And I Thought it’s all Over
It’s been over a month now since I and my stupid blockmates who are made-up of 99% plastic and 1% human started doing a very important project. I can’t divulge all of the information here because if I did do so, then, you would know what my course is which I don’t want to happen yet1. Basically, what we’re doing is a class project for one of our majors. Actually, it’s an academic paper where we had to interview people in school, present facts and statistical data, analyze and interpret graphs and tables, give recommendations and support our work. It is indeed tedious task. Because of this sleep-depriving requirement, it has divided the class further into smaller groups. And now, the whole class is experiencing its consequences.
Actually, one of my blockmates whom I’m always with had predicted this. It’s inevitable. As what I have written previously, when they only see your back, evil horns start to sprout from their heads. I didn’t think that all things will go in the wrong places. I didn’t want to think about this. But now that it’s here, I still don’t know what to do and I still don’t want to think about it2. Just thinking of it keeps me on the verge of fainting and lose my consciousness.
I can’t tell you much about our preparations to the finalization of our written report because, well, because I only did a few things during these parts. Yes, I know, I’m bad. Haha. I really didn’t want to make the analyses, interpretations, and even the introduction and recommendations. But of course, I helped in the tallying (and checked if there are conflicting data) and created the 50 plus graphs that we used. Actually, I was one of the few students in our class who knows how to make graphs in Microsoft Office Word. As a result, they still had to contact me whenever there are changes. When I asked them why they don’t know how, they simply answered “We already forgot how to make a graph.” God, I mean, if they had a Computer subject in high school, they should have learned how to. It’s very basic. And duh, what is F1 doing? By just reading the “Help” feature in MS Word they will surely know how to make one.
There were other problems that arose during this part, a few were telling the whole class that they haven’t slept just for this project. Everyone could smell sarcasm in the air. In the end, I learned that they were referring to one of our classmates. They said that she didn’t do anything at all. But this person they were referring to said that she did her part well. Actually, before this, these two parties have already existing issues and they just got bigger. But what I really don’t get is why they’re treating this person like that when she’s trying to avoid these people.
On the day when we had to pass it, everyone thought that everything was fine. A few hours before the deadly deadline, things started to fall apart. They noticed that there was something wrong with our project. And so, we were not able to pass it on time. During that night, they had to edit so many things with our work. Graphs were missing (that’s what they said but I did all of the graphs and I’m sure that I didn’t miss a thing), a table was not tallying with another table that should match with, some pages were not numbered. It was only a day after the deadline when we submitted our project. There were still many errors in our written report, but we couldn’t afford to wait for another day so as to make the necessary changes that we had to. Besides, we were already losing 25 points during that time and the next day when we could pass it would be only a week after (because of Holy Week).
During the Holy Week and the week after that, nobody ever dared to check our written report because everyone was dreading about our final examinations. It was only last Saturday, after our exams when we had the chance to check it again. Actually, it was only that day when I got a copy of our report. By that time, I still haven’t read our report and it was decided that I was one of the ten students who’d present it to our panelists (which we had earlier this week). I also volunteered myself to do our slide show presentation. And so, I and the one who predicted everything will go wrong went to our house to make our PowerPoint Presentation. She did the text part, and I edited the graphs. Two of our blockmates also went with us so they can study our project for our oral defense.
It was also on that day when I first read the analyses and interpretations my classmates did. It was totally a disaster. I didn’t know how to react. I didn’t know if I should feel mad or annoyed or if I should laugh or not. Hell, the interpretations that my classmates wrote were really funny. There were so many errors. Typos, factual errors, you name it! Sorry, I can’t give you an example even if I want to because I can’t think of one without giving away clues about my course. Too bad, I don’t have my copy anymore which has so many red circles, red crosses, red lines, and red question marks. If I still have it, I could have looked for an example that I can publish here.
A day before judgment day (our oral defense), we knew that we’re allowed to pass an errata. It was godsend! I even told my blockmates that if we passed one, it would surely be as thick or even thicker than our written report. But during doom’s day, the list of our corrections was incomplete. Lack of time didn’t allow us to collaborate. It was only a quarter of a centimeter thick. I really thought that we would be sautéed; we were really preparing for the worst because we know that our project has so many flaws. Good thing our panelists were good to us. They gave us tremendous amount of recommendations and they gave us two weeks to revise our written report. After four hours of defending our work I was relieved. But I thought it was all over… I thought they wouldn’t need me anymore…
Remember my last sentence in my first paragraph? Well, the class was divided further, my blockmates who were friends a few weeks ago have now their own issues and they’re treating each other as enemies. No one is cooperating. Because of this, I don’t have any choice but to help. As a matter of fact, there are only six of us who are willing to revise our academic paper. And from the six of us, we don’t have a soft copy of our report which is the main reason why we can’t start revising.
Well, I’m wondering when I can say “It’s over… it’s all over.”
[EDIT 04.05.08] Yesterday, I revised a part of our written report. I also changed the format of another revised part of our project to match the format that I used. So I guess it’s over… it’s all over… ???
Abangan… [/EDIT 04.05.08]
