Thursday 12 April 2012

The Final Week

I'm still alive. By some stroke of luck I haven't collapsed or gone insane like some of my fellow peers but more on that later.

So, from these two posts you can tell I've had my work cut out for me. Well as I mentioned before my workload had suddenly tripled. Some of you may remember my research problems, numerous technical errors and other small problems impeding the project. Good news is that I finally fixed everything and was able to start running people through it.

The bad news was I had 4 days left until the end of the term and I still needed 15 hours worth of data to go through. This required me to stay on Campus until 8PM several times. Plus there was the day that I forgot my key, and the day that the printer stopped working. Tons of fun little disruptions.

This also stole time away from the rest of my work. And if you know anything about me, I compensate for less time, by not resting.

And babies and dead people.

But that's not all! I realized that on the same Wednesday my papers were due I had not only a presentation to prepare for, but I was also expected to lead a discussion on a paper for a seminar. Things were not looking good for me.

I am pretty good at BS'ing my way through things. It's one of my few talents. But there's a limit to how much I can pull off. And on that cold Wednesday morning, April 11th, I was staring at a computer screen and realizing I had hit that limit. There was no way I could prepare for both presentations and papers even if I pulled another all-nighter. Scrambling for a solution I began reading through syllabi, hoping for some of salvation.

And then I saw it.

Developmental Paper Due Friday April 13.

Friday 13.

Friday. 


This was pretty much my expression.

I had got the due date wrong, I had more time than I anticipated. And with this new information I focused on my other work. It gave me enough time to focus on my other paper and the two presentations. All in all, I thought that Wednesday went fairly well. Well, as well as a day can go when you have that many things to do and turn in.

At the moment I'm finishing up my last paper. I have everything planned out it's just a matter of putting it altogether in a coherent fashion. If I'm lucky, I might be able to go to bed soon and sneak in 2 hours of sleep before class.

But another unexpected problem popped up. Who remembers the friend that I had that probably had some form of mental problem? The guy who was possibly doing and saying a lot of things for attention seeking purposes? Well he's back and crazier than ever. And not in a good way.

Seriously dude, go back to your therapist. There's nothing I can do for you anymore.

So I walk into class, Yu comes to sit beside me and goes "Hey man, Damian look at this."

He rolls up his sleeves and all over his arms are these cuts and slashes. He's written words like FOCUS and A++++ all over his forearms. And I'm sitting there in disbelief, I mean, this is what Junior High kids do to themselves, not 4th year University students ready to graduate.

And when I ask how he's doing it, he reaches into his bag and pulls out... 

A scalpel. Like, the kind of scalpel that a surgeon would use.

And then here's where it gets even better. He starts cutting himself. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LECTURE. 

Just. Why.

So I'm sitting there, trying to concentrate on what the prof is saying while Yu is sitting beside me, wincing in pain as he's slicing his arms up. At one point he even goes "Hey man, here you go." And dumps a chunk of skin in front of my laptop.

I tried my best to ignore him but inside I'm starting to panic a bit. I half expected him to go feral and start stabbing me. And I hope no one dares ask why I didn't try to take the scalpel away from him (which he claims came from his Anatomy class). Would you want to try and wrestle a sharp object from a potentially deranged person? No? Neither would I.

For whatever reason, he also decided to make a Facebook status update inbetween his cutting sessions. Something along the lines of "SOS, someone on campus help me please!". And well, he got his help. Some people responded and due to mutual friends I managed to get a group of people to escort Yu to some mental health clinic. I couldn't go with him, I had research stuff to do.

But what really caused me to shake my head was as Yu left, he turned to me and said:

"Yo Damian, my arms really hurt.".

GEE. I WONDER WHY.

(I cannot wait for this term to end.)

47 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear about you getting the date wrong buddy but just keep on trucking man. You'll cross the finishing line soon, just keep at it and don't give in.

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  2. need a fast forward button like the movie click? but you'll surely miss the fun of stress, rush and crams! haha

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  3. OH MY GOD!!!!!! Your friend really needs serious help. Clearly it's for attention. You weren't giving it him so put ARM SKIN ON YOUR DESK????? Omg, do YOU need therapy after that?? I seriously would!!

    Good luck on your exams and papers. Here's to your friend getting the help that he seriously needs.

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  4. WHAT! That. is. crazy. And super gross. Glad he's going to get help..

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  5. Wow. Just.....wow. I was feeling pretty bad for you with the load of schoolwork you've got, but then the cutter came in...now I feel really bad for you, that's creepy!

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  6. Wow, he cut himself right there in the middle of class? I really hope he gets the help he so clearly needs. But well done on surviving, it's Friday now so I hope you were able to get everything done.

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  7. At first I was like "yay he's getting all of his shit fixed on time, go Damian!"
    But then you started about Yu and my face went from :D to D:. That's just.. eww. He even dumped a bit of skin on your desk? That dude's completely gone off the wrong end, he needs to be locked up in that clinic 'til he gets his stuff straight.
    Could you not've gone "hey give me that scalpel let me try" and then receive the scalpel only to hang on to it and later dump it in the garbage? Though it was probably such a shocker you weren't really capable of thinking anyway. Fuck man, sorry for you having to see that.

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  8. holy f*ck sh*t. That dude needs a forced mental commit for his own safety. Look it up, you can call people and say you're concerned they are going to hurt themselves or others and get them held on a 48hour psyc eval.

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  9. We will never sleep cuz sleep is for the week.
    Great song by BMTH

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  10. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

    Shudder! I can't believe he would do that in class. This kid needs some serious help...

    Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh1!!!!!

    I have to go wash my hands or something now, I feel all twitchy after reading this ;)

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  11. Sounds like you are on top of things at least, even if you are part zombie now staying away for hours on end..haha...wow he really needs help that is just nasty and disturbing in every way.

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  12. hope the term ends in the best way for you so that you get some rest. If you work extremely hard you will be proud of yourself throughout your life,because you will know that you earned everything.

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  13. uu... it's ugly.

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  14. Yu needs some serious help. Well, you'd have to survive and you did :)

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  15. no fucking way! He really started doing that in class? My mind is officially boggled. Also, nice choice of words (feral).

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  16. haha, this makes me think that you should trick yourself whenever a paper is due, and pretend like the due date is a lot closer, that way you can feel that sense of relief all the time!

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  17. I'm going to skip most of the good news here, and congratulations and all that jazz.. but.. as a psychology student, isn't that guy.. you know.. GOLD?! I mean just listening to this story I'm fascinated. I don't blame you for any of your actions but it's like you couldn't wait to get him off your chest. I'm just intrigued, but then again I wasn't in the situation.

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  18. Keep the goal in sight! You can do eeeeeeeeeeet!

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  19. well that story about your friend tops any crazy thing I've ever seen

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  20. Wow, you're having an epically dramatic week. I hope all of your presentations and papers went well. I hope Yu got the help he needs. Major ew on him putting skin in front of you.

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  21. This post is depressing, this scares me as I'm heading off to college.

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  22. Oh, gosh. That must have been really disturbing to watch.

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  23. I suddenly realized that the people around me are completly sane compared to your enviroment.

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  24. I actually laughed pretty freaking hard at this post.

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  25. I have had speeches go wrong, but I think you have be beat.

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  26. Are you serious?!?! The professor didnt stop his lecture when he noticed skin falling from his arm!?!? This is absolutely ridiculous I am sorry you had to deal with it!

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  27. WTF IS UP WITH THAT GUY. I would have freaked out if someone did that in front of me.

    Good luck with all your research!

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  28. I'm super tired too been loaded up with homework and a bunch of other things!

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  29. Ok, that dude needs some serious help. WTF

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  30. Haha, yeah, I love it when I realize things are due later than I originally thought. And that guy... I don't even. ><

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  31. Oh my! He's completely lost it. Poor kid.

    That must have been a horrible thing, sitting there next to him seeing him cut himself. :(

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  32. Sounds like you've had a lot on your plate! ): Glad you got the extra few days for your research though, those extra few hours can make such a difference!

    As to crazy guy... that's just insanity! I hope he's okay though.. he's obviously not 100% in the head but still.. no one deserves that, self inflicted or not.

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  33. This reminds me of those awful deadlines in college...keep at it and you'll appreciate the rewards

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  34. I'm surprised you didn't throw up when he dumped that chunk of skin on your desk... I know I would have.. *blah*

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  35. Damn, that is really messed up. I'm glad to hear you're still dealing with things.

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  36. I hope he said his arms hurts really deadpan.

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  37. Iv heard of cutting classes..but this is ridiculous.

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  38. What? Were they taking SAW VII or something?
    Once it happened in our college, if dieting is for Americans suicide attempt is for Indians, this guy in last row swallowed some pills because the girl he asked out said NO. And after 3 hours, he started to beg to everyone please take me to hospital, I am dying.and then whole drama and stuff.
    The sad part the idiot made out alive. :(

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  39. Oh my goodness, your friend. :-( I'm still scraping my jaw off the floor. I hope he is getting some serious help now cos this is, well, serious. Oh dear!

    I hope you got your research in on time!

    Take care
    x

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  40. Reminds me of my past week! It might sound selfish but it's comforting knowing that someone else going through the same stuff. Good luck with your research.

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  41. I'm glad Yu is getting some help! And I'm also glad you had a little extra time for your paper...whew!

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  42. Ehhhhhhh almost done mah homework!

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  43. Hmmm. You are such a busy! Take some time to relax. I am pretty sure you can do it well.

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  44. Glad you got some breathing room to space out those assignments, but nobody should have to endure watching someone cut themselves in class. And now to the future, which is now.

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