June 16, 2000 — "Don't sell yourself short"

I can't decide if today was a good day or a bad day, and I'm inclined to think that perhaps it was neither.

It certainly didn't start well. I ended up stumbling into school at 6:30AM to study in a panicked frenzy for my physics exam. It sort of worked. I mean, I know I didn't do as well as I probably ought to have, but I'm fairly confident I managed to maintain over a 90% in the course and all.

Mr. MacDonald, my physics teacher, had visited the anti-greg site the night before; I'm not sure if he read the part about my going to a movie instead of studying for physics, but we'll pretend he didn't. He seemed to find my commentary on kids with pants up to their nipples amusing, though.

The exam was alright. I knew pretty much all the calculation-type questions, most of the multiple choice and lab-based questions, and the essay was a breeze. The theory section wasn't so great, but again, I'll live. Everyone was supposed to leave a note saying that they'd seen Jerry cheating during the exam (this is funny because he dropped the course), but I suspect I was one of the few who did. When I handed in my exam, Mr. MacDonald suggested that I not sell myself short, saying it was a comment after having read my journals. This was interesting because I'd basically apologized in my note to him, which he'd yet to read, for doing just that in my science courses. I really wish I hadn't been so bitter toward school for so long, and that I'd tried harder. But I definitely enjoyed science classes the most at school, so even if I didn't study enough for my exams, I leave school with little doubt as to which direction I want to head in, which is probably more important.

I cleaned out a bit of my locker (although a half-finished bottle of Jolt remains from this morning's caffeine-addled festivities) and almost forgot my algebra textbook in heading home. Only one final exam (hence the algebra textbook) and then I'm done forever. Speaking of which, I have to apologize to Mrs. Lesley on Monday because I didn't have time to talk to her in a mad sprint to the washroom in the middle of my physics exam as she asked me if I was done, and I still have to thank her for putting up with me for the impromptu speaking practices and whatnot.

Returning home from school, I learned that my parents had finally got air-conditioning in every room but mine and my sister's. My being left out doesn't bother me since I think AC makes people lethargic anyways, and that complaining about the heat builds character. I want to be able to tell my kids that I slept in a pool of sweat every night during the hot summers early in the millennium, so I won't have any of this "freon" nonsense. Oh, and the guy who was installing the air-conditioning was originally from the US and kept maintaining that Canada was a communist country, which was sort of strange.

I got an email today from a guy from FreeNet complaining that anti-greg was difficult to view in Lynx, the Unix text-only Web browser. I think I fixed it, but it's weird to have complaints coming in when the only people who know about the site know about it through word of mouth.