{"id":185,"date":"2009-10-19T21:18:00","date_gmt":"2009-10-19T21:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/?p=185"},"modified":"2009-10-19T21:18:00","modified_gmt":"2009-10-19T21:18:00","slug":"nearing-the-1st-semester-half-way-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/?p=185","title":{"rendered":"Nearing the 1st semester half-way point."},"content":{"rendered":"<div align=\"justify\">I can\u2019t believe it. I\u2019m just about half-way through my 1st real semester of college. And I haven\u2019t dropped a class. And I actually have an A in both classes. This cannot be me. It just can\u2019t. Me, the high school Junior &amp; Senior year slacker (except in Band, of course), who had to cram the night before and the morning of her high school Economics final in order to graduate (got a B on the final &amp; pulled a D out of the class. Whew!).<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m waiting for the other shoe to drop. I know it\u2019s coming. I just <i>know<\/i> it.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s funny. My College Algebra class is the one I thought would be tough. I was thinking that a 20-year gap would possibly be too much to overcome. I have been wrong (so far) and I haven\u2019t quite figured out what has made the difference. Is it that whole \u2018older but wiser\u2019 concept? Is it that I\u2019m putting forth more effort this time around? Is it that this professor just explains it better? All of these are quite possible, though I\u2019m not sure I can pin the difference down to just one reason. Maybe it\u2019s all of them. Maybe it\u2019s that I have better liquor now. Who knows!<\/p>\n<p>My Computer Essentials class is a whole OTHER story. It\u2019s a stupid prerequisite for the programming classes I need (which I really don\u2019t get <i>at all<\/i>, but whatever). I was feeling going into the class that it should be an easy A. For the most part, it is. EXCEPT. Except for the fact that the (associate) professor teaching this class is treating the Word section like an English class (e.g. I have to write a paper for my Word Final Project). WTF? AND (here\u2019s one of the best parts) she is grading based on a statement in the book that says something \u2018typically\u2019 does not occur. Since when does typically equal a hard coded rule? When you point that out to her and provide examples to support it? She says <i>the book says so<\/i>, so that\u2019s what it is. She shows a complete disregard of the points made. Might as well have not said a damn thing. I talk to others who have taken the same class at the same school under different professors and I get a very different view. Figures. I get the professor who for all I know is being this way thinking it will get her tenure. It was a mistake to take this class from her. I wish I could test out of it, but that\u2019s not an option. Oh well. I <i>am<\/i> looking forward to the course eval when this is all over.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I can\u2019t believe it. I\u2019m just about half-way through my 1st real semester of college. And I haven\u2019t dropped a class. And I actually have an A in both classes. This cannot be me. It just can\u2019t. Me, the high school Junior &amp; Senior year slacker (except in Band, of course), who had to cram &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/?p=185\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Nearing the 1st semester half-way point.<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,45,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-higher-learning-sucker","category-metriculation-diaries","category-misc-rantings"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Nearing the 1st semester half-way point. - Tales of a Former Utah Hostage<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/?p=185\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nearing the 1st semester half-way point. - Tales of a Former Utah Hostage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I can\u2019t believe it. I\u2019m just about half-way through my 1st real semester of college. And I haven\u2019t dropped a class. And I actually have an A in both classes. This cannot be me. It just can\u2019t. Me, the high school Junior &amp; Senior year slacker (except in Band, of course), who had to cram &hellip; Continue reading Nearing the 1st semester half-way point. &rarr;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/?p=185\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tales of a Former Utah Hostage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-10-19T21:18:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cropped-Photo-Oct-27-2024-10-06-12-PM-scaled-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1260\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2244\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"theutahhostage\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"theutahhostage\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theutahhostage.com\\\/?p=185#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theutahhostage.com\\\/?p=185\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"theutahhostage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theutahhostage.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cb3a5df023ecca32cdda055fc3490c16\"},\"headline\":\"Nearing the 1st semester half-way point.\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-10-19T21:18:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theutahhostage.com\\\/?p=185\"},\"wordCount\":473,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"higher learning? sucker\",\"metriculation diaries\",\"misc rantings\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/theutahhostage.com\\\/?p=185#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theutahhostage.com\\\/?p=185\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theutahhostage.com\\\/?p=185\",\"name\":\"Nearing the 1st semester half-way point. - Tales of a Former Utah Hostage\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theutahhostage.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-10-19T21:18:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theutahhostage.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cb3a5df023ecca32cdda055fc3490c16\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theutahhostage.com\\\/?p=185#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/theutahhostage.com\\\/?p=185\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theutahhostage.com\\\/?p=185#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theutahhostage.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Nearing the 1st semester half-way point.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theutahhostage.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theutahhostage.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Tales of a Former Utah Hostage\",\"description\":\"Memories of captivity while exploring freedom in the Upper Midwest.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theutahhostage.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theutahhostage.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cb3a5df023ecca32cdda055fc3490c16\",\"name\":\"theutahhostage\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/04dbab1c15e0b5b704e8b9d912c5f195b3503c7793560da979c640eea99a0793?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/04dbab1c15e0b5b704e8b9d912c5f195b3503c7793560da979c640eea99a0793?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/04dbab1c15e0b5b704e8b9d912c5f195b3503c7793560da979c640eea99a0793?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"theutahhostage\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/theutahhostage.com\"],\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/theutahhostage.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Nearing the 1st semester half-way point. - Tales of a Former Utah Hostage","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/?p=185","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Nearing the 1st semester half-way point. - Tales of a Former Utah Hostage","og_description":"I can\u2019t believe it. I\u2019m just about half-way through my 1st real semester of college. And I haven\u2019t dropped a class. And I actually have an A in both classes. This cannot be me. It just can\u2019t. Me, the high school Junior &amp; Senior year slacker (except in Band, of course), who had to cram &hellip; Continue reading Nearing the 1st semester half-way point. &rarr;","og_url":"https:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/?p=185","og_site_name":"Tales of a Former Utah Hostage","article_published_time":"2009-10-19T21:18:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1260,"height":2244,"url":"http:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cropped-Photo-Oct-27-2024-10-06-12-PM-scaled-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"theutahhostage","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"theutahhostage","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/?p=185#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/?p=185"},"author":{"name":"theutahhostage","@id":"https:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cb3a5df023ecca32cdda055fc3490c16"},"headline":"Nearing the 1st semester half-way point.","datePublished":"2009-10-19T21:18:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/?p=185"},"wordCount":473,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["higher learning? sucker","metriculation diaries","misc rantings"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/?p=185#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/?p=185","url":"https:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/?p=185","name":"Nearing the 1st semester half-way point. - Tales of a Former Utah Hostage","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-10-19T21:18:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cb3a5df023ecca32cdda055fc3490c16"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/?p=185#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/?p=185"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/?p=185#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Nearing the 1st semester half-way point."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/","name":"Tales of a Former Utah Hostage","description":"Memories of captivity while exploring freedom in the Upper Midwest.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cb3a5df023ecca32cdda055fc3490c16","name":"theutahhostage","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/04dbab1c15e0b5b704e8b9d912c5f195b3503c7793560da979c640eea99a0793?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/04dbab1c15e0b5b704e8b9d912c5f195b3503c7793560da979c640eea99a0793?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/04dbab1c15e0b5b704e8b9d912c5f195b3503c7793560da979c640eea99a0793?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"theutahhostage"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/theutahhostage.com"],"url":"http:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/?author=1"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgoK5d-2Z","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theutahhostage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}