Stupid

November 13th, 2005

Is it just me, or is Sarah McLachlan’s song “Stupid” apt for describing more than just a relationship you really shouldn’t be in?

Night lift up the shades
let in the brilliant light of morning
but steady there now
for I am weak and starving for mercy
sleep has left me alone
to carry the weight of unravelling where we went wrong
it’s all I can do to hang on
to keep me from falling
into old familiar shoes

Is this not a perfect description of pulling an all-nighter because of procrastination?

everything changes
everything falls apart
can’t stop to feel myself losing control

I am once again giving serious thought to becoming an Arts student. I won’t lose THAT much time (and I wouldn’t have to do a Science requirement, HAH!) because of my IB credits, and besides, I’m already signed up for two Arts courses next term… and I could drop the Bio course if I went into Arts and take… something more fun.

I really need to think about this carefully before I make a stupid decision.

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12 Responses to “Stupid”

Anthony Says:

Well, a little insight into the Arts perspective…I currently have 65 books out of the libraries at UBC and am trying to research and write four papers all at the same time. It doesn’t help that I’ve been sick all weekend. I foresee some allnighters ahead. I haven’t written anything substantial in quite a while; I feel like I’ve forgotten how to write.

Yes, it’s worth it to think a bit about these decisions.

November 13th, 2005 at 8:25 pm

Cat Says:

Yes, but at least in Arts you don’t have to spend your life in the labs. There are no more three-hour labs in upper level Science courses. They’re four hours long. :depressed: More if the TA screws up.

This is all brought on, of course, by the fact that I think I failed both my math and my organic chem midterms, and my continual horrendous performance in the analytical lab. (And screwing up in the organic lab… the only lab I don’t screw up in is the inorganic one. I think it’s because it’s every other week.) As I’ve been saying, I’m not worth ANYTHING as a chemist if I can’t get good results. Unless I teach. Which would make me the living paradigm of, “Those who can’t, teach.”

November 13th, 2005 at 9:21 pm

Sami Says:

I am SO thankful for everytime you saved my ass in those science and math courses with your help. You made things understandable. Do you tutor? You should tutor! Or maybe you don’t have enough time? You’d actually be the exception to that saying…you can do, and teach!

As for switching to Arts…don’t you *enjoy* chemistry though? I think it would be a mistake if you switched to arts just because you think it would be easier. If that’s not the case though, by all means, go for it! You’re the type of person who’ll be successful in whatever you choose to do, so you might as well pick the one you like.

November 13th, 2005 at 10:25 pm

Cat Says:

Update: I got 54% on my organic chem midterm. The last time I had a mark this low, I was failing things left and right in Nakamoto’s math class.

Sam: I enjoy French, too. I enjoy English. I think I might like linguistics. It would be easier because I would enjoy it more, not necessarily because the material isn’t as “hard” (ah yes, we all know what a fallacy that would be.) When you enjoy something–when you’re truly passionate about it–it never seems like work. I was quite happy to spend 3 hours on my travaux pratiques for French, which involved analysing the verbs, analysing the pronouns, and parsing a couple of sentences.

The labs and I are just not getting along, at all. I’ve whined here about my marks in the analytical lab; I’m not making this stuff up. I know bad marks aren’t the end of the world, blah blah blah, but in this case, they’re an indicator of how well you do compared to other people in the class. If I’m the worst chemist in there, that’s kind of not a good thing. Especially if I’m in Honours.

I’m going to talk to my analytical chem prof tomorrow; maybe he can give me some advice. 😥

November 14th, 2005 at 6:33 pm

Sarah Says:

From what I hear, it’s normal for students in second or third year to begin to question their academic choices. You’re definitely not the only one. I guess it’s because we start to ask ourselves, What am I going to do with this degree?

I suggest sticking it out for a while longer. A few bad marks aren’t gonna damage your soaring GPA by much, all right. You’re an above average student, and that is saying the very least.

And don’t take 6 courses a term — with what, 3 labs? — ever again. 😉

November 14th, 2005 at 8:31 pm

Bobby Says:

I hesitate to comment because I have no idea what your schedule is like and I haven’t a clue about the life of a science student but perhaps the reason you haven’t been doing as well on some of your chemistry labs as you would like is because you haven’t had adequate time to prepare for these labs due to all the extra-curricular demands on your time, and not because of your abilities as a chemist.

Take some time to think about the advice your analytical chem prof gives you today, but I suggest waiting until winter break before making a concrete decision on the future of your academic career. Now is probably not the best time to be making those kinds of decisions with all the stress and frustrations associated with this time of term.

November 15th, 2005 at 12:47 am

Cat Says:

Update, part 2: I talked to my analytical chem prof today, and the gist of his message was, “Don’t let a lack of proficency in the lab stop you from doing chemistry, if that’s what you really love and want to do for the rest of your (working) life.” He pointed out that I could end up as a lab director or something. Skill is much more important in a technician. I think becoming director is pretty unlikely with just a BSc degree…

Sarah: That’s a different situation from mine. I know exactly what I can do with a Chem degree after graduation. I do not know what I would do with a French degree. Haha, and I’m totally dropping out of Honours. There’s no way they’re making me take 5 chem courses a term. I don’t love it THAT MUCH. As for grad school… I can always go to grad school later.

Bobby: It’s not so much a matter of being prepared for the labs (because I am, more or less!) It’s a matter of technique. It’s like not being able to sing, or something. I know what it’s SUPPOSED to sound like, but I just can’t do it for whatever reason. And I’m definitely going to wait until Winter Break to decide firmly on anything :undecided:

Thanks everyone, for all your support. :dorkygrin:

November 15th, 2005 at 4:32 pm

Indy Says:

I got some advice too. Even though you aren’t considering it, DON’T GO INTO ENGINEERING!..Unless you want to die. They (meaning the Engineering department) have broken me, I can’t take it anymore, the 7 homework assignments, 3 quizzes, 2 labs, and occasional midterms…every single week. My only hope is co-op in 6 months.

November 16th, 2005 at 9:00 pm

Cat Says:

Thanks Inderbir 😉 ‘Ppreciate it. Hope your co-op term goes well!

November 17th, 2005 at 6:34 am

Anthony Says:

I don’t know if I have any right complaining about too much work since I’m only taking “4” courses (compared to Inderbir’s 7), but I am taking 18 credits, so think of it as “6” courses.” I am starting to worry about failing my economics course since I haven’t touched it in more than a month and I barely passed the midterm…

Even though I’m already in a degree program (History Honours), I can’t say that I have figured out how the next 1.5-2.5 years will play out. Do I want to double major in Economics? After ECON 304, I don’t think I can handle the math. Maybe I’ll still to the conceptual stuff and do a minor. Do I want to write my thesis next year? Or do I want to take a year off (of Honours) and take courses for the Econ minor. And/or go on exchange for a term? Or, if I do my thesis next year, do I want to them take 2 years to to a Masters, or stay another year at UBC to take a few more courses then go straight into a PHD program?

So many questions, so many choices and decisions.

November 18th, 2005 at 6:24 pm

Cat Says:

So many options for you. :tongue: But at least you kind of know where you’re going. I wish I could say the same for myself. And at least you’ve got grad school kind of mapped out. I never really intended to do more than a Master’s in chem. Now, I’m not even sure I would be able to get in :faint:

I guess the other thing is, I’m not as passionate about Chem as I am about other things. I would never pick up a Chem book to read for fun. I read grammar books for fun (no, really, you can stop laughing now -_-). I rarely go “above and beyond” in my Chem assignments: I do what I need to do, and that’s that.

I’m also worried that this is “grass is greener on the other side” syndrome. I do that a lot. I know I do. And sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn’t. I mean, let’s face it, I could equally be in the same position with French next year (“Blast those French and their use of the past subjunctive! We never use it in English, so why do they need it in French?”) and then where would I be? :notsure:

Ah, what a ramble.

November 19th, 2005 at 7:04 am

Anthony Says:

I’m not sure how Master’s & PhD degrees work on the science side, but here’s what I picked up on our grad school meeting last month.

For history (and other fields in the humanities i presume), it seems that a Master’s degree doesn’t really get you anywhere (in terms of getting a job, in comparison to just having a bachelors). People do a Master’s because they haven’t quite figured out their specialization and/or they want more experience/foundation in their field. Otherwise, people normally go straight into a PhD program from a Bachelors. Not to say there’s anything wrong or abnormal about doing a Masters in between, but it seems that if one does a Master’s, it’s with the intention of doing a PhD after. At least that’s the case for the humanities.

November 19th, 2005 at 3:52 pm