Plans for my upcoming future

Last week was the adjustrary phase for my new schedule. I have 7 courses, and trying to get into a club with a workload of 15 hours. I slowed down on this Thursday and Friday, but still got the minimal done. There are still a lot of asterisks to graduating in a year. Even if I can do it, it isn't necessary the best course of action. Just like how I went into college to potentially get into a higher job position, taking another year of college might extend my reach in the job hierarchy. 

I wrote an incomplete blog post last week trying to talk myself through some challenges I had with coding my OS. This week, I want to figure out the vague details (oxymoron :) )to my schedule.

My class schedule is more or less finalized*1, And I have figured that my Saturdays and Sundays should not be class related to forcibly make room for additional learning. If I get into SEDS, then those days are for SEDS. If not, I will read through the textbooks for the classes of MAE 3, MAE 30B, MAE 131A, MAE 150, and MAE 170. These are the prerequisites for MAE 156A, which is a class for metal works, and I want to do that.

If I don't get into SEDS, I need to somehow split my attention to learning new stuff of mechanical engineering with coding projects. I still need to improve my coding skills, both more low-level and high-level. For now, operating systems is on one end, and machine learning is on the other... I think Saturdays and Sundays can be each for one, and which first would depend on what I am enthusiastic about in that week.

In addition to classes and projects, I need funds to finance all of them. If I get into SEDS, I can rely on the resources that they have, but if not, I would like to start metal works next quarter on my own. And it ain't cheap, at least in my frame of wealth. With a $500 deposit, $100 starting fee, and $256 monthly, I need quite a lot of money. And those aren't even including material costs. Therefore, I need to continue doing a job, especially if I don't get into SEDS.

Before I get into the next paragraph, I would also add that I need to have a project set before going into metalworks. I'm really inspired by SEDS, so although I still have 4 months to get it straight, I think it will be to get my own rocket :). Hopefully with a more generalize purpose.

And to the purpose of the blog, is to calculate the money I need to congregate and immediately burn next quarter :). You see, if I can just use facilities provided by SEDS, all would be good, but no, that's still up in the air. 

Continuous Base Cost (for my Saturdays and Sundays): $200/month  ($400 in fall)

After this quarter:

Starting: 

$100 down for metalworks

$500 deposit  (*optional)

training classes: total: $1095 (doesn't have to be all in order in the start, but would assume so)

    woodshop - $260

    CNC milling - $275

    metal intro - $260

    mig welding - $300

 > amount to have wiggle room: $1695

> total amount in fall: $2095

Weeks in fall quarter: 10 weeks, 5 paychecks

Amount needed to save per paycheck: $415

Hours work per 2 weeks: 415/16.5 = 25.15

Hours per week: 12.575

Continuous Base Cost: $449/month ($249 membership; $200 material)

In conclusion on my calculations: I just have to save all of what I earn, and continue working.

I sound like a lunatic right now, but we'll see :)

All this, of course, is contingent on me being competent this quarter and proving myself. So it is not like all this is what I believe would happen, but more of so a vision that I am going to work towards. And if  I fail, I would get a thousand dollars of free money for myself next quarter :). And if I do succeed, then my master plan would be in order.

What I came to this blog for was to answer how much I should work a week, and now the answer is that my work amount can stay unchanged, 13.5 per week. And if things go south, going into SEDS can medicate a lot of the needs for my finance, but we will see what the future unfolds in the next week. I am aware that I am being fantastical, but without a vision, what are we? Humans, perfectly normal humans, nothing is wrong with that. But hey, I have my own conscience, and I can do whatever I want.

1: My 7 courses are: cat 3, ece 121a, ece 101, ece 111, ece 65, cse 100, phys 2d. 

footnote: I did get into SEDS