Updates on Myself.

So, last week, I posted some resolutions. Specifically, I posted a few things that I'm intending to do every day. I'm going to start tacking on progress on those here, simply so that I have another means of motivating myself. You don't have to, like, actually read the stuff. Most weeks, it's not going to be my main post, just a side post with updated numbers. This week it is, because you are, at least for rice, getting a back-log of numbers. You're also getting an explanation of the numbers.

So yeah, I'm a math nerd. I'm a numbers guy. I like numbers. Just to remind you, my daily resolutions were to write a minimum of 250 words each day, donate 1000 grains to freerice, and spend 15-30 minutes typesetting music. I'm not keeping a record on the typesetting music, mostly because it's all over the place. Some days, I can just be putting in notes and nothing else, and get several lines of music done. I've also spent half an hour before figuring out how to work a single command to fix one small problem in a basically completed piece of music (I'm a neat freak about some things. Music is one of them.)

However, I am keeping strict track of what I'm doing for the other goals, and using some numerical tricks to keep myself going. So, for both words and rice, I'm keeping track of my total. That is, the sum of everything I've done up to that point. For the rice, I'm also keeping track of my overall ranking. It lets me see how many people are ahead of me in total grains donated, and see myself moving up the rankings. Then, I have a bunch of calculations columns, which the spreadsheets handle quite nicely.

In both, I have the gains for the day (words that day minus words day previous, or same for grains). For the rice, counting how many ranks I've risen each day (daily ranking minus previous day's ranking), as well as how many grains I had to earn per rank (increase in rank divided by increase in rice). There's also an average gain column, to see how I'm doing on average, if I'm averaging making my goal, and if I'm doing significantly better and need to raise my goal. Then, I have success columns. The first simply says Yes or No, depending on if I achieved the minimum number or not. Then, I have a column for consecutive days of reaching my goal. This resets to 0 every time I miss a day. Finally, I have a total points column; this one adds up the numbers in the consecutive days column. For example, if I have a 5 day streak, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, then I get 1+2+3+4+5=15 points. If I make it the next day, I get 6 points, and my total is 15+6=21 points. If I don't, I get 0 points for a total of 15+0=15. Also, if I miss, my counter resets to 0 for days, so the next day, I'll only get 1 point, and not 7.

So, without further ado, here's the spreadsheets I have so far.

RICE!

Date	Rice	Ranking	Page	Rice Gain	Rank Gain	Rice Per Rank	Total Avg Gain	Goal Met	Days in Streak	Points
Aug 10, 2012	128,980	3695	307						0	0
Aug 11, 2012	130,180	3647	303	1,200	48	25.0	1200.0	Yes.	1	1
Aug 12, 2012	131,410	3611	300	1,230	36	34.2	1215.0	Yes.	2	3
Aug 13, 2012	132,730	3573	297	1,320	38	34.7	1250.0	Yes.	3	6
Aug 14, 2012	134,740	3523	293	2,010	50	40.2	1440.0	Yes.	4	10
Aug 15, 2012	134,740	3523	293	0	0	0.0	1152.0	No.	0	10
Aug 16, 2012	137,870	3443	286	3,130	80	39.1	1481.7	Yes.	1	11
Aug 17, 2012	140,020	3391	282	2,150	52	41.3	1577.1	Yes.	2	13
Aug 18, 2012	140,020	3391	282	0	0	0.0	1380.0	No.	0	13
Aug 19, 2012	140,020	3391	282	0	0	0.0	1226.7	No.	0	13
Aug 20, 2012	141,730	3358	279	1,710	33	51.8	1275.0	Yes.	1	14
Aug 21, 2012	142,990	3322	276	1,260	36	35.0	1273.6	Yes.	2	16
Aug 22, 2012	142,990	3322	276	0	0	0.0	1167.5	No.	0	16
Aug 23, 2012	144,270	3297	274	1,280	25	51.2	1176.2	Yes.	1	17
Aug 24, 2012	145,470	3262	271	1,200	35	34.3	1177.9	Yes.	2	19
Aug 25, 2012	147,500	3219	268	2,030	43	47.2	1234.7	Yes.	3	22
Aug 26, 2012	148,700	3188	265	1,200	31	38.7	1232.5	Yes.	4	26
Aug 27, 2012	149,960	3174	264	1,260	14	90.0	1234.1	Yes.	5	31
Aug 28, 2012	151,020	3151	262	1,060	23	46.1	1224.4	Yes.	6	37
Aug 29, 2012	152,290	3126	260	1,270	25	50.8	1226.8	Yes.	7	44
Aug 30, 2012	153,400	3101	258	1,110	25	44.4	1221.0	Yes.	8	52
Aug 31, 2012	154,600	3073	256	1,200	28	42.9	1220.0	Yes.	9	61
Sep 1, 2012	156,010	3036	252	1,410	37	38.1	1228.6	Yes.	10	71
Sep 2, 2012	157,200	3017	251	1,190	19	62.6	1227.0	Yes.	11	82
Sep 3, 2012	158,460	3004	250	1,260	13	96.9	1228.3	Yes.	12	94
Sep 4, 2012	160,320	2971	247	1,860	33	56.4	1253.6	Yes.	13	107
Sep 5, 2012	161,430	2959	246	1,110	12	92.5	1248.1	Yes.	14	121
Sep 6, 2012	162,510	2941	245	1,080	18	60.0	1241.9	Yes.	15	136
Sep 7, 2012	163,790	2922	243	1,280	19	67.4	1243.2	Yes.	16	152
Sep 8, 2012	165,290	2894	241	1,500	28	53.6	1252.1	Yes.	17	169
Sep 9, 2012	166,900	2876	239	1,610	18	89.4	1264.0	Yes.	18	187
Sep 10, 2012	168,490	2859	238	1,590	17	93.5	1274.5	Yes.	19	206
Sep 11, 2012	169,800	2853	237	1,310	6	218.3	1275.6	Yes.	20	226
Sep 12, 2012	170,940	2835	236	1,140	18	63.3	1271.5	Yes.	21	247
Sep 13, 2012	171,990	2819	234	1,050	16	65.6	1265.0	Yes.	22	269
Sep 14, 2012	173,390	2791	232	1,400	28	50.0	1268.9	Yes.	23	292
Sep 15, 2012	174,560	2776	231	1,170	15	78.0	1266.1	Yes.	24	316
Sep 16, 2012	175,840	2763	230	1,280	13	98.5	1266.5	Yes.	25	341
Sep 17, 2012	177,220	2745	228	1,380	18	76.7	1269.5	Yes.	26	367
Sep 18, 2012	178,740	2726	227	1,520	19	80.0	1275.9	Yes.	27	394
Sep 19, 2012	180,170	2703	225	1,430	23	62.2	1279.8	Yes.	28	422
Sep 20, 2012	181,270	2696	224	1,100	7	157.1	1275.4	Yes.	29	451
Sep 21, 2012	182,570	2686	223	1,300	10	130.0	1276.0	Yes.	30	481
Sep 22, 2012	184,290	2663	221	1,720	23	74.8	1286.3	Yes.	31	512
Sep 23, 2012	185,890	2637	219	1,600	26	61.5	1293.4	Yes.	32	544
Sep 24, 2012	187,060	2626	218	1,170	11	106.4	1290.7	Yes.	33	577
Sep 25, 2012	188,390	2609	217	1,330	17	78.2	1291.5	Yes.	34	611
Sep 26, 2012	189,870	2583	215	1,480	26	56.9	1295.5	Yes.	35	646
Sep 27, 2012	190,890	2570	214	1,020	13	78.5	1289.8	Yes.	36	682
Sep 28, 2012	192,460	2554	212	1,570	16	98.1	1295.5	Yes.	37	719
Sep 29, 2012	193,960	2538	211	1,500	16	93.8	1299.6	Yes.	38	757
Sep 30, 2012	195,210	2527	210	1,250	11	113.6	1298.6	Yes.	39	796
Oct 1, 2012	196,450	2517	209	1,240	10	124.0	1297.5	Yes.	40	836
Oct 2, 2012	197,750	2507	208	1,300	10	130.0	1297.5	Yes.	41	877
Oct 3, 2012	199,270	2493	207	1,520	14	108.6	1301.7	Yes.	42	919
Oct 4, 2012	200,340	2477	206	1,070	16	66.9	1297.5	Yes.	43	962
Oct 5, 2012	201,490	2465	205	1,150	12	95.8	1294.8	Yes.	44	1,006
Oct 6, 2012	202,650	2460	204	1,160	5	232.0	1292.5	Yes.	45	1,051
Oct 7, 2012	204,090	2441	203	1,440	19	75.8	1295.0	Yes.	46	1,097
Oct 8, 2012	205,240	2426	202	1,150	15	76.7	1292.5	Yes.	47	1,144
Oct 9, 2012	206,670	2411	200	1,430	15	95.3	1294.8	Yes.	48	1,192
Oct 10, 2012	208,360	2395	199	1,690	16	105.6	1301.3	Yes.	49	1,241
Oct 11, 2012	209,410	2386	198	1,050	9	116.7	1297.3	Yes.	50	1,291
Oct 12, 2012	210,940	2375	197	1,530	11	139.1	1301.0	Yes.	51	1,342
Oct 13, 2012	212,990	2361	196	2,050	14	146.4	1312.7	Yes.	52	1,394
Oct 14, 2012	214,260	2347	195	1,270	14	90.7	1312.0	Yes.	53	1,447
Oct 15, 2012	214,260	2347	195	0	0	0.0	1292.1	No.	0	1,447
Oct 16, 2012	214,260	2347	195	0	0	0.0	1272.8	No.	0	1,447
Oct 17, 2012	214,260	2347	195	0	0	0.0	1254.1	No.	0	1,447
Oct 18, 2012	214,260	2347	195	0	0	0.0	1235.9	No.	0	1,447
Oct 19, 2012	214,260	2347	195	0	0	0.0	1218.3	No.	0	1,447
Oct 20, 2012	214,260	2347	195	0	0	0.0	1201.1	No.	0	1,447
Oct 21, 2012	214,260	2347	195	0	0	0.0	1184.4	No.	0	1,447
Oct 22, 2012	214,260	2347	195	0	0	0.0	1168.2	No.	0	1,447
Oct 23, 2012	214,260	2347	195	0	0	0.0	1152.4	No.	0	1,447
Oct 24, 2012	214,260	2347	195	0	0	0.0	1137.1	No.	0	1,447
Oct 25, 2012	214,260	2347	195	0	0	0.0	1122.1	No.	0	1,447
Oct 26, 2012	214,260	2347	195	0	0	0.0	1107.5	No.	0	1,447
Oct 27, 2012	214,260	2347	195	0	0	0.0	1093.3	No.	0	1,447
Oct 28, 2012	214,260	2347	195	0	0	0.0	1079.5	No.	0	1,447
Oct 29, 2012	214,260	2347	195	0	0	0.0	1066.0	No.	0	1,447
Oct 30, 2012	214,260	2347	195	0	0	0.0	1052.8	No.	0	1,447
Oct 31, 2012	214,260	2347	195	0	0	0.0	1040.0	No.	0	1,447
Nov 1, 2012	214,260	2347	195	0	0	0.0	1027.5	No.	0	1,447
Nov 2, 2012	214,260	2347	195	0	0	0.0	1015.2	No.	0	1,447
Nov 3, 2012	214,260	2347	195	0	0	0.0	1003.3	No.	0	1,447
Nov 4, 2012	214,260	2347	195	0	0	0.0	991.6	No.	0	1,447
Nov 5, 2012	214,260	2347	195	0	0	0.0	980.2	No.	0	1,447
Nov 6, 2012	214,260	2347	195	0	0	0.0	969.1	No.	0	1,447
Nov 7, 2012	214,260	2347	195	0	0	0.0	958.2	No.	0	1,447
Nov 8, 2012	214,260	2347	195	0	0	0.0	947.6	No.	0	1,447
Nov 9, 2012	214,260	2347	195	0	0	0.0	937.1	No.	0	1,447
Nov 10, 2012	214,260	2347	195	0	0	0.0	927.0	No.	0	1,447
Nov 11, 2012	214,260	2347	195	0	0	0.0	917.0	No.	0	1,447
Nov 12, 2012	214,260	2347	195	0	0	0.0	907.2	No.	0	1,447
Nov 13, 2012	214,260	2455	204	0	-108	0.0	897.7	No.	0	1,447
Nov 14, 2012	217,700	2435	202	3,440	20	172.0	924.2	Yes.	1	1,448
Nov 15, 2012	218,910	2421	201	1,210	14	86.4	927.1	Yes.	2	1,450
Nov 16, 2012	220,280	2417	201	1,370	4	342.5	931.6	Yes.	3	1,453
Nov 17, 2012	221,540	2398	199	1,260	19	66.3	934.9	Yes.	4	1,457
Nov 18, 2012	223,710	2376	197	2,170	22	98.6	947.3	Yes.	5	1,462
Nov 19, 2012	225,460	2359	196	1,750	17	102.9	955.2	Yes.	6	1,468
Nov 20, 2012	225,460	2359	196	0	0	0.0	945.9	No.	0	1,468
Nov 21, 2012	225,460	2359	196	0	0	0.0	936.7	No.	0	1,468
Nov 22, 2012	226,990	2352	195	1,530	7	218.6	942.4	Yes.	1	1,469
Nov 23, 2012	228,290	2346	195	1,300	6	216.7	945.8	Yes.	2	1,471
Nov 24, 2012	229,840	2338	194	1,550	8	193.8	951.5	Yes.	3	1,474
Nov 25, 2012	231,140	2327	193	1,300	11	118.2	954.8	Yes.	4	1,478
Nov 26, 2012	232,900	2319	193	1,760	8	220.0	962.2	Yes.	5	1,483
Nov 27, 2012	232,930	2317	193	30	2	15.0	953.7	No.	0	1,483
Nov 28, 2012	234,980	2294	191	2,050	23	89.1	963.6	Yes.	1	1,484
Nov 29, 2012	236,100	2286	190	1,120	8	140.0	965.0	Yes.	2	1,486
Nov 30, 2012	237,500	2277	189	1,400	9	155.6	968.9	Yes.	3	1,489
Dec 1, 2012	238,790	2276	189	1,290	1	1290.0	971.8	Yes.	4	1,493
Dec 2, 2012	240,090	2266	188	1,300	10	130.0	974.6	Yes.	5	1,498
Dec 3, 2012	241,300	2260	188	1,210	6	201.7	976.7	Yes.	6	1,504
Dec 4, 2012	242,650	2255	187	1,350	5	270.0	979.9	Yes.	7	1,511
Dec 5, 2012	243,950	2253	187	1,300	2	650.0	982.6	Yes.	8	1,519
Dec 6, 2012	243,950	2253	187	0	0	0.0	974.3	No.	0	1,519
Dec 7, 2012	243,950	2253	187	0	0	0.0	966.1	No.	0	1,519
Dec 8, 2012	243,950	2253	187	0	0	0.0	958.1	No.	0	1,519
Dec 9, 2012	243,950	2253	187	0	0	0.0	950.2	No.	0	1,519
Dec 10, 2012	243,950	2253	187	0	0	0.0	942.4	No.	0	1,519
Dec 11, 2012	243,950	2253	187	0	0	0.0	934.7	No.	0	1,519
Dec 12, 2012	243,950	2253	187	0	0	0.0	927.2	No.	0	1,519
Dec 13, 2012	243,950	2253	187	0	0	0.0	919.8	No.	0	1,519
Dec 14, 2012	243,950	2253	187	0	0	0.0	912.5	No.	0	1,519
Dec 15, 2012	243,950	2253	187	0	0	0.0	905.3	No.	0	1,519
Dec 16, 2012	243,950	2253	187	0	0	0.0	898.2	No.	0	1,519
Dec 17, 2012	243,950	2253	187	0	0	0.0	891.2	No.	0	1,519
Dec 18, 2012	243,950	2253	187	0	0	0.0	884.4	No.	0	1,519
Dec 19, 2012	243,950	2253	187	0	0	0.0	877.6	No.	0	1,519
Dec 20, 2012	243,950	2253	187	0	0	0.0	871.0	No.	0	1,519
Dec 21, 2012	243,950	2253	187	0	0	0.0	864.4	No.	0	1,519
Dec 22, 2012	245,900	2298	191	1,950	-45	-43.3	872.5	Yes.	1	1,520
Dec 23, 2012	248,130	2279	189	2,230	19	117.4	882.6	Yes.	2	1,522
Dec 24, 2012	249,470	2273	189	1,340	6	223.3	886.0	Yes.	3	1,525
Dec 25, 2012	251,510	2257	188	2,040	16	127.5	894.4	Yes.	4	1,529
Dec 26, 2012	252,660	2245	187	1,150	12	95.8	896.2	Yes.	5	1,534
Dec 27, 2012	253,880	2242	187	1,220	3	406.7	898.6	Yes.	6	1,540
Dec 28, 2012	255,150	2235	186	1,270	7	181.4	901.2	Yes.	7	1,547
Dec 29, 2012	256,340	2231	185	1,190	4	297.5	903.3	Yes.	8	1,555
Dec 30, 2012	258,900	2218	184	2,560	13	196.9	914.9	Yes.	9	1,564
Dec 31, 2012	260,610	2210	184	1,710	8	213.8	920.5	Yes.	10	1,574
Jan 1, 2013	263,280	2184	181	2,670	26	102.7	932.6	Yes.	11	1,585
Jan 2, 2013	264,520	2182	181	1,240	2	620.0	934.8	Yes.	12	1,597
Jan 3, 2013	265,810	2176	181	1,290	6	215.0	937.2	Yes.	13	1,610
Jan 4, 2013	267,980	2169	180	2,170	7	310.0	945.6	Yes.	14	1,624
Jan 5, 2013	269,590	2160	179	1,610	9	178.9	950.1	Yes.	15	1,639
Jan 6, 2013	271,290	2162	180	1,700	-2	-850.0	955.1	Yes.	16	1,655
Jan 7, 2013	272,500	2158	179	1,210	4	302.5	956.8	Yes.	17	1,672
Jan 8, 2013	273,970	2149	179	1,470	9	163.3	960.2	Yes.	18	1,690

WORDS!

Date	Words	Progress	Needed for 250	Total Average Words	Goal met?	Days in Streak	Points
Jan 6, 2013	21,376	0			Eh?	0	0
Jan 7, 2013	21,687	311	21,626	311	Yes	1	1

2013 - Resolutions

Hey all. It's a new year. You know what that means, right? A month of writing the wrong date on all forms and check you fill out. At least this one's easy to fix; turning a 2 into a 3 is much easier than a 3 into a 4.

What else does a new year mean? Getting back to work, and making a bunch of new year's resolutions, for most people. I don't head back to work (school) until the 14th, but that doesn't mean I'm not - and haven't been working. So what have I been up to?

I've been filling out college applications. They're a royal pain. I don't enjoy doing them one bit. Hopefully, once they're done, they're done. I'll tell you more about them in another post.

Which brings me to a large point of this post. I'm making a few new year's resolutions myself. And making them publicly; I hope that the public-ness will make me more inclined to keep them.

1. No more Reddit. Reddit, for those who don't know (and I'm telling you so you don't go look it up and get caught yourself) is a time waster site, with loads and loads of funny pictures, gifs, and so on. There's other parts to it; there's news, interviews with famous people, etc. But I was addicted to the funny section. And going through all of the new posts was sucking up hours of my time. Every day. Well, that's going to change. I've sworn it off. And to make sure I stay off, I've hopped over to my admin account, and set the system settings to not allow connection to that website. At all. I do know how to change it back, but it would take about 15 minutes of work, and hopefully by that time, I'll have thought better of the urge, and will just leave it. I'll go ahead and admit it, I've already thought, strongly, about going back a few times. But I've found it much easier to resist, and I'm hoping it'll get even easier over time. Side note: If any other site comes along and starts taking up that much time - time wasted - then I know how to block it, too, and will do my best to be on my guard and do so.

2. Clear out my todo list. Like I talked about earlier, I simply let my todo list grow and grow this year during school, and then didn't have time once school was out to get everything on it done. I'm not going to allow myself to do that this year. I'm going to set aside time every week, typically on the weekend, to work purely on knocking things off that list and making it shrink. That doesn't mean I want the list to go away; on the contrary, I'm always looking for new things that I need to do or want to do that I can put on there. But I don't feel justified in doing that when there's so much already on there, nor do I feel like I have a reason to, if they'll just sit there and not get done. I also don't want the lower priority things - the things that I purely want to do - to interfere with the higher priority things - the ones that need doing - but I still want to do them. So I'm going to dedicate time to clearing out and working on the list. Every week, minimum.

3. To get things done every week, I'm making myself a much more strict schedule, and putting it somewhere I can hold myself accountable to it. Every week, maybe every day if proves necessary. This one's pretty self-explanatory. Even with Reddit gone, I still waste a lot of time. That's going to stop, and the best way for me to stop it, that I see, is to have a schedule where I'm busy all the time, and have things that need doing. I'll never get bored, which is often when I go waste time. I'll always have something else to do; if I finish something else early, I can move the rest of the schedule back, or allow more time for a bigger project later.

4. Do some things regularly. This list may grow as time goes on, but there's a few things I want to do that are going to involve a regular time commitment. The first is this blog. I'm going to write something and put it here every week. Period. This place is going to become much more active, even if nobody ever reads the darn thing. It'll have a lot more posts. I'm also going to finish my book this year. I don't know when, and I don't know how long it's going to be. But I'm finishing it. I'm dedicating myself to writing a minimum of 250 words every day, new words to increase my word-count and move the story along. I expect this to take 15-30 minutes of each day. I don't know what I'll do when I finish the book. I have enough ideas to start another one, easily, but I might want to make a revision pass or two through this one before I do that, to see what I can learn and how good I can make this one. Another thing on my list every day is to earn a minimum of 1000 grains of rice over at Freerice. I tried to do this last year, and ended up with about 260,000 grains of rice for the year. Not bad, but I know I can do better. If I really dedicate myself, I can get those done in under 10 minutes. And finally, I'm going to set aside 15-30 minutes (and no more, unless I have an urgent project) to typesetting my music that I have. I'll probably only finish like 3-4 pieces over the semester (Look for another post soon on what I accomplished with this over the break), but I'll always be making progress. And I won't be spending very much time on something that probably won't have that big of a return for me. But that's another topic, what to do with the music. Also, I reserve the right to add things to this list as they occur.

That's it for my resolutions for this year. What are yours?

Goals and Accomplishing Things.

There's a lot of stuff on my list to do over this break. The biggest things are applying for colleges, getting ready for the spring, re-reading as much of the wheel of time as I can for the release of AMOL on Jan 8, and learning 3+ guitar pieces for the spring semester.

Here's a quote that I like: "When you do not have time for something, that is not an issue of scheduling, it is an issue of values."

So, I have too many things I want to do. *Minor* things on my list include writing a book, typesetting an entire semester of calculus notes, writing an entire app (game), and typesetting about 15 pages of music, if not more.

So yeah, I'm busy for the next few weeks, and then the semester starts. I've already had to make some decisions on what's really important, and what isn't. I've stepped back from re-reading the entire WoT series, to just reading what I can. If I wanted to get the entire thing done, I'd be spending 6-8 hours every day reading.

But I wish that I didn't have to, that I had enough time to do something. It really felt like an issue of scheduling, but it truly is an issue of values. Do I value reading more than getting in to college? More than being ready for another semester? No, I don't. And I've had to step back and realize that.

That being said, I do want to knock down my todo list. Besides what I've listed here, other minor stuff is probably enough on its own to keep me busy for the entire break.

So what am I going to do? Well, I think I figured out what my problem is. I had (have) such a huge list because, once I started making the list, whenever something came up, I said, "I'll put that on my Christmas Break todo list!", and felt organized and accomplished.

Yeah, that didn't work. So now, I don't have a xmas break todo list. I have an ongoing todo list. I'll get as much as I can, done over this break, but what I can't get done, I'll keep working on during the semester. Yes, I'll still focus really heavily on schoolwork. But I still want to get things done, too.

Note: I typed up pretty much the entire Allemande from Bach yesterday, and I'm planning to knock out the Courante today. But I've taken the music scores page down for the time being, and I'll talk more about that later. Right now, I'm going to go be productive.

Nostalgia.

Today's post is a short one. I went to my best friend from high school and middle school's birthday and graduation party today.

The top picture is the two of us, with some friends, on a middle school science team, when we won 1st place in a regional competition. It's from 2006.

The second picture is today. 4 of the same people, the girl is the guy on the right's sister.

Wow, we've grown up. The one in the middle (his party) is graduating, and the others of us are all off at various colleges.

I'm too young to be feeling this old...

School

Well, the semester is about over. I really consider it to be over now, even though I still have 2 exams to take today.

This post is going to be about how hard work pays off, if you're not in the mood to read about that kind of thing, you can just skip it now.

Okay, so, I've made an A in all of my classes this semester. But wait, I've not taken 2 final exams yet, how is that possible? Hard work man, hard work.

First, I took 5 classes this semester. The government ended up getting dropped, and I'm taking more classes than I'd like next summer, but it'll work out.

So, Guitar, Calculus, Physics, Computers, and History.

Guitar, if you show up to lessons every week, practice, and play well in the end of semester recital, you get an A. I don't know that it's really possible to not get an A in this one. That's not to say it was easy, I spent lots of time practicing for it, and will hopefully be spending even more next semester.

Calculus. The teacher usually assigns odd problems, but I do all of the ones in the range he assigns; so if the assignment is 7-31 odds, I do 7-32, all. And it helps so much. My test grades were 90, 93 (final exam), 97, and 99. I did not have a single grade the entire semester that was below a 90 in the class, and I had room to relax for the final. I also made a typed up 2-3 page review sheet for each test, as I went, so for the final, all I had to do was make one more for new material, and study the sheets I already had for previous tests.

Physics. I pretty much ran my groups' labs (post on that later), did all the homework, and had 92, 96, and 96 on the tests. I needed a 60 on the final to get an A. I haven't gotten my final exam grade back yet, but unless an asteroid destroys my test, I'm not in the least worried about it. Also, we were allowed note-cards on each of the tests, and I simply added to the same one every time, even as I went along doing the homework, so I had all of the formulas with me for every test, and never really sweated about them.

Computers. I worked hard, did every single assignment, turned in all of them plenty before time, and spent extra time on every program making sure the formatting and comments were especially how the teacher wanted them. I read the book before class every day, and reviewed the slides before every test. I needed a 35 on the final, I made a 74 because I knew I didn't need to study for the test, and spent my time studying for Physics and Calculus. The test today in the class is simply to replace your lowest grade, it can't hurt your final grade. My teacher has already emailed me and told me I have and A without having to do anything else, so I'm just taking the one today for fun. (And because I have to be on campus to take care of some other paperwork for future semesters, and college visits. A post on that later too.)

History. The teacher offered extra credit activities in class, extra credit on the tests, outside extra credit (go to a lecture on a Saturday, and write up a 3 paragraph report on the speakers), and I did every single exercise. I need 5 points out of 125 (+20 extra credit) points today, to make my A.

Moral of the story: Work hard during the semester. Do every exercise, activity, and extra credit assignment that your teachers give you, do them well, and make notes to study for your tests as you go along. If you do this, as well as getting help in your classes when you don't know what's going on (I mostly got help in Physics, but I visited my Calculus teacher at least every other week with homework questions, and asked for plenty of help in Computers too.), you'll be fine for finals. I love being able to relax, review old notes, and not have to stress when it's finals time. It's incredibly rewarding.

Note: This amount of work means that you usually have to drop doing some other things that you enjoy doing, such as blogging, during the semester. But it's totally worth it. Trust me.

Teachers

Are awesome. No, seriously. Well, most of them at least.

I've talked about it a little in previous posts, I think, but one of my goals is to become a teacher. I'm currently pursuing a double major in mathematics and computer science. If I follow the mathematics degree all the way through, I'm aiming to get a job teaching math at either a community college or a university.

Why do I want to be a teacher? There are many reasons. One of them is the teachers that I have had. Some of my teachers are the most awesome people I've ever met. I've had my share of bad apples, but I'm going to be talking about a few of my favorites here.

Kim Perlak. She's my guitar teacher. I've been taking lessons from her since my junior year of high school. She has her doctorate at UT Austin, and really knows her stuff. She's always encouraging, and has gotten me several gig opportunities, and other chances to play. She always has a funny story, and my lessons are often the brightest point of my week.

Edgar Fisher. I had him for Calculus II. There's a post down there somewhere about hair, it's mostly about him. He walked in to class the first day and said, "I don't suffer from ADHD. I enjoy every minute of it!" He's always very energetic, teaches well, and his class is the easiest class to take notes for that I've ever had. He's also got an awesome sense of humor. The other day, I asked him, "Do you know when the math competition is this semester?". He replied, "Yes," and kept walking. 20 feet later, he stopped, looked back, and asked, "Oh, you wanted to know when it was?" Also, the last question on his final exam was about the zombie apocalypse.

Marcus McGuff. He's my current Calculus III professor, and I'm signed up to take both Differential Equations and Calculus IV next semester with him. His class is the first math class that has really challenged me. And he's one of the smartest guys I've ever met. He's incredibly passionate about math, and being lazy - often at the same time. Many people don't like him because they see him as a hard teacher. I have learned more in the first 8 weeks of this semester than I have from 8 weeks of any other math class, and I'm sure that by the end of this semester, I'll have learned more than in any other math class. Until the spring. He's also very willing to answer questions in his office hours, and, if he sees that you're interested, will explain things way beyond what the course covers.

Jennifer Corte. I had her for College Algebra, Trigonometry, and Calculus I. She also gets bad reviews as a hard teacher. I think it's because she's very precise. And it's important. She wants you to use the proper notation, to do things correctly, and she will count off if you don't. Many people blow this off, but I've found this preparation with her to be very helpful for my higher classes, because if you don't understand the proper notation, you'll quickly get lost in the math. She also projects a very professional attitude during class, which leads many students to think she has no personality. They simply haven't met her! She is very available during her office hours, and she wants to help you. She is a nice person, and she wants you to succeed, so if you're having problems, go talk to her. She also teaches very very clearly, and if you make sure you understand what she's saying in class and ask any questions you have, you will understand your topic very thoroughly.

I've had many other good teachers. But these have been some of the best. They are my inspiration, and a large part of the reason that I, too, want to be a teacher.