I went and took my programming language principles test this morning. I’ve never, in my life, worried so much about one test. I was really concerned that I would have to re-take the course, as it’s a core course, and according to the department you can’t use anything lower than a B in core courses.

I don’t mesh well with the professor’s style of tests. I made a C – a low C – on the first test, and this one was pretty rough as well. If it wasn’t for my decent homework average and perfect project score, I wouldn’t have much of a chance at all of making a B in the first place. I didn’t even know what my homework average was until after I took the test. But I needed to make a 70 on the final to get my B, which I’m pretty confident that I did.

So now, I have two options. One is to pack tonight and head out early tomorrow. The other is to take an optional final in operating systems tomorrow, with the hopes of moving a B+ in my other core course to an A. That would be nice, on consideration that it’d help to counterbalance that B in PLP. But I haven’t been able to get myself to study for it yet. I had a test in there only a couple of weeks ago, so a lot of the information is probably still fresh.

I’ve already decided that I’m going to show up and at least take a look at the test. If I feel that I can do well on it, I’ll give it a shot; otherwise, I’ll just walk out immediately.

Okay, so enough about school. I’m tired of talking about it, myself.

I’ve got to say – I really enjoyed my first semester back in school. I have met some wonderful people and made some really great friendships already. I’ve gotten involved at a church, which was something that I didn’t do as much as I should have while I was in Tuscaloosa, and that’s been great too. I’d have to say that if I’d have performed somewhat better academically, this was one of the best semesters that I’ve ever experienced while in college. (Note to self: it might be interesting to rank these…after all, you’ve experienced thirteen of them now.)

Some things from this semester:

I’ve really grown closer to God in a lot of ways. One of the biggest is trusting Him in building friendships here at Florida. One thing that I’ve struggled with for a long time is low self-esteem, and this often translated to me not being as outgoing as I should. But here, thanks be to God, I have been able to meet some great people, and even be considered funny and entertaining by some. Scary thought, eh?

That comradery leads to the next way that I’ve been able to grow – in fellowship with other guys. This was something that I wish that Alabama’s BCM could have – maybe it does now. I hope it does, anyway. There are a set of guys here who are not only spiritually sound, but really love each other and try to hang out together a lot. We all did something at least once a month. I also attended a mens’ Bible study, which was really good as well.

It was hard for me at first to accept being the “old guy”. Even as an MBA student, I was only a couple of years older than most of the people I knew well. Here, there are people who were in sixth grade when I started college. Tell me that wouldn’t make you feel old. I’ve been the recipient of some good-natured kidding about it, of course; I’ve been called “Grandpa” on more than one occasion, and a good shot in boggy-pong usually results in someone being impressed that an “old man can still run like that.”

I could go on like this for a while, but I probably should look over those OS notes a few times if I actually expect to do well on the test tomorrow. I realized that I hadn’t done much actual writing on this site for a while about my life, so I figured that the loyal viewers out there (all 4 of you) deserved that.