Update for Everyone III - The Whinge Binge

[RFayette]

Got a prom date! 

[RFayette]

Nominated for prom court!  

This has been a good week.

[RFayette]

Just took AP Micro today.  AP Compsci is tomorrow, and that will be my last AP exam ever! 

HS is wrapping up nicely. 

[RFayette]

I want so badly to be a normal woman.

No you don't. Because then you wouldn't be you. 'Normality' is overrated.

As can be abnormality.

Not that I disagree.

What is normal?

That's my go to response, but you have to admit it is a bit of an empty cliche in practice. No one is truly normal, but not all abnormalities are created equal.

What ends up mattering is acceptance of yourself, I think.

True.  Another thing I noticed is that we always want what we don't have.

When I confided to some of my more socially-graced friends how bad I felt about my social awkwardness/suckiness at practical/spatial things, they said they wished they had my quantitative ability/knowledge about things like politics and religion (and the fact I got into a little-known school in Palo Alto).  So our abnormalities we see as awful are often less recognized by peers than our strengths.

[RFayette]

Just finished my last day of high school!

[RFayette]

I had a potentially life/career-altering conversation with a professor at my school yesterday.

Care to elaborate, if you don't mind?

[RFayette]

I had a potentially life/career-altering conversation with a professor at my school yesterday.

Care to elaborate, if you don't mind?

I was going to do my master's thesis on representations of Christianity in Japanese media, especially media created by and for non-Christians. Now I think I might instead do a comparative study of the discourse on the body in the second chapter of the Vimalakirti Sutra and the episode of Thomas putting his finger through the Risen Christ's hand in the Gospel of John. Obviously these ideas entail very different subfocuses within the field of comparative theology, and would probably lead me towards different doctoral programs.

Wow.  I knew academics were pretty specialized in their focus, but this seems very intense and narrow.  I'm sure you'll do great at it, though.

[RFayette]

My courses this quarter are intro to computer science, linear algebra/multivariable calc, econ, and a P.E. jogging class.  The classes have gone pretty well so far.

[RFayette]

Ah, the famed avalanche of assigned readings in US university classes... I'm dreading it too (classes start tomorrow).

Not so much for STEM majors.  My CS/math reading assignments take less than 20 minutes, though the psets and projects take quite a bit longer.  Econ takes a little more time though.

[RFayette]

Hagrid, can I come to your place for Canuck thanksgiving next year? I literally am starving now after reading that post.

Agreed.  Anyways, I have a math midterm tomorrow (differential multivariable calc + linear algebra).  I'm a bit nervous, but it should be OK.   

[RFayette]

Now I'm sick.

Sorry to hear that.   May I ask what's going on?


I hope you feel better soon!

[RFayette]

A weight off of my chest, I've just been accepted to college!

Awesome!

I still have five more schools to apply to, and I haven't heard back from anyone yet.

Good luck with that Clark!  My advice is that given the January 1 deadlines for so many schools, you're best off really kicking into high gear putting effort into writing essays and stuff....you'll be thankful for all that effort come April 1.

[RFayette]

Welp, I just had my last finals today, hopefully my last ever as an undergrad.

Cool!  I just finished my first quarter of school on Monday, so I have a long way to go.

So are you graduating a semester early or something, or are you doing a coterminal master's program?

[RFayette]

upper middle class connected family

lol

Could you describe what the position is, by chance?

Anyways, over break I'm visiting my sister who is doing a NIH fellowship in Peru.  Excited to see the Andes Mountains, Macchu Picchu, and Cuzco.

[RFayette]

I just saw Franklin Graham

Awesome!  He's a great man of God.  Enjoy seeing Ted Cruz as well.

[RFayette]

I'm beginning to reconsider presenting myself as transgender/a woman, primarily for religious reasons.

Interesting....do you mind elucidating on that? 

[RFayette]

I also have a job again Getting paid very nicely, so I'm happy.

Congrats!

[RFayette]

Had a conversation last night with a friend of mine who's in an accelerated five-year bachelors/masters computer program (it'd be an MS in "Information Assurance"). Apparently you don't actually need to already have computer skills to get in, which is cool, and she's interviewing with frickin' BAE--British Aerospace Engineering or whatever. Incredibly jealous, but I hate technology, and if I went onto do my dream job, it'd be much more theory-based than "cybersecurity" (can barely stand the word "cyber"; sounds like something a sixty-year old uses to sound "hip to the jive" on "tech"). And apparently all the Information Assurance grad courses are online, which means the school charges half-price. Tired of the feeling that the best path to employment in the field I want to get involved in something I have absolutely no instinct for. Looks like academia might be my best bet. F#cking computer nerds had to destroy the national security field.

Hey now, I'm one of those "computer nerds" you're speaking
 of, I'm a BSIT major myself.

Cool!  Same, BS/MS CS major here!

[RFayette]

Had a conversation last night with a friend of mine who's in an accelerated five-year bachelors/masters computer program (it'd be an MS in "Information Assurance"). Apparently you don't actually need to already have computer skills to get in, which is cool, and she's interviewing with frickin' BAE--British Aerospace Engineering or whatever. Incredibly jealous, but I hate technology, and if I went onto do my dream job, it'd be much more theory-based than "cybersecurity" (can barely stand the word "cyber"; sounds like something a sixty-year old uses to sound "hip to the jive" on "tech"). And apparently all the Information Assurance grad courses are online, which means the school charges half-price. Tired of the feeling that the best path to employment in the field I want to get involved in something I have absolutely no instinct for. Looks like academia might be my best bet. F#cking computer nerds had to destroy the national security field.

Hey now, I'm one of those "computer nerds" you're speaking
 of, I'm a BSIT major myself.

Cool!  Same, BS/MS CS major here!

God, you guys are the worst. Are you locked-in to a masters program? My school has a rash of accelerated bachelors-masters programs (five year

• --ranging from Criminal Justice to Engineering) along with "seven year dental", "five year physician's assistant" and so on.

Not locked in, but I've already made a 4-year plan (can get master's + bachelor's in 4 years) and discussed it with my counselor, though I suppose I could change it.

[RFayette]

No way, me too! BS E-commerce! High 5!

Clearly, you're on your way to greatness, my friend.  All that's left is a good CADD certificate.