So Good To Be Finished

Well, yesterday I took my Calculus final. After studying for what seemed like endless hours I finally felt prepared enough to go and face the beast. The test itself took me two and a half hours to fight through, the longest test of my BYU career. The experience left me drained physically, mentally, and emotionally. I do have to say that I felt good about it. Well, good about it in the sense that I was able to answer the questions, not good about it in the sense that I really care about what I learned in the class.

Calculus class is a giant hurdle for those of us in the geology department. Speaking generally, most of us in the Geology department love science but hate math, which is why we chose geology in the first place. Let's face it, calculus is not all that applicable in our field. When the other members of my calculus class found out that I was a geologist, their collective response was, "Well why the heck are you in this class?!" I have found myself wondering that on more than one occasion. At one point, I even asked one of the geology professors why the department subjected us to the mathematical hellscape that is calculus. They responded by telling me that it was to help develop our problem solving skills. I personally would have rather done the sudoku in the newspaper every day, that would build problem solving skills in an environment that would not make me want to jump off a building. Other students in the department have suggested that calculus is a class to weed out the students who don't belong in geology. In response to that I was forced to wonder if a department with a graduating class of 12 really needed any less students.

Despite all the arguing and wondering and pain and suffering, calculus 112 and 113 remain required classes for geologists. It is a hurdle that we all have in common. 95% of being a geology major was awesome, it was just two classes that drove me out of my mind. Is there a corollary here to life? I'm sure there is. Life is full of wonderful experiences, dare I say that about 95% of the time, it is awesome. But sometimes it seems like that other 5% is enough to drive us out of our minds. Everyone has bad days, it is an experience that anyone can relate to. The trick is to persevere. God requires us to suffer the bad times and the good times, and in the end, I'm sure it will help our problem solving skills, our faith, our character, and a myriad of other traits that our Heavenly Father wants to build up in us.

This week I went on a trip to Goblin Valley. It was quite a drive, about three hours, but totally worth it. The scenery was beautiful, both on the way there and on the crazy back roads that I took on the way home. Feel free to check out the pictures. Till next week.

Naturally, as a geologist, I could tell you all about how and why the goblins formed, but I wouldn't want to bore you with the details of how the Entrada Sandstone fractures and then spheroidal weathering coupled with differential errosion formed the valley full of goblins, so I won't...