I think I had gotten spoiled on how well 2018 was going. It wasn’t “Greatest Time Ever” but work was going pretty good, my apartment has been awesome, family was doing OK, and, at the beginning, school was going well.
Then the end of April and the beginning of May arrived.
I had sputtered to the end of the semester. The easy thing I can pick out was mental burnout. I took off the Friday before Finals, plus the normal-off-days of Saturday and Sunday, to review for my 4 Finals and 2 additional projects and HW. Going in:
- I had a C+ in Intercultural Communications
- I had a B- in Systems Security II, but 3 assignments hadn’t been graded and I still had a project to turn in, plus took a zero on a missed assignment
- I had a C+ in Systems Development II (Java Programming), with 5 assignments to be graded
- I had a C- in Telecommunications II – too many “Discussion Board” assignments missed
I took the Java Final first. I finished in about 25 minutes, feeling pretty good about it.
Nearly failed it.
Telecomm II was next. I also felt decent about this exam, especially since I remembered most of the answers I had reviewed the previous weekend.
Barely passed.
I took Security on Wednesday, although I was weary – very weary – and the confidence was shaken by finding out the Java grade. I haven’t heard or seen what my Final grade was, as of 5/15.
The Communications Final was a whole different level of ‘rough’. The 3 CIT classes needed Proctors for their Finals. The Communications Final did not say that in the Syllabus, email, or Weekly Assignments. The plan was to take it Wednesday night… so imagine my surprise when, trying to log on to the website, that I get a prompt for a password. Ok, I can call WKU on Thursday morning, set up to have my info sent to UofL (where my Finals were taking place), and use the extra time to review.
Hello, completely crashed laptop. (I got it working 2 days later)
Nevertheless, I got some good review time in, that evening. Thursday morning, I took the Comm Final.
Barely passed.
I spent Friday and Saturday just decompressing and relaxing, because a rough day was approaching.
Mother’s Day.
While the pain isn’t as sharp as early years, there is almost always a deep longing when I see pictures of my friends and their Moms. This year, that longing (seasoned with some sadness) was there in all its glory. Thankfully, both were tempered by a good amount of reading, walking, and video game playing.
So, my roughest academic week since 2007, and the roughest day of the year (annually, usually), are finally over. I’m probably going to retake Telecomm II this summer (On Demand, probably in June, out of pocket). I could use a mental day or 2 off; we’ll see if/when coverage at work allows this. Other than that, I am going to recharge as much as possible, with as much fun as possible (reading, hanging out with family/friends, games, video games, and some Reds/Cubs baseball games are on the top of the “to-do” list).
The Nexus 