Scholastic Problems of All Sorts.

Today is work all day, so like the last blog entry I will just fill you all in on Friday. The day started out well and ended well, but everything in between was less than fantastic. It was mostly school. And that was the irritating portion. Allow me to elaborate:

Calculus III- The quiz results came back and they were acceptable. What is unacceptable is the test I have next week. Only a couple of weeks after the last one we have another, and all on material that is relatively new, so one can not merely ‘brush-up’ on it, I have to sit and study. The sitting and studying I do not mind so much, it’s just the horrendous hours that this bit is going to take. The entire time I will be cursing the professor’s name because of the lack of notice.

Modern Optics I & II- this course is going relatively ok. The ‘relatively’ in that last sentence, and the doubt in the truthfulness it brings, stems from the lab section. The lectures are good, even fun sometimes. The lab is an entirely different story. Be prepared everyone, this is going to be a venting of an other-worldly scale: I hate the lab, and I know hate is a strong word, but it is a little to watered down for the detest I have for the doddering old skeleton with skin and his half-assed written lab manual. This is more that a ‘hate’ ladies and gentlemen. This is 101 proof aggravation from a frustration beyond any other that I have known in years. I challenge the history books to find a better example, save a world war or something of the like. ‘Why would you dislike that so much?’ you might ask of me. Well, the lab manual as mentioned above is terribly written. The description of the experiments is so bad that after you read it, you have no idea what you are supposed to do. No idea how to set up the equipment, no idea how to use some of the equipment (there are portions that say: see page “blank” for instructions, then I turn to said page only to find something completely different. I ask the TA where to find the information and it’s some where else entirely), and when the whole class has the same problem with the equipment, they just say “start over”. Which means that you have just wasted about a third of your time.

Now I’m tired of complaining, so how about we take a look at the news to see the reason why we’re all going to Hell in a Hand-basket this time. Here are two stories I found interesting:

Sex-Ed and then some- The AP press did a story on how our public schools are plagued with sexual predators. The problem is that the instances are rarely reported, and the teachers that are committing these crimes are only dismissed from their positions- and take up teaching jobs elsewhere only to propagate the problem. The entire report was lengthy, and rather boring. However it does not surprise me, because there were stories of such events even when I was a wee lad and in the high school. You can check out the story here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071020/ap_on_re_us/teacher_sex_abuse;_ylt=ApttwlZNl3NS9Kk3N8pLfp6s0NUE

Dumbledore is a wizard and a fairy? J.K. Rowling pushed the wizard teacher out of the closet during a Q&A session with some of her fans. Apparently she was asked “Will Dumbledore ever find true love?” and the author replied: “Dumbledore is gay.” That is an odd response I think. Does she mean that gay people never find true love? Or was she waiting for some one to ask the question regarding the old fart’s orientation, didn’t get the desired inquiry, and was trying to throw the ‘queer’ bit of information out there by any means? And she later said that he had apparently killed him earlier or something to that effect. I honestly could never get into the books or movies. "Out-us Closet-us!"-haha (c'mon you knew that was coming). You can check out the story here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071020/ap_on_en_ot/books_harry_potter;_ylt=AocxX3VGzLPYK6p0oDpHvy2s0NUE

On another note: isn’t it odd that these two stories came out at the same time? Is it a coincidence? Or is Dumbledore a ‘fan’ of Harry Potter as well? Makes you think a bit doesn’t it (Is a wizard considered clergy? Because that would just make things worse). Or maybe you know that I juxtaposed the both of them for a laughable bit of reading.

Happy weekend everyone.

T