The last lap….

When we would do the 1 mile run around the track in junior high and high school, the first few laps around the track weren’t that hard. Eventually, because I was never a very physically fit kid, each lap would get harder and harder until the last one. That last lap always seemed to take forever and was impossibly hard. I usually did that goofy walk/run/walk/walk/run thing, sweating like a pig and panting. Most of the other girls had already finished and gone to the locker room, and it was me and the three other “fat kids” bringing up the rear. Man, I hated PE.

So that’s what the end of every semester is like for me (except I like library science, unlike PE). The last three weeks seem insurmountable somehow and I’m already so tired. I keep running through my mind, “I have two more IML assignments to do and finish my digital library in the next 3 weeks!!!” and I keep overwhelming myself. I do this every semester, so I know in my heart that I’ll come through okay somehow, but it still manages to stress me out.

Here’s how I’m feeling about both classes right now:

IML: I really like the hands-on practical aspects of this class. Doing truth trees for first order logic sentences? Fun. Drawing out ER diagrams? Groovy. Explaining “relationship set” or “data independence” – bleck. One thing I’ve figured out quickly in this program is that I’m more of a “practice” person and not a “research” person. I get the ideas and theories behind something, but I’d rather actually be doing that something, not explaining it. I guess that’s why I keep getting A-‘s on my assignments for this class. He keeps asking me to go into more detail on my explanations, and I can’t. Maybe it’s a mental block or I’m just not as philosophical as he is. Or maybe it’s because I don’t like math.

DIL: Again, I like working on my DL project. As frustrating as Greenstone is, it’s rewarding to work on something and have something tangible to show for it. I’m in the unique position where everyone in my group is so eager to get stuff done and done correctly, we’re having arguments about who does what because some people want to do everything. I’m so used to the opposite or having one or two members who drop off the planet until the last week. It’s kinda cool yet still kinda frustrating. I just hope we can get it together to bring the project to a successful end and that I can figure out how to separate two different “resource types” into two separate browse lists in Greenstone.

The readings for DIL put me to sleep though. Most of it is repetitive with what I’ve read in my Electronic Publishing class or Organization of Information class or even my Web Design class. I also hate that we have to do weekly bulletin board posts with insightful comments about the readings or something similar. Since I’ve already done a lot of these readings, I’ve used up my insightful comments on previous classes. I know that I should be able to come up with more, but again, I’ve reached that walk/run/walk/walk/run point in the semester. The brain is tired.

What complicates all of this is that I’m still recovering from my knee surgery. I am happy to report though that while I’m still not able to bend my leg or walk very far without crutches, my knee no longer resembles an oddly-colored cube in the middle of my leg. It looks more like a giant, flesh-colored sphere. With luck and hard work, hopefully it will actually look like a knee by Christmas.

I shall now wrap up this long whining session with a little spirit-lifting thought for myself. As crappy of a runner I was in junior high and high school, I could probably run a mile fairly easily now (okay, prior to the knee surgery). Hopefully the same applies for when I graduate from school and start getting to work on this stuff for real.