(no subject)
Shalom everyone, and welcome back to Adam's livejournal! I won't bore you with any long preamble. I have plenty of time to ramble in the post to come.
So today I returned to my alma matter, NKK, to sign up for Calc 2 (didn't work out at Hofstra, they don't offer evening classes). For those of you who don't know, NKK is shorthand for NCC, or Nassau Community College. Get it? See! It's funny, right? Now I thought this was common knowledge, I mean, I used the term all throughout my month there taking physics a bit over a year ago (back when this livejournal was updated nightly and was, yes, truly a sight to behold), I used it in this livejournal and in my away messages and in conversational speech and I might have even written "NKK" instead of "NCC" once or twice on my tests. But lately I've been talking to people and no one seems to have any idea what I'm on when I use the KK version (although in retrospect, it's ironic to think that many Kennedy students are wondering what drugs I'm on). The same deal all around--they give me a blank stare, and then when I explain it, they sort of laugh awkwardly, pretending it's funny, and then look away. Jesus Christ on a bike, I'm not even trying to be funny, it's just so engrained in me that it's like a habit.
Anyway, that being said, I was signing up for, as I said, Calc 2, which is obviously in the math department. So as I was looking through their math course catalog to find the course for me, I noticed one sort of interesting one. It was called "Foundations of Mathematics for the Elementary School Teacher." Apparently it's meant to teach future teachers how to teach elementary school kids in math. I read the description:
"This course is intended for students who are interested in teaching at the elementary school level. Topics will include a development of binary algorithms, the real numbers, field properties of the real number system as applied to abstract mathematical systems, numerations systems, functions and equivalence relations, solving systems of algebraic equations and number theory including some algebraic proof. Applications, historical perspectives, problem solving, and use of the technology will be emphasized in all topics."
Now, is it just me, or are kids doing some fucking complicated things in their math classes today? I don't know about you guys, but my childhood memories don't include learning development of binary algorithms in fourth grade math class. I do remember some problems, though, about a girl named Shaniqua playing basketball with a guy named Jamal, and then there being a drive-by shooting and the basketball getting deflated, as well as Jamal's lungs, so we had to count how many basketballs and people were left....
Fifth grade math took a similar problem, but factored in dirty cops and an east side/west side feud to make calculating the death toll a bit more complicated. But hey, we were 10, we could handle it.
In other news, doody.
I said "doody" :)
Teeheehee.
So, I realized something today. Well, yesterday, actually. I've been stressed lately. For obvious reasons, and I know I'm not the only one. When I got home, I put on some Ottmar, and I became very mellow...very "chill", if you will. And I was talking to Alyssa and she commented on how cool I am when I'm not maniacally stressed out. I figured that might be a good way to start the day every morning when I wake up--put on some Ottmar as I do my stuff, then for a few minutes, just sit back and relax. Very Zen, no? I feel like a Buddhist, except I'm self-centered and materialistic. And I know I'm certainly not the first, or even the tenth, or the fiftieth, Kennedy student to prepare for a day by putting on flamenco music every morning, but--no, wait...
Now of course, though, what Alyssa said is only half-true--I'm always cool. As a matter of fact, I think my coolness is only superceded by my good looks. And my egotism.
Shalom my friends.
So today I returned to my alma matter, NKK, to sign up for Calc 2 (didn't work out at Hofstra, they don't offer evening classes). For those of you who don't know, NKK is shorthand for NCC, or Nassau Community College. Get it? See! It's funny, right? Now I thought this was common knowledge, I mean, I used the term all throughout my month there taking physics a bit over a year ago (back when this livejournal was updated nightly and was, yes, truly a sight to behold), I used it in this livejournal and in my away messages and in conversational speech and I might have even written "NKK" instead of "NCC" once or twice on my tests. But lately I've been talking to people and no one seems to have any idea what I'm on when I use the KK version (although in retrospect, it's ironic to think that many Kennedy students are wondering what drugs I'm on). The same deal all around--they give me a blank stare, and then when I explain it, they sort of laugh awkwardly, pretending it's funny, and then look away. Jesus Christ on a bike, I'm not even trying to be funny, it's just so engrained in me that it's like a habit.
Anyway, that being said, I was signing up for, as I said, Calc 2, which is obviously in the math department. So as I was looking through their math course catalog to find the course for me, I noticed one sort of interesting one. It was called "Foundations of Mathematics for the Elementary School Teacher." Apparently it's meant to teach future teachers how to teach elementary school kids in math. I read the description:
"This course is intended for students who are interested in teaching at the elementary school level. Topics will include a development of binary algorithms, the real numbers, field properties of the real number system as applied to abstract mathematical systems, numerations systems, functions and equivalence relations, solving systems of algebraic equations and number theory including some algebraic proof. Applications, historical perspectives, problem solving, and use of the technology will be emphasized in all topics."
Now, is it just me, or are kids doing some fucking complicated things in their math classes today? I don't know about you guys, but my childhood memories don't include learning development of binary algorithms in fourth grade math class. I do remember some problems, though, about a girl named Shaniqua playing basketball with a guy named Jamal, and then there being a drive-by shooting and the basketball getting deflated, as well as Jamal's lungs, so we had to count how many basketballs and people were left....
Fifth grade math took a similar problem, but factored in dirty cops and an east side/west side feud to make calculating the death toll a bit more complicated. But hey, we were 10, we could handle it.
In other news, doody.
I said "doody" :)
Teeheehee.
So, I realized something today. Well, yesterday, actually. I've been stressed lately. For obvious reasons, and I know I'm not the only one. When I got home, I put on some Ottmar, and I became very mellow...very "chill", if you will. And I was talking to Alyssa and she commented on how cool I am when I'm not maniacally stressed out. I figured that might be a good way to start the day every morning when I wake up--put on some Ottmar as I do my stuff, then for a few minutes, just sit back and relax. Very Zen, no? I feel like a Buddhist, except I'm self-centered and materialistic. And I know I'm certainly not the first, or even the tenth, or the fiftieth, Kennedy student to prepare for a day by putting on flamenco music every morning, but--no, wait...
Now of course, though, what Alyssa said is only half-true--I'm always cool. As a matter of fact, I think my coolness is only superceded by my good looks. And my egotism.
Shalom my friends.