Hello everyone,
I come to you from the depths of whatever insanity I have fallen. The weather is nice here. I would send you all a postcard except most digital cameras can't capture what exists in my schizophrenic little world.
Putting aside the degrading state of my mental capacities. I want to continue with my mission of journaling my little life for the sake of posterity. You may all treasure these musings to share with your small children and grandchildren in your venerable age.
First, let me say that this semester is unique in the fact that I have not changed my rather sober demeanor, but I seem to have become something of a "normal" in the history realm of Fredonia. Not only do my fellow students now realize my existence, they actually can carry on conversations now. It is truly interesting that in this week I have had more social interaction than I did the entire previous semester. go figure. This could be a good thing, adding to my "contacts" and "friends", or it could be a terrible thing, adding to my frustration and annoyance. However it turns out, this semester will no doubt be interesting.
Here is my course list for those interested.
Calculus: *Lightening flashes illuminating the horror stricken face of your truly* "Calculus!" The strained voice utters. *Thunder crashes tremendously, trailing off into the dark silence as the windows rattle with wind and rain.*
Is this a completely over dramatic representation of what really happened? Yes. Does it accurately portray what I am feeling right now? Yes! I suppose I knew deep down that all those times complaining about "learning something that I will never use again" and "doing problems that are even more stupid than they are useless" would finally catch up to me. Call it divine providence, but the one person who hates calculus and math more than any other living individual must now suffer under the tyranny of square roots, secants, slopes, derivatives, and algebraic problems with more Greek and Latin letters than a seminary course on Biblical languages. It is of course a necessary evil for the purpose of my economics credentials, and I am sure that it will come in handy, if only for the future stats class I will have to take.
Of course, I will say that this class isn't all bad. In proof that misery loves company, the rest of the victims...er...students are extremely friendly. In truth, I think that groups have formed around the smart people, and the parasites (yes that would be me :D ) have settled on the talented to sponge off of them. The prof is also decent. She is very helpful, and she is very open that she knows that most of us aren't math majors, so she explains things in small terms.
There was one extremely interesting event that occurred in this class. I, Math hater extraordinaire, found a mistake in the math book. I asked a fellow student, and it turned out that the book gave the completely wrong solution, and even the professor said that it was wrong. VIVA LA TEXT BASED LEARNERS!
Honors: History of Revolutions in Western Thought: This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship or a terrifying semester. In order to earn an honors cord when I graduate, I need to take a certain number of Honors seminars. They are okay, but they are basically basic courses with an emphasis on discussion and class participation. the hitch comes in two forms. Sometimes students really shouldn't be encouraged to speak. Sometimes students should be muzzled in order to save the rest of the class from suffering horrible, brain numbing, migraines. I am not talking about those students who don't care, who are basic learners, or just asking honest questions. I am talking about those individuals who decide that they are going to enlighten everyone to this wonderful idea they had during in the shower this morning.....no joke.....He says something like that every CLASS!
The other problem, and this is more of a problem for me, is that I have two classes back to back with the exact same professor and there is a lot of overlap. The problem is knowing when and what to say and in which class to say it. I mean what do I do if I have something to say about a subject in the first class, but it is also being covered in the second class? Do I say it twice? Do I save it for the second harder class? sigh
Anywho, this class is pretty fun. you can't go wrong with the Renaissance, Reformation, Enlightenment, Scientific Revolution, and Modernity. Intellectual and theoretical history is fun, especially when you have a large amount of non-history majors in the room, Mwhahahaha!
(The quote at the top the page is just such an incidence.)
Christian Theology and History P.II: This is the most the fun I have had in college EVER! Besides being able to answer all the BASIC SUNDAY SCHOOL questions, walking into a class knowing that there will be inherent opportunities to talk about the most important thing ever, my faith, is invigorating to say the least. Plus, I believe the professor, the same one mentioned above, is a liberal Roman Catholic. Which means that, although we might not agree on much, she probably won't dismiss me out of hand.
In addition, there is actually going to be intelligent/stupid argument in this class. You see I have a certain history major sitting behind me (For Erika's sake, I will say that she has changed her hair color back to blonde. You know what I mean Jimmy.), and if all variables hold constant (arghhh calc has gotten into my head) she will be somewhat challenging to argue with. On the other hand, we also have the militant atheist in the front row of the class. He will be fun in a totally different fashion. I would like to think of it as delicious destruction of his faulty logic. So, let the theology begin!!!!
Comparative Economics: The next step in my economic education. Thankfully, I got the same professor that I studied macroeconomics with last semester. which is good because he is a good prof, but it is bad because....well....he knows me. It is a cool class because there are no windows, and the lights are all connected to one switch. So, when he want to use the projector, 90% of the time, he has to turn off all the lights, and he is completely silhouetted in front of a square of light on the wall. It is all very scary when you can't see his features, and the dark shadow suddenly turns towards you and asks you a question in his heavily Indian accent. It reminds of nothing more than an interrogation room or maybe the Shadow of Sauron.
The best so far has been this quote he gave for quick references on economic systems.
"You have two cows:
in Socialism: "and the government forces you to give one to your neighbor."
in Communism: "and the government takes them from you and sells you the milk."
in Anarchism: and "you shoot the government agent and steal someone else's cow."
in Chinese socialism: "and you paint your donkey white with black spots and sell it as a cow."
in Capitalism: "and you sell one and use the money to buy a bull."
in American Capitalism: "and you Clone them."
in Naziism: "and you shoot them."
Of course, this is simplified, but it also somewhat holds true.
Doing History: Brown vs Board of education: This is definitely going to be the most time consuming class. It involves alot of writing and group projects....plus the prof makes us sit in a circle. (WHY!? T-T) But, this course is important because it introduces me to what I am going to be doing for the rest of my life (Lord willing that I become a History Professor). We are researching, writing, and citing the life out of Brown vs Board of Education.
I do wish that the class could've been about something more interesting than this court case. (I don't fancy getting called racist again.) It has been interesting though. The discussion has already veered onto babysitting habits, the definition of equality, religious basis for law, and just how much pain the human body can take. It is fruitful discussion.
Of course, there are complications. One of which is dealing with a certain class mate who enjoys to hear himself talk. (yes Erika, it the one from music class.) I think you all might be realizing by now that I have problems dealing with people who have the same characteristics as I do. :)
End of Class Synopsis
Well, that is my class load this semester. I do hope to be able to keep up the weekly updates a little better than last time. It might happen as long as Dad doesn't have another heart attack. Yes, I am using my father's afflictions as an excuse instead of my own laziness.
Goodbye faithful readers
Friday, January 31, 2014
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
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