The Monthly Popcorn Ceremony

About 20 minutes ago, right now being 6:30 PM Central Time, I sat down at my desk to start doing some homework, and the fire alarm went off.

This was the third time, I think, that this has happened while I've been here. The first time it was because someone had overcooked popcorn in his microwave, hence the title of this post. The second time, the Resident Director told me that it was not popcorn, but I still haven't been told what it was. This time, someone had actually pulled the alarm. I imagine the fine for doing that should be higher than for burning popcorn and setting off the smoke detector.

So, about once a month everyone gets out of the building in the evening and waits outside the door for the fire engines to come, then looks a little while at the flashing lights, some comments are exchanged about the W's of the alarm, there is some cheering as the RD comes running over from dinner, we wait another few minutes, and then it's verified that there is no fire and we enter the dorm again.

And, as you can see, while before the alarm went off, we were on the track towards getting some work done, we are all freshly distracted after the alarm.

Wonderful Test Scores

Friday the 9th, I took my second Intro to Psychology exam. I had done about 3 or 4 hours of study for the exam, but I had been hoping to do more, like 6 hours, and nearly one hour of the study had been last minute, which had not been my plan.

The psychology professor, Dr. Melanie Roudkovski, or Dr. R as she signs her name on emails and invites us to address her, is very nice at tests. The exams are about 50 questions long, all multiple choice, answered on a Scantron, except for the 5 point extra credit question which answered on the question sheets. So, it's theoretically possible to get 110% on a test, or at least to redeem up to 5 wrong answers.

For this last test, I checked all the uncertain problems after answering all the problems that I was sure of the answer to, and figured out the most likely answers to most of those, and made best guesses at the rest. By the end, I was confident in the answers to all but ten of the problems, and figured that I ought to get more than one out of four of the uncertain problems right.

I also did my best at the extra credit question, which was totally by hand. The challenge was to find an example of classical conditioning in my life. Classical conditioning is learning to associate something neutral, called a conditioned stimulus, with something called an unconditioned stimulus, that naturally evokes a response, or an unconditioned response, until there is a conditioned response to the conditioned stimulus identical to the unconditioned response to the unconditioned stimulus. The first example in the textbook when we learned about these was dogs hearing sounds or seeing something before they were given food, and starting to salivate upon hearing or seeing those things without any food present.

So, my example of classical conditioning was how association of sweets with seizures may have had a part in making me dislike things that taste too sweet.

I don't know yet exactly how many questions I got right and wrong and what score the extra credit got, but I have seen my total score, which is 51 out of 50. So, now that I'm above 100% on this test, I take notice that it could have been even better, but I will try to repress feelings of discontent with the past and push on for the future.

10/14/09 Accuracy Update: In class this morning we were given our tests back. I had noticed during the test that there were 54 questions as opposed to 50 on the first test, and I had been somewhat curious about that. It was revealed in class that 4 of the questions were not counted - the first 4 each person got wrong. So, I got full credit for the extra credit, I got 8 questions out of 54 wrong, and then 4 was subtracted from the numerator and the denominator of the fraction I got wrong.

I have such a nice teacher.

Some Psychology

Last night, I went to a time management seminar. The main speaker was my Intro to Psychology professor, Dr. Melanie Roudkovski. She gave some very helpful information, focusing not only on managing time but also on life-management. One of the many handouts was "Dr. R's Top 10 Rules of Life Management", which are:

1. Do what you like and like what you do; find something you like about everything you have to do, and focus on that.
2. Take responsibility; "I didn't make time" instead of "I didn't have time"
3. Just say NO to things that waste time
4. Write details, details, details into your schedule; just putting "Study" on a 2-hour block can lead to more than half of the time being wasted, while writing "Do Math Assignment #12, Write outline of Essay #3" will help you get on the right track quickly
5. Accuracy is key; try hard not to overestimate or underestimate the time you will need to do something
6. Distraction kills time; be here now
7. Live up to your own expectations, or expect more of yourself
8. Be organized
9. Develop healthy relationships
10. Set aside time in which you can be spontaneous

Another speaker, an alumna of LeTourneau, handed out a sheet that showed how to sort stressors on two dimensions - the possibility of changing them and the priority that they hold.

For things that are changeable and have high priority, you should ask what changes can be made; for things that are changeable but low priority, you should ask whether you are spending too much time on these things; for things that are high priority but hard to change, you should ask yourself how you will cope with these things; and for low priority, unchangeable things, you should ask yourself if you can accept or forget about them.

All of this was helpful, and a clearer picture is forming of how to manage my time. Another thing the LETU alumna said was that she has learned to view calendars on a monthly scale, rather than daily or weekly, as it shows her everything that is coming. This sounds like a great idea, and I hope to start laying out all my to-do things on a monthly calendar, but there is one thing I lack.

I would like to have a computer calendar program that has color-coding, and categories that can be selectively shown - perhaps more than one at a time but not all, though that would not be vital.

As I wrote that, I realized that my Palm Desktop has categories, but I haven't been using them. It is wonderful how much I can find out just by writing my problems down. So I guess I don't need new software, though color-coding still would be nice.

Astounding News

An hour and 20 minutes ago, I discovered that his morning was a momentous occasion:

I forgot my medicine for the first time since coming to Texas.

Until now, I have never forgotten a single dose.

Praise the Lord that I have been able to consistently remember this long, and may I be able to continue to remember.

Thank you all for your prayers, and please continue.

David Nemati

Now about something besides epilepsy

Here at LeTourneau University, my current class load is 13 credits, which is nice and light; good for the first semester in which all the adaptation to the new environment and ways of doing things is happening.

My classes are:

• Calculus 3
• English Composition 1
• Intro to Psychology
• Concepts of Lifetime Fitness (Fatness, for short)
• General Chemistry 1 Lab
• Cornerstones of Life and Learning

I am loving the Chem Lab and the Intro to Psychology, Comp 1 and Calculus are also good, and Fatness and Cornerstones are alright.

The order I put the classes in in terms of importance in my mind is something like

1. Calculus
2. English
3. Psychology
4. Chem lab
5. Fatness
6. Cornerstones

I am expecting an A in Calc and Chem lab, at least high or solid B's in English and Psychology, and while the secant lines of my progress in Cornerstones and Fatness are heading toward C's, I'm fixing to fix those. I am hoping for straight A's, but the above is what I might get if everything keeps going as it has been.

Thus, Cornerstones, which is supposed to be a light, easy class to help students get started, is not getting enough attention and I'm relying on the professor's mercy, allowing late assignments, a bit too much for the comfort of my conscience.

So, please pray for me that I will be able to correctly understand all of the assignments, remember everything I need to do, find time for each, and understand how to do quick jobs rather than perfectionist work where quick work is needed.

Thank you very much,

David

Or, as they call me here on my floor,

Post

PS. Did you notice my light touch of deliberate Texan-ness in the previous post?

I'm fixing to keep this seizure my last

This late afternoon/evening I went to Dr. Ball's house, a former colleague of Dad's who is now a professor at LeTourneau University, and I cooked Nemati Spaghetti for him and his family. That was a very fun time, and after dinner I played Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Wii with his sons.

Alas, I played too long, and (I'm guessing) part of my brain fell asleep while another part was over-exerted, and a seizure started. This happened about 3 hours ago as of the moment I am publishing this - 9:40 PM CDT.

Like the last two, I was conscious the whole time. However, this one was a bit gentler than the others, as it lasted less time and I got my speech back a lot faster. When I talked with Mom and Dad on the Webcam, Dad said that I didn't look like I'd had a seizure, and I did not feel like I had had a seizure.

I may be having a little too little sleep, so I'd better click Publish Post, and get to bed.

Thank y'all for your prayers, please continue, and God bless you.

In Christ's Love,

David Nemati

Another Seizure

Last night, at about 8:05 PM Central Daylight Time, I was getting near the end of an online conference with some classmates in Intro to Psychology. Then an aura started, and I swiped the magnet over my VNS. It got worse, so I swiped it again to reset the one minute of zap. I lost motor control, and I have reason to think I also lost my sense of touch, but my sense of vision was awake and recording to memory the whole time.

After the seizure was over and I regained motor control, I tried twice to write something like "Sorry, guys, I was having a seizure for the last few minutes, could you summarize for me what you discussed in the last few minutes?", but I wasn't able to get past the first five words either time, because I was having trouble connecting thoughts to words.

I called home on the Webcam a few minutes later, and managed to get the right words out to Mom and Dad, communicating what had happened. About an hour after the seizure started I called again, and had recovered my fluency.

The most likely cause for the seizure is that I only had about seven hours of sleep the night before. Last night I slept from about 10 to 8:30, so I am not afraid today (but I'm still being cautious!), and tonight I'll go to bed at about 9.

One positive thing I can think of about this is that I might be able to make a good presentation about it in Intro to Psychology, where we have just been studying what parts of the brain have what functions. I would find fun attaching each function I had trouble with to the part of my brain that was having trouble.