we put the aw in awesome

WE PUT THE AW IN AWESOME

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Finals Week?

Pretty sure finals are my favorite thing ever invented. I mean, who doesn't like having a comprehensive test for each and every class you are taking and taking these tests all at the same time? Well, let's just say adding packing, moving, unpacking, painting, fixing up the house, and being super pregnant didn't make this a good experience. And I'm actually gonna take that back about cleaning. Our house is always the cleanest when we have tests coming up or a ton of homework to do. Michael and I just really like procrastinating and pushing the things that stress us out to the background, what better way to do that than to clean? At least that means our house is clean, right? This time around, I needed a bigger distraction. And Amber Holshouser knew exactly what I needed! She is like my best friend ever! And she's a recreation management major at BYU-I and one of her finals for a class in her program was to organize an end-of-the-semester barbecue for her class and to invite people to come. So we went. There was bobbing for apples, a sweet ring toss game, cotton candy machine, dancing, a cake walk, and a rope swing that went over a canal full of water! Too bad we didn't know about that last part til we got there and I thought it would be a bad idea to take a dip with white shorts on.... I won a cake on the cake walk! And Michael officially had the biggest cotton candy ever made in the history of man. Seriously, it was huge. And we ended up know quite a few of the people there too. Funny how small this place is. But it was a nice way to relax and not worry about finals for a little while.

Michael had a final in all of his 6 classes. His online class which is CIT something, basically an intro to Excel class, his final consisted of this huge final project that is like a fourth of his grade or something ridiculous. He had done well all semester, other than doing all his assignments the day they were due, so his grade was awesome. I think it was a 98. So he spent some time debating whether he should just skip this last assignment and take a lower grade so he could spend the time saved from doing that on something more important like his business class or accounting. At first, he thought not doing the assignment would only drop his grade a couple of points and he would still get and A or A-. Thank goodness he checked that again because not doing it would have actually brought his grade down to a B- and it would really hurt his GPA. Right now he has a full tuition scholarship, cuz he's awesome, and a B- could take that away. That wasn't an option for him. So he spent probably 10 hours on this assignment, turned it in not completely done the way it needed to be, but to the best of his ability. Did I mention that Michael's computer died the week before finals? Yea, completely dead, wouldn't turn on or anything. It had done this a week prior to dying and I did a system check on it and it said it worked right and passed all the tests. Well it worked for a week and died! So he's stuck with using my computer, which is super dumb, and isn't set up the same way with excel and doesn't have any of the previous assignments that Michael had done. Poor thing. So he spent forever on this assignment and when he checked his grade, it said his class grade was a 81 and that he got a 12 on that huge assignment! Let me tell you, not a happy guy.... And it's a good thing I wasn't around to hear what he had to say about it.... Michael's teacher hadn't graded any of the assignments that hard before and it was totally unfair since Michael had done much more work that 12 percent worth. So he emailed the teacher and found the problem. My computer is dumb. The end.

Somehow, my computer decided it was only going to save the first of 5 pages of Michael's project under the correct title in the right place. So the one Michael turned in didn't include all that he had done. He found the completed version, turned it in and got a 98 on the assignment and a 98 in the class. Thank goodness!

As for me, my finals weren't all that exciting. Other than the fact that I'm an angry person. My teacher challenged us, a class full of girls, that if we could eat a whole raw egg, shell and all that we could be exempt from taking the final for our Zoonosis class. Well, apparently that sounds like a good idea, even though we just learned about Salmonella and all sorts of bacteria and diseases you could contract by doing so. Fun. 5 girls took the challenge right away and succeeded. Then the teacher kept pushing the rest of us to do it, well I wasn't going to. I'm already nauseous all the time anyway, why push it. So a few more girls took the challenge until two thirds of the class had done it. So the day for the test came and some of the people that succeeded in the challenge left so the rest of us could take the test and a few of the girls decided they wanted to stay in the classroom. Awesome. I'm taking this test, which was fairly easy and I ended up getting a 98 on, and these girls start talking. That's nice, let's talk while most of the people in the room are taking a test. So I politely shhh'ed them and they kept talking. Now I'm stressed out, this being number 4 of 6 finals and number 4 of 7 tests I would take that week. And I'm pregnant. And my name is Amanda Wampler and I'm an angry person. So since no one else was going to say anything, I sure was. I already don't like the girls that were talking, so hurting their feelings sure wasn't going to make me feel bad. I said to this girl something along the lines of "Excuse me (which I thought was awful polite of me) but all of the rest of us are really quiet when you're taking your test so we would really appreciate it if you could be quiet while we're taking ours or leave the room." I didn't raise my voice or say it with an attitude, which took a whole lot. And this girl turns around and says "Oh well I didn't think I was being that loud." And keeps right on talking. Now I'm pissed. I'm not sure what my blood pressure was, but my heart was pounding so fast and so hard that you could see it move my shirt sleeve. Obviously if I have to say something then it's distracting. And why don't you just leave the room? What makes it so cool to be in the room with everyone taking a test that you feel the need to be in there? I mean, maybe she just felt the need to boast the fact that she can eat a whole raw egg, but really, is that something you're going to list on your resume when you're looking for a job as a vet tech. Um, yes my name is Blah Blah Blah and I'm an idiot, but I can eat a whole raw egg! Yea, I'd rather take a test so that I know I'm learning the material and then I can say, I'm super smart and I have good grades to show for it and I don't try to back out of things expected of my by taking short cuts. I couldn't just leave it at that, and all of these things, and many much more hateful things were running through my mind. So I said something back to her "Did I not make myself clear? I said stop talking or leave, you're being extremely rude and no one appreciates what you're doing right now." I yelled this, almost at the top of my lungs. I was shaking I was so upset, and honestly, I'm not sure what kept me from jumping over the tables to punch her in the mouth for being so rude. I know it doesn't seem like much, just talking while I'm taking a test, but I really don't like this girl, and if the teacher had been in the classroom, she would have been so quiet you wouldn't have known she was there. She's such a suck up and a teacher's pet, but only because she doesn't want to have to work at getting good grades or actually learning anything. And I'm pretty sure that if it hadn't been the last day I would see her for 5 months that I would be kicked out of BYU-I for kicking her butt! I'm so angry!!!! Actually, reading over this again, 3 weeks after it happened is cracking me up. I was totally right in saying something to her, I didn't cuss or use violence to get my point across and the rest of the people in the room appreciated what I said. Totally justified, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Coming soon: Stress relief or labor inducer? What did you do to your house? Cedar Ridge Animal Hospital! and When's that baby coming?