Before any journey is complete, there is one final quest to conquer. Or in more modern terms, there’s always gonna be some dark-souls style final boss at the end. The Final Boss of SSP Astrophysics: THE OD REPORT! It was constantly approaching, but I was always preoccupied enough for it to be out of sight. This demonic monstrosity snuck up on me as a cobra sneaks up on its prey, abruptly and violently.
Today began like most days, except an hour later. Since yesterday was the last day of lecture, and today is entirely devoted to the OD Report, we got to sleep in an extra hour. Frankly, I didn’t think the report would be too difficult, especially since me and my team had already written six pages of it, but this beast was on an entirely different level. The time between breakfast and midnight was a frenzy with a seemingly impossible amount of both relief that we might actually finish the report, and anxiety due to the realization that I still had to learn how to write down 58 equations onto a document using some markup language only physicists and mathematicians use called LaTeX. Not only that, but the realization that we had to format those equations along with all of the tables, graphics, and text needed to write a semi-legible scientific paper made the evening stressful enough that it could easily be considered a high-risk situation by the American Heart Association for anyone with remotely high blood pressure.
However, after an exhausting number of edits, proofreads, and questions posed to TAs about how to format a LaTeX document to make it into a single column, midnight neared and Dr. Rengstorf started a countdown in the computer lab to kindly remind us of the deadline, which everyone in the building was devoting every ounce of their being towards. Soon, Dr. R started blasting, to the thanks of literally no one in the entire building, the Final Countdown by Europe and the submissions started rolling in. I am glad to say that Team 7, JAG Underpants: International, was one of the first teams to submit, finishing 15 minutes before the deadline. As the clock struck midnight and teams scrambled to submit their reports, there were cheers and tears celebrating the fact that we actually did it, we finished SSP! We defeated the final boss, and the celebrations were set to begin.
Downstairs, the faculty had a surprise for us, pizza AND Lucien’s COKE! We devoured 6 boxes of pizza, and then spent the night, dancing and singing in the classroom, before moving to the dorms and getting shut down by Dr. R and Mrs. Martinez. THE PUNISHMENT: parent phone calls and a shortened curfew. I guess it’s time to fix my sleep schedule. We’re DONE!

P.S. There was a DLC.
Hey, I’m Gio, a rising senior from Vallejo, CA. I really like physics (not astrophysics though thanks to the first pset). I spend my time lifting weights, running, and having fun with my friends.