Today was my first day of school. My first class was my philosophy class. Yesterday, I referred to it as a political philosophy class. In actuality, the name of the course is Great Issues in Philosophy.* It "will focus on the three great issues in the philosophy of science [...] to philosophically evaluate select aspects of scientific cosmology, evolutionary biology and cognitive neuroscience." I was really hoping that it would have leaned more on the political but I was assured that it will often touch on political issues. The class was in a new campus building that I had never visited. It was so nice, and clean, and reeked of sterile-new. Sterile new induces sleepiness by the way which I had to fight during my math quiz. I am moving forward to fast though and would like to rewind and further describe my experience in Philosophy class.
I was excited to learn that the class was a fairly small and would make for an intimate experience. The kind where you do not feel like you are constantly shooting nasty glares at fellow students who give the impression of really enjoying the sound of their own voices. I have trouble exercising tolerance around that type. To raise your hand or share two or three times during a class in understandable, significantly more then that and it is my belief that your a thespian and should join the drama club. Honestly, there's no bigger annoyance then unwelcome monologue disguised as dialog.
I arrived to class fifteen minutes early, to make up for all my yet to come tardiness, and scope out the place and decide on my fungshuai self positioning in the the room.
As soon as the professor enters, he is being tailed by a fairly large gentleman who's voice is as well projected as it was immediately annoying. And it would be so the entire length of class that he interrupted every five minuets. It was not that his questions were bad but that they mad absolutely no sense or simply repeatedly the just mentioned, or simply repeatedly the just mentioned, or simply repeatedly the just mentioned...
He continued to interject, ask questions, interrupt, stretch and grunt. Yes, I said grunt. I know that this might sound borderline mean but I honestly do not think that this was the result of a physical or physiological problem. It is just what the bear (that is how I envisioned him in my head) does. His coming out of hibernation like grunts were such an odd manner of expression. It wasn't just distracting while he was doing it but equally so because we would all zone-out looking at him in anticipation of the next Neanderthal lullaby. He grunted each time he heard an appealing statement or thought one in his head. He grunted for the sake of grunting or just to remind us that he was indeed a creature of thought and capable of phonetically repeating large words even if they made no sense when he decided to make use of them. I must say that the teacher was very good at diverting his constant need for look-at-me and was quite skilled at doing so smoothly and during appropriate times blatantly. I had a hard time because as Cubans would say, me gane la loteria. (I won the lottery) Brother bear was sitting right next to me. He was about two or three feet away. So I had the pleasure of hearing every grunt in it's entirety; from its early stages in the belly to the full nasal escape. I was livid. What great luck, I came for a lesson in philosophy and got one in patience. The hardest part was the fact that we were sitting in a half circle configuration with me at one end and he adjacent. This meant that most of the class could see my face and I theirs along with every smirk, lip bite, head bowed, mouth covered, and all other telltale sign that something i did not want to see or know about, was occurring next to me.
grunts?!?!?! LMAO... u cubans be killing me sometime man.
I know the of having an annoying classmate. Their was this one chick last semester - she didn't grunt, but she protested and argued with everything the professor or anyone else said... she tried to turn every session in our Latin-American Psychology class into a riot with rants, yelling, and lots of usage of the word FUCK and HONKY... I was happy to get a break from her when the semester was over, then she resurfaced this semester again in not just one, but two of my classes... Thursday she said "I DON'T GIVE A FUCK IF THE CLASS THINKS I'M A CRAZY BITCH - YOU ALL ARE NOT GOING TO GIVE ME MY AA - I'M BUSTING MY ASS TO GET A GOOD GRADE SO YOU CAN ALL FUCK OFF!"... I think it's not so much busting her ass, more just running her mouth... and to compliment her outbursts we have a new girl in the class... who rants and raves but makes no sense... we're in English class... she's comparing Ghandi to Brittney Spears! WTF?! I feel for you and your bear-friend... heh I feel your pain.
LMAO...
Venus,
Get the fuck out of here! Ghandi to Brittney? Ghandi choose not eat Brittney has an eating disorder. Was Ghandi a privilaged blonde mall rat American girl in disguise? Is Brittney starting an underground political movement?
I don't know I can't see the similarities but I love the story thank you for sharing it.
Yusef,
I probably check your site more than mine and didn't get your offer till now, sorry. This weekend would have been unavailable anyway, Saturday we just relaxed at home, went to the American Museum of Natural History and then took advantage of Restaurant Week and went to Brasserie 8 1/2 for dinner. Today, Sunday, we will spend the whole day studying for our finals which arebut next Sunday. Maybe after the finals - which means probably no snowboarding again next weeks, but maybe we can get
together after the finals on Sunday.
LOL Classic. On a random note..I had to explain to this girl at work today that the cosigner on her loan was an actual person. Not an extra signiture. They could be related.