6 Days left (no more space on the hard drive!)

Hi, it's "Wednesday" today but I am not writing in my blog because today I am STUDYING. Because tomorrow is E-Day- back to back exams, 8-11 and 1-4. In the morning I type my last Combinatorics problem in Latex (that's the last problem I did, not the last one assigned- there is a big difference) to email in, and then I spend (are we in present tense...? I'm so confused by this little charade) far too long happily filling in the details of a complex analysis proof with 5 hypotheses and one conclusion that involves choosing 6 capital letters (6!!!) (Eric will know what I'm talking about here.) Things like "Choose N (in bold N*) such that k greater than or equal to N implies absolute z sub k minus l is less than epsilon over 3Q." (That's step five of this proof.) It is a proof about regular matrices- the necessary and sufficient conditions thereof (although we only proved sufficiency.) On the last day of class, Professor King's lecture was sort of a Mathematical Field Trip- he talked about summability theory and approximation theory and probability theory and Cezarro matrices and many other Wonders, things far beyond our understanding. I took notes out of habit.

Eventually I go to school with Nate, and head to the libary, the place where I do my serious studying. Problem: apparently the undergraduates actually stop drinking beer and start studying, at least a little bit, during finals week because THERE ARE NO EMPTY DESKS IN THE LIBRARY. I wander the floors, looking for a desk, noting that literally about half of the desks are not occupied by people but merely by possessions. (including a LAPTOP COMPUTER!! What kind of mindset allows someone to leave their laptop computer abandoned in a library?!?) Where is everyone? In the bathroom at the same time? Greeting their friends in other parts of the libary? FINALLY I find a desk that is unoccupied because it has no chair- I steal an unused chair from a nearby group study table, unpack, and settle in. I start going, slowly (too slowly) through the final exam study check list for Random Processes (which is a wicked cool class, by the way). Things that I learned in January have largely been forgotten. After a while I realize that my growing irritation is due to the fact that I am only a few feet from the door leading into this area of the library, which squeaks upon opening and has people going through it literally EVERY TWO SECONDS. (I suppose they are commuting between their slovenly occupied desks and... the bathroom? Visiting their friends?) Finally I can't stand it anymore and pack up to head to my office, which has more privacy and snacks in the desk drawers and a bathroom and waterfountain nearby and a phone to call Nate and tell him I can't to go dinner with him, too much to do. (Why don't I study there all the time, you ask? The chair is less comfortable, the lighting is not as good, and the school computer on my desk takes up too much space.)

Fast forward to several hours later- I leave with Nate to go to the last Ladies' Bible Study of the semester (on self-control), where there are donuts, which must serve as my makeshift dinner. (Why would you bring donuts to a Bible study on self-control? To practice...? I have no idea.) I get home around 9, put in three more hours of stuyding, and go to bed.

As I told Becky at Bible study- the problem with two exams in one day is that you have to figure out how to partition your brain into two parts, one side to hold all the content for each exam. As I studied Random Processes throughout the day, I felt like my brain was filling completely and there would be no more room to contain the proofs of twelve theorems required for the Complex Final. So in a strategic move I decided to memorize only 6 of the proofs, saving the other six to memorize in the two hour break between exams the next day. Would my strategy pay off, or be a disaster? Tune in tomorrow to the exciting conclusion of, "No More Space On The Hard Drive"!!**

*This is the Natural Numbers N, i.e., 1,2,3,4,... . I know how to do this in Latex now, but, computer illiterate as I am, I suspect that the Latex code for this type of N is not the same as the blogger code for this type of N...? (It's not just bold N, really, it should have a doubly-thick middle line... I don't know how to explain this to y'all unless you've seen it on a chalkboard...)

**This is a Cheesy Marketing Ploy to try to ensure brand loyalty on the part of my readers. (But you WILL tune in "tomorrow," won't you?)