I'm just pulling on a line, on a line
I don't know why I always get so worked up about teaching. It's always the highlight of my week! I wasn't at all certain about having three sections to deal with instead of just one, but really, three times the fun-- why was I nervous? Of course at this point I've had only two of my three sections, and apparently there's always one that's a little bit dumber or a little bit more petulant or unresponsive than the other two, so we'll see what happens with Monday's section, because the two I've had so far have been great. I always have the kids introduce themselves by telling me a random fact about themselves; it helps to break the ice a little bit, and it also helps me to get their names down much quicker. I may not remember the name Sally, but if she says that she's arm-wrestled a shark and writes that fact alongside her name on a sheet of paper for me, well, you can bet I'll remember her name then! I also hope they all sit in the same seats next week, because my memory works well spatially (is that a thing? I'm making it a thing). But anyway, yesterday I had two people in the same class say that they (or their sister) had been attacked by monkeys as their random fact. What are the odds? And today I had a guy say that when he was little he looked a lot like Macaulay Culkin, and so he would frequently get asked for autographs. Those are probably my favorite two. Oh, and a guy said he got mugged in Heidelberg and had his nose broken, but he enjoyed it... not much I could say to that one.
I've got one table and four columns left to go in the RA stuff I'm supposed to do... the goal was to finish it today, but I have class from 4-8 and am planning on watching Novak play del Potro in the US Open after class, so finishing it today probably won't happen. That's ok, though, right? Haven't gotten any threatening emails from John yet, so...
Speaking of the US Open, Andy Roddick lost to del Potro yesterday night, and with that, he retired. He cried in his post-match speech. I got sad, too. He's had a good career, though (although he would've had much better results if he hadn't been playing in the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era), and was a joy to watch. I'm going to miss his idiosyncrasies, his biting sarcasm, and his quick wit. Federer lost to Berdych today, which is exciting-- only Murray and Djokovic are left out of the top 4 (Nadal wasn't in it to start with due to his knees). Logically, Novak shouldn't have any trouble winning it. We'll see what actually happens, though; Berdych wasn't supposed to beat Fed, after all.
In my methods/theory/epistemology class yesterday the boys (4 of them, 2 girls) derailed the discussion on to bonobo monkeys. Yes. I don't know, either. It was all I could do not to start laughing hysterically. Bonobo is such a silly word to start with, and then to have all of these intellectual, serious, somewhat self-important men discussing bonobo monkey's hierarchical habits in a methodology class, well, surely you can see why I almost lost it? Oh man. Grad school is bizarre.
And now I'm going to see if I can find something to eat before class at 5. I meant to bring a granola bar, but I forgot. And now it's raining outside. Boo. Have I complained recently about how it rains all the time here? Because it does. All. the. time. I would wither and die of weather-induced misery in London, for sure. Bad analogy; withering happens only when there's no rain. So I guess if I lived in London I would swell up and explode from absorbing so much moisture. Or I'd wrinkle up like a prune and someone would eat me.
I've got one table and four columns left to go in the RA stuff I'm supposed to do... the goal was to finish it today, but I have class from 4-8 and am planning on watching Novak play del Potro in the US Open after class, so finishing it today probably won't happen. That's ok, though, right? Haven't gotten any threatening emails from John yet, so...
Speaking of the US Open, Andy Roddick lost to del Potro yesterday night, and with that, he retired. He cried in his post-match speech. I got sad, too. He's had a good career, though (although he would've had much better results if he hadn't been playing in the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era), and was a joy to watch. I'm going to miss his idiosyncrasies, his biting sarcasm, and his quick wit. Federer lost to Berdych today, which is exciting-- only Murray and Djokovic are left out of the top 4 (Nadal wasn't in it to start with due to his knees). Logically, Novak shouldn't have any trouble winning it. We'll see what actually happens, though; Berdych wasn't supposed to beat Fed, after all.
In my methods/theory/epistemology class yesterday the boys (4 of them, 2 girls) derailed the discussion on to bonobo monkeys. Yes. I don't know, either. It was all I could do not to start laughing hysterically. Bonobo is such a silly word to start with, and then to have all of these intellectual, serious, somewhat self-important men discussing bonobo monkey's hierarchical habits in a methodology class, well, surely you can see why I almost lost it? Oh man. Grad school is bizarre.
And now I'm going to see if I can find something to eat before class at 5. I meant to bring a granola bar, but I forgot. And now it's raining outside. Boo. Have I complained recently about how it rains all the time here? Because it does. All. the. time. I would wither and die of weather-induced misery in London, for sure. Bad analogy; withering happens only when there's no rain. So I guess if I lived in London I would swell up and explode from absorbing so much moisture. Or I'd wrinkle up like a prune and someone would eat me.