#we're coming to the end of the academic year ya'll

[sunscreenstudies]

Iconic Things My Coding Professors Have Said (Part 13)

"i myself graduated from this course in 2020 at the height of corona, so i have a lot of experience in, uh... crying"

Prof1: "How do you evaluate your methods?"   Speaker: "how do we... evalutae our methods?"   Prof2: "they're a company, dave, they don't evaluate shit"

"Is there a laser? Ah, yes, here it is! We need more lasers in this life"

"So, what we're going to do now, is write this plain english example down in maths, do some... magic, and get the answer"

Student: "I was trying to explain how we've reclaimed the word queer"   Prof: "are you trying to be a woke-ist?"

"the church was very cautious of a woman becoming such an influencial figure... not much has changed, huh?"

Prof1: "so, as you can clearly see from the marauders map that i bought specifically for this class-"  Prof2: "you LIAR"   Prof1: "I'm sorry, what?"   Prof2: "you great big fat liar! I know you bought that map for yourself years ago!"

"coming from linguisics i felt that didn't really fit in, but it really helped my self image to do this course and- oh boy this is turning into a ted talk, isn’t it?"

Prof: "You mentioned annotating some truly horrible hate speech. Can you say something about how you maintain your mental health while doing this?"   Speaker: "oh yes, i can say a LOT of things. Number one, funny cat videos"

"so what is the problem with this approach? it's too loco... local! it's too local! although loco isn't exactly wrong..."

Prof: "Do you think that AI will be able to generate movie’s based on requests in our lifetime?"   Student: "no"   Prof: "bet"

"As someone who had a degree in computational pyscholinguistics, which no one reading my resumé understood and a title which my in-laws still can't pronounce-”

"How are you guys doing? How are your projects coming along? Does everyone think they'll get it finished in time?” *silence* “... this excitement and enthusiasm is really blowing me away, guys"

"i asked a lawyer and they say not to do it but they're very... defensive... Literally. LOL!”

Prof1: "We'll only show the top three teams’ scores on the board and the others will get their results by email"   Prof2: "Because they were so bad... i'm kidding! i'm kidding! or am i?”

"we're going to be working on the marauder's map from harry potter, are you all familiar with- wow, okay, you're all looking incredibly digusted that i ever doubted your hp knowledge, so i'm gonna take that as a yes"

Prof1: "can anyone tell me what a pickle is?"   Prof2: "... a vegetable?"   Prof1: "i was clearly asking about it in the context of machine learning, dave"

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8

Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14

[thisadhdlife]

I'm alive: A Life Update

Hey ya'll. I hope you've been doing well! I think the last time I actually posted anything was back in March of 2023. So, to say that it's been a while would be an understatement.

A lot has happened since March; wow, feels like an entirely different lifetime when I compare it to my life today: No, my life isn't perfect (whose life is?) but a lot of things have happened since then.

Everyone here who reads anything I write knows that I was formally diagnosed with ADHD in 2021. We're now rapidly approaching the end of 2023: Hard to believe we'll be entering the month of December in not too long.

Back in March I was on academic probation at my community college, trying all kinds of classes here and there, but never making headway. I eventually ended up stumbling across Clinical Research Coordination as a career field and haven't looked back since. I spent the Spring and Summer semesters of 2023 digging myself out of academic probation, and at the end of summer, I submitted my for application to join the academic program at my school.

I should emphasize the significance of this: I haven't found something I'm genuinely interested in studying since 2016. So, the fact that I was interested enough that I worked my ass off to get myself out of probation to be able to apply to the program should tell you something.

Once I crawled out of academic probation, I got this weird and insane idea that maybe, just maybe, I could be an honors student (can you believe it? ME? An honors student? lol) I certainly wouldn't believe it if you'd have told me a year ago. But... somehow, someway, I managed to push my doubts and fears (of embarrassing myself) aside and took the plunge into the honors program. And... surprisingly, I LOVED it.

For the first time in my life, I wasn't only surviving: I was thriving in an academic environment. For most of my life I've been a D-average student. Today, I have a cumulative GPA of nearly 4.0; and, as of this year, I'm also a lifetime member of Phi Theta Kappa. I couldn't believe It: Me, someone who's been on a razors-edge of being kicked out of school multiple times in my life and has had to literally beg administrators to be able to stay in school... me, being invited to join an honors society. Because I was part of the honors program, I got to conduct and write my own research paper (got credit for it from the school too!) about ADHD! Because I joined Phi Theta Kappa, I've had the chance to travel and network with people I would've never met before.

At the beginning of 2023, I was worried about paying for school, covering tuition, fees, and expenses like books and supplies. Today, I'm on multiple scholarships because I've been treating applying for scholarships and writing scholarship essays like a part-time job since the Spring semester (2023). I didn't expect to win... but, as it turns out, when I'm not lost to the brain-fog of ADHD, I can move mountains with my efforts. As of right now, I have 100% of my school expenses being covered by merit-based scholarships: This is something that I always thought that "people like me don't get. It's for others. Those much smarter than me." and yet, here I am: Honors Student, Phi Theta Kappa member, and nearly a 4.0 GPA in college.

It might sound like I'm bragging, but... I'm not. I'm simply writing down the things that have happened to me. It's hard to believe, because I used to be one of those people who was never good at school. Could hardly even pass a class with a C, let alone handle a full-time courseload, with As across the board.

I'm thankful for the opportunities that have come my way, and I'm thankful for the people I've met so far. To think that all of this started with ONE simple decision to seek help for ADHD. There are more things I need to do, of course. But, I think it helps to take a moment and take-stock of the things that have happened over the last year or so.

Until next time, ADHD-fam. Love ya'll.

P.S. Happy (late) thanksgiving if you're in the US.