September 15, 2003

Full Day

I woke up an hour late this morning. I had specifically asked Andrew when I slid in next to him a half hour after he had already gone to sleep whether or not the alarm was set. He assured me that it was, for 5:30 a.m. I had intended to wake up promptly at 6:00 a.m. so I could finish up some homework that I didn't get to over the course of the weekend. I prepared to study for my test in Music on Sunday morning going on into the afternoon. By that point, all I had to show for it was a completed study guide and I wasn't sure that all of the information was correct (the professor was rather ambiguous with her wording). Also, my Western Civilization reading assignment bored me and I just couldn't make it through all of it in what was left of Sunday after the time my Music class had consumed. So, the agenda for this morning involved actually studying for my my Music test and finishing up my reading for Western Civilization. Being short on time, I concentrated on studying for the test, gambling that there would be no pop quiz this morning in Western Civilization. I did manage to squeeze in a few more pages of the reading.

I felt like my English class didn't go so well this morning. In discussing "Bartleby the Scrivener" I attempted to explain that I wasn't confident that the narrator truly learned anything by the end of the story. It didn't seem to me that he had fully realized that he was just like Bartleby; they both had lost their humanity and to the very same cause: the work place. The professor seemed to disagree with me, stating that the narrator felt new emotions provoked by Bartleby. I don't think we were even on the same page. I felt like I didn't do an effective job and I really don't feel I could have with everything else occupying my mind. I got my "Sonny's Blues" response paper handed back. My professor's reaction was positive, he gave me a check plus along with the comment "very nicely done." He agreed with me that what I had typed up was pretty elliptical (his word choice) and that what I had hand written in at the end helped to clarify my rather elusive (his world choice again) connection.

Here's what I added in on the morning that it was due:

"This may perhaps be a bit preemptive, but in reading back over what I had written - after having had some sleep - I thought I should further explain something so it is a little clearer. You wanted to know how the choice the author made that interested me contributed to the overall effect that the story has on the reader. The way I personally related to this story was influenced by a Music Appreciation class that I ave been taking this semester. I have come to understand that when a piece begins with utter discord everything that follows strives to resolve that dissonance, ever approaching consonance. It grabs at the reader's attention and pulls them through the entire experience. The end is all the more sweeter and relieving for them because that initial discord was there."

My English professor wrote below that:

"Good connection - especially in a story about jazz - and I am glad that you made the connection clear, because it's more elusive (or elliptical) in what you say above."

Western Civilization went amazingly well. There was fortunately no pop quiz this morning. I made a lot of good comments in class, many more than I have on previous occasions. The test in Music went okay, I had to draw a few asterisks on my scan tron next to a few questions that I was unsure of (so I will remember to look them over later when I get it back). I basically now know how to treat any future study guides from this teacher: totally disregard them. No, I'm just kidding, it wasn't that bad. She just didn't seem to have a good sense of what she wanted us to know. I could tell she made up the study guide before she constructed her test and she didn't look back at it when she did get around to putting her test questions together. I got out of that class early because the test didn't take very long. I ran into one of my friends from last semester and we killed some time catching up with each other. My Philosophy in Religion class rapidly went by. I was upset with myself for having decided to leave the text for that class at home (no remaining space in my backpack and something had to be sacrificed). There was a passage in the Analects that I wanted to share with the class on language (being the budding linguist that I am or so I claim to be): 15:40 Confucius said, "In words all that matters is to express the meaning." I borrowed my neighbor's text, but I couldn't find it on demand. I'll bring it up again in class on Wednesday. I'll be sure to bring my book that time since I won't be also expected to lug around two Western Civilization texts with me that day; that class is on Mondays only). After that, I attended the first general meeting for Alpha Lambda Delta as an officer, meaning I had to say a few words and snap some pictures (I'm the historian, remember? You probably don't or it's just that you've never been to my site before). We explained who we all were and what it is we do. We voted for a replacement secretary. We ate some pizza. I showed off my newly redecorated bulletin board to the other officers and they seemed to really like it. That made it all worth the effort I put into it :).

Now that I have recapped the day's events, hopefully there is enough of it left to spend a sliver of time with Andrew watching the rest of Bowling for Columbine while he gives me a much needed and much deserved (in my biased opinion) foot massage.

-- CrystalShiloh @ 11:46 PM