At this point, it wasn't about Alex passing chemistry at all. Oh no; it was about my utter FAILURE at being a tutor. So, as only I could do, I managed to turn a totally selfless act into one that was all about me. I had to maintain my dignity. If my ward was failing Chemistry, what did this say about me?! The implications were numerous. And also a total figment of my imagination.
I was instilled with a new fiery passion. Alex was going to DESTROY the chem final by God, or suffer the dire consequences. The two weeks between the second midterm and the exam came and went without much thought, and finally, we were faced with Dead Week. I told Alex that we were going to start studying RIGHT NOW; a full week before the exam, all day, every day. And study we did. We went over every single practice exam, old exam, and problems from the book to make sure he had a grasp on the material. If he didn't breeze right through a problem I gave him, I'd tell him exactly how to do it, and make him do several more.
The day of the exam came, and I was proud of my efforts so far. Alex was able to do pretty much all of the math intensive problems. He was going to do great; I could feel it. We went our separate ways to take the exam. I destroyed my exam. HOWEVER. There were several questions that I would look at and think "Oh God... Alex is going to struggle with this one..." But I pushed on and tried to take my mind off of that.
That night, my roommate's girlfriend had pizzas delivered to our dorm in celebration of the completion of our Chemistry final. It was an incredibly generous offer, and it was greatly appreciated. All of my friends had migrated to my place as they finished, and we gave our minds a break as we devoured free pizza like most college students would. Finally, the exam keys came up, and I ran off to check both mine and Alex's scores.
I missed about two or three; no big, I still did quite well. I was pleased. It was then time to check Alex's. It was only my roommate and I in the room, as everybody else was in the lounge eating pizza. I started to go through his exam.
First question: Wrong. Hmmm... Okay. Second question: Wrong. ..... Uhh... Third question: Wrong. Fourth question. Wrong. I started panicking. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Right. Wrong. Wrong. Right. Right. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. See the pattern?
By the end of the exam, my eyes were the size of dinner plate, and I'm sure I was as pale as a ghost. Failed. He had completely and utterly FAILED. He didn't just slip up and get a few wrong, he DISMALLY FAILED HIS EXAM. But wait; he didn't just fail, I did. My week of intense prepping was all for naught, as he had failed this exam. I was distraught. I was in disbelief. I was FURIOUS. My roommate was snickering quietly to himself as I stormed out the door; at what, I wasn't quite sure. I'm sure it was my melodrama, but whatever.
I marched into the lounge and had the exam clutched in my hand like a death grip. "YOU FAILED, ALEX. Your failure on this exam is rivaled by NONE." I was livid. How on EARTH could he simply FORGET everything I had spent countless hours teaching him!? At that point, I knew what it was like to be a teacher. The frustration one feels after spending so much time trying to get a subject across only to find it fell upon deaf ears.
Suddenly, Alex started busting up laughing. He sat there for a solid minute and just laughed, and laughed, and laughed. I was incredibly confused, to say the least. When he finally composed himself, he looked at me and said "Dude. I circled the answer below the one I ACTUALLY put on the scantron, just to make you flip out when you checked my score!!"
.... Touche, Alex. Touche.
As the anger in me slowly subsided, annoyance quickly took its place. Alright... Nice joke, Alex. That was funny, I'll admit. As I, defeated, shuffled out of the room to RE CHECK his answers, Alex sat there and howled with laughter. I went back into my room, and my roommate was ALSO busting up. Apparently, he was in on it the whole time.
Bastards.
So I went through, and re-evaluated the exam. Sadly, the ones he had gotten RIGHT (however little there were) were now WRONG. But that was irrelevant. After the calculations, I had his exam score sitting in front of me heavily underlined on his exam. I strolled back into the lounge, and threw (literally threw) the exam at Alex, and told him to take a gander.
Alex wasn't laughing this time. "Congrats, Alex. You got a 58% on your final." I told him wearily. He up and rushed back to my room to check to see if I had made any mistakes. I hadn't, and the score I gave him was truly his exam score. With no reassurance of another exam to replace this one, he started to panic a little bit. At this point, I had exhausted all of my negative emotions, and all I felt was sympathy. I mean, boiling it down, I was sad that my friend didn't do too hot on this exam (and I was also upset that I actually HAD failed as a tutor).
At this point, a glimmer of understanding danced across Alex's face. "Wait, dude..." He slowly said. "Look at the questions I got wrong. They're all conceptual word problems. All of the math problems that YOU taught me, I got right!!! You aren't a failure after all!"
Thanks, pal. ".... Are you serious?" I managed to finally say. Duh. DUH. Chemistry is ALL CONCEPTUAL. THAT'S why Alex wasn't getting it!!! I was trying to explain math that made PERFECT sense to me because I could see what was going on, but it was complete gibberish to Alex! So of course, he could simply memorize the process to find an answer, but it didn't MEAN anything. That being said, the word problems that actually asked about chemistry totally kicked his ass.
EPIC FACEPALM.
A bittersweet ending, it was. He was right; I had done my job in making sure he knew how to do the problems, so that was something. But, he still failed the exam. We were both thinking at this point that he probably did rather poorly in the class, but it was irrelevant. We were done, and it was time to head home for Christmas break. Thus ended my fall term at OSU, and Alex's last term of Chemistry. Yeah, there was no way in hell he was doing that again. He chickened out and switched from a general science major, to a psych major.
What the hell, Alex. Really?
P.S. The lucky bastard managed a B in the class. I was incredulous.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Karma
Gone..... It's all GONE.......
As most of you who read my Facebook posts are aware, a few weeks ago my Wii kicked the bucket. After four years of relentless playing, it finally just up and died. No matter how hard I tried, it would not run ANY disk put into it. Hilariously enough, this happened on the supposed "rapture." A sign from God? More than likely. At any rate, I mourned, but then decided that I should just bite the bullet and send the Wii in for repair; or at least talk to a Nintendo rep about sending it in.
While on the phone with the representative, he was discussing with me my options. I could send it in for 75 bucks plus 10 for shipping and handling, and it'd be good as new. Or, I could not, and have a broken Nintendo console for FOREVER. A little weary about the price, I told him I'd probably just set up my order online, as I needed to discuss the price with my parents.
"The price!? The price is what you're worried about?? Erm... Well...... We REALLY just want to get your Wii up and running here at Nintendo... So how about as a one time favor, I knock... Let's say.... Thirty dollars off your order. It'll be 45 for the repair, and 10 for shipping and handling." The rep tells me.
Well who can pass up an offer like that? I agree, get the appropriate information, and thank him profusely for the kind (albeit EXTREMELY random and highly suspicious) favor. I talk to my parents who agree, and set about preparing to send it off.
There was some bad news. For all of you who don't understand technology, I'll put it simply. All of the data I had saved for every and any game I had ever played was stored on MY Wii. The broken one. So, all of my downloaded games, EVERYTHING, was stored on my Wii. I had to find a way to transfer that to a "filler" Wii while mine was off in repair. Some friends of mine were kind enough to not only lend me their SD card for the data transfer, but a Wii to play while mine was gone.
So, I sat down and started transferring data. To my utter disdain, games like Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. (both games that took me literally years to perfect and get everything into the pristine condition I had) wouldn't transfer, as they had online connectivity. Well, that's fine. I just won't play them, as I was ASSURED that all of my data would be returned to me in perfect condition with the fixed Wii. That being said, I saved what few games I thought I might want to play in the repair time, which was supposed to be about two and a half weeks. I only transferred over about six or so single player games that I thought were too important to leave not played. All was relatively well, for now. I shipped off the Wii and my copy of Legend of Zelda (as it was required to help duplicate the original problem), and all I had to do was wait.
Fast forward.
Two days ago, I checked the repair order status to find that not only had Nintendo fixed my Wii, but they had shipped it back the very same day! It was going to be here in two days! I WAS FREAKING JACKED!! Way to go, Nintendo! Your customer service is parallel to NONE! Yeah, all was well in my perfect bubble of a world.
Today, I got the email telling me that the Wii had arrived. I didn't have time to retrieve it before math, so I had to suffer through an hour long class of hell before I could play my precious, precious video games again... After class, I grabbed a friend of mine and we bee-lined straight to pick up the Wii. I grabbed the box, caressed it a little, and proceeded to sprint up to my room; knocking several people over in my path, I'm sure.
As I tear open the box, I see my packing slip. Yeah yeah yeah, bla bla b- Oh wait. What's this? "Services Rendered: System Replacement" Hmm... Alright, that's odd. They sent me a BRAND SPANKING NEW Wii! Well, alright! I won't complain! For 45 bucks, that's a pretty sweet deal!!! And, since the guy ASSURED me that my data would be preserved, all of it must have been transfered to this new console! Sweet!! What's this? They also sent me a new copy of Legend of Zelda!? This couldn't get any better!!! I passed off the new Wii to my friend, in all of it's white and shining glory. As he hooked it up so we could start what was to be an afternoon of blissful gaming, another piece of paper caught my attention. It was the post repair instructions, with some boxes checked. Hmmm... This could be important, I probably should read it.
The first box checked was pretty standard. They received the Wii, found the problem, and replaced the console. All was well.
The second box went as followed.
"Due to the malfunction, we were not able to recover any data associated with your system. This includes game save data, any Mii's you have created on the Mii channel, message board and address book information..."
Due to the malfunction, we were not able to recover any data associated with your system.
we were not able to recover any data associated with your system.
not able to recover any data associated with your system.
Well. Needless to say, I didn't handle that very well.
I don't really remember what happened next, to be entirely honest. All I knew was that I was going into fits of conniptions, to say the least. There were spats of rage thrown in there, dry sobs, bodily seizures, more rage, lightheadedness.... You name it. For those of you who are thinking, "IT'S JUST A VIDEO GAME CONSOLE, FOR CHRIST'S SAKE!!" Let me put it in perspective.
Imagine that you are of a high rank at a job. You have spent years climbing to the top, and ascertaining the position you hold today. The benefits you have are numerous, and you revel in the fact that you have spent years of hard work to get you where you are today.
And then imagine you're fired on the spot for no apparent reason.
Now, you have to start AAAAAAALLLLLLL over again. Good luck job hunting! Say goodbye to that almost CEO position and HELLO TO BEING A FRY COOK!!!
Alright, fine. Am I being melodramatic? You bet your ass I am. Is it justified? I sure as hell think so.
I had spent four years of my life building the data that I had on that precious Wii, and now it's gone; in the blink of an eye. *Sigh*
My mother was wonderfully sympathetic. "Oh, that's too bad. Now, however, you can play all of your old games again like they're brand new."
Gee thanks, mother. That's just what I want to hear. However, she does have a point. I suppose I won't be bored for the next FOUR FREAKING YEARS OF MY LIFE.
At this point, you're probably wondering why on earth the title of this post is "Karma." Well, here's why. I had an epiphany in my bouts of hysteria earlier... I do believe that this all happened was because of four years of bad karma buildup. The incessant teasing my friends receive at my hand finally came back to bite me in the ass. And it bit me HARD. It is because of this that I have gleaned a new outlook on life. I will no longer be the sarcastic, condescending asshole that most of my friends think I am. True story. I'm turning over a new leaf.
(I give it four hours at best before that sentiment fails epically)
At any rate, there will be a funeral service for those who can attend for the old Wii, which, according to Nintendo, was in such a state of disrepair that they just chucked the whole thing altogether. Tragic.
As most of you who read my Facebook posts are aware, a few weeks ago my Wii kicked the bucket. After four years of relentless playing, it finally just up and died. No matter how hard I tried, it would not run ANY disk put into it. Hilariously enough, this happened on the supposed "rapture." A sign from God? More than likely. At any rate, I mourned, but then decided that I should just bite the bullet and send the Wii in for repair; or at least talk to a Nintendo rep about sending it in.
While on the phone with the representative, he was discussing with me my options. I could send it in for 75 bucks plus 10 for shipping and handling, and it'd be good as new. Or, I could not, and have a broken Nintendo console for FOREVER. A little weary about the price, I told him I'd probably just set up my order online, as I needed to discuss the price with my parents.
"The price!? The price is what you're worried about?? Erm... Well...... We REALLY just want to get your Wii up and running here at Nintendo... So how about as a one time favor, I knock... Let's say.... Thirty dollars off your order. It'll be 45 for the repair, and 10 for shipping and handling." The rep tells me.
Well who can pass up an offer like that? I agree, get the appropriate information, and thank him profusely for the kind (albeit EXTREMELY random and highly suspicious) favor. I talk to my parents who agree, and set about preparing to send it off.
There was some bad news. For all of you who don't understand technology, I'll put it simply. All of the data I had saved for every and any game I had ever played was stored on MY Wii. The broken one. So, all of my downloaded games, EVERYTHING, was stored on my Wii. I had to find a way to transfer that to a "filler" Wii while mine was off in repair. Some friends of mine were kind enough to not only lend me their SD card for the data transfer, but a Wii to play while mine was gone.
So, I sat down and started transferring data. To my utter disdain, games like Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. (both games that took me literally years to perfect and get everything into the pristine condition I had) wouldn't transfer, as they had online connectivity. Well, that's fine. I just won't play them, as I was ASSURED that all of my data would be returned to me in perfect condition with the fixed Wii. That being said, I saved what few games I thought I might want to play in the repair time, which was supposed to be about two and a half weeks. I only transferred over about six or so single player games that I thought were too important to leave not played. All was relatively well, for now. I shipped off the Wii and my copy of Legend of Zelda (as it was required to help duplicate the original problem), and all I had to do was wait.
Fast forward.
Two days ago, I checked the repair order status to find that not only had Nintendo fixed my Wii, but they had shipped it back the very same day! It was going to be here in two days! I WAS FREAKING JACKED!! Way to go, Nintendo! Your customer service is parallel to NONE! Yeah, all was well in my perfect bubble of a world.
Today, I got the email telling me that the Wii had arrived. I didn't have time to retrieve it before math, so I had to suffer through an hour long class of hell before I could play my precious, precious video games again... After class, I grabbed a friend of mine and we bee-lined straight to pick up the Wii. I grabbed the box, caressed it a little, and proceeded to sprint up to my room; knocking several people over in my path, I'm sure.
As I tear open the box, I see my packing slip. Yeah yeah yeah, bla bla b- Oh wait. What's this? "Services Rendered: System Replacement" Hmm... Alright, that's odd. They sent me a BRAND SPANKING NEW Wii! Well, alright! I won't complain! For 45 bucks, that's a pretty sweet deal!!! And, since the guy ASSURED me that my data would be preserved, all of it must have been transfered to this new console! Sweet!! What's this? They also sent me a new copy of Legend of Zelda!? This couldn't get any better!!! I passed off the new Wii to my friend, in all of it's white and shining glory. As he hooked it up so we could start what was to be an afternoon of blissful gaming, another piece of paper caught my attention. It was the post repair instructions, with some boxes checked. Hmmm... This could be important, I probably should read it.
The first box checked was pretty standard. They received the Wii, found the problem, and replaced the console. All was well.
The second box went as followed.
"Due to the malfunction, we were not able to recover any data associated with your system. This includes game save data, any Mii's you have created on the Mii channel, message board and address book information..."
Due to the malfunction, we were not able to recover any data associated with your system.
we were not able to recover any data associated with your system.
not able to recover any data associated with your system.
Well. Needless to say, I didn't handle that very well.
I don't really remember what happened next, to be entirely honest. All I knew was that I was going into fits of conniptions, to say the least. There were spats of rage thrown in there, dry sobs, bodily seizures, more rage, lightheadedness.... You name it. For those of you who are thinking, "IT'S JUST A VIDEO GAME CONSOLE, FOR CHRIST'S SAKE!!" Let me put it in perspective.
Imagine that you are of a high rank at a job. You have spent years climbing to the top, and ascertaining the position you hold today. The benefits you have are numerous, and you revel in the fact that you have spent years of hard work to get you where you are today.
And then imagine you're fired on the spot for no apparent reason.
Now, you have to start AAAAAAALLLLLLL over again. Good luck job hunting! Say goodbye to that almost CEO position and HELLO TO BEING A FRY COOK!!!
Alright, fine. Am I being melodramatic? You bet your ass I am. Is it justified? I sure as hell think so.
I had spent four years of my life building the data that I had on that precious Wii, and now it's gone; in the blink of an eye. *Sigh*
My mother was wonderfully sympathetic. "Oh, that's too bad. Now, however, you can play all of your old games again like they're brand new."
Gee thanks, mother. That's just what I want to hear. However, she does have a point. I suppose I won't be bored for the next FOUR FREAKING YEARS OF MY LIFE.
At this point, you're probably wondering why on earth the title of this post is "Karma." Well, here's why. I had an epiphany in my bouts of hysteria earlier... I do believe that this all happened was because of four years of bad karma buildup. The incessant teasing my friends receive at my hand finally came back to bite me in the ass. And it bit me HARD. It is because of this that I have gleaned a new outlook on life. I will no longer be the sarcastic, condescending asshole that most of my friends think I am. True story. I'm turning over a new leaf.
(I give it four hours at best before that sentiment fails epically)
At any rate, there will be a funeral service for those who can attend for the old Wii, which, according to Nintendo, was in such a state of disrepair that they just chucked the whole thing altogether. Tragic.
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