Well OK, technically I can't say I haven't had ANY rest. At some point since last entry, the oncoming cold I was talking about eventually hit me like a runaway train. The Monday after the incident with the flat tire of the go-go girl's car, the cold symptoms were starting to take me on at full-force. It took me out like the flu, minus the intense fever. Perhaps it was just a really bad cold. Anyway, before I go on, there's quite a few things I need to catch up on and there's a bunch of stuff in my mind I wanted to write about on top of that. I think I'll break it up chronologically like I did last entry, but this time by days instead of hours/minutes. I may even break this baby up into two entries. I guess we shall see shall we? I'm not sure how long this entry is ultimately going to be, but it's going to be long one nonetheless, so just consider yourself duly warned.

Monday through Wednesday (November 7-9)

Returning to my health situation, by Monday, I had the sore throat and cough, but not so much that I couldn't get up out of bed to go to work so I put in a full day at work and later met with my group for the final class project that evening. By that time I was sucking on cough drops like they were crack. The next day on Tuesday the other symptoms started to hit me. I was able to put in another full day at work and I tried to put in some work for the final project at the school computer lab thereafter, but my body was aching and I was coughing, sneezing and feeling drowsy. By Wednesday, I was a complete wreck. I was the like the dude in the NyQuil commercial; coughing, sniffling, sneezing, aching, stuffy head and fever.

I probably should have stayed home, but in my mind I couldn't. It was the last class before the final and we had a group meeting before that. I've never missed a class in the past 6 years of school and I never ever dissed any class group meeting ever, it was a matter if integrity and god-damn-it, I wasn't going to let a few billion rhino-virus invading my body stand in the way of that track record. Of course, since I simply HAD to go to class at least according to my ego, I figured I might as well save the few sick days I had left and go to work as well.

So I hauled my half-dead body to work Wednesday morning and grabbed some cough syrup along the way for the sore coughing throat. I probably should have gotten some DayQuil, but silly me thought I could handle it. Boy was I wrong. I was able to function, but just barely. The whole work day I was alternating between taking calls, coughing, sneezing and blowing my nose. I felt so fucking terrible that day, but I was surprisingly determined to do my job anyway. I don't know where the fuck I got my energy from but I made it through a full day of work.

It wasn't over yet because I still had a group meeting before class and the final lecture right after the meeting. Right before class was the only time all of us could meet so I dragged my diseased carcass from work to the school cafeteria where we were all supposed to meet. Of course by that time I was almost completely useless. One of my classmates, apologetically of course, said that I didn't look so hot. I told her don't worry and assured her that I felt much worse than I looked. I apologized for my lack of contribution and told them I wouldn't be able to make it to the last lecture for obvious reasons, thus ending my long-standing perfect attendance streak with school.

Thursday through Sunday (November 10-13)

So I called in sick both Thursday and Friday and I was basically in bed and out of commission all the way up until Sunday afternoon. I couldn't even do schoolwork on my laptop because the light from the screen hurt my eyes. I was in bed for so fucking long, almost 4 whole days in bed recovering from this sickness. By Sunday evening I finally started feeling a little better and was able to finally put some work into the final project.

By Sunday evening I was finally able to get out of bed and into the library in the Lincoln Park campus. One of the members in the group was having trouble populating the tables on the Oracle database we were working on and we needed values in the tables in order to build the SQL queries for the project. So I sat down that night and kept working at it until I was able to figure it out. Once I got that out of the way my classmate was able to do her part.

I suppose in a way being sick for so long was a blessing because I would have probably taken it upon myself to do the majority of the project work on my own regardless of the participation of my fellow group members. Other group members stepped up their game and was able to follow through. It would have probably taken me all of those days I spent recovering from my cold/flu to get all those SQL queries running correctly.

Monday through Wednesday (November 14-16)

This is not to say that it was all over though. The final submission was due the Wednesday of that following week, so I went over the project requirements. There was still a bunch of stuff we had to do. It's weird but because although everyone in the group made their contributions, which for the large part of my academic career was a rarity, I somehow still wound up putting in the most hours in the project. I attended every possible group meeting, I stayed late in the computer labs, I worked on shit when I got home and when I slept I probably dreamt about the project. Although I haven't actually counted, I could have quite easily put in more hours in that final project than everyone else combined.

I hope it doesn't sound like I'm complaining though. Far from it, if anything I think I've found my calling. If I can land a career where I can focus that level of intensity, eating, breathing, sleeping, living and doing what I seem to do best. If I have there's no telling how far I can take myself career-wise. I have a hunger and I can't fucking be stopped. Hopefully I'll be able to land a job like that once I nail the Master's degree.

So anyway, I spent that Monday, Tuesday alternating meetings with various group members. By Tuesday we had all but one SQL problem solved. The girl who was working on the SQL did an utterly fantastic job at building the queries up to that point but she was stuck at the last one. Luckily most of the group was present at that meeting and one of the guys was able to provide another set of eyes and help solve the last part of the query. The girl who did the queries was also able to answer the final questions that were based on the last lecture that I missed because I was sick. Teamwork does indeed have it's privileges.

For the most part all the big stuff for the project was done by Tuesday evening. There was of course a whole bunch of loose ends to tie up but I left all that stuff for the next day. So by Wednesday evening after work, I headed again to my 2nd home the computer lab. I noticed a few classmates in another group doing some last-minute project stuff including a cutie I've had my eye on but haven't had a chance to talk to because she sat clear across on the other side of the classroom from where I usually sat.

But anyway, to rewind a little bit, everyone in class had a choice to do a group project with 6 people max, a solo project or a final exam. Class was usually held on Wednesday night, but since everyone in the class opted to do either a solo or group project, there was no final class scheduled that night. The final submission was set 11:59pm of that night (before midnight). I was actually planning to do the project solo since historically, I usually wound up doing the lion's share of the work in various class group projects of the past. Solo projects were geared with lesser project requirements so I could have easily hacked it on my own.

The reason I wound up in a group was because the cute blonde girl whom I sat next to that day asked what were my plans for the project. I told her I was considering a solo run, but if she needed a partner I was willing to consider it. So she wrote her number and email in my notebook and I gave her my calling card. It all kind of snowballed from there. There was another blonde who sat right next to her whom she knew from another class so naturally she was automatically part of the group and the other girl right next to her saw us exchanging numbers and wound up joining us as well. By the next class, another guy from the first blonde's other class also joined the group and the 6th person who also sat in the back row rounded off the group.

But I digress. So there I was in the lab for the final day of submission. Maybe it's just me, but I found it interesting that no one else from my group was present that evening and only two of the other five people in our group responded to the emails I sent. I know in the previous mail that I sent, I mentioned that all that was left of the project was a section we missed on normalization, putting the entire document together and proofreading.

Still, even if someone else took the initiative to complete the last few pieces of the project, I know that I'd either be there personally or I'd monitor my email closely to make sure I'm in touch. I mean seriously, if I got ran over by a car or if I suddenly decided to smoke crack recreationally that day and I wasn't able to do the last parts of the project, then everyone else's grades would be fucked.  Maybe it's just me making an issue out of nothing, but I personally would like to exert some degree of control and influence over my grade especially when there is ample opportunity to do so and even more so when it is so close to the "eleventh hour".

Well, I guess it's good for all involved that I do my best to be a stand-up guy, especially where school is concerned. I stayed late in the lab that evening, just like the Monday and Tuesday before and the Sunday in the library before that. I'm usually there until closing which is 11:00 pm and I usually make it home and if I'm lucky I'd be in bed by midnight. I feel like I've been burning the candle at both ends, but in the end when all is said and done it feels good knowing I've put in nothing but my best effort. I wish I could apply that principle as successfully to everything else in my life, but for now that will have to do.

So I was able to do the final part of the project, modify all the documentation to match the requirements, package it all up into one PDF. I was even able do some last-minute proofreading and actually caught a few things that were missing and make the necessary revisions. Although those past few days in particular were quite long, it was a total relief to finally submit that assignment.

Anyway, I still have a bunch of other stuff I need to blog about, but it's been a long and not-so-relaxing Thanksgiving holiday weekend for me and it's all taken it's toll, so I'm going to retire early for the first time in weeks and I'll save the rest of it for the next entry. Hope everyone had a great holiday for those who celebrate it. Until next time...