Stranger on a Strange Campus

Ah first day of classes. It's all so very cool. I wonder if I'll ever not love it. I've got another couple of early classes - one at the unheard of time of 9am! Hehe. I actually kind of like the early classes. I figure that no one signs up for a 9am class unless they actually want to be there, well and maybe a couple of folks who aren't motivated but couldn't get in any other sections. But frankly, they probably won't wake up early enough to make it to class, so that leaves me only my motivated students and a smaller class! Win-win!

Also, funny thing happened today - I was heading home when I passed by a very flustered looking mom using very broken English to try to ask a student how to get to the bus stop. Her little kid was chattering away in a language related to Gruub studies, so I butted in and said I could show her the way. She seemed so relieved to find someone she could communicate with. It turned out that she was a visiting post-doc in the Not-Gruub Department, and they really hadn't done much to get her oriented to the area. Halfway to the bus stop I realized that she needed much much more help that I could give(kindergarten for the kid - he doesn't speak English, housing, transportation, etc.. etc...), so I suggested we swing by the office of the folks that teach her language, and see if they could help her out. We got there and there were several folks who seemed more than happy to help her out. I had to run off, but I think everything will be go much smoother for Ms. Mom.

Hooray for happy coincidences!

It Slices, It Dices, It Makes Julianne Classes

Oh, dear. This is going to be ugly.

Classes don't start for me for a little bit yet, so I'm just finding out how things are going to go down. Hoo-boy. So, I found out that I'm TAing the same course I did last year, which is good - it's probably my best fit here, and it's steady for the whole year. So, good.

But there's bad, too. There's real bad. Budget Cuts. The class is an intro class. A pretty big intro class. Think mid-low three digits. So, anywhoo, I just found out our class size got cut by about a third for this year because we can't afford to teach all the students who want to learn. Absolutely infuriating.

So while I'm really happy to see that I'm one of the few TAs who are still, um, employed, I am really not looking forward to the first day of class where I get to tell several dozens of students that I'd would love to have them in my class, but I can't let them in.

Usually, I have no problem telling students that there's no room in the inn, because, generally, they're the ones who never got their act together, didn't really want or need the class in the first place, and generally perform badly if I let them in anyway. That's the thing, too. If I feel there's just cause, the department usually gives me the final call if I want to let a latecomer in. And beyond that, there's generally only a handful that we can't get in one section or another.

This time, there are going to be majors and minors who need the class, freshmen who the department needs to court into becoming majors, and all sorts of quality folks that I'm going to have to turn away. And I'm going to probably have no call about letting in exceptional case beyond that.

Down the Stream of Consciousness Without a Paddle

Randomness of my life:

• I picked the 'make me happy' class, and I'm really loving it. I'm naturally in over my head, but it's in a good way. I'm spending nearly the entire weekend on the material and having a great time. I hope I leave time for the rest of my other stuff
• I simply love Simon and Garfunkel. I think Paul Simon is perhaps my favoritest of all singer/songwriters. Absolutely the bee's knees. However. I stumbled onto the 2004 reunion concert album and... well... I'll be charitable and say they might have needed a little more rehearsal time... Like a lot more rehearsal time. And I know I'm biased, but it was mostly Art. Poor, poor Art.
  
• That being said, I would have loved to be there.
• Was that last point deserving of its own bullet?
• I'm getting really close to post #1000 on this here blog. I was going to try to think of a way to celebrate or something, but I've missed every other blogoversary-type milestone, so I figure I'll probably forget about this one, too.
• Seriously. I'm on 997 or something.
  
• I can't believe Molly Ringwald's parents forgot about her birthday.
• It's even more unbelievable that she ended up with that big dim hunk-dude.
• Then again, she was pretty messed up, too.
• I despise what CNN has become, but I flipped it on this morning really quickly to see that Rosie O'whatsherface thinks that there were explosives rigged in one of the WTC buildings.
  
• Dear lord.
• That's just awful on so many levels.
• level 1 - I understand that some people need coping mechanisms to deal with the idea that we live in a world that seems to be very random and very dangerous, but when did Rosie's nutjob conspiracy theories become news?
• level 2 - Is Rosie a structural engineer now? I think she should stay a comedienne. She's good at that.
  
• level 3 fighters only can have 30 hit points unless there's something special about 'em.
  
• Or at least they could the last time I played.
  
• That was more than ten years ago.
• Rosie the Riveter I might trust, but that Rosie, no thanks. And I used to like her.
• That was also about ten years ago.
• Actually, I still think she's funny.
  
• Did I mention that I was working really hard this entire weekend?
• Yeah, I think I did.
• I worry now that you don't believe me.
• Because I highly value your opinions about me.
• Oh, you anonymous denizens of the intertubes, don't think me a liar.
  
• Even though I am.
  
• I like how my tags are completely useless and run miles and miles down the side of the blog. That makes me smile.
• What are the odds of my getting more "Molly Ringwald" posts?
  
• Ok, I think I've abused the good graces of the bullet point format as much as possible.
• And I need to get back to work.
• Did you actually read all of this?
• Tagging this is going to be fun
• You're procrastinating, too, aren't you?
• Get back to work.
  

Behind Door #1?

So there are two classes.

Neither are directly related to what I'm all about here. One class is in a hot related field that might look really nice on a resume. If I could teach a class about it, it might be a nice selling point when I go job hunting, see?

The other class is a more hard-core old-school class that might not look nearly as sexy to a hiring committee.

I've sat in once on each class, and although I would like to take both, I know I can't take both because of the work load and other things I'm doing now. (Aside: why do all the classes come up at the exact same time?) It's not that I don't like Class #1 - I do, but I really like Class #2 much better. It's delving into some of the stuff that originally got me excited about my field in the first place at a level I've never really been able to work on. Well, actually, I've pretty much decided that I'm going to attend it simply based on me liking the class (and the prof and the others in the class).

Now, I know in my brain that I should be ok with that. In fact I could celebrate the idea that I'm looking for my own happiness within my options and not slaving myself to what I think others might want of me.

But.

I do have a little bit of nagging nagging at the back of my head. It's telling me that there are no jobs out there and if I don't want to be waiting tables at Denny's, I'd better get the academic boob job by taking all the hot classes so I can tell schools that I can teach all the cool classes.

I just don't think I want to be sexy like that.

Little Boy Blue

Funny, I haven't taken a bluebook exam in a really long time. Those bluebooks are a lot more expensive than I remember. I'm not that old am I? Seriously, I thought they were about a dime or something. Shows what I know.

The text was particularly nerve-wracking. It was an undergrad course outside of my department, so it was kind of strange - like I was an undergrad all over again. Except I'm old. And there are a handful students that are in the class and the class I'm TAing. Awkward.

Like all tests however, it passed. As generally is the case, it was neither as fearsome as expected, nor was I as prepared as I should have been, but such is the human condition.

Rinse, wash, repeat.

Bullets With Your Name On Them

Ok, well, most of my recent posts have been over at the 365 blog. No real, ya know, words lately. So. Here are some words.

• Note to self. Read all the emails from the prof whose class you are TAing immediately. One might mention that she's going to drop in to your section and observe on a upcoming Monday. So after you start class, she may just slip in to your class and make you freak out just a little bit.
  
• as a side note, the class went ok, mainly. The thing is that I have a different (very) teaching style than she does, and if I knew she was coming I probably would have prepared something a little less like my own class. So, from that point of view, it's probably for the best that I didn't know she was coming. I ended up just doing my thing. Students seem to like it.
• In the section she didn't observe, I did something really stupid. I won't say what it is, but jeeze, I've been kicking myself all day long. Grrr.
• I have a giant stack of papers to grade and I didn't look at them at all tonight.
  
• I am now grading with a green pen.
  
• I ran yesterday and didn't blog it. Here you go: 8.35mi - 1:02'46"
• Ever since I said I'm going to run the marathon coming up soonish, people have been worried about my knees. I think I got a psychosomatic knee-tweak yesterday. It feels fine now though.
  

Wow. First day of classes taken care of and it looks like it's going to be another doozey of a time. I've got two sections of my class with several returnees from before the break - mostly good folks, so that's all for the good, although tomorrow should be interesting. The lecture has three sections of ~100 students each and it's scheduled to take place in a 60 person maximum room - ah, fun.

I think I've finally settled on classes for myself, too, which is nice to know. I'm taking my first lecture class here at USU, and it looks very interesting. It's slightly out of my field, but in a way that I find very interesting. The prof is very confrontational and in your face (well, not yours really, unless you were there too, in which case, email me, we'll get together for a beer) , which ain't easy in a lecture. He actually pulled out some of his 'Rate Your Prof' comments - the ones that talked about how hard of a class it was and that all his lectures were boring. This man will merit close watching I'll wager.

The seminar o' the day is the first class I've got with my lead advisor, and the first meeting went pretty well. Actually, after class, I went to his office and talked for a couple of hours. That went really well. The one-on-one reminded me why I came here. After feeling very out of sorts in the fall seminar, I really felt like I could communicate with him. We talked about possible research tacks and then ended up just chatting. I really like this guy. I hope that this good vibe continues - I've got the feeling I'm going to need someone like that through this mess that is a PhD trek.

Oh, and what the hell's up with Ohio State?