Newsgroups: alt.religion.kibology,alt.slack
Subject: Re: Recreational Productivity
From: bg19354@binghamton.edu.NoMoReDaMnSpAm (Nully Fydyan)
Date: 6 Nov 97 22:33:06 GMT
In article <346fdf84.8673646@news.zippo.com>, twgs@thepoint.net (Doktor D)
wrote:
> So about the studying thing:
> My typical method for studying for a test for the last few years has
> been to look at the cover of the textbook the night before the test,
> panic, put the textbook away, and fail the test the next day. I
> finally decided it was time for a change in strategy, so this time I
> downed a lot of caffeine and didn't panic, learned nearly everything I
> needed to know, and kicked butt on the test, well, compared to the
> LAST test I took in that class. I liked the results so much that I
> repeated it for my test the next day, which didn't go as planned, in
> that rather than studying for the test I was suddenly consumed with
> grandiose ideas and wound up writing stuff half the night. Naturally,
> this stuff had nothing to do with Economics. Oh well. The final's
> worth 60% of the grade anyway.
Funny you should mention this. I had a major test this morning (worth 30%
of the semester grade, I think) in the Philosophy of Medical Ethics. So I,
unusually for me, decided it wasn't worth studying for. (I apparently
can't get out of instant gratification mode from this weekend) Instead of
at least getting to bed early so I'd be well rested and unprepared, I was
reading _Stand on Zanzibar_ (John Brunner is my shordurpersav!), and
didn't get to bed until 1 am. The test was at 8:30, so I decided, as I
was dropping off, that I would wake up at 6 and study then. So I got up
at 6. And I didn't start studying until 7. Take my advice, it's very
hard to study a third of a semester in an hour. Around 8 I decided to
clear my head in the morning chill, and do the rest of my studying on the
way to class.
That's when I made my fatal mistake. I thought to myself (and I blame
Annna for this) WW"B"D?. (That's: What Would "Bob" Do? for the
unenlightened among you.) Of course, the only answer I could come up with
was that "Bob" would probably get stoned. Take a big old hit off the frop
pipe, and everything would go his way. I didn't follow his example, but
suddenly the world seemed as if I had. I was talking to myself out loud,
which is not too unusual, but then I was talking to my notebook. About
"Bob". I said, "You know, I'm kind of lucky I'm not "Bob", cause if I
were, I'd probably get hit by lightning right about now. Of course, it
wouldn't do anything other than light my pipe, and the electricity would
affect the frop so that my braincells would suddenly fuse, and all the
ones that stored the information from the class and my notes would jump to
the forefront of my mind where they'd be readily available. So maybe it
would be good to be "Bob."" My notebook look back at me wisely, but
didn't answer.
Then the songs began. For this I blame Phred and Andrew (Jehova Hates
Phred, specifically) for supplying me with catchy and easily remember
SubGenius songs that stick in your head. Especially SubGenius drinking
songs. ""Bob" Down in the Saucer-O" went over real big with my notebook.
These soon warped into slackful versions of nursery rhymes, and I think my
professor, who passed me on the way to the lecture hall, especially like
"Take me up to the saucers", sung, loudly, to the tune of "Take me out to
the ballgame,." He may have been a little perplexed with the line, "I
don't care if we kill everyone," but my book and I were having a fine
time.
I did get to class. The room was like a morgue when I walked in, singing
to myself. But I honestly believe one person with a smile, especially one
who quite obviously doesn't know what she's doing and doesn't seem to
care, can suck all the tension out of a room. And so it was. They all
suddenly realized that they couldn't possibly do worse than I was about
to, and if I didn't care, why should they? Even the people who normally
give me funny looks had a smile for me today. (Smiling with me or at me,
but does it really matter?)
We got the test. It was choose 2 of 6 essays. And you know what? Two of
the 6 essays we had to choose from had been studied between 7 and 8, and
the information had worked its way into the songs. So all I had to do is
start singing about aborting the pinks and doing experiments on them, and
I was set. It's kind of hard to sing and simultaneously write an exam
though, like thinking with both brains at once, which I've never been that
good at. But I perservered, and even finished moments before the TA's
started kicking people out of the room. All in all, it was the most
slackful, and musical, test-taking experience I've ever had. PRABOB!
Nully
--
Rev. Nully Fydyan
(temporary chick)
Church of the Ungendered Yeti
"This is the real world. Out there, that's the asylum." -- St.&reux