Joan

Well, it would seem that the honor of launching our game of cyber-misery poker has been bestowed upon Joan. Whee hee, hee haw! So where do we start....

Joan thinks that she has a leg up in the game from the start, due to her major(s)

Double Honors Math and Physics

Just see if you can top that, so there. So what does this mean? In the last week, she has taken the only test of the semester in math 48 (theory of error correcting codes) and a two day test in physics 50 (mathematical methods). Still to come, though, is a 2.5 hour test in modern physics on Friday. What a lovely way to start spring break.

And now for a historical interlude....

Just what is misery poker, anyway?

snoodler! Obviously you are not from Swarthmore if you even have to ask. Basically, it is the ultilmate from of intellectual one upsmanship. You sit around at Sharples (the dining hall, you ignoramous) or in the hall or on the lawn, preferably when you should be doing something productive (ha! that means any time) and bitch to the other people in an attempt to martyr yourself to the academic cause. You know that no one has it worse than you do. How could they, when you have two tests and three papers to do in the next week?

Back to the issue at hand, Joan's lousy lot at Swarthmore. In addition to her three math and physics classes, there is this crazy thing called Semantics. Oh, the things you will do to get those PDCs. Every Sunday night this semester Joan has written a paper for the class, to be turned in by Monday at noon. No big deal, you may say, if it is a weekly thing it must be just a page or two.

WRONG

For the last three weeks, the papers have ended up being 10, 5, and 6 pages. They have never been less than 4. Oh, the suffering that goes on in Woolman every Sunday night. To make matters worse, everyone in Joan's quad is in the class, so the time it takes to do the paper grows exponentially as we play a few rounds of misery poker.

Oh no, the computer is being stolen...