(no subject)
Another week, another day at uni, only with a bit of a difference. It started out the same way. I got out of bed at about 0700, hopped on a bus at about 0800, had a McDonald's breakfast (I really have to stop doing that), got on the 0900 bus to Caboolture, got food, hung around the Caboolture bus terminal for what seemed like forever, got on the bus to the uni. Sounds like fun, no? Well, the first thing I did was to go into the admin block and get a copy of the "student diary", which is little more than a glorified organiser that at least has the weeks of the schedule marked into it. I feel a compulsion to at least make some pretense of organisation lately, so I felt it natural to pick one up this time. But what happened next, I walked from the admin office to the cafeteria and bought the usual unhealthy food items (and I struggled with hyperglycemia for the rest of the day, sadly), then I walked from the cafeteria towards the block where the science lab where lectures and tutorials have been held. Normally, what I do is to just sit at a table or wander about until the classroom door is opened, at which point I sit down at the rather annoying mobile tables and wait for things to get underway.
To the left, I have placed a photo I took after I came home. It is a high-angle shot of me with Firoth and Urfrons. I still remember when I unwrapped the parcel from Kathryn and found Firoth there. He was so adorable, I just felt so great. I always love him whenever I look at him. Urfrons was very similar, I remember getting him from Kathryn at some point and just feeling really wonderful about it. I love all of my bears, of course. I love bears. Yes. Anyway, as I was strolling from the admin office to the block contaning the science lab, one of my classmates actually spoke to me. Not just passing me by, but actually calling me and inviting me to the conversation. This came as a great surprise, to put it mildly. A few times, my audio processing disorder got in the way and I had to try and guess what was being said, but having to actually guess rather than merely filtering it out as irrelevant is a big change in itself. I may have mentioned the woman who initiated the conversation elsewhere, I am not sure. Of the videos that resulted from the previous assignment, hers is the one that impressed me the most. I have since been trying to locate it on YouTube, but it has proven somewhat like finding actual blood relatives of mine in Scotland.
The effect that this had on me through the rest of the day is not to be underestimated, though. Apart from an early point in the class where I felt my body tremble all over with the urge to give a pointed answer to a question, I just ended up feeling much more calm and relaxed throughout the lecture and subsequent tutorial. Maybe a little too relaxed, because I made so many stupid, idiotic mistakes in the tutorial that I really felt like taking myself off somewhere quiet and kicking myself in the arse. And the worst part of that is that I am going to be remembering such things for months on end, whereas my classmates have probably forgotten it already (assuming they were even aware of it to begin with!). But I actually participated, and with a level of enthusiasm that, looking back, really must have come as a shock to the lecturers/tutors. Of course, there were the usual shopping list of equipment hassles during the tutorial, and that even prompted me to make some suggestions of procedure. I made one suggestion to the last lecturer of the day that reminders should be pasted into the equipment cases to bring the damned batteries back fully charged.
This prompted the lecturer in question to tell me that things like the equipment are very different at the larger Kelvin Grove campus (like I am surprised). Apparently, the equipment library there is much larger (again, not surprised), and the staff who maintain said equipment library actually put the batteries of used equipment into charging for the students. I am not sure how I should react to this knowledge. On the one hand, being able to count on the equipment one has just borrowed being in fully working order is a good thing. On the other, the people who have presently borrowed the equipment should be counted upon to return it in fully working order. A good analogy is that of the rental car. When you return the car or truck you have rented to the outlet you rented it from, you are expected to fill the fuel tank just before you return it. This is as much about respect as it is protocol. It is protocol because it means the rental agency can rent out equipment, and the new lessee can rely upon it being in working order, and it is about respect to between the old lessee, the lessor, and the new lessee. And yes, I am deathly tired, so if that statement does not make sense, feel free to ask for clarification. I might even be able to do crude flowcharts.
Of course, there is still a major feeling of not really relating to the rest of the class. They might understand what I say in a given moment (and vice versa), but they do not truly grok what I am saying. There is a bit of what I would call grok defecit, in that I grok what they might say a lot more frequently than they grok what I am saying. Not that this entirely surprises me. They are probably completely unaware of it, but when they do go into idle chatter and I happen to be able to hear or overhear it, it brings me to a belief that there is something of an IQ gap between us. Not that this is a bad reflection upon them or indeed on anybody. It is just the way things is, to slightly mangle a Zappa-ism. Prof. Attwood, if he had been more on the ball, might have warned me that this would be the case. After all, in university admissions, they would likely see that among their intake, there are those who have what it takes to complete the Bachelor's, those who have what it takes to complete the Master's, and those who have what it takes to complete the PhD. (and I apologise in advance if I have gotten the terms wrong, because I am an artist rather than an academic).
Oh yeah, one other thing about the photo, I managed to find some World Of Warcraft-themed shirts at a local video game store. The store in question is not one I would buy from with any frequency, but it did have what I was looking for at the time. I might have a lot of shirts, but a lot of my shirts are a) riddled with holes, b) too small to be worn comfortably anymore, or c) both. And because I am terrible at sorting things or organising the essentials, a lot of the shirts that fall into those categories end up being washed and put back into storage rather than being immediately thrown out when they are identified. As a consequence, there might be a lot of shirts sitting in the chest of drawers that I keep my clothes in, but only 66% or even 50% of them are really ideal for wearing. And there is something about the feel of a brand new shirt that I happen to like, anyway. I would say it is one of those autistic things. Brand new pants have their own skin-reaction sensations that I will not detail here for reasons I am sure one can guess. And by the Jesus, did I just spend an entire paragraph talking about new clothing? Perhaps I might have more in common with some of my classmates than I realise.
Edit: Oh yeah, and I also received the results from Assignment 1, both parts A and B. If comments ask, I might elaborate on said results.
Further Edit, May 18, 2009: Oh yeah, doom metal is universal. How universal, you ask? A group of Croatians can start a band because they were moved by My DyING BRIDE's better efforts and end up among the top five doom metal bands in history. That's how truly universal the genre is.
In any case, I have to stop writing now and get on with... other writings. Said other writings may or may not relate to the subjects discussed here. In closing, I offer the following words of wisdom: Sometimes a subtle difference is the one you notice the most.
To the left, I have placed a photo I took after I came home. It is a high-angle shot of me with Firoth and Urfrons. I still remember when I unwrapped the parcel from Kathryn and found Firoth there. He was so adorable, I just felt so great. I always love him whenever I look at him. Urfrons was very similar, I remember getting him from Kathryn at some point and just feeling really wonderful about it. I love all of my bears, of course. I love bears. Yes. Anyway, as I was strolling from the admin office to the block contaning the science lab, one of my classmates actually spoke to me. Not just passing me by, but actually calling me and inviting me to the conversation. This came as a great surprise, to put it mildly. A few times, my audio processing disorder got in the way and I had to try and guess what was being said, but having to actually guess rather than merely filtering it out as irrelevant is a big change in itself. I may have mentioned the woman who initiated the conversation elsewhere, I am not sure. Of the videos that resulted from the previous assignment, hers is the one that impressed me the most. I have since been trying to locate it on YouTube, but it has proven somewhat like finding actual blood relatives of mine in Scotland.
The effect that this had on me through the rest of the day is not to be underestimated, though. Apart from an early point in the class where I felt my body tremble all over with the urge to give a pointed answer to a question, I just ended up feeling much more calm and relaxed throughout the lecture and subsequent tutorial. Maybe a little too relaxed, because I made so many stupid, idiotic mistakes in the tutorial that I really felt like taking myself off somewhere quiet and kicking myself in the arse. And the worst part of that is that I am going to be remembering such things for months on end, whereas my classmates have probably forgotten it already (assuming they were even aware of it to begin with!). But I actually participated, and with a level of enthusiasm that, looking back, really must have come as a shock to the lecturers/tutors. Of course, there were the usual shopping list of equipment hassles during the tutorial, and that even prompted me to make some suggestions of procedure. I made one suggestion to the last lecturer of the day that reminders should be pasted into the equipment cases to bring the damned batteries back fully charged.
This prompted the lecturer in question to tell me that things like the equipment are very different at the larger Kelvin Grove campus (like I am surprised). Apparently, the equipment library there is much larger (again, not surprised), and the staff who maintain said equipment library actually put the batteries of used equipment into charging for the students. I am not sure how I should react to this knowledge. On the one hand, being able to count on the equipment one has just borrowed being in fully working order is a good thing. On the other, the people who have presently borrowed the equipment should be counted upon to return it in fully working order. A good analogy is that of the rental car. When you return the car or truck you have rented to the outlet you rented it from, you are expected to fill the fuel tank just before you return it. This is as much about respect as it is protocol. It is protocol because it means the rental agency can rent out equipment, and the new lessee can rely upon it being in working order, and it is about respect to between the old lessee, the lessor, and the new lessee. And yes, I am deathly tired, so if that statement does not make sense, feel free to ask for clarification. I might even be able to do crude flowcharts.
Of course, there is still a major feeling of not really relating to the rest of the class. They might understand what I say in a given moment (and vice versa), but they do not truly grok what I am saying. There is a bit of what I would call grok defecit, in that I grok what they might say a lot more frequently than they grok what I am saying. Not that this entirely surprises me. They are probably completely unaware of it, but when they do go into idle chatter and I happen to be able to hear or overhear it, it brings me to a belief that there is something of an IQ gap between us. Not that this is a bad reflection upon them or indeed on anybody. It is just the way things is, to slightly mangle a Zappa-ism. Prof. Attwood, if he had been more on the ball, might have warned me that this would be the case. After all, in university admissions, they would likely see that among their intake, there are those who have what it takes to complete the Bachelor's, those who have what it takes to complete the Master's, and those who have what it takes to complete the PhD. (and I apologise in advance if I have gotten the terms wrong, because I am an artist rather than an academic).
Oh yeah, one other thing about the photo, I managed to find some World Of Warcraft-themed shirts at a local video game store. The store in question is not one I would buy from with any frequency, but it did have what I was looking for at the time. I might have a lot of shirts, but a lot of my shirts are a) riddled with holes, b) too small to be worn comfortably anymore, or c) both. And because I am terrible at sorting things or organising the essentials, a lot of the shirts that fall into those categories end up being washed and put back into storage rather than being immediately thrown out when they are identified. As a consequence, there might be a lot of shirts sitting in the chest of drawers that I keep my clothes in, but only 66% or even 50% of them are really ideal for wearing. And there is something about the feel of a brand new shirt that I happen to like, anyway. I would say it is one of those autistic things. Brand new pants have their own skin-reaction sensations that I will not detail here for reasons I am sure one can guess. And by the Jesus, did I just spend an entire paragraph talking about new clothing? Perhaps I might have more in common with some of my classmates than I realise.
Edit: Oh yeah, and I also received the results from Assignment 1, both parts A and B. If comments ask, I might elaborate on said results.
Further Edit, May 18, 2009: Oh yeah, doom metal is universal. How universal, you ask? A group of Croatians can start a band because they were moved by My DyING BRIDE's better efforts and end up among the top five doom metal bands in history. That's how truly universal the genre is.
In any case, I have to stop writing now and get on with... other writings. Said other writings may or may not relate to the subjects discussed here. In closing, I offer the following words of wisdom: Sometimes a subtle difference is the one you notice the most.