Linkstew

One of my goals this semester was perfect attendance, but when the day was done, I didn't quite make it.

I actually missed my first three classes way back on Wednesday, November 13th. I had a 172 homework assignment due that due that was giving me fits, and by 10 am that morning I hadn't made much progress. Instead of go to class and split my attention between lecture and my homework, I decided to stay home and focus on my assignment. I'm going to console myself that I missed those classes because I was working on a homework assignment.

Looking back now, I never would have made that choice. The assignment was due at 2:30 (the beginning of class), but I figured I had until 4pm (the end of class) to turn it in. At 3:30 I only had three questions answered. I needed to turn in what I had, so I started out the door for a brisk walk up campus to Soda. When I got to Hearst and Euclid at 3:55, I got vaguely worried when I saw a few of my classmates walking onto campus. When I got to Soda, I found the classroom empty, and the teacher gone. I don't know if my clocks were off or what, but that finding incredibly frustrated me.

I suppose I could have tried to email the instructor to turn in the assignment, but between only having three of the problems done, and not wanting to contest the instructor's "no late homework" policy, I didn't bother.

To make things worse, that night, I had a Ling 106 assignment to do that also gave me fits. In retrospect, I suspect going to my 106 discussion that day would have helped me significantly in writing that assignment.

Just as I predicted, once I missed one class, I missed many more by the end of the semester. I missed two more 106 discussions, missed a 172 discussion, and missed every 160 discussion. I also missed every one of the last four 160 lectures, and 3 out of 4 of my last 172 discussions.

But, I went to every Ling 106 lecture this semester. Of course, Shannon claimed that I missed a lecture at Raleigh's after Ling on Thursday, but Jeremy backed up my claim of perfect Lakoff attendance.

I'm pretty sure that I never managed perfect attendance in even a single class before, so attending every Lakoff lecture feels like at least a partial success in my goal of perfect attendance this semester.

Every other year, I've taken Amtrak home for break on the Wednesday evening right before Thanksgiving. But every other year, I've also returned to Berkeley on Monday, missing a class or two in the process (depending on the year).

You probably think that given my goal of perfect attendance this semester, I'm torn about missing those classes on Monday. However, Monday's classes aren't the ones I'm actually worried about missing, because I have to be back before Monday anyway. I'll probably have to return to Berkeley on Saturday, because I've got a project due on Monday.

No, the classes I'm worried about missing are the classes on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. You see, since I'm going to have to return to Berkeley on Saturday, I'd only really get two days at home if I left on Wednesday evening. But if I go home on Tuesday, I'd get an extra day, putting my vacation closer to its normal length. Of course, if I do that, then I also miss 3 classes and break my perfect attendance record.

I'm pretty sure I'll just go home Wednesday, preserving my perfect attendance. I think I've been holding off on buying my tickets in case I accidentally sleep in and miss a class or something, but the longer I wait, the more expensive the tickets will get.

I got yet another Jury Summons today, after getting off scott free with the Kern Summons from June (I wasn't called).

Actually, it's worse than that:

I got a summons to serve in Oakland on December 4th, and a second summons to serve in Hayward on December 2nd. Literally two envelopes, containing two separate Alameda County Jury Summons. How ridiculous is it that I got my fifth and sixth jury summons in two and a half years (between two different counties) on the same day?

Man, Hayward! Hayward is sufficiently far away from Berkeley that I had to look it up on a map to see exactly where it was! It's like 20 miles from my apartment!

I'm trying to figure out how I can use each one to get out of the other, because after 10 weeks of perfect attendance, I'll be damned if I'm going to let jury duty sabotage that one day (or three days, depending on which summons I listen to) before my last day of classes at Berkeley.

And to top it off, I also found a notice that my rent is going up $30 next month taped to my door today. Bah.

Hopefully your Friday was better than mine.

Bah, Richard Stallman is speaking in Soda on Tuesday at 4pm, but thanks to my new attendance policy, I find myself in a bit of a quandry. I could go to part of my 3:30 class, I suppose, but I'd only be able to stay for about 10 minutes if I wanted to get any kind of seat for Stallman. And I know for a fact that Lakoff doesn't take well to people leaving his lectures early.

So I could go see Stallman speak and break my streak, or I could continue with the perfect attendance. The real problem is, if I break my streak, I know I'll start missing many many more classes, and that's just no good.

I suppose the answer's obvious, but it still bums me out that I'm going to miss seeing Stallman speak again.

One of my goals this semester is to make it to every single class. That might not sound that unreasonable, considering that elementary schools regularly give out "perfect attendance awards" -- hell, I might even have gotten one way back in the day -- I don't really remember...

But when you remember that I'm the guy that went to one half of a CS 170 lecture before deciding not to go for the rest of the semester, you'll hopefully understand why this goal is so "out there."

I just finished week 7 (out of 15) of my last semester at Berkeley, and so far so good. Admittedly, I had to leave one class early one time, and I was late to two other lectures -- but I've been to every lecture so far in some capacity.

Hell, even if I skipped the rest of the semester, I'm pretty sure that 7 weeks of perfect attendance is more classes than I went to in some entire semesters.

I think this might be a sign of a big change my undergraduate career. ;-)