The Week From Hell is Over!

And I've got a crappy paper and sleep deprivation to show for it.

That seriously had to have been the worst paper I have ever written in my entire lifetime. I was almost embarrassed to hand it in. It really showed me the importance of good preparation and a GOOD TOPIC. The topic I had, (The German Reunification after the Cold War) was a good topic, but I wasn't as enthusiastic about it as I should have been. I did all my research two weeks - one week before...and that consisted of me running around a library finding books that looked like they would be relevant to my topic. Then I took them home, and only completely read one of them that was about 80 pages. I just skimmed the others for anything that looked interesting...I don't even remember what I was trying to argue. That and my thesis sucked. It sucked so much it would put a vacuum to shame. In other words this paper was the equivalent of trying to staple gun a wooden plank to my forehead...then trying to walk around without running into anything. I pretty much did this to myself, and merciful goats it was a hard lesson. If I pull off a C on this paper I will be overjoyed.

This isn't a good thing ladies and gentlemen. This was my term paper. It was worth about 25% of my mark or more. If any other History/English majors out there read this, please please please please please don't be an idiot like me and start these things at least a month ahead. Pick a topic you actually like and then study the hell out of it. If you don't like the class you are in, get out at the BEGINNING of the course. Don't wait until the end to say "oh ho ho this class is simply too passé...excuse me while I shove a crumpet up my arse!" ...I actually don't know anyone who has actually said that, but we'll giggle a bit and move on. Research papers need a lot of work, and honestly they are usually worth the effort. I took on History as a major because of the research paper last term in my "Age of Religious War" class. I loved learning more aobut military technology advancements and the highly debated "Military Revolution" in early modern Europe. The fact that this research paper was a huge pain told me that I needed a different topic, and that this class was not my thing. I have royally messed my academic life up this year focusing on the classes I actually like, depriving the other crummy classes of my time and effort. This is why my options (YES MY OPTIONS) are destroying my mark. From one academic to another (or a possible "another") use your FIRST year to experiment, then get serious, or you too will find a crumpet up your arse.