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Anna’s Quotes #15

[58-62; 63-77] So, I started getting back on track. Me and my peer Francis did an excellent job on a mutual inductance project for my favorite class that I was taking. And yeah, that was pretty cool. I got my belly button pierced and then I threw another party at the end of term. And then the coronavirus hit. And I moved back home, since the coronavirus hit. we were informed that all of our finals were going to be online. And I was like, “Oh, no.” It felt like I was ripped without warning from all the things that I liked and cared about. And it felt like I was in a nightmare where I was back in high school again. But, only the bad part was after school, couldn’t go out and see anybody. And it took me a hot minute to readjust to being at home and to remembering that I actually like my family.

[258-269] So for the first couple of weeks of COVID being a thing, I was like, “This isn’t a thing. Honestly, how bad could it really be? I didn’t know that much information about it.” And my parents were freaking out extra. So of course I took the opposite stance. And they convinced me to come home for finals week. And I didn’t want to, but I did for their peace of mind. And it kind of turned out to be the right thing I suppose. But I had to abruptly in one weekend move all of my stuff out of my apartment. I was planning on having about a week to do so, and drove all the way over to my internship. Living in this house, which is the same house that I lived in in high school. Having to come down when the bell rings for dinner and ask my parents to keep the wifi on it at night. And not being able to just call my friends and say, “Are you busy right now? Let’s go for a walk.” It was really a flip.

[270-274] Prior to COVID, I had planned on never living at home again. That’s part of the reason why I chose my institution because you’re busy throughout the whole year. And it was like wait, I’m backpedaling so far. I’ve come so far, and now I have to live at home again. And that was challenging to deal with, especially since each of my family members have their own brand of annoying.

[275-287] But once I sort of relaxed into it, my sleep schedule flipped back around to being more normal. And I got done with finals. I adjusted from having something to do at every hour of the day and having to do homework and seeing my friends, and sleeping very little, to having free time. So, I started filling it up with stuff that I actually really do like to do when I have time for it. I’ve been baking a lot of bread. I’ve been reading a lot of books. I made this. It’s a wire tree attached to a piece of driftwood. So, it’s been pretty good for my creative brain, I suppose. I taught my sister how to crochet. I started working out again, cooked with my father. And once I remembered that wait, there is stuff I can do, I’ve been okay with it since then. And it’s helped that my friends have actually been very good at keeping in touch. We’ll often play board games virtually or FaceTime, or just send each other bad Snapchats of each other’s faces. It’s good.

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John’s Quotes #7

[272-296] I’m retaking statics right now. I’m also taking chemistry, Calculus 3, and Chem Lab. My statics course has more people but less attention. That professor, compared to the last one, he gives out better homework and tests, but otherwise he’s just lecturing to a brick wall. My chemistry teacher, kind of the same way. Then my calculus teacher, who I think is the best out of my professors this year, he comes in with Wolfram Alpha, all his notes written out on the computer. With plots and 3D shapes that you can move around. The way he teaches he has his notes projected, he’s writing on the board and he has a tablet in his hand that has the notes already on it, so he doesn’t have to go back to the computer. I think he’s the most well prepared. Doing his homework is a nightmare. But I feel like going through it is actually rewarding. I like this professor, but not for the same reasons that I like my other professors. For Chem Lab, TA is good. She doesn’t have to teach as much because we’re just reading off of a manual. So that course is easy.

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John’s Quotes #12

[86-98] I enjoyed my dynamics professor because he was very engaged, very engaged. He made his own website with a bunch of simulation-type games, where you could test out your theories. For example, if I have acceleration in one direction and speed in the other direction, the simulation game could help you determine how long will it take to get to zero, and whatnot. You could test all those things out with the software that he made, that he programmed. He made his own videos for that website about the stuff that he was teaching, kind of like Khan Academy. Basically, that same style of video, just with him. And in class he wasn’t just relegating everything to his website or to his videos, he was actively teaching. If there wasn’t a participant in class, then you weren’t going to get much out of it because he wanted you to participate, and that’s when he started teaching. He wanted to hear all the ideas, even if they were flawed, and oftentimes he would rather go over time discussing things rather than just getting straight to his answer. He was very engaging, he had the right amount of difficulty, not because the class itself was taught in a way that was difficult for me but because the coursework itself was engaging, but it was a difficult subject. He didn’t make it harder than it was, he made it easy to teach, easy to digest, and he gave us work that we had to work for, answers that we needed to work for.

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John’s Quotes #13

[105-117] The way that my art professor structured his class, it’s basically […] For the first five weeks, we had to turn in three completed projects three weeks in a row. The first two weeks were talking about it and talking about prep and whatnot, but the next three weeks you had to make some intriguing artwork in one week, and then turn it another one the next week, and turn another one on the next week. That whole process in that five weeks you had to brainstorm enough ideas in order to find one that was worth working on. You had to then start making that thing. For me, I did all 3D prints. For other people, they did laser cut stuff. What else? They made metal projects. Some of the students straight-up just did paintings because that’s what they specialize in. He wanted us to go through a process of rapid design and he said, “I want you to make something that is worth looking at and I want you to work through all the mistakes. I want you to see those mistakes and see what you can do later next time. If you make a mistake, then it’s fine if you roll with that mistake and get through it that way.” And I did end up going through with three separate art projects, three different sets of models, and it was stressful, but it was really rewarding at the end. It was just a lot.

[143-148] Working on the project was rewarding because I guess it made me feel like, even though I have no idea how it feels like, it made me feel like an engineer because I had to solve these problems really quickly. For a couple of these mini projects, I had to find shortcuts in order to get through these designs as fast as possible. I had to learn the limitations of the 3D printer and of the amount of time it would take for the 3D printer. I had to learn and adapt really quickly throughout these three weeks in order to make those deadlines. At the end of it I had a product, a solid piece of art, that I could be proud of and I am proud of.

[121-138] One of them I decided to make something that only a 3D printer could do, at least do it well enough in a week. I ended up making a plastic figure. Through one side it looked like a film camera and through another side it looked like a man that’s walking. So, if you just turn the figure it looks like a completely different thing. I also made a box that it’s supposed to sit inside so you could see it at both angles. The next thing I decided to make a pun. On the outside it looked like a piece of poop, and then on the inside, when you take it apart, it looks like a pizza. It’s a pizza crap. That one, I wanted to make something more organic looking through 3D design and it was difficult. Who thought making a piece of poop in CAD was difficult? But it was not fun. Then, the last project I did I wanted to have interlocking parts, all of which did not need support material, because after working with the 3D printer […] After that first project actually, I had to get off so much support material and the support material didn’t look nice, even after I got everything off it still didn’t look like how I wanted it to, so I was like, screw this, I’m not going to have any support material for my next few projects. This very last one I made these parts interlocking. There was a hole at the bottom and then an insert on one of the sides, and through the design process I was like, how do I make it so that I don’t need any support material and that I don’t have to clean this up? I messed around, I did some research, and by the end of it I had four pieces that all interlocked together, and it did not need any support material. I think it was cool

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