Random Synapses

18 hours of the new year have already passed. It’s been a good night; I was alone at home, got some good music playing, didn’t abuse food, watched fireworks shot by neighbours and enjoyed some cool champagne. The reason I was alone was because on Monday, January 3rd, classes start again — last 3 weeks of the semester, with papers and projects to turn in, end of semester tests to take, and prepare for two weeks of final exams. It’s really not fun to get back from a party, eyes still red from the cigarette smoke, tired and not over the hangover yet, and trying to catch up with work again. To me, it’s kind of difficult to get back to work with such an abrupt interruption. I’d rather not mess up my pace, and postpone the partying till February, after taking all exams and completing the semester. So, since Christmas, I’ve been working on assignments, researching on the Internet and trying to keep a productive activity. And it paid off, because nobody was online these days; most Internet subscribers in the city were out partying, so I had all the speed to myself for better productivity.

The year 2004 ended with a feeling of satisfaction for its accomplishments. Most recent success was the completion of the second semester of my degree programme at Grantham University, getting only top-level scores on tests and completing the semester with a 4.0 GPA (maximum) which promoted me on the Dean’s List with the best students of the University. The Associate of Science degree should arrive in the mail soon, too, and there’s not much longer till I get the Bachelor of Science in Computer Science either. I have been very pleased with the quality of instruction received from GU, the study materials are excellent and the topics covered by assignments are challenging. The only aspect I’m not too happy with is the amount of time it took me to complete these two semesters: four years. As a distance learning student, I get in contact by e-mail only with my professors; there are no classmates, all students are working on their own. This lack of peer interaction strongly reflects in the difficulty to stay motivated and to get myself to study continuously. I’m also enrolled in two day-time universities which take up most of my time with class attendance and working on assignments, so there’s little time to dedicate to my studies for GU. I have been trying to do some time management, but there’s so many hours in a day, and working for all demanding activities of 3 universities is no easy task, even with my pleasure to study.

This year will bring a change of pace: I should be graduating from one of the day-time universities in July, and from the other one in February 2006. Apart from regular work, there’s a license exam I’ll have to pass, and a large research paper to prepare for graduation. This is another reason I skipped partying this week, to start early on researching the subject of the paper. This is also the reason I have decided to quit participating heavily on online discussion forums (bulletin boards) a couple of months ago. No TV, no chatting, no useless debates on various topics with people I’ve never met in person; blogging will become my recreative activity.

My keywords for 2005 are: focus, efficiency, time management, self-motivation, and finally success. Regarding personal goals, I’ll work on a more positive attitude, fewer rants and complaints, and milder sarcasm. Yeah, I know, it sounds like going from “fun” to “dull,” but I’m just trying to turn from picky, grumpy and pissy to constructive, optimistic, useful fun.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 1st, 2005 at 6:44 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.