08/02/02: Boredom

[juju]

I cannot wait for school to start. I'm so damned bored! Ok, I know, I know, there are millions of interesting things I could be doing. For some reason I don't feel like doing any of them. This is probably a good thing, since school starts in a month, and I can only have one obsession at a time. Hopefully I can trick myself into making school my obsession again. Although that is dependent on how interesting the classes are. I do very well if I find a subject interesting. Last year they were pretty dull, and I sucked.


Here are the classes that i'm taking this semester:


Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

Introduction to the nature of culture and its influence on human behavior and personality: comparative study of custom, social organization, and processes of change and integration of culture.

The Anthropology of Religion

An exploration of rituals, symbols, and rules that shape religious life. Religion is viewed broadly, considering activities that invoke powers beyond the reach of ordinary senses. Examining a variety of cultures, we explore what people say and do as they participate in activities such as magic, healing, pilgrimage, and contemporary religious movements.

Database Management Systems

What a database management system is; different data models used to structure the logical view of the database;
relational, hierarchical, and network. Implementation techniques for database systems: concurrency control, rollback and recovery, integrity and consistency, and view implementation.

Elementary Spanish II

Elementary courses stress pronunciation, aural comprehension, and simple speaking ability, and lead to active mastery basic grammar and limited reading ability.

I should have taken more CS classes, but the few that I actually needed were filled very quickly and I couldn't get in. So I just took some classes to fill my Anthropology minor, hoping that that would keep me stimulated. I'm actually kind of excited about those classes. I'm passionate about computers. But for god's sake, I need a little spice in my school diet. It would be different if we had good CS teachers, but most of them are very boring.

Databases doesn't sound interesting to me. But I understand that knowledge of them is pretty damned important, so I figured i'd better go ahead and take that class. I've never had this teacher before, so if i'm lucky he'll be cool.

Spanish, I fucking hate. I think I lack the ability to learn a new language. I'm going to keep trying, though. I've already had this damned class once. But since I did so poorly in Intermediate I, i've decided to go back and review the basics. It's quite depressing to consistently do badly in a subject. My only consolation is that since i've already had this class, it can't possibly be that hard.

I think i'll go buy the books today. Maybe that'll give me something to do.

[elSicomoro]

I would think that buying the books would make you want to weep. ;) God, college textbooks are so incredibly expensive. I think I spent $350 my last semester in college (fall 1998).

I'm incredibly bored right now. Fridays are always slow days here. It's just after 11am and I am essentially done for the day. I wish the hell they'd let us leave early, even if it meant losing the hours. I wouldn't mind starting my weekend at...oh, 1:00. :)

[Undertoad]

When I was in school I was a terrible student, but now I read your list and say DAMN DAMN DAMN I wish I could have all that knowledge. Anthropology is undeniably cool and gets you an understanding of the nature of humanity. Databases are the future of the world; MS has shown signs of converting their filesystems to BE relational databases. Almost all automation requires a database somewhere. And to be bi-lingual would be a wonderful thing and Spanish is a very popular language around the world.

Fill your head with as much as you can, I'm tellin' ya. Forget about the structure they impose and just soak in the knowledge. The grade is not important; how much you actually learn is the only thing that matters.

[headsplice]

*Ugh*
The only reason that Friday's suck is that Friday mornings are generally terrible. My friends like to go out on Thursday night. I invariably go with them. I try not to drink but that damn firewater gets the best of me. And of course, when I have a beer, I need a cigarette. Then it's all downhill from there. At least, until I get up in the morning. Then it seems like its all uphill.

[elSicomoro]

As much as I wanted to get out of college, I took some of the coolest classes, IMO. Really enjoyed all of them too:

World Religions
People and Places of the World
Psychology of Oppression
History of Photography
Art History I
Intro to Sociology
Physiological Psychology
Living Systems
Creative and Critical Thinking

I also took some incredible snoozers:

Industrial-Organizational Psychology
Psychological Statistics
General Economics
Psychology of Nonverbal Behavior
Calculus I
General Chemistry I
Advanced Expository Writing

I absolutely did not want to take a foreign language, but had to take 13 hours when I transferred from SEMO to UMSL. I took Spanish (since it's supposed to be the easiest), and as I've mentioned previously, it's one of the best things I've ever done.

Learning fucking rules. :)

Headsplice: Did you have a coffee IV on standby when you woke up this morning? ;)

[juju]

Originally posted by sycamore
I would think that buying the books would make you want to weep. ;) God, college textbooks are so incredibly expensive. I think I spent $350 my last semester in college (fall 1998).

Yeah, it is a crime how expensive they are. The sad part is, there are some teachers who don't even need textbooks. They mostly just use the supplements that they've written themselves for the class. But colleges make them have a required textbook anyway. WTF? If I don't need the book, why am I buying it? It's highway robbery if you ask me. I've bought so many textbooks that the teacher never even referred to. That said, though, there are some textbook that I definitely think i'm going to hold on to. Especially my Algorithms book.

[juju]

Originally posted by Undertoad
When I was in school I was a terrible student, but now I read your list and say DAMN DAMN DAMN I wish I could have all that knowledge. Anthropology is undeniably cool and gets you an understanding of the nature of humanity. Databases are the future of the world; MS has shown signs of converting their filesystems to BE relational databases. Almost all automation requires a database somewhere. And to be bi-lingual would be a wonderful thing and Spanish is a very popular language around the world.

Fill your head with as much as you can, I'm tellin' ya. Forget about the structure they impose and just soak in the knowledge. The grade is not important; how much you actually learn is the only thing that matters.

Thanks for the encouragement. :) I'm definitely going to try to soak in as much as I can.

I just wish I could hurry up and graduate already! I am so tired of this rinky-dink town. It exists only for the purpose of the college. But I am going to try to enjoy this while it lasts. Their Anthropology teachers are fascinating people and really good lecturers, so I really enjoy those classes. So far I've taken two classes on Human Evolution, and they were awesome.

A lot of people IRL see how obsessed I am with computers and think that that's all i'm interested in. That's not true; I have a lot of interests. It's just that whatever subject i'm into at the time is all I think about.

[juju]

Syc, those classes really do sound cool. Psychology of Opression? Is that like Dictatorship 101?

I actually liked Economics, believe it or not. After taking Economics, I actually understood talk radio and CNN. It was like having sight after growing up blind.

I'm probably too hard on myself on the Spanish. I actually have learned a lot, I think. It's just that since I can't hold a deep conversation with it, I discard it all as useless. I'll get better.

[elSicomoro]

SEMO had a rental system--$12 per book per semester (in 1994-95). What a sweet deal.

I never sold any of my books back when I went to UMSL. I knew I wouldn't get shit for them, and I like to read through them every now and then. As my one psych professor said, "Keep 'em. Make 'em part of your library." :)

Originally posted by juju
Syc, those classes really do sound cool. Psychology of Opression? Is that like Dictatorship 101?

Ummm...sorta. It basically dealt with the psychology of oppressors and oppressees in various contexts, primarily in the US (women and minorities). For example, my semester project dealt with the discrimination of Hispanics from the time of Cortez to today (or 1998).

I think I only needed one more class (Psychology of Women) in order to earn my Certificate in Womens Studies from UMSL. :)

World Religions was a great class too. Did a semester report on Sufism (Islamic mysticism). I would imagine it has become an incredibly popular class since 9/11.

Creative and Critical Thinking was some "bullshit" started by SEMO that was a "learn to better construct your thoughts and expressions" class. It was taught by pretty much every single professor on campus. What you got out of it depended on who you got for a teacher. I had a friend that got a history professor for it and just hated it. My roommate and I got an English TA. Examples of things we did: Writing about "new" experiences (which for my roommate and I was going to the Missouri bootheel and seeing cotton grow), Preparing a 5-minute presentation on something in which we were knowledgeable (I did a history and audio presentation of Nine Inch Nails circa late 1994), and expressing ourselves in small groups. It got hokey at times, but that really was a fun class.

I'd like to think I was well-read before college, but I just took so much away from those 4 1/2 years. Well worth the $16,000-20,000 invested by me, the state of Missouri, Southeast Missouri State University, and my Uncle Sam in DC (who graciously gave me loans for my final 3 semesters).

Oh, and I certainly don't want to forget my buddies at the Federal Reserve Board. Thanks to them, my interest rate for the upcoming payment year (which for me begins in 3 weeks) is at 4%.

I actually liked Economics, believe it or not. After taking Economics, I actually understood talk radio and CNN. It was like having sight after growing up blind.

As dry as that class was, I did incredibly well in it, and I had a great professor with whom I got along famously. And I got a lot out of that class too.

I'm probably too hard on myself on the Spanish. I actually have learned a lot, I think. It's just that since I can't hold a deep conversation with it, I discard it all as useless. I'll get better.

That's the thing about a foreign language...you have to continue to use it or it gets rusty. I haven't used it much since Mimi and I broke up (over 3 years ago), and it shows.

[warch]

Four years as an undergrad flew by, changing majors 4-5 times, academic probation to desperate redemption. I probably shouldnt have gone to college right out of high school, but its written that way in the playbook. I had no clue what I was doing, other than getting away from home and trying to invent myself in a new state. By year 4, I'd have to say that Cultural Anthroplogy classes, Film Making classes, and a razor sharp English teacher helped me realize what I was there for. Not for grades, but for what I could and wanted to learn. Which was everything. The best is when your courses start to cross pollenate-what you read in one class connect and connect again. When they told me I had enough credits to graduate I felt like toast popping out of a toaster, only I wasnt even brown.
But it prepared me to continue learning. There's so much to dig into. Enjoy your Anthro.
I like this time of year- all the potential in new office supplies. I just bought my new academic calendar, the year starts in August.

[juju]

Okay, so here are the classes i've signed up for next semester.

Programming Windows and the GUI

Introduction to the basic concepts of graphical user interface (GUI) programming using the Microsoft Windows environment. Discussion of design techniques relating to color, size, shape, location, font, etc. Real-world applications will be programmed using Visual Basic, C and C++.

Operating Systems

An introduction to operating systems including topics in system structures, process management, storage management files, distributed systems, and case studies.

Combinatorial and Discrete Mathematics

Basic combinatorial techniques including the study of networks, generating functions, principles of inclusion/ exclusion, Zn, Hamming coding theory, graph theory, and block designs.

And, of course, my nemesis, Intermediate Spanish I.


I'm pretty excited about the computer courses. Both the teachers are really good, which is quite rare in this department. And the topics are cool, too, so I shouldn't be bored. I don't know what to expect with the math class. I'll just have to wait and see.

Like I said in another thread, i've figured out that I will graduate at the end of next year. So if I can get all this stuff taken care of, i'm so outta this place. :)

[elSicomoro]

Whoo boy! That sounds about as exciting as decaf coffee. ;)

Good luck.

[juju]

Hmm... I dunno. I don't think coffee is nearly as exciting as programming.

[elSicomoro]

Jesus...what a fucking geek. ;)