16.1.12

first exam

well, that was fucking terrible. ran out of time, a quarter or more of the shit i was meant to be answering got left behind. another quarter did get answered but was so messy and rushed that i seriously doubt it will get me any marks. i guess i did alright on the other half, even though it was mostly on Agent UML, which is the one tiny piece of the course i didn't fucking revise or even make notes on - but i'm not good at estimating that kind of thing, so really i have no idea whether i'll even pass or not. there were five or six drawing questions, so i fucked up my time management and wasted almost all the time i had making the fucking drawings, painstakingly, by hand since the University doesn't let computers for exams access anything other than MS Word. i have nowhere near the level of Windows Stockholm Syndrome required to be able to make legible AUML diagrams and finite state automata in Word, never mind the level it would take to want to.

(i know people are trying to be nice when they say this, but no, sib, i will not "pass with flying colours" this time. please don't say that. i'm not low-self-esteeming a perfectly good exam transcript up to shit - this really was a very bad run. they happen. also i am trying not to say stupid shit like OHHHHH WOE WOE IS ME ASHES AND DUST I HAVE RUINED MY LIFE when actually i just got an average mark instead of a very good one.)

unsure of what to do now. that was the first exam, the next one is the day after tomorrow. i didn't sleep last night so i'm wavering a bit; think i'll at least mail Prof. V about what happened before I pass out in my bubble bath. reckon i'll make tomorrow a hardcore revision day. gonna chill out tonight.

i'd type more about some other stuff i was gonna talk about but i'm whacked now and i keep hitting the wrong keys like a little old lady. gnight, all. carpe corporem.

L

19 comments:

Unqualified to speak said...

AAARGH UML KILL IT WITH FIRE I mean, ahem; there's always one nightmare exam, isn't there?
(",)

Anonymous said...

@Unqualified: yeah, it is always the NEXT one.

Lepht said...

you're fucking telling me... idk if i'll have to do them again, either, nor whether the actual grades will count if i do (as opposded to just the credits gained from passing). glad to see even the professionals share my distaste for UMl too. i'd happily do weeks of science to bring UML to life in a corporeal form, retaining its obstinacy, unnecessary OCD-like qualities, rote memorisation of fifty odd symbols for the core and every fucking dialect i know etc...

then i'd swing a shovel covered in napalm at its head and put the fire out with the contents of the house change kitty in a sock. and i would smile.

L

melladh said...

I've been working for five years now, and I do use UML now and then because it's really quite handy, but I'm also certain I'm not doing it by the book.

...I still haven't finished "my" degree's mandatory UML-course. Those courses are just plain impossible.

Unqualified to speak said...

Yeah, I don't know of anyone who uses formal UML - as opposed to "drawing boxes and arrows and stuff," with a greater or lesser relation to the standard depending on how well the teaching sunk in. But I can understand why it's taught; having experience of _a_ design formalism method is helpful, and UML is the one on the buzzword bingo chart, so there's always a chance a Moron Manager will mandate it.
None of which abates my fiery hatred, of course. (",)

Motoko Kolster said...

why didn't you get your finite state automatons to whisper you the answers? .... if i were a computer programmer, that would be the first thing i would do- i'd make a robot that answers all the questions for me. i'd paint it though, so it looked like it was really me.

Motoko Kolster said...

you know Walt Disney was the first person to get his infinite state animatrons to program themselves. the theory of infinite state would later be revisited by G Gordon Liddy, who ended up burning it 'by accident' to see if it were really all that great. he conceded that it was.

Motoko Kolster said...

johannes kepler once envisioned a universe in which his perfect solids would dance around his classroom beaming brain knowlege into his students brains while they took their test. the next year, he had no students

Motoko Kolster said...

oh and by the way, just this morning at 9, before finishing my morning coffee, i built a humanoid machine servant that goes back in time and invents the internet, but can't eat fish. as you can see, its working fine.
when i read your blog, i tought it to say, "lepht you are passing with flying colors."
next i am going to get it an ergonomic shoulderbag

so don't worry lepht, you'll always have me and my robot servant god to fall back on. unless it decides to eat me. then you'll just have my robot. but i wouldn't reccommend it.

Motoko Kolster said...

you know when i took abnormal psych i failed the last exam. it was about retardation. (true story)

Motoko Kolster said...

but don't be unhappy, UMI are so great together.

hold on. one of my personal sattellites has a poem it wants me to read.

Motoko Kolster said...

holy shit! left! john stewart just mentioned g gordon liddy. i know it was yesterday's show, but i can only watch it on the internet, so really its today's show! http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/mon-january-16-2012-jodi-kantor

Motoko Kolster said...

nobody has ever mentioned G Gordon Liddy except me and my dad since he became dead to the world (released that book where people found out he actually really was that crazy) now i'm just waiting for him to mention my dad....

Motoko Kolster said...

yo who said kill it with fire? phil, is that you?

Anonymous said...

Hey, just figured I'd say I've been reading for a while, definitely appreciate you writing this stuff out, and I hope it helps you some. Dunno if this helps any, but you're definitely an interesting person. This is actually the only blog I read, and I feel like I've learned a lot from it - had my life gone differently, I think you could be a role model. As it is, you're still someone I can understand and grow from.

Max said...

Ah, UML. Funny how it's the perfect idiot indicator. We had to go through it too, and basically, the only people who took it seriously were the weird guys who turn up in lectures in a *suit*. So yeah. Arrows and boxes, but nobody uses UML.

Hell, I wouldn't *hire* somebody who takes UML seriously.

Unqualified to speak said...

How'd the next exam go, by the way? Sorry, meant to ask before but I've been aaaarghgaarghblarg with work.

Xaot said...

Good luck on your exams, Lepht. I know I had a bitch of a time with mine. Hopefully they'll bellcurve the marks - sometimes you just gotta ride the curve.

What exams do you have left to do?

Unknown said...

From a late start, health issues, financial woes, *and* the eviction - this is not the ideal environment for learning. With that much of your mind space being taken up with 'survival' based issues - it is no wonder your barely retaining the amount of data you are used to. Ideally you will have a less adventurous next semester and be able to focus on saving humanity - not saving your self.

Carpe Corporem!

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