Celebrating

Ad Mundo Exteriore,

Eleven for eleven! Woohoo! Lord of the Rings swept the Oscars! ::cheers::

Now back to your regularly scheduled expos homework. >_> (I am so screwed for this essay.)

...Tari

Whining

Ad Mundo Exteriore,

I don't want to write this essay. I mean, dualism and character foils and dark inner selves are very fun, but I don't want to talk about emotional repression and social pressures and, ugh, oppression of women. Am going to find interpretation that escapes all that nonsense. ::nods::

I've been reading my first LJ entries instead, and I'm kind of startled to realize how young I sounded about a year and a half ago. I keep insisting that college hasn't changed me at all, but it has. One, I'm even more of a hermit. Two, I spend all my spare time stuck to the computer instead of reading library books. (I rather keenly regret that particular change.) Three, I now think obsessively about kendo--I do try to spare you all and keep it out of my LJ as much as possible, but I'm sure you can't tell the difference. Four, my procrastination has sunk to new depths of shame. Five, I don't enjoy schoolwork as much as I used to. (Another change to regret.) Six, I have now managed to avoid cognitive shorthand. Oh, and seven, Yin-ki, my resident imaginary twin brother who lives in a parallel universe and speaks in a snarky voice in my head, has been silent ever since I came to college.

Okay. Expos essay. ::sighs heavily:: Shortcuts will have to be taken, unfortunately. I hate turning in anything less than my best work.

...Tari

Plans for the semester

Ad Mundo Exteriore,

So I fall one point short of being within one standard deviation of the mean for the first chemistry midterm. (To the negative side of course.) If the average is set at B, this should mean that while my chemistry grade right now is pretty horrible, I haven't actually failed--I think. How does standard deviation work again?

I've decided that I can't let chemistry of all subjects beat me this semester. I'm going to make it my top priority. Who cares about expos? I do know how to write well enough to pass any humanities classes here at Harvard. (Oh, yes, by the way, I just turned in the worst essay I've ever written. Even my eighth grade work was better than the utter flop I handed in. It was going well and then it all derailed and went kaputz. I didn't have enough time to rework my already twice revised thesis by that point, so I just gave up and forced it into an ending. I think I'd give myself a D. Maybe a C, if we were being generous.) But as I've said, I know what's wrong with my writing. Chemistry on the other hand needs to be learned. I want to spend my life researching the prebiotic synthesis of biological molecules! I want to study the development of early metabolisms! I can't do that if I don't figure out chemistry!

I'm going to study this subject and enjoy it. Yes, enjoy it. Hmph. Even if I have to go to office hours or get extra help. ::sticks tongue out at the metaphysical embodiment of organic chemistry that is trying to daunt her::

...Tari

Post-script: If a word of this gets back to my parents, I am going to be in so much trouble. They've been nagging at me to not be so involved in kendo, and they'll seize upon my latest decline in schoolwork as the perfect excuse. They don't seem to realize that I can't possibly be not involved in kendo right now. That club sucks your soul out whether you want it to or not. Kind of like the Crimson except less time-consuming and more cultish.