surprises

Today was a long day. I got up at 6:45 from my usual alarm at 6:30, rolled out of bed, must have had this miserable look on my face, (like, darn it it's another early morning) started brushing my teeth and then I realized that I woke up an hour earlier than I needed to. So I did what most people do and went back to my bed which was still warm. That hour seriously did wonders.

It really is crunch time this week; a professor I have pretty much threw down the hammer and was like, "you'd better get this" to all of us while trying to keep us motivated by saying "don't give up." Yeah, it's so frustrating when you aim to do well yet you just fall so short (and continue to do so) of expectations you put on yourself and the expectations others put on you.

Well the good "surprises" that I am thankful for today were:
1. my only meet up this week was one that wasn't a usual planned one (had 3 supposed to happen slip).
2. classmates' generosity. (this is a big one)

I'll skip to the second one. For the most part, I don't really ask other classmates for help, but I'll help others if they ask. So it was strange when one classmate, let's call them "Q" asks for a copy of something and then I ask them to help me with that same homework assignment that I didn't finish. Granted, you don't know "Q," but I've been annoyed by them pretty much all quarter because they can't seem to keep their mouth shut in class and just seems to pump out the wrong answers/things at an inconvenient time. Plus they are hardcore atheist and do a lot of things to promote it and actively put down naysayers.

They tell me that they'll know I'll be offended by the filename and that it was a joke to their other friend and send me a file named "Goddoesntexist" and says the problem is there.

The thoughts that ran through my head were: 1. who titles homework problems like that? 2. wow, you actually said you knew I'd be offended, and 3. shoot, this seriously makes solving the problem so much easier for me. Is it kind of ironic?

Yeah, I would have never had thought that they would help me. But that's not all. Other people helped me with a similar problem today and I really appreciate the collaborative effort that my classmates in my major have in trying to get these problems done. I've never felt like it has been a competition to one-up another person, but it has been more of a group effort to overcome the subject matter as a whole. If we did have a competition-type atmosphere, I don't think I'd be able to hold my own or even learn as much as I have now. It would have been more like high school where I had that mentality, and I would have broken down a long time ago trying to keep that mindset up.

Then again, it also makes me see that anyone can "be nice". Regardless of your background or what you believe, you can choose to be nice, but there can be so many underlying motivations for acting a certain way. I can't see/know what their motivations are, but I know that I need to not just do something out of obligation or to "save face."