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Classes for the fall: I'm excited, dammit

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

19:22 / 28.08.02

I am, I promise. I'm taking Ethics, World Religions, Harmony and History (Modern Era to Roughly a Few Years Ago).

Ethics sounds fun, and it's a philosophy class I haven't taken yet, so that's cool. It'll be interesting to see how I fare in it, as I have neither morals nor ethics. Maybe I'll finally learn the difference between the two, or that I do have them, and they're just shaped funny.

World Religions should be named "eastern religions", because judging from the books I bought for the class, we'll doing a lot of studying on Hinduism, Islam, Zen Buddhism and more than likely Buddhism in general.

This is both good and bad. On the one hand, I've already spent a good deal of time studying most of these, so the class may be boring. On the other hand, I'm very interested in learning how the professor plans to do a lesson on Zen Buddhism, something that he can't technically "teach". So who knows.

Harmony should be fun. I'll finally get a formal education in singing, and I'll be able to train my ear to a fuller extent. I plan to have perfect pitch within a year, and this should definately help.

History is usually fun, but it's with the same professor I had last semester, the one who had us "learn" outright incorrect "facts". I didn't want to cause a scene then, but at this moment I'm not looking forward to having to put forth answers that I know are incorrect, even if I know she thinks they're right. The thought of doing that makes me feel...uneasy. And I think it devalues the whole idea of higher learning.

First day is the 19th! Wish me luck!

20:13 / 28.08.02

-grumbles around jealously- dammit, I miss school.

20:28 / 28.08.02

It's interesting to me that all the world's major religions originate from the "east", as you Eurocentric people amusingly call everywhere from Egypt to Australia.

What have we got? Islam from Arabia, Judaism and Christianity from Israel, Hinduism from southern Asia, and Buddhism from east Asia. Am I right?

20:58 / 28.08.02

Good luck, Johnny. I am jealous of your enthusiasm. I found being obligated to study particular subjects likely to turn me off them pretty fast but I did seem to learn a lot of useful stuff that has stayed with me years later, nevertheless. Know what you mean about comparative religions and how they might approach the teaching of some. Our world appears destined to be taking more and more notice of the great faiths just as religious belief declines in the West. Who'd have thought it?

Wish I could train my ears to do something. They're fairly slothful and won't even wiggle.

21:43 / 28.08.02

Hey Johnny O! I share in your excitement as I also look forward to getting back to school!

I've got (1) Hermeneutics, (2) a class on 17th and 18th century philosophy in which we'll be looking at "the views of Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, Leibniz, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant, but other important philosophers of the period such as Bacon, Hobbes, Gassendi, Boyle, Cudworth, Conway, and Malebranche" (from the online course description), (3) a class on speech acts where "[i]n this course we will study the development of the general theory of speech acts in the 20th century, focusing on the seminal work of Austin, Grice, and Searle" (again from the online description), and (4) I will be beginning work on my honours thesis--something in the philosophy of mathematics (big surprise to some I am sure)--as this is the final year of my undergraduate degree in philosophy! WHOO!

Your courses sound great! I hope you enjoy your studies and use your time at school wisely. Nothing is worse than coming out of a class (even if you got an "A") and feeling that you didn't put in the best effort you could have. I am going to do my best not to slack at all this year and really get down to business.

Best of efforts (or read "luck" if you'd like) to you Johhny!

m3

22:18 / 28.08.02

I am doing:

For the degree:
Ethics.
The limits of knowledge.
Rationalism and Empiricism.

Extra crap for points:
Philosophy and the theatre.
Modern literary theory.

I am excited and nervous since my grades actually count this year...

Murray Hamhandler

22:59 / 28.08.02

After revising my schedule for the third time in two days (due to my getting the transfer student shaft and having to wait until practically the last minute to register for classes...watching helplessly as the ones I really wanted slowly filled up...), I finally made the bastard official this morning:

Survey of Communication Disorder (Working towards some vague speech therapy/linguistics minor thing that has nothing to do w/my major and that doesn't actually exist but that will be, I'm sure, endlessly fascinating.)

Basic Physics of Sound (A pre-req for some of the speech classes I want to take. I haven't taken a science class since I was a sophomore in high school nine years ago, though, so I'm a little spooked.)

Russian Lit: Pushkin to Dostoevsky (Dunno. Sounded keen.)

Philosophy of Language (Which is actually a linguistics course, funnily enough.)

...and the ever-popular Drug Use In American Society (Which I actually need for my all-grade ed major [the only class that I actually needed that was still available, I might add]. Which really kind of sucks. But what can you do?)

I, too, am really excited to get back to the school thing. After a two-and-a-half year absense from academia, my brain has atrophied into some sort of half-functional pudding. It will be nice to think clearly again...

Tryphena Absent

01:45 / 29.08.02

My modules this year are:

Dissertation - I haven't got a question yet *groan*
Philosophy of Language (Frege, Russell, Ayer, Quine, Wittgenstein etc.)
Deconstruction (Derrida, de Man, Nietzsche, Levinas etc.)
German Aesthetics (Heidegger, Hegel, Frankfurt School etc.)
The History of Conduct (Fashion magazines etc.)
Deconstructing Derrida (late Derrida)
and some thing about museums that I can't recall properly (practicality and economics...).

Philosophy of language often involves linguistic work but if you've got a good lecturer it's always a good thing to study. Modzilla, I was very glad to leave Descartes behind, I can't stand him! Locke and Berkeley I can deal with!

I have three new lecturers, one I know is going to be great, the other two I'm a little worried about. The wonderful Christopher Norris (mad philosophy professor with a cliched beard) is teaching my deconstruction module (again) but I'm a little nervous about Deconstructing Derrida because it concerns his later work... actually it's probably going to be easier. I'm also finishing this year (oh no).

01:56 / 29.08.02

Oh sweet Jesus, run away! Stay away from the halls of academia! School sucks up all your time and drives you mad! Is it a bad sign when you start dreaming that you're in class?

I started last Monday and unfortunately, I'm already frustrated. It's not because the classes are easy, it's just I don't see any purpose in some of the classes I have to take (Damned core requirements).

Classes I care about: CSCI 2080 - Programming in Selected Languages (Woo! Go Visual Basic.Net! All hail Microsoft! )

Classes I don't like, but really need to do well in: Math 1920 Calculus and Analytic Geometry (I need this class for my math minor. Unfortunately, my lack of knowledge of geometry is coming back to bite me in the ass).

Classes I don't give a damn about but fulfill the core requirements:
Engl 2030 - World Literature (No point! I can read and analyze literature just fine thank you very much. For god's sake, I'm a computer science major, this isn't exactly going to help me in any way)

HHP 1210 - Personal Nutrition (So you're saying that my steady diet of pizza, pop tarts, and pepsi is bad for me? Wow! You learn something new every day).

Hist 2010 - American History (How exactly is this going to help me? Good god, this is almost as useless as Art Appreciation.)

I should have known better than to apply to a liberal arts school.

03:30 / 29.08.02

might as well...

i'm a film major (limited edition, 1 of 100,000,000), and a senior, but am only really getting into the thick of things this semester (i muddled around in graphic design for 2 years, decided to finally go for what i always really wanted to do in the first place, and began the film program last spring). my backwards-ass route means that i'm going to have to do senior year pt. 2 (yep, the dreaded "5 year plan"), but i'm still psyched as hell! imagine going to school for something you love, which, realistically, will never earn you a dime, but surrounds you with folks who feel the same way about said thing (well, the ones who will actually share their enthusiasm, rather than trying to sink other students with their ego-tripping...yes, this "kill or be killed" attitude goes as low as undergrad film school, thank you film industry for warping the fragile minds of the stupid and young...)

WRITING FOR MEDIA: this is required; i assume tey teach you all about screenplay format, blah blah blah...not covered: writing WORTHWHILE THINGS for media. dammit, i knew i should have customized my own major!

VIDEOGRAPHY: not required, but using it as the final stage crap-fest before next semester's 16mm FILMMAKING. excited because i'm finally doing this in school, as opposed to cutting class and doing it anyway.

EDITING FILM & VIDEO: i've been using Final Cut Pro for a while now, and as i understand it, the school is placing greater emphasis on this program (along w/ AVID, of course) than before, so i get to stay up all night in my hellish apt and crank out video on my mac.

INTRO TO DIGITAL AUDIO: this is actually outside of my major, but looks like fun and should be extremely useful, should my pipe dreams ever come to fruition...

so, all in all, this is the first semester that i'm not taking english, science, whatever, and am actually immersed in my major. i think i'll kinda miss those required readings though (no, seriously). i was actually toying around with majoring in bio, psychology or philosophy over the years, and am a bit sad that i'll probably recieve no further professional instruction in any of them... fuck it, full steam ahead!

07:30 / 29.08.02

In the local newspaper back home I saw that the local college was running a course on cake decorating, I thought about travelling back every week but the distance is just too far.

I think I may try and learn Japanese, one course is £70 the other is £300 I think I know the one I'll go for.

I am indeed drunk.

10:10 / 29.08.02

Bear, anything you don't know about cake decorating ain't worth knowing.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

10:17 / 29.08.02

I was planning on doing an MA in English lit. this year. But I've left it a little late. Definitely happening next year, though.

Johnny O- be excited. Be VERY excited.

11:12 / 29.08.02

I've been annoying everyone with my excitement over the new school year, including people who are going to school themselves, which makes no sense at all. I think it's because I'm old and don't take school for granted.

I'm taking Animation. The teachers are all working professionals, which is nice because they give us all the dirt. It's frightening how jaded one can get in the industry. They're working TV animation, but are teaching Disney-style theatrical animation, and continually tell us how TV animation, anime, UPA style, flash animation, etc. are all crap. Self-loathing ahoy!

Also, apparently by the time we're done the course we can go into a comic shop, pick out any random title off the shelf and guarantee we'll be better than the artist within the covers. Riiiiight. Having seen the work of past graduates, I can say that this is pretty far off the mark.

But despite all this, and the fact that every single institution from the financial aid office to the cable company doing their best to muck up my life, I can honestly say that I am very excited and having a wonderful time so far.

12:22 / 29.08.02

I graduated last year with a Bachelor of Commerce in Hospitality and Tourism Management.... don't ask me why. I was relieved to be free and thought I would go back one day.

1 year later, I'm back and quite happy to escape reality and snuggle in the sweet womb of school. My classes:

HIS 263 - Intro to Canadian History
HIS 271 - American History from 1607
HIS 280 - History of China
HIS 243/4 - History of Europe 1450-1815
HIS 106 - Natives and Settlers

After 4 years of business school, I am very very excited to be doing history.

Monkeyzilla Vs Tokyo

13:15 / 29.08.02

I already started school, last week. I'm almost finished with my degree so I don't have many classes.
I have: Analytical Writing, Intro to Multicultural Lit, And Exploring Computers.

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

17:08 / 29.08.02

Engl 2030 - World Literature (No point! I can read and analyze literature just fine thank you very much. For god's sake, I'm a computer science major, this isn't exactly going to help me in any way)

Maybe not towards your compsci degree, but since you or your parents are paying an assload of money for "higher learning", it couldn't hurt. It will make you a better educated person. Unless your going to Austin Peay, in which case hahahahahhahahahahaha.

Turns out my first class was Ethics, not W.R. Fun class. We split into groups and discussed what we would do if we discovered one of our best friends was a heroin dealer. And since one of my best friends is a heroin dealer, I found everyone's reactions to the question hilarious.

18:36 / 29.08.02

Unless your going to Austin Peay, in which case hahahahahhahahahahaha.

Unfortunately, Austin Peay is exactly where I'm going. I probably should have tried a bit harder to get into another school like UT Martin or TN Tech. Austin Peay isn't a bad school, per se, but some of the teachers around here couldn't teach a fish to swim.

19:49 / 29.08.02

From the other side of the podium, this year I will be assisting with the teaching of:
- CMM127J2 - Introduction to advertising
- DES301J2 - Design technology
- CMM110J1 - Introduction to communication
- CMM109J1 - Interacting with others: perspectives and processes
- CMM338J4 - DPP placement: communication, advertising and marketing

Two of those modules do not have a lecturer assigned to them so I'm doing all the preparatory paperwork. And I'll probably end up teaching them full-time. Yes sirree, the fun never ends.

...spare a thought for those of us busy at work in the full knowledge that when the semester finally does start, everything will be as screwed up as it can possibly be due to nobody listening to the people who actually have to teach these damn modules.

And can I just add that it is heartening to see so many of you eager to start a new year of university/college.

23:45 / 29.08.02

I will be continuing my re-introduction to mathematics, and I am excited as all get out. Calculus, linear algebra, and then the world.

17:16 / 30.08.02

Only five papers this year:

Dissertation (hopefully: something on the American ideal of adolescence, looking at Catcher in the Rye, Ice Storm, Kavalier and Clay, Wonder Boys, maybe the new Chabon from the sounds of it, Virgin Suicides).

Tragedy (from the Greeks to the Bee Gees. Via Wagner, John Woo, Elizabethan drama, and anything else I can think of. It's huge, it's compulsory, and yet it could be brilliant)

Practical Criticism (Compulsory. Grr.)

The Novel (Sounds quite flexible, could be fun).

Literature and Visual Culture (Where Visual Culture = anything EXCEPT FILM. We don't do film. At all. In any department, bar one paper of Modern Languages. BUT: it's a chance to talk about Photography, Design, Typography, Advertising, and harp on about comcis and throughly piss off lots of irritating girls who want to put their art history a-level to good use. Muaha.)

And that's it. Let's hope it goes better than the last two years...

The Return Of Rothkoid

02:53 / 31.08.02

Ooh. Envious of all the returning learners. I'm keen on doing something myself, but haven't been settled enough yet to make a start.

I am, however, considering returning to Theatresports. Yes. Me, onstage. Rock and roll, kids, even if it's not as intellectually edifying as some of the other things I've considered...

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

18:48 / 31.08.02

Trijhaos: Austin Peay isn't really a bad school, no. And I have no room to talk, as I went to Middle Tennessee State for a while. It's not much better; the only thing that draws people from out of state is the fact that it somehow managed to develop the second best recording industry program in the country. I'll end up at Tenn Tech in a couple semesters myself.

22:51 / 31.08.02

I may look into transferring to Tennessee Tech next year. I'd like to get my GPA up to a level I consider decent and I want to make sure I can get a loan for enough to cover at least most of the tuition before I look into it though.

I really wonder about some of the people going to this school. They come from out of state or places like Knoxville that have good schools and all I want to do is ask them why.

00:01 / 01.09.02

I'm doing A Levels! How marvelously fucked-over by the education system am I feeling right now?!

Yeh, anyway... next year I return to do History (one exam in Soviet Russia, Mousolini's Italy and Hitler's Germany and one on Henry VIII and his kid's and one big fuck ff thingy on McCarthyism), Psychology (dunno what modules. THEY don't knwo what modules. They totally blow) and English Language (stuff with kids and magazines and scissors. Really.).

I'm looking forward to some of it. The free periods some of it, really.

Murray Hamhandler

20:57 / 01.09.02

Ooh ooh ooh! And now that I have fairly unlimited access to the 'net through school, I can be a more full-fledged member of the Barbe-patrol than I have been in the past! Hooray!

Murray Hamhandler

21:06 / 01.09.02

Philosophy of language often involves linguistic work but if you've got a good lecturer it's always a good thing to study.

That's good to hear. I'm fascinated w/linguistics but (after two years as a philosophy major that ended w/a reformulation of the phrase "crash and burn" and left me shell-shocked, my brain feeling like a smoking crater) am sort of phobic towards formal philosophy courses at the moment...

11:45 / 03.09.02

'Such lectures, classes and seminars as his or her supervisor shall decide'. Not a lot to go on really...

Oy, Barry A - you made it! Well done!