Being a TA and other grad school joys
Well, did TA (teaching assistant) stuff today. Nothing much. Just walk around, helping them with their assignments, make sure they're not downloading porn, that kind of stuff. The kids are a mixed bag, just like you'd expect at any university, even one as supposedly "superior" as Chula. You'd think that at the best university in the country, the students would care more about studying than checking their darn email. Makes me kinda wonder about Harvard and places like that - are there knuckleheads there, too? Guess it's because I've always valued my education. I'm not a nerd, mind you. I just take my studies seriously. (This coming from a girl who hates written assignments. Ah, the beauty of contradicitions.) Anyhow, today was more or less uneventful. I finished a major bulk of my work, but of course, there's still major bulkiness remaining. Assisted in three new classes. Sigh. Last week, I was TA to this majorly cute teacher - I'm talking adorable. Glasses, nice clear skin, Chinese-looking, and he was an English teacher, for cripes' sake! My type! And he was still pretty young, still doing his Ph.D. But, due to a stupid scheduling error, I have now been relegated to working in the science building and assisting...no cute teachers. What a waste. Oh, well, it's not like I would have done anything, but eye candy, you know? Anyway, I'm through with love (although Mariah Carey's We Belong Together is a fixture on my current playlist). I'm sick of guys. They never say what they mean or mean what they say, and frankly, I'm tired of trying to distinguish. No offense to those of the male persuasion. I still enjoy having you as friends, fathers and brothers, but in terms of amore? No thanks.
Final thought: Say what you mean and mean what you say. :wink:
Batman Begins ROCKS! (No spoilers)
Despite having tons of work, and only finishing about two-thirds of it, I still let myself be talked into going and seeing Batman Begins. And I have no regrets. I love Batman (just about every other superhero; must be the influence of having a younger bro) and I was totally disgusted and disappointed by the Caped Crusader's last outing in Batman and Robin. (George Clooney as Batman? I think not.) I loved this film. I loved Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne/Batman). I loved Cillian Murphy (Scarecrow). I loved the Batmobile, the Batcave, Wayne manor and yes, of course, the CGI bats. I loved the dark, noir-ish look of the film, the exploration of Bruce Wayne's guilt and anger and loss, the locales, even the convuluted plot. I loved it all. I think just about the only thing I truly disliked was Katie Holmes. Complete miscast there. :x But otherwise, I must insist that you watch it. You'll love it too (I hope). So, yes, I advocate escapism from time to time. Really helped me deal with the mountains of work I have piled up. Add to that the fact that I am now a TA. The TA stuff isn't hard, but it means I have less time to do nothing (that sounded odd...). Just wanted to put in a quick update, tell everyone to watch the movie and yes, ask, Kwan, are you there? If you read this, please give me a mail, kay? Everyone else (Smithi, Miko, June and Marc), miss you guys and hope you're doing well.
Final thought: Favorite quote from Batman Begins (if you watch the movie, you'll get the humor of it):
Headline in a newspaper: DRUNKEN BILLIONAIRE BURNS DOWN HOME
Getting a grip
Okay, I think I have more of a handle on myself today. I have finished one assignment and am slowing working my way through the others. I have a pretty good (read: fuzzy) idea of the topics I'll be writing term papers on. I finished the readings and even went ahead on one. Right now, I am diligently reading an introductory book on linguistics so that I'll have a freaking idea of what's going on. It's really very interesting and thank goodness, a lot of it overlaps with psychology, so even when I'm totally, totally lost, I look and oh goodness, there's a breadcrumb (read: psychological term I recognize). Case in point: in my Foundation of Language Acquisition class, we're doing a presentation on behaviorism, which is my fave perspective in all of psychology and what do you know, all the stuff I learned back in high school in IB Psych is still useful. Thank you Ms. Faitel, wherever you are. Okay, enough wasting of time. I'm also going to try to finish my intro book and also a book on language error analysis, a paper on performatives and maybe, must maybe, get a jumpstart on my annotated bibliography entry for my Cultural Impacts on Teaching English as an International Language class (say that seven times fast). Man, I still totally miss MUIC, though. Will that ever wear off? I hope I'm not sounding too tense anymore; I was tense, totally tense, tight as a coil tense, but I think I'm doing okay now (thanks for your concern, Junie!)
Final thought: Whistle while you work. :wink:
The grad school experience
I have officially started grad school. Was there for two days, four classes and it's official - I miss MUIC! I thought I might, but I didn't think it would be quite this intense. I can't help comparing everything at Chula with Mahidol - I even got upset with the library! It was so...not nice compared to my undergrad days. And of course, I still miss my friends. Ton of work; I hope I'll be okay. Just wanted to give a small update.
Final thought: Lord, give me strength. :wink:
Saturday Night Fever
It's Saturday, and I feel:
1) Like dancing, because I watched VH1's special on Hot Movie Dancing this afternoon.
2) Sweaty, seeing as how I just finished a half-hour stint of dancing in accordance with the previous.
3) Thirsty (see previously).
4) Slightly sad still coz I'm going to be starting grad school soon, prompting another wave of missing my friends.
5) Shocked coz I found out someone I know recently dyed their hair red; I bet it's like Bozo the Clown!
6) Really full from the beef I had for dinner.
7) Hot - it's Thailand after all and it didn't rain today despite it being smack-dab in the middle of monsoon season.
8) Like maybe I'm addicted to this game http://http" title="http://http" target="_blank"http://http://static.thewb.com/downloads/games/charm ed/charmed.html ; been playing it for days now.
9) Excited about watching, in this order, Batman Begins, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the Fantastic Four.
10) Like that's enough effort for a Saturday night.
Final thought: Feelings, nothing more than feelings...:lol:
Shock of the new
You know, I loved and appreciated my undergrad friends while I was an undergrad - but it is only upon entering grad school that I realized how intensely I could miss them. And I do; very much so. We had this "pre-sessional" thing at Chula, basically a three day workshop covering such topics as research writing and academic paper formats. Mandatory or I wouldn't have been caught dead at it. So, there I am with all my fellow English as an International Language masters candidates and also the Ph.D. people as well. Everyone was nice enough, but still, the first day, I felt like just sitting down and crying. I couldn't exactly put my finger on what it was the first day, but now that it's over, I think I've got it.
Everyone comes from an almost purely Thai educational background. I'm pretty much the only westernized one there. Consequently, this means that I look at things differently - not just academically speaking, but socially, I also act slightly different. This doesn't mean I have habits that wouldn't shock/confuse say, an American, but I'm different enough for me to feel it. Case in point, we had one professor come in and everyone else loved her. I respected her as an instructor, but her teaching style ("Shut up, I'm right") really rubbed me the wrong way. Socially speaking, everyone is totally nice, but see, Thais interact differently than the people I've hung out with. For instance, they think that it's friendly to tease you - even if you've only known each other a few days. Like, this one guy made a joke about how I only smile when I don't know what's going on - and that I smile a lot. I would have been okay with this if it had come from one of my friends (most likely Kwan, June, Smithi or Miko; man, I have mean friends :P), but coming from an almost-stranger, I felt rather offended. So I smiled, which provoked gales of laughter all around.
And finally, I really do miss my friends. I miss the comfort and familiarity and ease of belonging to a group. I miss Kwan's laughter, Smithi's enigmatic smile, Miko's look of incredulity, June's biting sarcasm, Marc's patience and Bim's counsel. I just miss them so badly and yes, I know, I know, I'm grown up, I should get over it...but I can complain a little, can't I? :lol: I suppose it's partly nerves too. I'll try my best, but I still miss my undergrad days. Just wanted anyone reading this to remember to:
Final thought: Appreciate what you have before you don't have it anymore.