Just Another Update
All sorts of news from the last few weeks. Classes are going pretty well. The econ test yesterday was not bad, but walking out of the physics test today I felt like I'd just come out of an encounter with an angry weasal. Prof. Carone had promised us a formula sheet with everything we'd need on it. So when I studied, I would solve the problem, referring to the handy formula list at the end of each chapter, figuring those would be similar to the content on the exam formula sheet. What Professor Carone didn't tell us was that the formulae provided would be all that we would need to DERIVE EVERY CONCEIVABLE FORMULA. Oof. Time was the only real problem, I'm pretty good at derivations, but is was still a nasty exam. At least I'll know what to expect next time.
Professor Carone's lectures are top-notch, though. Long, exacting derivations. Hoorah! Like always, I've been keeping track of good quotations from lecture, some gems from Monday include "It's a tasty theory, but is it true?". And my math professor was inadvertantly funny today. Somebody questioned the validity of a proof, on the grounds that 0 is not divisible by 6. As part of his attempt to disabuse the student of this notion, the professor wrote, in large numerals, boxed, in the middle of the blackboard "0*3=6". He then happily carried on with his explanation, until the fact that his entire class was staring at him like a madman sank in. When he turned around and looked at the blackboard, his facial expression was beautiful (and indescribable). As he erased his error, he murmered somthing along the lines of "There goes my credibility".
I'm surprised by how much I'm liking this math class. I'm beginning to develop an appreciation for, almost a love of, proofs.
In the Classics Club play I'm Theopropides, the moralizing old man, a casting decision which has taken absolutely no one by surprise. The joy I get out of playing a grouchy old man is somewhat worrying.
Fencing is going well so far. My legs hurt with great magnitude and frequency, but it seems to be better than last year. So either things have improved, or my tolerance for pain has increased. Either way, I'm fencing again. Kind of. I've only fenced one bout so far this year, we spend most of our time doing footwork (for two hours strait, it's brutal) and bladework drills. Wednesday I did over 400 parries. The foil captain's logic is that most of the time you're hit, it's because you've been sloppy, not because your opponent has out-thought you. So if everybody's parries are textbook-perfect, we'll be hit with roughly half the frequency. So every practice we're required to do 50 each of the major high-line parries. If form, including the riposte, isn't perfect, a parry doesn't count.
This week I discovered that it is possible to take a minor in Classics without taking a language. I'm toying with the idea of changing the history minor to a classics minor, since Alexander the Great is the most fun course I've yet taken, barring harpsichord. I wake up every Tuesday and Thursday morning grouchy and tired, until I remember that I'm going to Alex, when I begin to actually look forward to the coming day. And the readings for this class are a blast.
Things are going swimmingly with L. Not really much that can be said there, except that I consider myself incredibly lucky to have a girlfriend like her. Her parents are coming down for Parent's Weekend tomorrow, L. and I will be having lunch with them. Wish me luck.
Professor Carone's lectures are top-notch, though. Long, exacting derivations. Hoorah! Like always, I've been keeping track of good quotations from lecture, some gems from Monday include "It's a tasty theory, but is it true?". And my math professor was inadvertantly funny today. Somebody questioned the validity of a proof, on the grounds that 0 is not divisible by 6. As part of his attempt to disabuse the student of this notion, the professor wrote, in large numerals, boxed, in the middle of the blackboard "0*3=6". He then happily carried on with his explanation, until the fact that his entire class was staring at him like a madman sank in. When he turned around and looked at the blackboard, his facial expression was beautiful (and indescribable). As he erased his error, he murmered somthing along the lines of "There goes my credibility".
I'm surprised by how much I'm liking this math class. I'm beginning to develop an appreciation for, almost a love of, proofs.
In the Classics Club play I'm Theopropides, the moralizing old man, a casting decision which has taken absolutely no one by surprise. The joy I get out of playing a grouchy old man is somewhat worrying.
Fencing is going well so far. My legs hurt with great magnitude and frequency, but it seems to be better than last year. So either things have improved, or my tolerance for pain has increased. Either way, I'm fencing again. Kind of. I've only fenced one bout so far this year, we spend most of our time doing footwork (for two hours strait, it's brutal) and bladework drills. Wednesday I did over 400 parries. The foil captain's logic is that most of the time you're hit, it's because you've been sloppy, not because your opponent has out-thought you. So if everybody's parries are textbook-perfect, we'll be hit with roughly half the frequency. So every practice we're required to do 50 each of the major high-line parries. If form, including the riposte, isn't perfect, a parry doesn't count.
This week I discovered that it is possible to take a minor in Classics without taking a language. I'm toying with the idea of changing the history minor to a classics minor, since Alexander the Great is the most fun course I've yet taken, barring harpsichord. I wake up every Tuesday and Thursday morning grouchy and tired, until I remember that I'm going to Alex, when I begin to actually look forward to the coming day. And the readings for this class are a blast.
Things are going swimmingly with L. Not really much that can be said there, except that I consider myself incredibly lucky to have a girlfriend like her. Her parents are coming down for Parent's Weekend tomorrow, L. and I will be having lunch with them. Wish me luck.