Read a book.

I left one of my classes on Tuesday night, and as I was walking out, one of the undergraduates (it's a mixed UG/grad class) asked me if I had finished reading the book for class. We were supposed to have the book read by the next class (Thursday night, aka, tonight) and he said that he had lost his copy. He asked me if he could borrow mine.

1) I had not read the whole book yet.
2) If you lost your book, why would I trust you with mine?

I just said told him that I needed to hold on to it.

This morning, I received an email from this same student, sent to everyone in our class. (It was sent last night.)

Please anyone i went at ll the bookstores and i even went gainesville in search of the book. i couldnt order online because it will not be in time. Can i photo copy the book please i have no other choice went to paperback, barnes and noble, books a million, bills, fsu bookstore, and boarders . Please i need ur help please respond

(I added the italics.)

No greeting, not even the title of the book (even though we're only using one at the moment). Didn't say for what class (even though it sort of says in the email subject, was was: "I Need Your Help: ENL4333").

My favorite part of the email is that he "went gainesville" [sic] in search of the book. I obviously have no way of verifying that, but it seems very, very unlikely. Maybe he was headed to a party down there, and he was like, "Might as well check around to see if that book is here."

This is the same student, it might be noted, that was playing with his water bottle (throwing it up high in the air, throwing it around) before and after class, and who, in class, brings up ridiculous interpretative theories of our readings.

Fall course.

I just grabbed a contemporary lit course for fall. I'm excited about it because it has the following required book list:

Flying Home and Other Stories: Ralph Ellison
As I Lay Dying: William Faulkner
Portrait of a Lady: Henry James
Jesus' Son: Denis Johnson
Slaughterhouse-Five: Kurt Vonnegut
House of Mirth: Edith Wharton

...Not so much about the first and the last books, but since I've read one (Slaughterhouse) and have started another (Portrait) and another (Jesus' Son) looks pretty cool and I've wanted to read Faulkner with guided instruction, I think it'll be pretty cool.

Here's to hoping that the professor is not a wackjob.

Catullus.

I just translated a 2000-year-old lament for a dead sparrow.

...
o factum male! o miselle passer!
tua nunc opera meae puellae
flendo turgiduli rubent ocelli.

"Oh, evil doings! Oh, wretched little sparrow!
Now, because of you, my girl's
Swollen little eyes are red from weeping."

I feel smarter already.

No, but seriously, this ancient poetry stuff is pretty cool; it's good to know that despite technological advances, people are going through the same situations and emotions today as they were in Catullus' time.

A Psychology Major.

It's the end of something I did not want to end, beginning of hard times to come. But something that was not meant to be is done, and this is the start of what was.

This is the first semester I've started at FSU with a declared major. Since I passed General Psychology and Intro to Statistics, they admitted me to the major. But it's not like I can say something like "there's no turning back now," because I have another two years here; although, considering my current courseload, it would be futile to change majors (I'll probably get done with this one this fall).

One of the aspects of high school I really enjoyed was the opportunity to investigate various fields of study at their (relatively) upper echelons. That is, I could study calculus, advanced Latin, the English language, and music simultaneously. This whole specifying a major field of research is kind of limiting for me- if I enjoy studying all those things, why can't I keep doing that? Well, the answer is that I can, it will just be expensive and time-consuming with almost no practical long-term benefits.

In just one half week of classes, I've had the opportunity to assess things concerning the rest of this semester.

Introduction to Latin: Mostly independent work (translations prepared in advance) with a quirky instructor that I was all-too-entirely not surprised was teaching a course like this. Her laid-back attitude was a main part of the reason I decided not to do the "right" thing and take the Latin placement test at FSU, but just signed up for this class, which is what I believe to be at my level of ability. This'll show 'em for not accepting my SAT II score in Latin.

Research Methods in Psychology: This is one of those common knowledge classes that's a requirement for the major for all those people that believe studies and all experiment results without question. As I've already learned, people lie, and stuff doesn't always turn out like you expect it would. So, I'm guessing this will turn out to be a class to join the ranks of Intro to Stats (hopefully the statement "stuff doesn't always turn out like you expect it would" will apply to this prediction). Essentially, a pushover.

Psychology of Personality: This guy is funny. He's gonna do all lectures, with no pictures or powerpoints. I think I will learn a moderate amount of information from this course, though the topics presented aren't exactly what I initially thought would be in a course with this title.

Abnormal Psychology: I guess this will be cool too. On the first day, I had to snicker every so often because the professor was such the typical old-man-with-monotone-voice-and-use-of-big-words that you see in the movies and whatsuch. I guess I will learn some stuff in this one too, and I should enjoy reading the textbook.

DIS in Zwaan Language and Perception Lab: We haven't yet met to start running experiments, but based on last semester, I can predict this will be a good 6-8 hours a week in the lab that I can use to read again. Sure, it's not glamorous, but sometimes they give me food, and I get to see a lot of people who are taking General Psychology, and get to make fun of a lot of people who are taking General Psychology.

I'm gonna go ahead and give this semester's classes a good 6.5 out of a possible 10 points. A couple of those points reflect the nice colors of my textbooks- they're all pretty, soothing shades of blue (the Latin book is more greenish/aqua, but it works).

And your idols - who are they? They too dreamt about their day, positive steps will see your goals.

Yeah, and Brandon, I'm still laughing at "And don't forget the Twizzlers."