![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elsajeniWell, I have figured out my schedules for summer and fall. And I'm inordinately pleased with myself about it!
I would have had to do this by next week anyway, but I was spurred on by something totally unexpected: an email from the director of the creative writing department, saying I'd been nominated for a special summer poetry course. Which included a weeklong workshop conference, which I'd wanted to go to but had actually emailed the directors of to point out that a huge percentage of UH students take summer courses, and the vast majority of those courses are in the first six-week term, and so if they wanted to attract serious students from the UH community at all they might do better not holding their conference over the last week of that most-popular summer term. And now I have been specially invited to it! And I have no idea why! (I mean, obviously, it's because I'm awesome. But in terms of a specific accomplishment that could have gotten me the nomination, I am mystified.)
So, if I did that, I couldn't take another class during the first six-week term (I had planned to take 2), because I'd be at the conference for the last week. So I got to add that restriction to the whole puzzle-solving dimension of picking my classes -- I'm very close to finishing my degree, but the last few classes I need are all for fairly specific requirements, and so finding an arrangement of classes that meet those requirements, don't call for prereqs I don't have, and don't require me to be in two places at the same time does start to seem like, by solving this puzzle, I should unlock a new special ability of some kind. (Technically I will: it's called Graduation.)
Anyway, what I ended up with was this:
Summer 6-Week One: fancy poetry class; Institutional and Organizational Psychology (online, so I can take it in spite of the last-week conflict)
Summer 6-Week Two: Elements of Algebra and Number Theory (lower-level survey-type class)
Fall: Medieval Literature; Grammar and Usage; Number Theory
Which is: two remaining English electives; a "Writing in the Disciplines" course, which seems to mean "a social sciences course where you have to write a paragraph or two at some point"; an English course that fulfills the British lit requirement, thus allowing me to shift Irish lit from "British lit" to "minority lit"; a 4000-level math class to complete my math minor; and an extra math class to bring me up to 23 hours of math, in case I decide to do the No Child Left Behind emergency teacher-certification plan. And, miraculously, it's almost all classes that I'm excited about taking -- the fancy poetry class! Medieval Lit taught by the same awesome professor who's teaching my Chaucer class this semester! (At Rice, the resident medievalist was, hmm. Let us say, widely renowned for not being a professor you want. The one at UH is awesome. Now that I've transferred I can take ALL THE COOL CLASSES AHAHAHA.) Grammar & Usage! Number Theory! You see why I am so damn pleased with myself!
I don't know if I mentioned it, but I'm taking Abstract Algebra this semester. Which means, basically, every homework problem I do involves writing proofs. I was worried about this at first. I always thought I sucked at, and therefore hated, proofs; the only time I've done them before was in the 8th grade, in geometry, and it was miserable. Turns out I love proofs; I just sucked at geometry. I am also inordinately pleased with myself about this!
Also, about my American lit midterm! I got a solid B overall, and for the two essays I got an A-, with the comment "Good essay," and a B-, with the comment "Not as good as Essay #1." (I feel this is not a 100% helpful comment, but oh well.)
So, this post is way too long and kind of pointless. But hey, that's what Livejournal's for! Right?
I would have had to do this by next week anyway, but I was spurred on by something totally unexpected: an email from the director of the creative writing department, saying I'd been nominated for a special summer poetry course. Which included a weeklong workshop conference, which I'd wanted to go to but had actually emailed the directors of to point out that a huge percentage of UH students take summer courses, and the vast majority of those courses are in the first six-week term, and so if they wanted to attract serious students from the UH community at all they might do better not holding their conference over the last week of that most-popular summer term. And now I have been specially invited to it! And I have no idea why! (I mean, obviously, it's because I'm awesome. But in terms of a specific accomplishment that could have gotten me the nomination, I am mystified.)
So, if I did that, I couldn't take another class during the first six-week term (I had planned to take 2), because I'd be at the conference for the last week. So I got to add that restriction to the whole puzzle-solving dimension of picking my classes -- I'm very close to finishing my degree, but the last few classes I need are all for fairly specific requirements, and so finding an arrangement of classes that meet those requirements, don't call for prereqs I don't have, and don't require me to be in two places at the same time does start to seem like, by solving this puzzle, I should unlock a new special ability of some kind. (Technically I will: it's called Graduation.)
Anyway, what I ended up with was this:
Summer 6-Week One: fancy poetry class; Institutional and Organizational Psychology (online, so I can take it in spite of the last-week conflict)
Summer 6-Week Two: Elements of Algebra and Number Theory (lower-level survey-type class)
Fall: Medieval Literature; Grammar and Usage; Number Theory
Which is: two remaining English electives; a "Writing in the Disciplines" course, which seems to mean "a social sciences course where you have to write a paragraph or two at some point"; an English course that fulfills the British lit requirement, thus allowing me to shift Irish lit from "British lit" to "minority lit"; a 4000-level math class to complete my math minor; and an extra math class to bring me up to 23 hours of math, in case I decide to do the No Child Left Behind emergency teacher-certification plan. And, miraculously, it's almost all classes that I'm excited about taking -- the fancy poetry class! Medieval Lit taught by the same awesome professor who's teaching my Chaucer class this semester! (At Rice, the resident medievalist was, hmm. Let us say, widely renowned for not being a professor you want. The one at UH is awesome. Now that I've transferred I can take ALL THE COOL CLASSES AHAHAHA.) Grammar & Usage! Number Theory! You see why I am so damn pleased with myself!
I don't know if I mentioned it, but I'm taking Abstract Algebra this semester. Which means, basically, every homework problem I do involves writing proofs. I was worried about this at first. I always thought I sucked at, and therefore hated, proofs; the only time I've done them before was in the 8th grade, in geometry, and it was miserable. Turns out I love proofs; I just sucked at geometry. I am also inordinately pleased with myself about this!
Also, about my American lit midterm! I got a solid B overall, and for the two essays I got an A-, with the comment "Good essay," and a B-, with the comment "Not as good as Essay #1." (I feel this is not a 100% helpful comment, but oh well.)
So, this post is way too long and kind of pointless. But hey, that's what Livejournal's for! Right?