Exploring Life After Exams: What I Did With My Free Time

[chaoseverlasting]

My exams ended on the 27th of last month, and I've been pretty much free since then. This is a rare occurance, as I had taken a gap year to prepare for IIT (didn't make it, got through the extended list). As such, I had been studying my ass off for the last year or so, and the concept of free time was completely alien to me.

Now, I have all the time in the world to do everything I thought I'd wanted to do, and it turns out, that you don't need as much time to do things you want to do, as I thought you did. That's kind of sad, because it leaves me with too much time on my hands. The proof of the pudding is that, in the last two weeks or so, I have finished Devil May Cry 3, Medal Of Honor: Allied Assault, GTA: San Andreas, Counter Strike: Condition Zero and Quake 3: Arena.

Now, I have nothing else to do. I mean, I've met all my friends that I'd been putting on hold, stayed out all night partying, seen my friends getting drunk (that was really funny by the way), broken up with my girl friend (that was a hassle I'd been avoiding), seen buses being burnt, dislocated my big toe playing football, gone to Punjab, attended a pre-wedding ceremony, and applied to the colleges I have been accepted in, got two blind dates set up and have started going to the gym (waking up at six in the morning is a PAIN!)

Whats up with you lot?

 

[Chi Meson]

I have finished Devil May Cry 3, Medal Of Honor: Allied Assault, GTA: San Andreas, Counter Strike: Condition Zero and Quake 3: Arena.

Those are all great books!

So, that's you being bored is it? I won't bother mentioning what my life has been for the past two weeks. You might do yourself an injury.

 

[chaoseverlasting]

Those are all great books!

So, that's you being bored is it? I won't bother mentioning what my life has been for the past two weeks. You might do yourself an injury.

Try me... I promise... I've got all the time in the world...

 

[BMWPower06]

do tell chi

 

[Droner]

Read books.

 

[Chi Meson]

do tell chi

I wake up. I drink coffee. I shower. I drive to my school. I teach, I teach, I grade papers, I teach. I go home.

Then I get to play with my three kids, and this is usually fun now that Benny is getting out of his overly needy phase. Then dinner, bath-time (for the kids) brush teeth, read books, good night (5:30 to 7:00 PM). Then I grade more papers, or plan the next day/week, then bed by 10:30.

Repeat repeat repeat repeat.

 

[JasonRox]

I wake up. I drink coffee. I shower. I drive to my school. I teach, I teach, I grade papers, I teach. I go home.

Then I get to play with my three kids, and this is usually fun now that Benny is getting out of his overly needy phase. Then dinner, bath-time (for the kids) brush teeth, read books, good night (5:30 to 7:00 PM). Then I grade more papers, or plan the next day/week, then bed by 10:30.

Repeat repeat repeat repeat.

Ok, you win.

 

[chaoseverlasting]

I wake up. I drink coffee. I shower. I drive to my school. I teach, I teach, I grade papers, I teach. I go home.

Then I get to play with my three kids, and this is usually fun now that Benny is getting out of his overly needy phase. Then dinner, bath-time (for the kids) brush teeth, read books, good night (5:30 to 7:00 PM). Then I grade more papers, or plan the next day/week, then bed by 10:30.

Repeat repeat repeat repeat.

No contest man... and I thought I need something else to do (no offense intended)...

Went to Punjab again, had to get my admission done... got shafted... have to go again on the 29th...

 

[Astronuc]

There's a website for bored folks, but one can learn some really useful math or geometry.

Score a Free Beer Using Math
http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=23822

 

[Chi Meson]

I just came back from playing poker for 10 hours straight.

I'm not bored anymore.

Just $20 poorer.

 

[radou]

You can't be bored, there's so much to do, you just have to think about it.

Start with your interests. You must have some interests.

 

[Chi Meson]

You can't be bored, there's so much to do, you just have to think about it.

Start with your interests. You must have some interests.

"Bored" is not the accurate word just because I am doing so much. The author Annie Dillard noted that when you are busy doing meaningful things, the time goes by quickly, but in retrospect the passing weeks and months seem to have taken a lot of time. Contrarily, if you are bored, the hours crawl past and a day takes forever, but in retrospect the weeks and months seemed to have flown by.

I have so much to do the days are just zipping by. I'm just annoyed at the repetition. But now that school is out, I remember why I decided to go into teaching high school.

We just got back from a morning at the beach at Watch Hill, RI. And I don't have to grade a #@% thing!

Nobody pity me, please.

 

[chaoseverlasting]

I went and bought some LED's, resistors and wire... now I'm trying to modify my computer tower... some thing's wrong somewhere... can't get the damn thing to work...

 

[berkeman]

Try mountain biking and hiking, maybe go to the beach if you have one nearby. Get outside and do something athletic while you enjoy nature. Do any of your freinds like mountain biking? Load up the bikes and head somewhere out in the boonies, and bike all morning, have a picnic lunch, then bike all afternoon. If your buddies are a bit competitive, you'll end up doing some fun racing and hillclimbs and downhills (careful!, and wear a helmet please).

Get outside and crank it up! I think the last time I was bored was when I was about 6 years old...

 

[moose]

Get a HAM license!

 

[berkeman]

Get a HAM license!

Field Day is this weekend!

 

[chaoseverlasting]

What's a HAM license? My friends and I are going trekking on the goat trail (whatever that is). I want to learn PHP or Perl, so got to find an institute for that.

 

[berkeman]

HAM radio is licensed amateur radio. It used to be that you had to learn Morse code to get your HAM radio license, but no longer. You can self-study and take the exam at an exam site, or go to a 1-day "HAM Cram" class to study and take the exam at the end of the day.

HAM radio is extremely useful in the event of emergencies and disasters, especially when combined with Community Emergency Response Teams (CERTs). There are also lots of people who communicate for fun -- especially those who use the longer-wavelength licensed bands to skip signals off the ionosphere and talk to other continents, etc. Mostly I'm in it for the emergency prep angle, though. I live on the Hayward Fault in the middle of California earthquake country. Needless to say that we prepare and drill a LOT.

 

[radou]

"Bored" is not the accurate word just because I am doing so much. The author Annie Dillard noted that when you are busy doing meaningful things, the time goes by quickly, but in retrospect the passing weeks and months seem to have taken a lot of time. Contrarily, if you are bored, the hours crawl past and a day takes forever, but in retrospect the weeks and months seemed to have flown by.

I have so much to do the days are just zipping by. I'm just annoyed at the repetition. But now that school is out, I remember why I decided to go into teaching high school.

We just got back from a morning at the beach at Watch Hill, RI. And I don't have to grade a #@% thing!

Nobody pity me, please.

Actually, I was referring to post #1.

Btw, the Annie Dillard thing is totally true.

 

[chaoseverlasting]

I told dad about my LED project and he totally took off on it. Turns out, dad and my uncles had a tape recorder factory producing 250 units a day in the 1980's, using boards he had designed. The factory was lost during the 1984 sikh riots and they never started it again. He went out and bought me a load of tools and equipment to get properly started on the project and helped me get the circuit to look something like the diagram I'd drawn.

Now I've almost got the soldering done and just have to test the board! Can't believe it worked out so well!