Getting through the end of the semester becomes a lot more difficult when you plan a vacation immediately after the end of the semester. At this point last year I was taking more courses but this section of the semester just flew by. Mostly because it was my significant other’s graduation and graduation events so on the weekends I was taking trips to Albany 2 or 3 times this month alone. Now that she’s back home and working and I do not need to make the trip to the capital this semester is going a little slower. As I prepare the last batch of assignments and projects for the semester I believe that time will start passing by quicker. I’m assuming my mind checked itself out around spring break.

I was extremely happy that I received an A on the instruction manual assignment. Out of all of the assignments this was the hardest to plan for but the easiest to write. Since I was able to choose something I was comfortable writing about I was able to really write without worry. My biggest worry when writing this assignment was the formatting and making it look like a manual. In contrast writing the expanded definition was much much more difficult to the point where I did not have that same confidence while writing. I almost wish I could write a second instruction manual in lieu of editing the first and second paper because I believe I would enjoy that more. Exactly in one month I will not be in the mood for any writing because it’ll be summer break and oh how I love summer break. The break where you can do as you please because you will not be required to any academic planning until August. The joy I feel for summer break can only be matched by my love for pizza.

I checked the calendar to begin planning when I need to get work done by to have it handed in on time and its all coming together. There is about 3 weeks of classes left and after that we are done with the spring semester. At the beginning of the semester I could not wait for this feeling of almost being done and then being done with the semester but now I wish I had more time. The reason I wish I had more time is just so that I can have enough time to get the assigned work from my classes done, get enough rest and be able to give 100% at work. With the remaining days in the semester I have to plan even the time I spend playing video games so that I can keep focus and get everything done on time. When I lay in bed I calculate the minutes of sleep I’ll get if I work on something the following day after getting in from work.

Having the same class two days in a row is a little foreign to me now. I haven’t been in high school since 2012 so being I am used to a different routine nowadays. I was so disorientated this morning that I broke my sacred rule, to never wear a black sweater and black sweat pants at the same time. I was so focused on making sure I was going to the right class that I grabbed the black sweater and black sweat pants that I VOWED TO NEVER WEAR TOGETHER. I did not really notice until I got on the train what I had done. I guess it is due to the fact that I am on autopilot when I wake in the morning and perform my morning routine. Any deviation from this routine and I will not be able to compute what is happening and have a completely delayed reaction such as this morning when I spilled my cup of juice while I was getting ready. I do not know how long I stood there examining the spill but I could not think of the solution to this in less than 20 seconds. I hope to plow through the rest of the semester with the determination I thought I had in the beginning of the semester but it’s mostly up to me to perform all the planning and time management before hand so that I have a smooth and productive April (which is almost over) and May.

I believe the last part of the semester is always the hardest. Having the time management to get all the group projects that CST classes love to assign done, having time to complete individual assignments and be able to go to work and give 100% is a little daunting. As much as I would like to be ahead of the curve in terms of getting assignments done I find it difficult to be able to think so many days ahead when I’m not even 100% certain what I have in store for the next day. SInce Tuesday and Thursday are my days off from work I try to tackle anything due immediately after those days when I am home from class and then if I have an opening shift on the weekend I’ll take a nap when I get home and then try to get some work done. Spring Break was nice in that I got to do absolutely no work for a week and was able to leave it for the two days before the break ended. Now that classes have resumed I am back on the routine of getting work done on Tuesday and Thursday and any day I have an opening shift on the weekend.

When it comes to writing assignments I usually do a lot of planning and preparations to make sure the writing experience is as easy as possible. Due to having two choices in mind I am doing the planning for two different manuals. The planning involves setting multiple outcomes so that I have sufficient warnings and adversaries. I have to think about the troubleshooting steps and visiting forums to understand some unlikely problems that can be complete stop on the progress of my manual. My only concern is meeting the word count requirement because writing a free flowing instruction manual sounds easier to me and would be completed with little to no worry but since I am held to a word count I feel that I may overcompensate and choose decision where it may just be too long and I have to cut things out that may be important in a instruction manual. The alternative option may be too short and what would happen is that I make things up in just to meet the word count.

So far what I’ve been learning how to write while trying to an audience in mind. Usually when I write something it is with the express goal of getting it done. I do not think about who is going to read it and I never think about the overall experience of reading my own work. So with the last assignment I have trying to write while keeping an audience in mind. This an important skill to have when getting in to the work force and being able to communicate via the 1,001 ways to communicate that can currently be used in the work place.

The checklist was a moderately interesting piece to read. The title had a lot of ambiguity due to the fact that it never tells you what it is a checklist of before you begin to read. The assigned reading felt like a story the way it developed and transitioned from different ways that a checklist in an ICU could have an affect on survival rates. When the author broke down the use of the new airplane by the US government and how a checklist made something deemed too difficult for a human to fly into a completely normal exercise and completely extinguished any mortality rates associated with flying the new plane.

The topic I am leaning towards and feel like could flesh out to not only fill the requirements of the assignment would be building a PC. You can go online and look up dozens of parts, maybe they work together, maybe not and then you have a pile of parts waiting for you to assemble when you finally get them and there’s very little instruction about assembly because you got half a dozen manufacturers in front of you. There’s deviation, there are outside resources, there are user created guides. If the instruction manual goes long I can focus on a specific build with a specific pool of parts so that there is focus. But if that ends up being a manual that will be too long or too grand for 2,000 words I will need a backup topic. Since a repair that I am currently looking at completing is cleaning a heat sink and reapplying thermal paste on a “Launch” Playstation 4 I am also considering that as well. I am trying to see how the word count plays out and see which will feel the quota and allow to me enjoy what I am writing.

Planning a trip to Disney world this summer. Given the 5 years I have spent in college so far the Mrs. thought it would be a good idea to take a trip this summer since we’ve been talking about taking a trip for over a year now. Its a great idea I think I need a break but I have anxiety about traveling. 3 hour car rides make me nervous so a 5 hour plane ride is extremely stressful for me. So right now I have a list of things that need to get done. I have to rest up during spring break, prepare for finals and presentations, let out a sigh of relief and then go to Disney. I feel like over the years summer break gets shorter and shorter or maybe I just need more down time.