|
Tuesday, January 14, 2003
First Day of Class Report:
ENG 209: Writing About Literature -- The instructor, Dr. Candace F. Knudson, is soft-spoken and is long-winded, an unlikely combination and potentially hazardous to staying awake. Although at a first glance, the class promises to help me derive deeper insight from what I read, I fear that the class might turn into a forum for those that like to hear themselves talk. Already on the first day there were those that took over discussion with over-analyzed and/or obvious statements, all with hardly an insight between them. I think this will be my most stressful class with written assignments due almost every other class period. Watch for updates on this one, I'm sure there'll be a few.
ENG 342: Medieval Literature -- The instructor, Dr. Christine Harker, seems cool with a quick but odd wit. She also seems very knowledgable and down-to-earth, and very reasonable in grading. There doesn't seem to be too much work, only three short essays, one research paper, a midterm exam, and a final exam. However, that also means that I'll have less chances to screw up.
LATN 151: Elementary Latin II -- Mr. Alex Tetlak is back in this sequel to last semester's big hit. Hopefully, things will turn out as good in this venture as they did last time.
STAT 190: Basic Statistics -- Combine all the excitement of staring at the ceiling with all the joy of listening to a man you can barely understand, and you have Basic Stats with Dr. Shingmin Wang. Luckily, I'm in the same class as Jenn from down the hall. She has notes from Rachel who took Wang last semester. And I've been told by several people that good notes and reading the book are better than going to lectures. I predict a low attendance record in that class.
PSYC 166: General Psychology -- Dr. Sal Costa has lived up to the tales I've heard saying he is a cool guy, even on the first day. I think, even though the class is a large one (for Truman) of about 90 people, I will really enjoy his ethusiasm during lecture and his willingness to discuss. This one should be a good one.
| Mr. McBastard | 5:57 PM | | |
|
|
Saturday, January 11, 2003
I'm back to school. I haven't decided if I'm happy or not . . .
| Mr. McBastard | 10:09 PM | | |
|
|
Thursday, January 09, 2003
I've recently been watching a lot of music television (probably to the great dismay of my idle, dwindling intellect) and the other day I saw probably the worst music artist to ever grace my TV, aside from John Tesh. This artist is called Streets and he is a rapper . . . from Britain. Yes, you read that correctly; he is a hip-hop rapper from merry old England.
From the people who brought us The Spice Girls, comes Streets, a young man with the distinction of being called "the first British rapper." He also has the distiction of being called (by me) "the worst British rapper." With his indecipherable cockney accent and his sub-par grasp on the definition of "rhyming," Streets will keep your eyes glued to the screen as you wonder if what you are seeing is an actual music video or a horrible LSD-induced hallucination. (DON'T DO DRUGS, KIDS!) It's not that seeing a British rapper is so hard to believe . . . OK, yes it is. This guy is such an awckwardly white rapper that he makes Eminem look like Kunta-Kinte.
Besides being a lame Brit, Streets suffers from a severe lack of anything even remotely resembling a sense of rhythm. The video I had the displeasure of witnessing -- entitled Let's Push Things Forward -- showcased Streets walking down some lonely city street, pointing at the camera, and incomprehensibly rambling on about God knows what. There was a track of music in the video, and it did indeed have a beat. However, in a stroke of pure rapping genious, Streets decided not to set his lyrics to any discernable beat, and just talked instead. I'm not expert in the field of hip-hop, but I'm pretty sure that talking while music is playing in the background is not considered rapping. I think it's considered incredibly lame.
I'm not a huge fan of hip-hop in general, but I do think that Streets is an abomination to the genre. I suppose it could be said that he is a pioneer to the rap scene in Britain, and while the forerunners of rap in the U.S. weren't the most terrific artists either, they at the very least had talent. Streets is to Run DMC as Mac and Me was to E.T.: The Extraterrestrial.
It's hard to believe that Streets sprouted from the same nation that lavished the world with The Beatles and Led Zepplin. But then I guess taking note of their poor showing in the Revolutionary War, their invention of a time of the day dedicated to tea and sconnes, and their contribution of Davey Jones to The Monkees all makes it a little easier to believe.
| Mr. McBastard | 3:19 AM | | |
|
|
Monday, January 06, 2003
I received my grades in the mail the other day, so I thought I'd report. I pulled A's in Latin and Biology. And I got the grades I was expecting in both Systems Programming (computer science) and Lifetime Health & Welness: C's. So all in all, no surprises here. But it doesn't do anything for my GPA. It still remains floating just above a B-average at 3.13; not quite the 3.25 I need to get my scholarships back. Well, there's always next semester.
| Mr. McBastard | 5:23 PM | | |
|
|
Sunday, January 05, 2003
I had a dream last night in which I fell in love. What's the term for the opposite of a nightmare?
| Mr. McBastard | 2:37 AM | | |
|
|
Saturday, January 04, 2003
I pretty much just slept through today. I need to get back to a normal sleeping schedule.
On Thursday and Friday evening I went to auditions for a community theater play See How They Run. It's going to be during the summer: July 11 - 13th and 18 - 20th. I think it will be fun getting back into acting. It had pretty much been my life for four years in high school. But since I've been going to Truman, I've just been too "busy" and too out of the drama loop to audition.
But last semester I did promise Mel that we would audition for a play together. She seemed excited, so she made some friends with some drama kids and started to get involved. I copped out by using the excuse that I was too busy with my fraternity -- which was true for the most part. Next semester I don't know if I'll have any more free time. I won't be rushing a fraternity, but I will have a job (hopefully). And I've been informed that next semester Truman will be presenting Aristophanes' Lysistrata (as opposed to Arthur Miller's Lysistrata). Hopefully this recent audition will inspire and motivate me to get back onto the stage.
| Mr. McBastard | 7:58 PM | | |
|
|
Wednesday, January 01, 2003
My New Year's Resolutions for 2003 are to be more confidant in who I am and to quit waiting for something else to happen and enjoy where I am and what I am doing. Oh yeah, and also I guess I'll try to be less of a jerk to my family and friends . . . if I have to.
| Mr. McBastard | 11:54 PM | | |
|
|
|
