Rather than x-post from Natter, I'll just link to the post I made.
Anya: We should drop a piano on her. It always works for that creepy cartoon rabbit when he's running from that nice man with the speech impediment. Giles: Yes, or perhaps we could paint a convincing fake tunnel on the side of a mountain.
'Touched'
Spike's Bitches 30: Going on Thirteen
[NAFDA] Spike-centric discussion. Lusty, lewd (only occasionally crude), risque (and frisque), bawdy (Oh, lawdy!), flirty ('cuz we're purty), raunchy talk inside. Caveat lector.
Sean K - May 30, 2006 7:54:16 pm PDT #6841 of 10002
You can't leave me to my own devices; my devices are Nap and Eat. -Zenkitty
Polter-Cow - May 30, 2006 7:59:47 pm PDT #6842 of 10002
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
Congrats, Sean! I know that shit can be scary. I've never had to be Spider-Man, but I've been high up on Ladders of Doom and wall-crawling scaffolds to hang and adjust lights and I fear death and dismemberment.
Cass - May 30, 2006 8:09:19 pm PDT #6843 of 10002
Bob's learned to live with tragedy, but he knows that this tragedy is one that won't ever leave him or get better.
Dude. You KNOW your mom's non-dad kissing history? I sure as heck don't.I was watching the History Channel with my mom and found out more of hers. It was kinda strange. There was a moment of, "Huh, this other guy could have been my dad. But then I wouldn't be me..." And then I stopped channeling Oz cause it was confusing.
I once again vote for more buffistas to move to Portland, because I want to move there. And I want people I know to already be there when I do.::checks "Move to Portland" off list::
Hey, I'm going to start taking belly dancing classesI just decided to do this as well. Friend brought it up tonight and it seemed like a fabulous idea. I think the classes start next month.
Hil R. - May 30, 2006 8:09:48 pm PDT #6844 of 10002
Sometimes I think I might just move up to Vermont, open a bookstore or a vegan restaurant. Adam Schlesinger, z''l
I'm freaking out a teensy bit about my exam. (Just a teensy bit? Actually, yes.)
The format of this exam: it's an oral exam, two hours long. There are three professors asking questions that I have to answer, and anyone who wants to come watch it can. (Pretty much, this means most of my math friends who aren't going away for the summer will be there.) So far, so good. I'm reasonably confident that I know the material, and I've got no problems with public speaking.
The way the questions are asked is what's getting to me. Pretty much, the point is to test the depth of my knowledge of various areas of combinatorics. So, they'll pick some topic, start with questions to make sure I know the basics, then ask for more details. More analysis. More insight. This continues, until it gets to the point where I can't answer any more, and then they move on to the next topic.
I am horrible at being in a situation where I don't know the answer. And no matter how hard I prepare for this exam, there will be at least five or so times that I just have no idea what's going on, due to the format of the exam. And during my practice exams, this always ended up flustering me enough that I'd do much better on the first few topics than on the later ones, because by the time it got to the third or so topic, my brain was already in "I didn't know the answer! I didn't know the answer!" mode. And even though I know that it's expected that there will be times when I don't know the answer, I just can't get myself out of that mindset.
Hence, the mildly freaking out.
DavidS - May 30, 2006 8:24:06 pm PDT #6845 of 10002
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Hence, the mildly freaking out.
Phew, perfectionism is hard work. I'm glad I don't have that issue.
So, here's my suggestion. Don't think about like it's a mythological test that you have to pass in order to get by the minotaur. Think about it if you were the teacher and just wanted to see the depth of knowledge of your student. You don't expect them to know everything yet. But you want them to have a clue. Show your cluefulness. Show your process.
You're making an error between your expectations for yourself and their expectations for you. You expect to be perfect. They don't. You need to recalibrate what you think you're being tested for. Not knowledge but overall functional understanding of combinatorics.
Hil R. - May 30, 2006 8:31:47 pm PDT #6846 of 10002
Sometimes I think I might just move up to Vermont, open a bookstore or a vegan restaurant. Adam Schlesinger, z''l
I think it's more of a disconnect between my actual expectations for myself, and what I feel like I should expect from myself. I know that I'm not going to be able to answer everything. I don't expect to be able to, and frankly, it would really freak me out if I could answer everything, because then I'd think that the questions weren't hard enough. It's more that reflexive "you should know this" that's overriding the rational "I'm not going to know everything."
(I am going to be so glad when this exam is over. It's the last actual exam I have to get through -- all the formal things from now on are thesis-related things, so I have much more control over them. Well, I do still have the foreign language exam, but I'm not worrying about that one at all.)
Trudy Booth - May 30, 2006 8:39:43 pm PDT #6847 of 10002
Greece's financial crisis threatens to take down all of Western civilization - a civilization they themselves founded. A rather tragic irony - which is something they also invented. - Jon Stewart
I can't even imagine taking an exam where by design it was inevitable I "fail" at some point, nevermind repeatedly. And I'm no where near a perfectionist.
DavidS - May 30, 2006 8:40:57 pm PDT #6848 of 10002
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
And I'm no where near a perfectionist.
::gives Trudy the secret handshake of imperfection::
Cass - May 30, 2006 8:41:37 pm PDT #6849 of 10002
Bob's learned to live with tragedy, but he knows that this tragedy is one that won't ever leave him or get better.
psst, David. I think you did that wrong.
DavidS - May 30, 2006 8:44:41 pm PDT #6850 of 10002
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
psst, David. I think you did that wrong.
::docks Cass imperfection points for correcting me, but gives her double points for doing it publically which is, of course, the wrong thing to do::
::gooses Cass. Gooses Trudy for good measure. Waits for Hil's ass to wander around in a distracted fashion...::