ode to being a non-1st year grad student

there are no more finals.

today was the last day of classes, i still have 2 more homework assignments and i don't want to do them.

class 1: my advisor's lecture class... i've turned in homework fairly regularly all semester. he's told us he will give us all As, but it's in our best interest to turn in a final project if we want him to hold us in high esteem. he already holds me in decently high esteem and i never picked a project so it depends on how motivated i feel on picking and doing one. i *should* since i have 3 days before i head south, but, if i feel like not doing math, maybe i'll just keep not doing math ;-)

class 2: combinatorial commutative algebra. the professor originally said she'd give us homework every two weeks... that turned into 3 assignments corresponding to the 3 major chunks of the semester... and then that turned into never getting around to writing a 3rd assignment. on assignment 1, i was the only one who turned anything in (of the other 4 students, 1 was finishing his thesis, and 2 have been working on oral quals). now, on assignment two, i remember learning these things in some form before spring break, but it's been so long and i never put them to use outside of paying attention in lecture that i really have no idea how to start. sarah, (whose advisor is the professor teaching the class), claimed last week that she'd be around tomorrow working on the assignment, so i might see if she's around to help, and if i don't feel inspired by the end of tomorrow, heck i've turned in more than anyone else, and i have a feeling we all get As anyhow, so what's it to me?

this is the nice thing about not being a first year student anymore. there are no more finals. in fact, although there are "grades", they're really not significant at all. this doesn't do much for motivation to *do* homework, but whatever. after one more semester hopefully i'll be done with orals and not required to take classes anymore either. *that* will be wonderful. halfway there, but not quite.

in happy news: tammy called tonight... it was the first time we had chatted in a couple months (since mid-march i guess)... she was really into learning about john nash's work at one point in undergrad, so i had sent her an email about meeting him, and she wrote back how much she enjoyed reading it and that her and marcus were closing on a house this week and that she and i should chat again sometime soon, so tonight she was a much welcome distraction from work.... we talked for nearly an hour. :-)

otherwise, i'm in a weird mood though... now that classes are done i don't want to work for a bit (and perhaps i just won't?)... i also seem to get annoyed with just about everything anyone does, even so much as breathing and have been rather passive-aggressive lately if things do annoy me. i recognize that no one's doing anything mean or frustrating and that i just have an exceedingly short fuse right now... eric's theory is it's just the end of the semester and that it's ok. it's a good thing i'll be in the car for two days straight later in the week... i think after that i'll chill out some.

but the chat was good... i'm glad for tammy :-)

now, maybe to read some non-math.

night y'all :-P