Today's throwback blog is titled De Anza Week Mar 21, 2011 in Mar 2011. Another De Anza College blog when I went back to school during the Great Recession. The Mar 21, 2011 week was finals week for the Winter Quarter 2011. I was sick before and during finals week. Moreover, it was mid-terms at Mission College where I took Quickbooks. I ended the blog saying Winter 2011 was my worse quarter. There was a sickness bug throughout campus. Motivation was weak. Student-teacher connections were weak. It was a fatigued quarter. Everyone had grit. Everyone adjusted.
Mon Mar 21
Today was the last day of instruction. Finals started tomorrow. My Intermediate Acct professor was on-call for jury duty. The probability was rare to be called in on the first day and the probability was rare to serve. My professor was called in and he served.
The professor arrived late. He showed his juror badge. The students received the practice final from a student at the beginning of class. We received extra credit by completing the practice final by Friday, the day of our final. The professor lectured and reviewed a few of the questions. The final was Chapters 16, 18, and 19.
Intro to Business was my first final. There were conflicts with some students if we took the final on Wed. Everyone choose to have the final today. The final was 100 questions consisted of 40% new material after the third mid-term and 60% old material. I didn’t study. My feeling was I passed the class. I answered all the accounting, stocks, and investment questions correctly. I better answered them correctly because I’m an accounting major and I followed the stock market during the dot-com era. I submitted more extra credit when I submitted my final. The extra credit was 20 points for selling a stock with at least $1,000 profit and 2 points for buying and selling an exchanged traded fund involving currency.
I went home one hour earlier. It took me one hour to complete the Intro to Business final.
Tue Mar 22
My sinus infection got worse Monday night. I scheduled an appointment in the afternoon with my primary care physician. He extended my antibiotics for five more days and said I continue to take Mucinix D. He also gave me a prescription for codeine and Nasonex.
Quickbooks class was short. We took our mid-term. The mid-term was 25 true and false and 15 multiple choice. 50% of the questions were from the textbook. I didn’t study. I answered the accounting concepts questions correctly. I better answered them correctly because I’m an accounting major. There was no lecture afterwards. I start working on the take home mid-term during spring break.
Wed Mar 23
I took two teaspoons of codeine and sprayed Nasonex inside my nose. It took me a long time to sleep. The codeine didn’t work.
I went to De Anza at 12:30pm because there was a study group for Intermediate Acct. Two students including myself showed up. I studied the textbook and my classmate worked on the practice mid-term. He looked at my practice mid-term I completed Tue afternoon as a guide. I spent Monday night and Tuesday afternoon on the practice mid-term.
I went back home to eat a late lunch and read Chapter 16. I drove back to De Anza at 7:10pm for the dance class final. The turnout was small. I recognized a few students who didn’t attend. They might not know we had a final. We reviewed the Cha Cha Cha, Waltz, Salsa, Nite Club Two-Step, and our dance demo West Coast Swing. The instructor ended the class as if tonight was a regular class meeting since finals we danced longer than a regular class meeting.
Fri Mar 25
This was it. I studied Chapters 16, 18, and 19 and reviewed the practice final twice for Intermediate Acct. I did my best. My goal was to pass the class. An A, B, or C grade doesn’t matter. I just wanted to pass. My sinus infection improved such that I cough less. I thought to myself I keep warm, I cough less. I drank lots of hot water. I stopped taking codeine on Wed night and continued spraying Nasonex. I continued the antibiotics and Mucinix D. My sleep was better Wed and Thur.
The Intermediate Acct final match the practice final mostly. The professor tweaked some of the questions such that students must know their basic Accounting 1B. I forgot most of my Accounting 1B. There were no CPA questions from Chapter 16. There were three questions exactly from the practice final. The final wasn’t hard in my opinion. I thought the final was written such that to earn an A on the final you must know basic 1B.
I returned my Intro to Business rented textbook to the bookstore. If students failed to return the textbook, the bookstore charged the full price on the textbook and the student owned it. Damn!
Highlights
There were few highlights in Winter ’11 quarter. Fall ’10 was the worse quarter. Winter ’11 is my worse quarter, and no other quarter comes as worse as this quarter. I choose to review the Winter ’11 highlights using a Q&A format.
What went wrong?
Laziness, boring classes, lost interest, lack of focus, no connection between the instructor and the students. There was no challenge. There was a fatigue bug throughout the quarter. It seemed everyone at De Anza including the teachers and staff were tired—lacked energy. There was also a sickness bug. My classmate in Intermediate Acct had the flu and missed one week. I had a sinus infection and I missed one week. My counselor said there was a sickness bug in her building.
The late lunch and study break between Intro to Business failed. I believed the break between the classes contributed to my quarter long fatigue. My late lunch didn’t give me enough energy to focus in dance class. I stopped attending Mon night dance class in March.
I should have taken more naps when I felt fatigue instead of fighting the fatigue. My fatigue contributed a significant part to my sinus infection.
Winter ’11 worse than San Jose State’s Fall Semester 1993?
Definitely no. I was naive, took my professors for granted such that they gave me a good grade anyways since I get along with them well, and making little efforts in my homework. I was immature back in 1993.
There were lots of incidents, events, and moments beyond your control.
There were too many. They were all in a negative way. Add them up and I felt frustrated, angry, and stressed. The small incidents included lots of red lights at intersections and long delays in the supermarket lines. The large incidents included my home almost robbed.
What was the Winter ’11 lesson learned?
I learned a life lesson in past quarters. There was no lesson learned.
What are your changes for Spring ’11?
One, consistency in my life. My daily schedule was inconsistent throughout the quarter. Sometimes I sleep early, sometimes I sleep late. Sometimes I have a good week working out three days a week, sometimes I have a bad week not working out at all.
Two, I want to control more of my life. If something bad happens, I want to take control to turn the bad to good.
Three, I have a break between my classes in Spring ’11. I’m going home instead of staying on campus.
Fourth, if I feel tired, I take a nap. Don’t fight it, sleep it.
January started great for everyone.
Yeah, January started great. I remember the first day of classes in Winter ’10. Nobody wanted to show up. The students, instructors, and staff wanted to go home and stay on vacation.
Everyone looked forward to Winter ’11 because many people had a bad 2010 year. They hoped for a good start to 2011. It seemed, at least in my classes and the staff I talked to, Winter ’11 was not a good start.
What saved Winter ’11 from a disaster?
First, seeing a doctor for my sinus infection. Initially I thought my sickness was something I recover myself like in 2009 and 2010. I needed a doctor to examine me and to prescribe antibiotics.
Second, changing my studying in Intermediate Acct. I was able to complete the pre-lecture homework without reading the chapter. The material and concepts became harder. I read the chapter first and then completed the pre-lecture homework. The change saved time, eased my frustration, and I understood the material faster.
Third, took it slow and did a little each time. For example, most of the quarter I completed my Intermediate Acct homework all in one day. The last month I completed the homework a little each day up to the due date.
Fourth, stopped attending Monday night dance class. I got more free time eating and studying at home on Mondays instead of staying on campus.
How fast was Winter ’11?
It was the fastest quarter and the fastest three months ever in my life. One advantage to the quarter system was if the class stinks, it ends faster than semester.
You received information in Fall ’10 there was a highly recommended Intro to Business instructor. He taught Tuesday and Thursday. You didn’t want to attend classes four days a week. You registered for a Monday and Wednesday Intro to Business class after Intermediate Acct. It turned out the Monday and Wednesday instructor was boring. Should you have taken the guarantee Tuesday and Thursday class?
Hindsight is 20/20. I thought nobody can screw up an introduction class. I was wrong. My Monday and Wednesday instructor was boring, unchallenging, and the homework assignments were either too easy or too confusing. If somebody can screw up a cooking a hamburger, somebody can screw up anything.
What was something you’re not going to miss?
The Intro to Business lesson videos.
What were the highlights?
I watched classic movies I checked out at the library, I submitted graduation forms, and I ate out less often.
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