(no subject)
So, now that I'm getting into my third week of school, I think I'm finally starting to genuinely like my classes. I mean, every class has its initial appeal, or some don't. But now that I'm semi-in-the-swing-of-things, I'm starting to really appreciate everything.
One thing I'm appreciating now more than ever is how incredibly well my mother and father fed me. I don't mean in abundance, I mean in quality of food. I had a balanced diet and it tasted good. Now, I have to stop and question when the last time I had a decent serving of meat was, and I long for my mother's spaghetti sauce instead of this cheap marinara I keep buying by the jar....
Anyways. As I was saying, I'm appreciating my classes. For one, I like my schedule with its empty-except-for-tech-theatre Tuesdays and Thursdays. Oh, how I love that precious sleep I get until noon on those days. Class doesn't even start until two.
Moreoever, I like tech theatre class. True, there is no real technical work involved. But I like the teacher. He is kind of amusing in a dry way. He's currently working on an MFA, so he's still pretty young. However, teaching tech theatre is so heavily based on common sense, it's hard to not get redundant. For example, yesterday was theatre safety. Now this was exciting because we got to learn about all the scary bad things that can happen when you're not careful. But a lot of it was basically like this: "Yeah, so moving machinery: Don't stick your fingers in it," or "If someone working above you yells 'HEADS!!!!' it means they've accidentally dropped something. Don't stand there and look up, get the hell out of the way." Everyone realizes it's kind of pointless stuff to go over, but that includes the teacher, so we get through.
Hehehe, mostly I liked yesterday's explanation of why theatre is so dangerous. "What we do, I mean, essentially, we're moving 100-pound pieces of scenery overhead, in the dark, while people are dancing and singing. It's like working on a construction site, at night, without any light, and with a concert going on in the middle of it all."
My anthropology teacher is also cool. He's maybe in his 50s or so, and he's lived in Africa and tells a lot of really funny stories, related or unrelated to the subject. Aside from the humorous location of his office ("The anthropology department is temporarily located between Snooker's Pool Hall and Chubby's Bar"), he is technologically inadvanced, and has difficulties spelling on the board because, according to him, he had a teacher in the second grade who used to slap his hands with a ruler when he mispelled things on the blackboard. It's quite amusing. The lecture is really interesting too. This week we're working on the definition of culture, and culture versus human nature. Yeah, there's a lot of stuff that reminds me of TOK. Not that that's a bad thing. He actually mentioned Kant one day. Oh, and of course, there's no homework involved; the paper is optional extra credit. The only mandatory grades are a midterm and final. We'll see how those go over.
My intro to theatre class = finally going somewhere! Not that I don't like the professor or the RFs (i.e., Charles, who signs his emails "Cheers" and is a really exciting and engaging lecturer), it's just that we did stupid stuff for two weeks. Like writing a one-page paper on a moment from a performance that had an impact on you. Or reading packets on taking notes. Yes, it was tedious and boring. But now we're actually getting into lessons. Ones that make you think. And I got the one-page paper back, with an 89 and a note that said "This is beautifully written, but much too long [Yeah, by like, less than half a page. So what?]. We need to work on helping you be concise." Ohhhhhh, concision. Do away with it! If I wanted to be concise, I'd just cut all the good stuff out, like the screenwriters of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Oh, and for anyone in IB Theatre, on the first day of class, Charles asked "Does anyone here know what a dramaturg is?" Hahahaha. Besides me, I can only assume it was other IB students who raised their hands.
I've also been to a jazz concert and an Indian dance event for my Music Cultures class. They were pretty cool.... I want to see if I can't track down a CD for the jazz one, because I really liked it.
And I now know lots of idiomatic Spanish expressions. Por ejemplo, dicen que una persona que habla mucho "habla en los codos." Por otro ejemplo, para poner su pie en su boca es "meter la pata." Una persona que siempre dice que esta pensando "no tiene pelos en la lengua." Muy interesante, no? Pero, estos frases me aprendi del libro. El profesor es de Argentina. Todo que dice es "she." "El cashe ocho," "sho quiero ir," etc. Me gusta escucharlo.
Anyways. Honors colloquium is really dull. Annnnd theatre auditions are everywhere. I did manage a School of Theatre general audition callback, so we'll see how it goes. :)
And that's it for now. Sorry for boring you with the long details of it all, but, you know.
-Jessica
One thing I'm appreciating now more than ever is how incredibly well my mother and father fed me. I don't mean in abundance, I mean in quality of food. I had a balanced diet and it tasted good. Now, I have to stop and question when the last time I had a decent serving of meat was, and I long for my mother's spaghetti sauce instead of this cheap marinara I keep buying by the jar....
Anyways. As I was saying, I'm appreciating my classes. For one, I like my schedule with its empty-except-for-tech-theatre Tuesdays and Thursdays. Oh, how I love that precious sleep I get until noon on those days. Class doesn't even start until two.
Moreoever, I like tech theatre class. True, there is no real technical work involved. But I like the teacher. He is kind of amusing in a dry way. He's currently working on an MFA, so he's still pretty young. However, teaching tech theatre is so heavily based on common sense, it's hard to not get redundant. For example, yesterday was theatre safety. Now this was exciting because we got to learn about all the scary bad things that can happen when you're not careful. But a lot of it was basically like this: "Yeah, so moving machinery: Don't stick your fingers in it," or "If someone working above you yells 'HEADS!!!!' it means they've accidentally dropped something. Don't stand there and look up, get the hell out of the way." Everyone realizes it's kind of pointless stuff to go over, but that includes the teacher, so we get through.
Hehehe, mostly I liked yesterday's explanation of why theatre is so dangerous. "What we do, I mean, essentially, we're moving 100-pound pieces of scenery overhead, in the dark, while people are dancing and singing. It's like working on a construction site, at night, without any light, and with a concert going on in the middle of it all."
My anthropology teacher is also cool. He's maybe in his 50s or so, and he's lived in Africa and tells a lot of really funny stories, related or unrelated to the subject. Aside from the humorous location of his office ("The anthropology department is temporarily located between Snooker's Pool Hall and Chubby's Bar"), he is technologically inadvanced, and has difficulties spelling on the board because, according to him, he had a teacher in the second grade who used to slap his hands with a ruler when he mispelled things on the blackboard. It's quite amusing. The lecture is really interesting too. This week we're working on the definition of culture, and culture versus human nature. Yeah, there's a lot of stuff that reminds me of TOK. Not that that's a bad thing. He actually mentioned Kant one day. Oh, and of course, there's no homework involved; the paper is optional extra credit. The only mandatory grades are a midterm and final. We'll see how those go over.
My intro to theatre class = finally going somewhere! Not that I don't like the professor or the RFs (i.e., Charles, who signs his emails "Cheers" and is a really exciting and engaging lecturer), it's just that we did stupid stuff for two weeks. Like writing a one-page paper on a moment from a performance that had an impact on you. Or reading packets on taking notes. Yes, it was tedious and boring. But now we're actually getting into lessons. Ones that make you think. And I got the one-page paper back, with an 89 and a note that said "This is beautifully written, but much too long [Yeah, by like, less than half a page. So what?]. We need to work on helping you be concise." Ohhhhhh, concision. Do away with it! If I wanted to be concise, I'd just cut all the good stuff out, like the screenwriters of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Oh, and for anyone in IB Theatre, on the first day of class, Charles asked "Does anyone here know what a dramaturg is?" Hahahaha. Besides me, I can only assume it was other IB students who raised their hands.
I've also been to a jazz concert and an Indian dance event for my Music Cultures class. They were pretty cool.... I want to see if I can't track down a CD for the jazz one, because I really liked it.
And I now know lots of idiomatic Spanish expressions. Por ejemplo, dicen que una persona que habla mucho "habla en los codos." Por otro ejemplo, para poner su pie en su boca es "meter la pata." Una persona que siempre dice que esta pensando "no tiene pelos en la lengua." Muy interesante, no? Pero, estos frases me aprendi del libro. El profesor es de Argentina. Todo que dice es "she." "El cashe ocho," "sho quiero ir," etc. Me gusta escucharlo.
Anyways. Honors colloquium is really dull. Annnnd theatre auditions are everywhere. I did manage a School of Theatre general audition callback, so we'll see how it goes. :)
And that's it for now. Sorry for boring you with the long details of it all, but, you know.
-Jessica