I jumped on!
After being a avid fan of my friend's lovely blogs I decided that it was a fun idea...especially when creating a blog sounded so much more important than writing a theory paper.
As I walked out of my apartment today and headed to school, the weather was gorgeous. I think it is absolutely fascinating that something as simple as weather can turn a bad day into a great day!
And after stopping and enjoying the sun, I headed to my class of the day.
And after stopping and enjoying the sun, I headed to my class of the day.
I am enrolled in Eternal Marriage & Family class with Prof. Goodman. I remember my first impression of Prof. Goodman.
He walks into our classroom dressed smartly. He has perfectly white teeth and a smile to go with it. There are no signs of wrinkles or sags on his face which shocked me after he introduced himself as being well over 50.
I thought, "Botox or cosmetic surgery."
Ever since then I have chosen to sit in the front of the classroom in order to exam his face during lecture. After weeks of examination the only evidence that I can gather is a small dark line on the left side of his neck which I assume to be a face lift scar.
Besides the whole cosmetic surgery mystery, I have mixed feelings about this class.
This is a man who refers to his wife as "sugar pie honey bunch" and can spend the entire day teaching about the happiness of marriage.
It was hard to restrain myself from protesting or questioning what he was teaching. But I trust BYU and the professors so I decided I am going to just sit quietly in the front row examining his face and take what I can from this class.
We are suppose to discuss mating selection next week in lecture.
JOY.
Since I am not writing my theory paper (which I should be) I will write about the class itself in order to make myself feel better....for being somewhat productive(?).
PLSC 200 = PLSC 666, Satan's class, Hell, etc.
You take your pick.
During Christmas break I received an email from my professor stating that this class will be demanding and difficult. And that it would be wise to drop out now if anyone was planning to get married or contract Mono.
Attached to this lovely email was a 60 pg syllabus and the first 15 pages was to be read before the first day of class.
The first day of class, we spend the entire hour and an half discussing and clearing up rumors of the class.
The ONLY rumor he cleared up was that PLSC 200 was NO longer the hardest class in the Political Science department, it is now the 2nd hardest. Thanks to the addition of PLSC 328 a few years back.
(Don't worry, I am required to take that class as well.)
The discussion went something like this:
Prof: "I took this class at BYU when I was studying Political Science and after one hard week of papers and tests, I distinctly remember taking a break from studying and walking to a stream near my apartments. I sat down and watched the ripples spread as I dropped one pebble after another. After 2 hours of watching rocks fall to the bottom of a stream, I realized that I was going insane. I immediately ran home and booked a flight home the moment after finals. I tell you this story because I know that everyone of you will, at least once, experience insanity from this course or another one just as difficult and I want you to know that the TA's and I are here to help, to talk, or to just comfort you."
THANK YOU Prof. Christensen. Thank you very much.
Every week a minimum of 1,000 words paper is due along with assignments and readings. Now, a thousand words does not sound too difficult. If double spaced, it is about 2.5 - 3 pages.
It is the actual grading.
My TA t-o-r-e my paper apart.
I have never prided myself on being a great writer but just after two assignments in this class I have become the worst writer in the world.
For example, my last paper was an article evaluation of Japanese social networking and political participation. It was returned to me with more comments and notes than there were words on the actual paper. Also, ,my TA took the time to write an entire page of things that she thought I needed to fix.
I think if she were to have graded my paper with a red pen, the tears in my eyes would have actual turned into actual crying.
I still get teary eyed every time I see that paper sitting on the corner of my desk.
(Dumb paper)
And then I learned something fascination today that will tie up this random story.
(but who knows, it probably won't since I am now the world's worst writer)
As I was enjoying lunch with friends, the topic of bears came up.
Did you know that bears do not experience muscle atrophy during hibernation?
It's true.
They wake up roaring and ready to kill someone.
No, I am not going to kill my TA (I actually really appreciate her). What I AM going to do is be a bear.
Yes, a bear.
One who does not experience muscle atrophy after a setback or whatever else you can think of,
I am going to come out roaring
and
ready to kill (my theory assignment).
