I have a poetry class for non-English majors (not because I like poetry, or English classes, but because a literature class is a pre-req for English 271, Creative Writing), Principles of Accounting II, Macroeconomics, Sociology 101 and History of Renaissance Art.

I have to get up at 8 in the morning for my English class, and I have to write a 200 word reflection for each class period, and we spend all period talking about the meaning of various poems, and the prof tries to get us to read the poems out loud, with feeling. I think I may drop it, except that we're studying Sappho and Alkhaios now and I have a soft spot for the ancient Greeks and find Greek verse terribly interesting. So we'll see how that goes.

Accounting is actually, of all things, fairly interesting. We have an engaging professor, and a small and sharp class. In any case, I think that managerial accounting is inherently more interesting a subject matter than financial accounting anyhow, and it makes this class unexpectedly stimulating.

Macro blows because it takes place in a large lecture hall, and the professor could not be more boring if he tried. I fell asleep in the second lecture, so that the class period seemed to be a big nap punctuated by brief periods of consciousness where my brain drowsily went, "Oh, a supply and demand graph" or something similar and went right back out again. To be fair to the professor though, this is may be less due to the monotony of the lecturer and more because I wake up at 8 in the morning on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Still the end result was that I fell asleep all the same.

Also, we have a web site project, and the grading requirements are such that you can only get a good grade if you include things like Flash, Powerpoint, animated graphics, or other glitzy things. (Having solid, well-researched economic material that's properly cited and expressed in a well-organized format will only get you a decent grade). While I do have a guy in my group who's a professional web designer, solving the problem of eye-candy, I still think that that aspect of the grading policy is rather unfair. Also, each project group has a "project coordinator" who has the responsiblity of assigning each of the members of the group a "pass/minor pass/fail" grade, submitted confidentially to the professor, depending on how much the coordinator felt the member contributed to the group. This is, in theory, to discourage group project freeloaders, but I'm critical of a system that allows any one student to have such power over the grade of another. However, I have taken Macroecon in high school, and the lecture notes are available online, so I think I'll do well as long as I go to class ... (unlike for Micro, where I missed my first exam and didn't turn in one assignment.. and even then got a B)... even if I do fall asleep or space out sometimes.

Sociology, which I'm taking as a pre-req for various anthropology classes, is one of those classes that sounds interesting but really isn't. We have a rheumatic elderly professor telling us a vague and generalized history of the world without any support for his statements, like a grandfather who tells kids about the good old days, in just the same manner. For those of you who know him; it's like my dad, but twenty years older. "And then there was the French Revolution where the peasants were fed up with the aristocrats having large parties and building big palaces.." What rulers in which regions? What pieces of legislature and which prevailing customs described in what documents? "The Industrial Revolution was a horrible time. The conditions of workers were terrible. You'd often see children in the mines without hands and feet..." Described by who? What cases? Mr. Thomas and Mr. Hines always told us exactly where their information came from, and I'd become accustomed to it. You can't just say random things, hoping they'll be acceptable because of your position of authority.

"Even nowadays you see the problems inherent with over-competition in markets, in the form of the vile practice where companies outsource their labor to India to maximize their profits.." ...and nobody spoke up. Well I got into this argument with the professor and a girl sitting a few seats away from me who was the daughter of some powerful labor union man. I had just finished Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" which is an eloquent muckraker tract on the unsanitary conditions of the food industry but also a very treacly propaganda piece for Socialism. My annoyance probably was not so much a result of any one person in Sociology as my residue reaction to that wonderful little book, and the girl, whose name I wish I had, had some very nice points. Still, even though I like arguing, one must wonder... you're the sociology professor for the love of God, why can't you teach that?

In any case, I also suspect the prof thinks we're really stupid because nobody ever speaks up in class. But if you went to a class where you had an old guy lecture at you as you sat with maybe fifty other people in rows of desks marching straight down the classroom so that in the middle and back couldn't hear him, would you ever speak up? I know you're supposed to be critical in class but I'm so critical of everything he says that I end up not saying anything at all because I haven't got a place to begin (and I don't want to disrupt the class by being an Anya). I don't know, maybe things will get more interesting once we get past the introductory lectures. Plus, Sasha is in that class, which is a plus.

I have Renaissance Art with Jeremy. It is really really cool, not in the least because our professor is expressive and funny. In addition, it puts my Greek Archaeology knowledge from last semester to good use, I have someone to study with, and we keep each other awake if we're about to fall asleep.

Well, I haven't blogged in a while. I'm at school, and haven't been getting very much in the way of privacy, having immediately moved back in with Jeremy. I end up being with him 24/7 except when we're in class or the bathroom, neither of which can hardly be described as privacy either. Therefore, I can only blog while he's in class because it seems a bit rude to make him sit around by himself while I type, though I sometimes wonder how he doesn't miss his own privacy himself. Sometimes I miss sleeping in my own bed where I can stretch out my arms without elbowing Jeremy in the face or can roll over without waking myself or him up, and not have to end up sleeping in the same position all night to wake up with a sore back and shoulders. Sometimes I miss solitary activities like reading for pleasure undisturbed, and surfing the net and mudding and and blasting mp3s very loud, or even just the liberty to fart and pick my nose and scratch myself when I so wish, because it always seems like I'm with someone or other these days. But after dinner when it's late at night but too early to go to bed, in the common room of Suite 404, everyone sits around on the couch or the carpet under the lamp reading roleplaying handbooks or doing homework, and the night is quiet, and maybe the tv may be on in the background with someone playing video games. It has some element of domestic serenity, as if I have some people and a place in the disorderly universe to go back to at the dying of the day.

Really the key to being not bored is to have something of your own to do, or joining whatever it is that other people are doing. I've given up on any pretense of social independence outside of this circle of nerds, and have created characters and joined a number of role playing games. I find myself actually reading players' handbooks in my spare time. I've learned the bloody rules to Axis and Allies, and can kick ass competently in Soul Calibur. Also, I have enough schoolwork to occupy myself, most of it interesting, and in that I am happy.