No, I'm not dead. And yeah, I haven't posted for a week. Ah, well. I've had to learn to live with the fact that school *is* my life.
Anyway, I was sitting in one of my classes the other day, and started writing this. Extra points if you can figure out the class and professor. Extra points * 10 if you're not a CS person and know what class and professor I'm talking about.
Look around. It's rather large, as CS classses go. Mostly guys, but that's pretty much a given. The three girls in attendance are all in a row, smack in the middle of the room. Many types of people; the CSE's, CS, & CSMA people tend to be the most geeky-looking. But, like any sweeping generalization, it's not entirely true. I'm in the class, after all. There are also a few CIS/MIS types. Short people, tall people, young precocious students, adult students. They all have one thing in common. They are bored out of their minds.
When I talk with the guys after class, we compare ways and means of staying awake and entertaining ourselves in class. Some, like me, write beginnings of stories and doodle in the notebook margins. I've also been known to cover my desk with pencil sketches for the amusement of poor blighters in other classes. Some read, some do homework for the next class or lab. One guy was told to put away the funny papers a few minutes ago.
Meanwhile, the professor continues attempting to teach a class in which most of the real work consists of design. There are many vague mutterings about resumes, important aspects of the CS program, real-world experience, and the like.
Hmmm... he's just informed us of the fact that he is a control freak, and thus we should all be thankful that we don't have him as a team leader in our separate groups. This adds to the previously-mentioned vacts that he is confident (said several times, and not at all confidently), he likes analysis and design better than programming, and that he has trouble relating to people.
It's really quite amazing how much time he can spend explaining nothing. It's not from lack of trying; he's just not the professorial type. He always gives the impression that he would be much more comfortable sitting in a cubicle generating code or something. To make it all worse, he doesn't even have the redeeming virtue of knowing lots of arcane knowledge. Instead, he asks questions of students about .NET architecture.
We must all be aware that at the beginning of this project, the focus is on analysis and design, while at the end, it will be on coding. Which is all very well and good, except for the fact that he has taken 10 minutes to explain this at least 5 different times today and last week.
*takes short break to see if the prof is saying anything useful about classes*
No, not really. Fortunately, there's only a half hour of class left. It's kind of sad how many people are still attempting to pay attention.
*starts reading stuff not erased from whiteboard*
"Show me a sane man and I will cure him."
I like that one. There are also various announcements for TI sessions. Everything from College Algebra to Calc II.
This is about the point where I started swinging my feet and kicking the desk in front of me. Because I'm short, and I can. You know it's bad when even I am having trouble sitting still.
Oooh. He just said he was dull and boring. Maybe he does have some knowledge of what's really going on, after all. Nah...
Ah. That was exciting. He just took time out from lecturing to put several groups on the spot. It looks to me like most of the rest of this semester will be spent making various diagrams. Oh, joy. My cup runneth over, and my excitement knows no bounds. May I always be fortunate enough to have such stimulating and challenging classes. And may all my professors be as competent and as well-versed in their material.
I ain't bitter at all.
Posted by Ardith at October 15, 2003 11:48 PM