Examinations.
Learning Evidences.
Quizzes/Summative.
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Busy Student
November 25, 2023. The year is fastly coming to an end and the pressure for students to overcome the semester is also making its way to the remaining days. Examinations, learning evidences (final project), and quizzes or summative. All of these are piling up with tight time constraints. Therefore, effective time management is crucial to prioritize tasks.
While these challenges are currently stressing students, my own struggles are intensified due to the severe consequences of my reckless actions. I damaged the laptop I borrowed from a friend—a significant setback when borrowing something valuable from someone who takes good care of their things.
STORY TIME
As a 3rd year BS in Statistics student, having a laptop is crucial to practice coding and analyzing data at home which I still really need to work on. My parents can't afford to buy me one because they're jobless. Papa can only give a little amount of money from his share in church and I also have a senior high school sibling with them to take care of. My sister supports us in the boarding house, covering our daily needs and despite her work, her monthly income isn't enough. We even experience eating once a day despite me studying at a state university. So, I found a part-time tutoring job, hoping it would cover personal needs and the option to rent a laptop from school for ₱800.00 down payment and ₱200.00 monthly.
My problem was, the first job payment is only small as I was still starting. Thus, even though it feels bold for a newbie, I withdrew all my earnings from PeakD that time, totaling almost a thousand pesos. I managed to get a laptop, but it was kind of defective. Turning it on from shutdown took a long time and it needed sleep mode to open without troubles. I couldn't install programming apps most importantly the R and R Studio, making it useless. Disappointed, I considered returning it two days later after giving up that the apps aren't compatible to it.
But then, I had an idea. I asked my good and close churchmate to switch laptops as I can install those apps in hers plus she don't usually use it much. Mine is working fine though as long as she put it in sleep mode. That's what I adviced her and told her the situation. She agreed, and I got to do my thing. Not until one day, when exhaustion from school and work ate up my entire system. I failed to organize my things before lying in bed and forgot that the laptop I borrowed is on the lower part. I was about to close my eyes but a loud thud put a heavy weight on my chest.
"Di lang unta to laptop oy." (I hope that wasn't the laptop.)
It took me seconds to check the situation, realizing that there was a high probability that it's the laptop which fell. And I wasn't wrong. Without hesitation, I immediately opened it. Thankfully, it was still working fine. This brought a sense of relief that allowed me to rest with a calm heart and make it through the day. However, the ordeal wasn't over. The next morning at school, I encountered a new problem—the cursor wasn't functioning. To cope, I borrowed a mouse from a classmate and went to the library to continue my assignment. As I opened the laptop, that familiar anxiety returned, seeing it struggling to start up. Despite, I didn't let it affect me for a moment as I still had an assignment to submit on time. Resiliently, I completed the task on a friend's laptop who happened to be nearby.
It was a long day for me. Back home, I searched online for ways to open it and ChatGPT assisted me. I get to open it again back to its normal state. I felt a huge relief, like finally getting to pee after facing hindrances along the way. Everything seemed back to normal, but in the following days, half of the screen turned pink again.
I couldn't help but think, "Seriously? When will this end?" It made me nervous because, until now, it hadn't gone back to normal.
END OF STORY
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Examinations.
Learning evidences.
Quizzes or summatives.
Money.
Money.
Money.
Money
These are all the burdens I currently wish to throw away, but I can't because they are my responsibilities. Money worries and saddens me among all of these because I consulted a professional about the laptop's case. It will cost me ₱4468.00 to fix the broken LED, changing the screen. I wonder where I can find such a large amount of money when my tutoring income is only small and sometimes support my sister's provision in surviving the weeks as their payment is monthly. It also depends on the number of clients I have. Currently, I have 2 clients every Monday and Friday, and 3 on Wednesdays. Each session lasts for an hour and 30 minutes, and my rate is only ₱62.50 per hour.
What saddens me the most is that my plan was to spend all my income to the children this coming 23rd of December for our church's thanksgiving celebration. I intended to provide shirts and awards for their months of attending the children's ministry every Saturday.
Unfortunately, I didn't foresee this obstacle, and I had already informed the children that I would print a t-shirt for each of them, as they are set to perform a poem and a song. How disappointing it will be seeing the children and the fact that they could be happier if not of my clumsiness. To add to the situation, there's even a church camp coming. It's disheartening. I even wanted to contribute to our thanksgiving celebration.
My clumsiness costs me more radiant smiles and ₱4,468.00. The thought of spending such a large amount of money for a working student like me to fix it feels like throwing money away due to my clumsiness. It emphasizes the importance of taking extra care, especially with expensive items that aren't ours. Borrowing should be avoided if possible. I hope and pray that I'll be able to overcome this challenging situation and pay ₱4,468.00 soonest. Huhu.