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Tuesday's Going to Be a Blood Bath
Sep. 21st, 2007 02:51 pmAcademically speaking, I mean.
At 8:30 a.m., I shall be confronted with a fetal pig. Presumably, also the smell of formaldehyde. I have no confidence in being able to handle this gracefully. I used to be more flexible, but I've gotten more squeamish, not less, as I've gotten older. I think I used up all my squick-resistance on owning a snake that ate mice. Dragging a dead mouse around a cage with forceps is eighty-seven different types of gross. The picture of the fetal pig in the lab manual looks way worse. I assume I'll manage, one does. I just keep getting these images of doubling over with dry retching. God, I hope I don't embarrass myself that much.
The one good thing about being faced with a fetal pig in the morning is that nothing worse can happen to you all day. That being the case, the psychology exam which immediately follows the biology lab should be a relief. Which is just as well because I am not doing well in psychology. The sample test that he put up had two questions that I do not remember him covering in lecture which were not in the book. He says he did cover them. What can I say? It's a "he said she said" sort of situation, here.
He says that half of the exam will be from material not covered in the book. This is very bad news for me. I have not figured out how to take effective notes in his class. He hands out outlines, but they're from Bizarro Land, where outlines don't have points and subpoints, they're a weird mix of bullet points. Nor does he cover them completely in class. He goes as far as he has time for (and he's prone to telling stories), and then the next day he does not pick up where he left off but picks up with the next set of notes. I'm pretty sure we're going to be responsible for the material he doesn't cover, and his notes are cryptic at best. And I can't take good notes even when he does cover the outline. I've never been good at taking notes, and I am not picking up the kind of detail he apparently expects. The sample test was all over the place in terms of detail and integration of material, and not in a good way at all. I guess this is a long way of saying that I guess I don't know the material, even though when I go through my materials, I think I do. I'm missing vital pieces. Maybe I should take a tape recorder to class and sit up front.
After that, I'll get to retreat to the safe havens of algebra. Although after today's test, algebra may turn out to be less of a safe A than I had previously thought.
At 8:30 a.m., I shall be confronted with a fetal pig. Presumably, also the smell of formaldehyde. I have no confidence in being able to handle this gracefully. I used to be more flexible, but I've gotten more squeamish, not less, as I've gotten older. I think I used up all my squick-resistance on owning a snake that ate mice. Dragging a dead mouse around a cage with forceps is eighty-seven different types of gross. The picture of the fetal pig in the lab manual looks way worse. I assume I'll manage, one does. I just keep getting these images of doubling over with dry retching. God, I hope I don't embarrass myself that much.
The one good thing about being faced with a fetal pig in the morning is that nothing worse can happen to you all day. That being the case, the psychology exam which immediately follows the biology lab should be a relief. Which is just as well because I am not doing well in psychology. The sample test that he put up had two questions that I do not remember him covering in lecture which were not in the book. He says he did cover them. What can I say? It's a "he said she said" sort of situation, here.
He says that half of the exam will be from material not covered in the book. This is very bad news for me. I have not figured out how to take effective notes in his class. He hands out outlines, but they're from Bizarro Land, where outlines don't have points and subpoints, they're a weird mix of bullet points. Nor does he cover them completely in class. He goes as far as he has time for (and he's prone to telling stories), and then the next day he does not pick up where he left off but picks up with the next set of notes. I'm pretty sure we're going to be responsible for the material he doesn't cover, and his notes are cryptic at best. And I can't take good notes even when he does cover the outline. I've never been good at taking notes, and I am not picking up the kind of detail he apparently expects. The sample test was all over the place in terms of detail and integration of material, and not in a good way at all. I guess this is a long way of saying that I guess I don't know the material, even though when I go through my materials, I think I do. I'm missing vital pieces. Maybe I should take a tape recorder to class and sit up front.
After that, I'll get to retreat to the safe havens of algebra. Although after today's test, algebra may turn out to be less of a safe A than I had previously thought.
