As I write this, I could work on my operating systems project for another 6 minutes and still turn it in on time. But it wouldn’t work any more then than it does now. So it’s turned in, and now I finally have a bit of what you might call free time.

In reality, it’s not really all that free. I have a project due on the 18th, another on the 24th, and midterms on the 21st, 24th, and 29th. But at least the next thing in front of me has a due date that’s a week from now.

So let’s see…where did I leave you off, gentle reader? Beginning of October, I believe. I’d just learned that the aforementioned operating systems project had been moved back a week (and a good thing too; I still only managed to get it mostly done even with the extra week). But I had plenty of other stuff to deal with as well. So here’s a quick rundown of the time since then, not counting class time.

October 1 – worked on OS project. Went to men’s Bible study, where we studied the discipline of friendship.

October 2 – worked on OS project. Worked on concurrent programming project. In just about the only television I watched all week, I let myself watch “Ed”.

October 3 – Gator (the equivalent to UA BCM’s Discovery) at 8:30; the rest of my time working on the above two projects. Find out that my sister and grandparents are going to be together for a little while. Can I come down and see them? Nope, both for obvious reasons, and ones I’ve yet to mention.

October 4 – Sigh. More work on the projects. I did play in the 3rd semi-annual boggy-pong tournament, where I made it to the final table and finished a respectable 8th. Not bad for someone who learned the game a little over a month ago. Sigh again – my car begins to overheat again, and it turns out that the coolant reservoir is empty again. I fill it with water and make it back home.

October 5 – you guessed it; work on the operating systems project. I turned in the concurrent programming assignment. Allowed myself to watch the ‘Bama game without having pencil and paper nearby to jot down psuedocode, but had them there for the Florida game. What is it that prompts both teams to lose on the same day? I took the Florida one in stride, but I got irritated about the ‘Bama game. I was fuming when Tennessee lucked out against Arkansas.

October 6 – I turn 25, and promptly have one of my lousier birthdays. First, the reservoir is empty again, which I find out just before going to church. No way I’m going to run the car under those circumstances, and too late for asking someone for a lift, so no church. Then, work on my database project with my project team. For 7 hours. I did mention that this was my birthday, right? Of course, don’t get to see my sister and grandparents, because it’s too late (it was 9 when we finished), and even if I had the time, I have no method of transportation to get me to Melbourne. I haven’t eaten since noon. So I go home and realize there’s nothing there to eat, so I pedal over to the Kash ‘n Karry and buy a few snacks. When the cashier inquires as to my dubious choices in nutrition, I tell her that I’m splurging because it’s my special day. She doubts my good word, so I show her my driver’s license. Get home, eat, fall into bed. Happy birthday to me, indeed.

October 7 – no work on a project for once. Why? Because my OS midterm’s tomorrow. Study all day for that.

October 8 – take the OS midterm. Actually feel reasonably good about it. Realize that’s probably not a good feeling, because it means that there probably won’t be any curve involved in the grading. The work on the OS project begins anew. Men’s Bible study is about discipline of the mind. A couple of friends surprise me there with a belated birthday cake – really nice of them. The men chow down. I get an extra piece to take home.

October 9 – more OS project work. Yeah, that’s about it.

Which brings me up to the 10th, which I spent either working on the OS project or in class, phasing in and out of the lectures, writing psuedocode for the OS project. By the time 8:20 p.m. came around, I told myself that it wasn’t going to get any better. I was getting at that point where the code was all running together, much like a term paper will do once you’ve pored over it more than a few times. I’d already busted the program a couple of times during the course of the day, and rather than risk doing something irreparable in the time remaining to me, I turned it in and let it go. That left me 10 minutes to get to Gator on time. On my bike. Didn’t happen, but I was only about five minutes late.

My apartment is a complete and utter wreck. I haven’t cleaned up in over two weeks. The garbage needs to be taken out. It isn’t pretty. I very badly need a haircut. I could probably stand to go grocery shopping, but that’s tough to do without a car. Speaking of which — the car needs fixing, again, with the same basic problem as before. (Can you say free, boys and girls? Because you’d better…) For the past two weeks, my life has been practically nothing but school. That’s something that I haven’t experienced in a couple of years, and I’d forgotten just how much it takes out of you. I’m not burned out on the semester yet or anything, but I am a lot more tired than I was just a few weeks ago.

Have I learned a lot over these past two weeks? You better believe it. Before this OS project, I thought I knew Java. I didn’t know Java. The printed-out APIs strewn around my office floor attest to my lack of knowledge. And much as I’ve come to fear OS, this project was actually pretty cool. It taught me a lot of things that I wanted to learn eventually anyway.

I’ve learned a lot about myself, too. I’ve had to make decisions that I hate to make about the way I study and work on things; that is, to study for an entire day for a test instead of just a couple of hours, and to get them done ahead of schedule, respectively. But if I hadn’t made those decisions, I wouldn’t have done well on the OS test, nor would have I finished (well, almost) all of those projects.

My life is a simple one, really. I go to class. I do my work. If I have time before a class, I work on the crossword in the newspaper. Between classes, I may do homework or take a quick break at the BCM. I go to my Bible study on Tuesday nights, Gator on Thursday nights, and church on Sundays when I’ve got the transportation to get there. When I’m at home, I’m usually working on homework or a project, studying, eating, or sleeping.

My e-mail has backed up worse than I’ve ever let it get before. All of my websites, not just this one, are crying out for an update. I’ve got over 100 e-mails to go through for updates on the college tradition site. And I’m not even sure when the last time that I sent an e-mail to a person I actually know that wasn’t about school.

If you think that this is a cry for help, you’re only partially right. Much as I’ve said here, I don’t feel that I’m over my head, yet. Who knows? That time may come eventually. But as I’ve said to more than a couple of people, “I knew what I was getting into when I signed on.” If this is what I have to do to become a professor, this is what I’m going to do.