Send Ken To College

Have you ever been running at high speed, mentally speaking, and then had the task you were working on come to an end?  It is like the rug is pulled from under you.  Imagine a week when you consume nothing but chocolate bars and Mt. Dew, this gives you a massive and constant sugar rush, then you stop cold turkey.  The sugar disappears!

Finals week is now over and after expending considerable mental energy for the last several weeks, I now have nothing that I have to direct it to.  My sugar rush is dissipating and there is an empty mental hole that I have fallen in.  I am told that this feeling is not unlike what drug users and alcoholics go through when they no longer have access to their chosen drug.

If you don’t understand it, don’t worry.  I tried to explain it to my wife but I am not certain that she knows what I am talking about either.  She just looked at me like I belonged in the psych ward.

Here I sit with a Coca Cola in my hand and a little Warren Zevon on the stereo contemplating what to do until classes start again. 

I know what I could be working on, the project I had to demo today.  The damn thing was working up to the point where I had coded it right up until 30 minutes before demo time.  With three instructors sitting in to watch and score my presentation, errors galore when I attempted to run my software.

I was assured by the lead instructor that functional software was not absolutely required as long as I could discuss my design and how I got to the place where I was at.  I managed to pull that off but what I don’t think the instructors really got was the fact that the program beat me.  I really do not like when this happens.

It would be easy to just let this project go since I have now been graded on it but but due to my competitive nature, it just can not happen.  This program will be finished…someday!  I may put it aside until I graduate but this is not over.