First Day Back At School

Spring session has begun and I was really excited about going today. The momentum probably won’t last long but I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts.

Today was physics and we learned about plotting and vectors. Call me weird but I found it kind of fascinating, especially the part about adding vectors. The professor explains it easy enough, I think, so the onus falls on me to study and keep up. It looks complex but really it isn’t. All of it, so far, are just variables substituting for math and graphing concepts, like distance, radii, quadrants, axes, etc. that most people even with only basic knowledge of math, already know. I’m sure my story will be very different by next week though.

Since the class is only once a week, I have a week to make sure I understand the material and turn in my work. The professor is very old school and only accepts things on paper, in person, so there’s nothing online about it. The book is expensive though, I think around $250ish, so I’ll likely just get the PDF version. However it’s a Pearson book, so I would prefer the physical book because I’ve had a Pearson textbook before (Biology I) and the online exercises are extremely helpful.

I like that the class is very active as well. It’s not a bunch of blank faces staring into the void and it’s not quiet and everyone seems interested. Let’s see how long that lasts. My only problem was staying awake since it’s a very early class and some guy was snoring so he got called out. It takes time to adjust because I am normally sleep at this time.

I was also happy about being back on campus today because it’s really beautiful. Since I’ll be taking all classes in person this year, I’m going to hang out on the skybridge more often. It’s a walkover that crosses over a street down below and overlooks the Hudson River, so we can get to our classes on the northern side of the building instead of having to walk outside to them. Best invention ever. I will probably also find me a personal spot in the library to study because I’ve come to realize there are too many distractions and shenanigans going on at home for me to even study there. Unfortunately, where I live isn’t conducive to a good learning environment because certain folks in it want to ass out when they’re not the center of my attention, so they do childish nonsense to distract me. Sadly, not everyone out here is on your team and really are crabs in a barrel who want to see you fail. Good for me though, I see their game and I am not letting them throw monkey wrenches in my plans this year. I am going to find a favorite spot to study on campus, turn off my phone and that will be my second “home”.

Today was more activity than I thought, so as soon as I got home, I took a huge nap, which is why I’m just waking up and writing this so late. I brought my Acer laptop with me, but I see that I am not going to be able to take this with me everyday because it’s insanely heavy. I do have a spare MacBook Air which I think is either a 13″ or 15″ that I rarely use. I got it for free when my job laid me off and said I could keep it, so that will be the one I’m going to have to carry with me everyday since its very light and small. I just hate Apple. My Acer Predator Helios gaming laptop is an 18″ laptop and is a behemoth; it’s really just a portable desktop and feels like I’m lugging a whole tower on my back, so I’m definitely switching to my Air next week. At any rate, I just need to make sure I don’t fall behind, not take anything for granted and make sure I understand everything forwards and backwards by the following week.

For the vectors!