~rockin the new semester~
Random irrelevant observance: I hate pop-out ads, but when I see they come with sound, but don't turn that sound on automatically (as in, you can turn it on yourself if for some strange reason you actually care what the ad has to say), I forgive them for their annoying popping-out. Because nothing is more irritating than listening to iTunes and then there's this sudden interference, usually inexcusably loud, from an ad, and you can't turn it off. Even some ads which do start out with sound on offer a mute option, but there are plenty that just make you listen to it or mute your whole computer. I'm thinking especially of an ad for medication that has been a repeat offender on DeviantArt.
So, advertisers. Be less annoying and maybe I'll stop boycotting your products. I have indeed deliberately not bought a product because its online ad annoyed me. n_n
So! I'm back at school now and the new semester is kicking off great. I'm so ecstatic that my friends are back from study abroad (except sirigorn! whyyyy I miss youuu!). We have had many fun times already, chilling after moving in, making hayashi rice (I, like, chopped carrots!), watching a Nino drama, talking life and Bollywood and animated elephants, singing "So Long, Farewell" in the caf, meeting Becca's boyfriend, eating mango sorbet, and rambling in Japanglish. Aaaaah it is good they are back!
As for the semester itself, it's busy. Very busy. I'm a little daunted by the workload at the moment (got another class with a certain professor whom I love, but who assigns massive amounts of reading. She claims she cut the daily page count this time, but when I looked at the syllabus it seemed more or less the same amount... I guess we'll see when we start reading). In particular, a group project for American Lit seems to involve making an hour long presentation on notes we've taken outside of class reading (I know, what? I don't get how it's different from a regular group research project and making it an hour long, plus twenty minutes for questions, is kinda crazy if you ask me. The longest presentation I've ever made was 25 minutes). However, American Lit's got some great themes and I like the teacher after just one day with her. It's probably not going to be my favorite class, but it will definitely be interesting.
Gender in Anthropology looks like a really interesting course (apparently it hasn't been offered in three years) and the teacher is really pumped for it. She seems like an interesting, if opinionated person. So it'll definitely be interesting. But I'm already concerned about my participation grade because, as interesting and important I think the topic is, it's a volatile one and I'm afraid to misspeak and get someone mad. People are pretty open about gender, sex, and every category and topic connected to those, which is great. I'm eager to learn more, but it's not like I'm really knowledgeable about it all right now. So probably I'll say something stupid, especially if I'm tired. I don't wanna deal with the wank and teachers aren't the best at spotting wank in time to stop it in its tracks... The class is gigantic too, and the prof said she's going to split us into two discussion groups, and every other week one group will be commenting on the reading rather than everyone trying to voice their thoughts at once for participation points etc. ^^;
Even so, I'm excited for the course, I just hope I can live up to it.
Post-Colonial Lit (PoCo) is the one taught by aforementioned beloved professor who assigns tons of work. However, it's a small class, only 9 or 10 students, and I know and like several of them. (A guy I know and always thought quite cute grew a beard. A real beard. It doesn't suit him imo, but it doesn't look bad either. ;) ) And all the books are so interesting (with the exception of Heart of Darkness. I really don't want to read that again). For example, The God of Small Things, Wide Sargasso Sea, Omeros and Potiki. So I think it's gonna be fun.
Music of the Arab World is the most challenging because I'm the only one, I believe, who knows little to nothing of either music or Arabic in the class. This was not unexpected, and actually the first day went better than I expected. I correctly identified the Fayha choir, Umm Kulthum, and Amr Diab after only knowing who they were for one day. (I missed Fairouz though.) And several of my overall thoughts about the music were in line with what the other students were thinking too. I'm really fired up for this. I've loved all the music I've listened to so far. We are studying as much of the Middle East as we can, from Turkey to the Maghreb, and digging into history a little with Arabo-Andalusian music and others like it. Although it's music of the Arab world we're featuring, it sounds like we'll look at Jewish music a little too. (Makes sense - not all Israelis are Jews and all sides are bound to be influencing each other.)
Also excited to be back doing gamelan! We played kebo giro first off and I remembered it perfectly <333 Well, I did mess up from time to time. But not badly. Then I tried kenong and I think I did okay, but I'm not 100% sure. We actually played kebo giro for a looooong time. Then we started in on a new piece which is in slendro tuning. It's awesome. I suggested to Marc that we do the "frog song" which I loved from two years ago... here's hoping!
And Women's Chorus is going to be a blast. I loooooove it.
Tomorrow is Japanese translation and movies! Ciao.
So, advertisers. Be less annoying and maybe I'll stop boycotting your products. I have indeed deliberately not bought a product because its online ad annoyed me. n_n
So! I'm back at school now and the new semester is kicking off great. I'm so ecstatic that my friends are back from study abroad (except sirigorn! whyyyy I miss youuu!). We have had many fun times already, chilling after moving in, making hayashi rice (I, like, chopped carrots!), watching a Nino drama, talking life and Bollywood and animated elephants, singing "So Long, Farewell" in the caf, meeting Becca's boyfriend, eating mango sorbet, and rambling in Japanglish. Aaaaah it is good they are back!
As for the semester itself, it's busy. Very busy. I'm a little daunted by the workload at the moment (got another class with a certain professor whom I love, but who assigns massive amounts of reading. She claims she cut the daily page count this time, but when I looked at the syllabus it seemed more or less the same amount... I guess we'll see when we start reading). In particular, a group project for American Lit seems to involve making an hour long presentation on notes we've taken outside of class reading (I know, what? I don't get how it's different from a regular group research project and making it an hour long, plus twenty minutes for questions, is kinda crazy if you ask me. The longest presentation I've ever made was 25 minutes). However, American Lit's got some great themes and I like the teacher after just one day with her. It's probably not going to be my favorite class, but it will definitely be interesting.
Gender in Anthropology looks like a really interesting course (apparently it hasn't been offered in three years) and the teacher is really pumped for it. She seems like an interesting, if opinionated person. So it'll definitely be interesting. But I'm already concerned about my participation grade because, as interesting and important I think the topic is, it's a volatile one and I'm afraid to misspeak and get someone mad. People are pretty open about gender, sex, and every category and topic connected to those, which is great. I'm eager to learn more, but it's not like I'm really knowledgeable about it all right now. So probably I'll say something stupid, especially if I'm tired. I don't wanna deal with the wank and teachers aren't the best at spotting wank in time to stop it in its tracks... The class is gigantic too, and the prof said she's going to split us into two discussion groups, and every other week one group will be commenting on the reading rather than everyone trying to voice their thoughts at once for participation points etc. ^^;
Even so, I'm excited for the course, I just hope I can live up to it.
Post-Colonial Lit (PoCo) is the one taught by aforementioned beloved professor who assigns tons of work. However, it's a small class, only 9 or 10 students, and I know and like several of them. (A guy I know and always thought quite cute grew a beard. A real beard. It doesn't suit him imo, but it doesn't look bad either. ;) ) And all the books are so interesting (with the exception of Heart of Darkness. I really don't want to read that again). For example, The God of Small Things, Wide Sargasso Sea, Omeros and Potiki. So I think it's gonna be fun.
Music of the Arab World is the most challenging because I'm the only one, I believe, who knows little to nothing of either music or Arabic in the class. This was not unexpected, and actually the first day went better than I expected. I correctly identified the Fayha choir, Umm Kulthum, and Amr Diab after only knowing who they were for one day. (I missed Fairouz though.) And several of my overall thoughts about the music were in line with what the other students were thinking too. I'm really fired up for this. I've loved all the music I've listened to so far. We are studying as much of the Middle East as we can, from Turkey to the Maghreb, and digging into history a little with Arabo-Andalusian music and others like it. Although it's music of the Arab world we're featuring, it sounds like we'll look at Jewish music a little too. (Makes sense - not all Israelis are Jews and all sides are bound to be influencing each other.)
Also excited to be back doing gamelan! We played kebo giro first off and I remembered it perfectly <333 Well, I did mess up from time to time. But not badly. Then I tried kenong and I think I did okay, but I'm not 100% sure. We actually played kebo giro for a looooong time. Then we started in on a new piece which is in slendro tuning. It's awesome. I suggested to Marc that we do the "frog song" which I loved from two years ago... here's hoping!
And Women's Chorus is going to be a blast. I loooooove it.
Tomorrow is Japanese translation and movies! Ciao.