My friends are sweet. Without even knowing that I had developed a mental rant in preparation to blog today about how grotesque I am, they emailed to say I was fabulous. So I will forgo the rant.
In the morning we had an exam. Same as always. I do think some of the other students in the class complain too much, particularly those who are doing fine in the class. I’m not doing great, but I also know I could work harder. I get distracted (ahem, blog), watch a movie, go out to eat and don’t work the whole night, which really is what is necessary for me to rock the class. So I’m going through at a mellow folksy pace.
I’m not sure if I made clear exactly how my class works. From 9-noon, we meet with one of two TAs (they alternate), have a quiz, go over homework, drill, and ask questions. From 1-4, we meet with the main instructor to learn new material. My commute (walking and train) is an hour on either end of the school day.
Class today was chock full of funny quotes, mostly from my instructor. We were discussing the reading portion of the course (which is the last four weeks) and there is a shortage of Cicero books. When asked if the book was available at the library, he said, “Our library is such a distinguished institution that it doesn’t have any books a student would use.” When someone suggested inter-library loan, he said, “The reputation of our neighboring school is that they have every book but don’t use any of them.”
Other quotes from my instructor today:
“It’s not totally wrong. It’s poetic and rare.”
“Whenever you are in a superior position and the other party tries to argue their way out, say ‘vae victis!’ (‘woe to the conquered’) and crush them.”
“They need to make a gladiatorial combat game for the Wii.”
And to brighten your day, a funny story from George…
* * * * *
Post script: Someone mentioned Jesus tonight, and I said “I heart Jesus.” Chad asked “You hurt Jesus?” I said “No. I heart Jesus. I like to use heart as a verb.” And he responded “I like to use gun as a verb.”