December 14th, 2003

I think a journal entry is long overdue, so I'm going to add one. I have no idea what I'll write about, so excuse it if it sucks... and it will suck. But here goes anyway.

OK, how about an update? I should have plenty to update everyone on. For those of you that don't know, I've started college. I took twelve hours last semester. Math 99, English 101, Elementary Group Dynamics, and Political Science 101.

Math 99 was pretty easy. They put me there because I always slacked in high school when it came to algebra so I didn't have a firm grasp on it. Plus, I had taken a year off between graduating high school and starting college, so what I did actually learn had more than enough time to leave me before I took my entrance exams. But I paid attention in class, did my homework (at least for the first half of the semester), and came away with a B. Probably the highest grade I've made in a math class since junior high.

English 101 was pretty interesting. If you've seen that Mad TV skit with the blonde female doctor that acts and dresses like she's sixteen years old, then you know what my English teacher was like. That was fine with me, though. Also, it was a writing class, not so much grammar and boring stuff like that. And I like writing so it wasn't bad at all. Too bad they were all essays. I'd really enjoy a creative writing class. Maybe I'll post some of my essays I did for the class. Well, just one. Because I wrote it about my next class...

Which was IDS. Also known as Elementary Group Dynamics. I don't know how they get IDS as an abbreviation of that, but who gives a damn. As I said, I wrote an essay for my English class over this one where I ripped it to shreds for being a waste of time yet a required course. But the real reason was I hated it. It was all common sense stuff (like how to study, read effectively, etc), and busy work that didn't even pertain to the book work. I haven't received my final grades except for algebra, but I'm expecting a C in this one... Because I didn't do the busy work. Seven assignments over stuff like the school's athletic events, a cultural event, and other assorted things. I did one of them. That should drop me right around one letter grade, and I had all Bs on quizzes and tests throughout the semester.

Last was political science, which I thought I would enjoy what with being somewhat interested in politics. Boy was I wrong. I got a boring old conservative instructor. I'd been looking forward to this class because supposedly all college instructors are very liberal. I've never really been around a liberal person being from Texas and all. I just wanted to hear a different point of view but instead just got more of the same. And he was hard as hell to figure out. His tests seemed impossible. He must've graded on a curve, though, because I didn't fail a single one of them. All Cs except for one B. I can live with that.

As for my finals, well, I survived them. Not hard at all, really. I had been dreading them since I was exempt from most of them in high school for the final two years. If you had at least a B average and had missed three days of school or less, you were exempt. I think I had to take four finals my final two years of high school. I was afraid I wouldn't even know how to properly study for a final. But I actually didn't even study all that much. IDS came straight from three tests we had already taken and could be memorized in about ten minutes, algebra I actually understood for the first time in my entire life so I just needed a little refresher, English you really couldn't study for because it was just writing another essay, and political science wasn't comprehensive (didn't cover material we'd already tested over), so it was just like studying for any other test. But I made it through them all fine, and I'm prepared for next semester.

On my plate for next semester is math 110, political science 102 (local government), English 102, and economics 201. How am I in economics 201 without taking economics 101? I don't know. But I'm all signed up for another 12 hours. I'm ready to go too, but not before I get my one month vacation. :)