I woke up at 5:30am again and I decided to not show up an hour early but instead let myself get another hour of much needed sleep. My body really needed that but my mind wouldn't relent. I laid there in bed for another hour, staring at the ceiling, burying my head under the sheets, and shutting my eyes. Nothing happened. Finally I got up and sat in bed for half-an-hour before I gave up and went through my morning ritual. This is all very unusual.
I got there on time and we got in groups of three for another morning round of algorithms. We were given a problem and off we went to the board. I had nothing to contribute and the VT led the other guy in solving the problem. They debated among themselves for a long time while fighting with the asian-hating asian, LN, by VT for control over the paper-towel eraser. I said nothing and stared at the board trying to piece things together in my head. Finally I got some paper and wrote some stuff down on my own. They continued to debate and fight with LN before I silenced them with the solution I had written. They asked me to write it on the board. We were the last group to submit and I got the strange feeling that all eyes were on me. When I finished the instructor said that while my solution was correct I designed it for an array of numbers when the instructions asked for only one number. I was congratulated for my cleverness but I still felt like I got slapped.
After the lecture we spent the day working on PHP. There were so many small assignments to do and it was all tedious. It's all going to build up to next week when we learn how to link PHP to the MySQL database. There was no afternoon assignment cause the instructors wanted us to devote all of today and tomorrow to complete the PHP fundamentals and optional assignments if we were ahead.
I often feel like I'm behind everyone else but as the day winds down and I speak to my desk mates I realize that I am exactly where the schedule says I should be. Some students are ahead of others but I'm not aiming for that speed. I'm just satisfied to be where I am. Two of my desk mates, VT and the RS, are behind by about two days. Part of the dojo's learning experience is helping others who are behind and it turns out that I actually like helping others out. In December 2013 I participated in my school's immersion program where during winter break I spent a week in Oakland. One day we went to an elementary school where I was assigned to help fourth graders with their homework. I sat there in silence for a while the other kids gathered around another volunteer before one of the kids asked me for help with math. Math is my subject and I quickly helped him out. Word spread and others were asking me for help. There was this one kid who I helped him complete his homework in under an hour and when his mom came to pick him up she thanked me for making her life easier for that night. I remember when I was in fourth grade and math was so difficult to comprehend. My parents spent every night helping me complete my assignments and I rarely got the chance to watch my favorite tv shows on weekdays. I saw a little of myself in these kids and I wanted to help them out if to make their lives a little easier for at least a day. It looks like the feeling has extended to Coding Dojo and I want to help others if I'm already on track.
So it looks like tomorrow will be spent working on all the optional assignments. I'm actually behind on those ones and I relish the chance to do more prep for the real interesting subjects of next week. I am liking my desk mates a lot. VT is often a source of humor while the RS shares a mutual love of beer.
I'm starting to suspect that the reason why my brain isn't letting me get the sleep I need is because I'm enjoying this way too much. Kinda like playing a video game you really like; at some point you should put it down and get some sleep but it's way too addictive.
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