Push through it

I haven't posted anything in awhile, but I have a good excuse. I hurt.

My head hurts. My neck hurts. Both shoulders hurt. One way more than the other, but still both of them. My ribs hurt. Both collarbones hurt. A cough causes my whole upper body to hurt. I just started yawning again after about a month of some weird diaphragm contraction that approximated a yawn. I haven't sneezed in over a month and I dread the day that I start again.

The bad hurt is gone, now it's just a sort of ache that causes general discomfort. Enough to keep me from sleeping a full night and enough to wear me out by mid-afternoon.

What's all this pissing and moaning about? Well, it makes me think of a few things worth remembering.

Some things in life are extremely fun to do and inherently dangerous. That should not stop you from doing them. There are millions of ways to get jacked up or die and if you get hung up on it then you aren't really living. So you prepare yourself as best you can and realize that if you are rock climbing, you will fall at some stage. If you are riding a bike, you will crash. It's never a matter of if, it's when. Remember that and then go have fun anyway.

When things go south and you end up in a bad way (and I mean this generally, not just when you get jacked up) don't sit around and be mopey about it. Pull yourself up by the bootstraps and get yourself back in shape. I promise you that you will not do yourself any good sitting on your ass.

A corollary to the last one: sometimes you need help and you are dumb if you don't take it when it is offered. Just knowing you have the support of friends and family gives a huge mental boost when you are feeling pretty low.

Time goes fast, any healing you have to do will go by quicker than you think it will. Months sounds like a long time, it's really not.

Once you've fallen and gotten back up, dust yourself off and get back on the horse. Remember, it's a 'when' not 'if' that you'll get jacked up, so getting engaged in an activity more physical than knitting means you acknowledge and accept that you will probably get hurt at some stage. Don't be surprised when it happens and don't let it scare you off.

So what should you take from this? "Dad is an idiot and will be riding motorcycles again." Well, yeah, but that's not really it. Life happens in a big unpredictable world, so you can choose to wrap yourself in toilet paper and hide from it or you can go out and live in it.

Close encounters of the roommate kind 2

I just spent more than a week with a couple of roommates. One guy couldn't talk because he was intubated, so he was boring. The other guy was funny, but had to have his colostomy bag cleaned once a day. In the room. However, we made it a joke. What's the point? It's possible to make the best of a crappy situation and make it better than a boring one.

Don't be a Typhoid Cate

Yeah, I'm sick right now and I'm totally a Typhoid Matt, so do as I say not as I do blah blah blah. Go to class, sit in the back and isolate yourself. Sneeze, cough, hack into your elbow. Keep away from your fellow dormers until the plague has passed, otherwise it'll make the rounds and the whole building will be sick.

Close encounters of the roommate kind

Not only do you have the uncertainty of leaving home to live in a new place to deal with, you get to live with a complete stranger in very close quarters. Hurray! I can only think of one thing that can make it go easy: make like the Japanese and respect that personal space. You don't have to like each other, but switching roommates is not an easy or quick task so you'd better respect each others crap and space.

Here's a fun example:

I lived, briefly, in an apartment with two other guys. One was much neater than me, and I was neater than the third guy. Except when it came to dishes. Number three and I had an implicit competition to see who could go the longest without doing the dishes. The lengths we went to to stack dishes and glasses in the sink were epic. A Tower of Filth to shame those lazy denizens of Babel. Until Number one finally popped a gasket over the disgraceful state of the kitchen (rightly so, it was foul.) It was pretty awkward for a few days, even after cleaning up, and we didn't have that battle of nastiness again.

Some rules:

1. You spill, you clean it up.


2. You let loose with bodily fluids and don't make the toilet, get to scrubbing.


3. Vomit belongs to source. Always. Having to clean your own puke is a good reminder to not get in that state again. Or to at least wait in the grass until your stomach is empty.


4. Food belongs to the buyer, don't assume it is communal because the fridge happens to be a commons.


5. Drink. See food.


6. Money. Don't even go there.


7. Homework can be a collaboration, but don't even think about doing a ctrl-c, ctrl-v on it. In the off chance you get away with it, you'll still be hosed on the test for not knowing the material.

Passwords and firewalls

Put a strong password on your computer. Use a phrase or initials from the phrase, i.e.
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks" can be used or "Tldptm,m" (if you are allowed non-alpha characters.)

On a hostile network, which is just about any public network, you need to make sure you are not running services and turn on the firewall just in case. Apple's firewall isn't very clear as to what the options mean, so do a little searching if you are unsure. The Windows firewall is pretty clear as to what services are exposed, so it might be a little easier. Basic rule in either case is, if you don't have any open ports, then nobody can connect to your computer.

The Vultures Are Already Circling

The damn banks and credit companies are already out on campus, waiting for a freshman with a meager income to drift from the herd. Don't fall for it, get used to paying with money you have and not money you expect to have. Most everyone gets into the 'oh, I'll just put this on the card and pay it off at the end of the month' and then paying the minimum when the bill comes. If you are really, really, let me say it again, really diligent, then you can work the bonuses for mileage points or gifts or whatever by paying bills with credit and then paying the credit card balance in full every month.

Playing Guitar Hero is different from playing guitar

It is really easy to be a consumer. Try to be a producer instead.

Stay current while getting up to speed

Read stuff outside of class. Relating classwork to current work or things not covered in class helps you put academic work into a real context.

Answer!

Answer questions. If you make it a point to answer questions, then you'll have to be prepared for class. If you get it wrong, big deal. The other 20 kids in class are probably too afraid to put a hand up whether they know the answer or not.

Ask!

Ask questions and don't mind the others that get pissy about it. You are paying to learn from people at the fore of their fields, don't be afraid to ask about stuff you don't understand.

No strings

Do cool summer jobs or look for study abroad programs. Now's the time to have all those great experiences.

But don't think I'll be subsidizing your European adventure.

Take this job and shove it

Don't get in a position where you have to stay in a crappy job. If you are financially independent, you can leave whenever you like. There is a huge difference in attitude between 'I have to be here' and 'I want to be here.'

Even if the library is open 24 hours...

Get out and do stuff. If you can't blow off some steam every once and awhile, you're going to burn out.

Keepin' it real

Don't get sucked in by overly academic theories or stuff that claims to address issues of another field. English likes to appropriate stuff from technology and elsewhere and make up stuff that is really only interesting to English majors. Artists pull that crap, too.

Also, know that I get sucked into overly academic stuff on a regular basis.

Two GEs, one stone

Be smart about the GEs you have to take; sometimes you can find one that satisfies multiple requirements.

References

When in doubt, cite it.

Back ups 2

Don't read this, go back up your stuff!

Back ups

Keep backups. An external drive or cds for your general stuff and email your important stuff to yourself. Beats the hell out of having to do it over.

You can get creative if you are on campus (fast, fast network.) Turn your gmail account into online storage using gDisk and then set up a script (you did learn some python, right?) to back up your stuff for you.

How to spot bullshit 3: Context

Context is a little vague so I'm shoving it between the bookends. Discussing context might be splitting hairs, but a good bullshitter is very subtle. Let's say the source is someone with whom you are familiar but may not have a long enough history with to know how likely they are to try to bullshit you. If they are telling you about all the work they have to do and then slip in a question about what you are up to, your detector should be going off. It might be innocent, but if you indicate that you don't have much going on you might find that the boss has just had a conversation with so and so and now you suddenly are tasked with taking on some of their work. If the conversation seems circumspect or seems to be about eliciting information from you, be wary. Also, watch how questions are phrased because it is very easy to craft a query to evoke a particular response.

How to spot bullshit 2: The source

How do you know when someone is about to serve you some rubbish? Evaluate three things: source, context, and motivations. That can be translated to who is it coming from, what is the situation, and why are they saying whatever it is they are going on about. Do it long enough and it becomes second nature, like a sixth sense maybe. A third eye that functions as a bullshit detector. Let's take a closer look at these indicators.

The source is probably the easiest to evaluate. The source can obviously be anyone from a relative to someone on the bus. The more familiar you are with the source, the easier the evaluation becomes. Consider your little sister, either one. You know that in the past she has tried to get things from you and offered to do something in return for doing whatever and failed to follow through. Like, say, 'take me to the park now, and I'll pick up my toys when we get back.' Perfect time to apply your past experiences and say, 'Yeah, right. As if that's going to happen.' When you don't know the source, like some random guy at a bus stop, you have to start thinking about motivation, but we aren't there yet.

How to spot bullshit

I have a bachelor's degree in studio art. You know this, you had to sit in on some of the classes when you were a kid and I had no one else to leave you with for a few hours. What you may not know is that a side effect of an art degree is the development of an ability to dispense and detect bullshit. That is how you get through critiques in an age when concept trumps execution. For example, I had a classmate forget we had a critique until the morning of, so he emptied his wastebasket and stapled the contents to the wall. His explanation of his work had to do with our disposable society and rampant consumerism. Right. I've done it, too, but no examples just yet.

Now, I don't like giving or receiving bullshit, unless it happens to be the kind that's all in fun. You know, the kind where you pull someone's leg for a while and then look at them in a seriously-you-did-not-just-fall-for-that-line-of-crap sort of way. If it's not that kind of crap, I don't want any part of it. Neither should you. That means you have to get good at spotting it well in advance of it landing on your shoes.

Save your email

Save your email, the important ones anyway. And if someone tells you something 'official', follow it up with an email to get it in writing.

Text processing

Learn a programming language that is meant for processing text, like perl, or a generic one like python. You don't have to be an expert, just know that there are things you can do that will save you a lot of effort. Then use google to work out how to do it.

See what's up

Every major has its own clique, go check out what the other departments are up to.

School work is work

Be disciplined in your school work. It is your job, only you get the privilege to pay to be there instead of the reverse.

Anchors

You can't change people, at best you can point out their dumbassness and hope they get a clue.

Boys are lame 2

If the boy does give you the attention you want and turns out to be a jerkface, give him the flick.

Boys are lame

There are always boys out there so if one isn't paying you the attention you want, don't sweat it.

Dorm food

Learn to cook cheap, easy, healthy meals. That crap in the commons can only be eaten for so many days before you want something real.

Cigarettes

Don't smoke, it's just nasty.

Life of the party

Learn a party trick like being able to play a bunch of songs on the guitar. Something other than being able to drink a lot.

Networking

Keep in touch with your classmates, it makes a great support network.

Work sucks 2

On the flip side, don't make what you enjoy a chore. You won't enjoy it anymore.

Work sucks

Have fun! When you enjoy what you do, it doesn't seem like work.

You don't have to join the Navy

Study abroad, even if it means being in school longer. You won't get another chance.

Schedule wisely 2

You will end up with one of those dreadful classes. That means you should keep the late night partying to a minimum that term.

Schedule wisely

Early morning and late night classes are bound to be dreadful. No one can think early and no one cares late.

Late nights 2

So are power naps between classes.

Late nights

Coffee is your friend.

Baggage

Don't collect too much crap. Collecting crap ties you down and makes going to Spain for the semester a pain in the ass.

Don't be antisocial

Check out the clubs on campus, probably the best way to meet people who are into at least one thing that interests you.

Roommates

Might as well be picky about your roommates. Too many horror stories on collegehumor.com to just live with anyone.

Books

Don't buy books at the book store. Biggest rip off ever. Go to whatever the local private textbook seller is, check out used sellers on amazon, prowl the aggregators like abebooks.com, whatever. You will save a ton of money if you put in a little effort.

It's dead easy. Find the books you need _well in advance_ and write down the ISBN numbers. Go to interwebs and begin the hunt. Students sell used books on amazon because they are likely to get more for it than by selling it back to the book store. The aggregators have listings for gray market imports, like books in English sold in India that have been reimported at a fraction of the cost of the North American market books.

You can save yourself hundreds of dollars. A quarter.

Scheduling

It's far better to do four classes a term, then to do three in one and try five the next to make up for it. I was dumb enough to have to do two 20 unit quarters in the same year. Bad idea.

General Education Requirements

GE's are boring, but make easy filler for your hard quarters. Don't do something dumb like take three or four classes in your major. Unless, of course, you like sleepless nights, ridiculous amounts of work, and bad grades. Take two and fill the rest of the schedule with 'Special Topics in Geology' and 'Health and Fitness.'

Homework

Get your class work done, no matter how boring it is. You don't want to gaff off the easy classes.

Advisors

Keep in touch with your advisor. If your advisor is a jerkface, make friends with another professor that can help guide you through school. Most of the time you won't need any help, but when you do it's nice to have someone on your side.

Get a job

Find work on campus, if you can. Departments expect their student employees to have screwy schedules so there's no drama if you have to work two hours here and three there to get your week in. If not, try to find something that'll help you out in your career. The experience will help set you apart from all the other grads when you finally get out of school and have to get a job. You won't believe how many people have zero experience when they collect that degree.

For my little girl

Well, she's not so little anymore. Off to university and the great big world in a bit more than a week. I had grand plans of writing a book of survival tips, maybe-not-so-general knowledge, and of course sage fatherly advice to send with her on her big adventure. Instead she's getting my little gems of experience here.

What are my qualifications for providing any sort of guidance to someone starting out on their own? Hm, well, a long history of doing things the hard way due to ignorance and a desire to spare just one person from replicating some of my idiocy. Oh, and a pretty good career as a student and employee of the higher educational system. I'll leave it at that as I'm sure that you'll pick up on the rest by the nature of the posts.