Thursday, June 28, 2007

Summer and school... great

As depressing as my work is sometimes, I try hard to make it funny. Unfortunately making fun of suffering people usually makes me look callous.

I don't really like my classes so far. They're at awkward times in the days and my teachers aren't super amazing or anything. Sometimes I still get frustrated that so many people have studied the art of teaching and how to teach in such a way as to make learning quicker and easier, and yet rarely do teachers actually use all this knowledge. I myself am guilty of this, which makes it all the more frustrating. I don't know why I'm taking classes this term, I should have taken some time off to just read books and study for the GRE. I'm tired of always having to be somewhere.

It's not really that bad of a life and I don't mind it. For one, I'm ungrateful. For two, listening to a lot of the same arguments is getting old. I should be more patient.

I was making a wishlist the other day. A very impractical one. It includes a lab coat, a typewriter (one of those classy manual ones), bowling shoes, and classic novels I have not yet read or purchased. Buying more books is problematic, because I already have six or seven books I still haven't read. Sometimes the acquiring of an object is more fun than actually using it though. I should explain the lab coat too. I pass them every time I walk through the book store. I think it would be hilarious sometime to show up to psychology research meetings in a lab coat. Maybe I could put cool things in the pockets, like... pencils for filling out questionnaires, rat chow, mini inkblot cards, and a pocket watch for hypnosis (kidding... there are better ways).

A pocket watch has long been an object of slight coveting for me (check out this baby). My $7 Target watch finally broke. Well it was just the straps, so I've been carrying around the actual clock portion like a pocket watch. Sometimes it's more convenient than a wristwatch, but a lot easier to lose. If you put a watch on your desk, it doesn't look as rude to the professor when you check the time. Pocket watches are also loads classier than wristwatches, although I've seen some nice wristwatches in my lifetime.

To complete the victorian entourage that comes with typewriters and pocket watches (or did they have typewriters back then), I would probably also have to have a nice pen and an inkwell to go with it, and perhaps some stationary so I could sit a write letters all day by candlelight. Sounds terribly boring, doesn't it? Gears are just so much nicer than batteries, I say. They should make an mp3 player that you can crank instead of putting batteries in it.

4 comments:

Jimbles said...

It's fine. It doesn't matter if you look callous. I know just how callous you really are!!

Ben said...

I looked all over for a steampunk mp3 player, and no one's done the mod yet. Sorry.

Andrea Landaker said...

What about:
http://steampunkworkshop.com/keyboard.shtml

or a computer case:
http://www.datamancer.net/projects/engine/engine.htm

Pocketwatches are pretty cool . . . and not always expensive. Got anything specific in mind?

I think steampunk is pretty cool . . . I want to read some good steampunk books.

ymb2006 said...

A crank powered mp3 player? I hope that your bowling and racquet ball playing have strengthened your arm sufficiently, the human arm is not all that great at producing power; in my physics 123 class we measured the power output of a hand crank we were given, I doubt that you could get anywhere near enough power to give yourself the quality of performance you desire, especially considering that you refused to use bass boost because it interfered with authenticity.

However I agree that that watch looks amazing. And you would look cute in a labcoat.