Fear the Crab

Well, I have good news and bad news.

The good news is that yesterday I changed the oil in my truck, all by myself (thank you very much). Since I’m not that mechanically inclined, that was a real feat for me. I also gave my truck a bath, and later that night I went out to D&B’s with a bunch of friends for a little get-together. Maile, James, Mary, Irene, Tolkien, George, Rei, Min, and Maile’s brother Keoni all joined me there. I ate the Jack Daniel’s ribeye steak, and it was very nice. Rei bought me this drink, I think it was called a crowntini, which is like a martini except they use Crown Royal. At least, that’s what I thought I heard above the noise and my inebriated two-beer state. And I don’t know if it was just the way D&B’s made it, but it tasted really strong, like I was drinking a shot of some kind of flavored whisky.

The bad news. I just discovered that because I’m only taking one class this semester (I had dropped ICS 212, if you recall from a previous post), I am not eligible for that student programmer job I was offered. This sucks, because I had already filled out the I-9 and W-4 forms and quit DFS so I could get this one. Now they tell me I can’t have it. I replied to their email notice and explained my situation, what led me to dropping the class, and how I am now unemployed, and asked if there was anything I could do to save this opportunity. One of The Office guys suggested I talk to one of the community colleges and explain my situation, and ask if they can recommend a 3-credit course that I could take, if there is one with open enrollment. It’s already halfway through the semester, though, and I’m worried that even if I can get that extra course, if I’ll be expected to catch up on the workload for that course. People are already taking midterms, so I’d be hard-pressed to make up that much work in a short amount of time. Not to mention the possibility that I may have to attend the class; that would severely cut into the hours I’d have for jobs. Maile is going to try and ask today if there are any courses, and I’m going to call later on my own, so hopefully a clearer path will open up before me once the end of the day draws near.

I haven’t been posting for a while because I’ve been playing Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of time and Master Quest. I’ve also been cruising through my Animal Crossing town. Add to that my final days at duty free, and it’s been a rather busy absence.

There’s not much to report, either.

I was offered the job as a student programmer, so I took it. I’m now going to resign from duty free, two weeks from Friday. It feels weird. There’s a funny sensation in my stomach, something like nervousness because it’s something new happening in my life. I’ll also be talking to Henry about a part-time position at his dental lab.

Never had many times in my life where there’s been a mix of emotion. There’s delight, because I’m entering a new field, one that I hope to continue after school. There’s nervousness, because I’m entering a new field, one that I’ve never worked in before. There’s also sadness, because I’ll be leaving some very good friends at duty free. I’m sure there will be lots of opportunities to see them later on, but they’re so much a part of my life that it’ll be very difficult when I leave.

It almost sounds like I’ll never see them again. But I know that’s not true.

Great. I have a cold. That makes me feel SO much better about this week.

I went and dropped my 212 class. I actually haven’t officially dropped it yet, as I haven’t submitted the form to the Office of Admissions and Records. The reason for that is because in order to drop the class, I needed the instructor’s signature. But the instructor was sick, so he allowed the departmental advisor to sign in his absence. But the departmental advisor wasn’t in her office, forcing me to leave the form in her in-box with a note attached. I hung around at the ICS club until 1615, and decided to check back at the office. She was finally in, and she had just signed the form and was about to call me. I took the form over to the Office of Records, only to discover they close at 1600! That bit.

So I will have to try and run in tomorrow, before I go to work. It shouldn’t be too much of a chore since I start work at 1545 and the campus parking lot frees up at around 1300. That gives me roughly two hours to get things done.

Of course, I’m not out of the woods yet. I still have 241 work to do, and out of the two sections due tomorrow, I’ve only done one. I think I’m screwed.

I went to that job interview for the ITS department. I’d like to think it went well, but it’s hard to discern if the interviewer’s were sincerely interested in me, or were just fake-nodding in all the right places. I answered their questions lucidly and straight from the heart, so hopefully it went well. I also took a 45 minute quiz on my knowledge of code and the UNIX system. One question I didn’t answer because I didn’t know anything about it. Another question was answered purely on guesswork. The coding aspect gave me a little bit more confidence, but I don’t know if the code is actually what they were looking for. They said they’ll contact me early next week. I don’t know if I can wait that long.

Now comes more decision making. If I do get this ITS job, it’ll mean I will quit duty free. Then I would have to decide if I will ask Henry for a position at his dental lab. However, while I do know I can schedule my hours for ITS, I don’t know if I’ll have that same freedom at the dental lab. And if the next semester changes my schedule, I don’t know if Henry is willing to accommodate it.

Then again, if I don’t get the ITS job, I have to decide if I will stick with duty free or just go for part-time with Henry. I’m sure Henry would be more than willing to offer me a position, especially if I can work much of the week, but my class schedule will come into play again. And, I will also be taking a drastic cut in pay, since I’ll have part-time hours. I don’t know what wages Henry will offer, and that’s just one more thing I have to consider for the whole shebang.

Just when I thought some of the stress was behind me, there’s more waiting around the corner..

I have to make some serious decisions. First is whether or not to drop my programming class. The work is do-able, but with my current job situation and the load from my math class, it’s getting kinda overwhelming. Perhaps if it were my sole class, I could tackle it with more enthusiasm, but the way it is now, I’m have difficulties. If I do drop 212, I’ll still have 241 to concentrate on, and since that class is online (and I know a few people I can study with), it shouldn’t be too bad.

The cons: It pushes back the completion of the ICS department considerably; It still means I have to take the class again; I won’t get my tuition money back; I’m a failure in the field I want to succeed in.

The pros: I’ll have more time to concentrate on 241; I can always take it next semester, and likely I’ll have more time to concentrate on it then; I might get better instruction (not to say the current instructor is bad); I won’t stress out so much.

The other problem is whether or not to quit DFS and try to get that student job in ITS that was offered to me. It’s a student job, meaning max 20 hours a week and no benefits, but it’s in the field I want to be in, so I figure that’ll be good for the experience. And as a backup, Maile asked Henry if he would be interested in offering me a part-time job at his dental lab. I’d be a courier for them, and possibly do some office/lab work, but the hours are more flexible than duty free, and I’ll be working part-time. I’ll also get medical and I think I can arrange a 401k with them.

Ideally the situation would be: Mon/Fri/Sat work at the lab from 0600 to 1200, Tue/Wed/Thu work on campus at that student job (don’t know what the hours will be yet, or even if I will get it). Those hours would give me lots of time to focus on my studies. Ideally.

I guess I can make a better decision after tomorrow. I have an interview with the student-job people.

The homework I’m getting is starting to feel a little overwhelming, especially the programming assignments. It feels like I’m in way over my head, and it stresses me out. Even the math sometimes gets to me. It’s almost like I’m the only one that can’t seem to get things going the way they’re supposed to, and there doesn’t seem to be any light at the end of this tunnel.

I probably get like this because I can’t do any of my work while I’m at work, and when I get home I can’t spend too much time on it because I have to sleep in order to get to work on time. The only opportunities I have to tackle these assignments is on the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday before class starts, pretty much only three days. And I can only get help from the TA on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I hate having to do all that work in only a few days, as it goes against my philosophy of trying to get things done as soon as possible. It’s very difficult.

I wish I could just take a vacation from work, just so I can concentrate on my studies. I really envy those who don’t have to work while going to school.

I wanted to do homework today, catch up on the things I need to take care of.

But I just didn’t have the heart for it. Not after waking up to the terrible news about the Columbia. I felt a bit somber the rest of the day.

I managed to get a lot of work done today. Went to school at around 1400 and sat in the lab for hours programming. Then I went to see the TA for help on using Visual Studio. It was cool. It reaffirmed my belief that the professor and TAs are there to be consulted, especially when you don’t understand the material. Too many people (especially the young ‘uns) don’t utilize those resources, I’ve found.

So now I just have a few more things to do, but I think I’ll do them tomorrow. I’m going to relax for the rest of the day, and hopefully this headache of mine will leave.

I just realized that I wanted to wash my truck tomorrow. I wonder if I’ll be able to fit the two in?

I’ve been busy with my homework. I’m slowly getting into the groove of school, yet it’s already the third week. I think the more hours I got from work is making me feel like there’s less time to get my studies done. Well, technically it IS less time, but the amount of free time I had before now seems shortened by a dramatic difference. Perhaps I will never be able to explain it properly, but hopefully the sporadic entries in my journal can give people the gist of what I’m trying to say.

There is a bit of good news, though. I actually managed to finish one part of my programming assignment. At least, I got it to work, but I don’t really know if it’s supposed to work in the way I made it. Hopefully my trip to school tomorrow will shed some light.

I still have a bunch of math to do, and there’s the other parts of my programming that need work, too.