The day before yesterday, I promised anecdotes. Here they are in more-or-less chronological order. I shall write them from the day before yesterday’s POV, so that “today” means that day. Because my purpose in life is to confuse you.
1. Man of La Mancha CD
Schlien posted in her LJ a commentary about learning Spanish, and she quoted a woman who said “There’s nothing in that language worth reading except Don Quixote, and a quick listen to the CD of Man of La Mancha will take care of that.” What was I listening to when I read that? Man of La Mancha. I just found it amusing.
2. Religious revivals
Math class was v. interesting. We were learning about Taylor’s Theorem, in which long polynomial series(es) were used to replicate complex functions. However, because the logic took a while to sink in, many of us were skeptical. I don’t remember how it started, but we started turning the class into a religious revival. Dubsky would hit another point, and we would all shout “Hail Jesus!” or “Tell it to the Lord!”. It took all the strength I had not to start quoting from the revival scene in Dark of the Moon.
3. Animation
In English class, “Fears and Monsters”, we analyze the shadow and the unconscious. We’re currently reading Othello, and my group was to figure out Iago’s motivations. “What animates Iago?” Mrs. Elieff asked. “Disney?” I submitted.
4. “He only wants to be looooooved!”
Iago brainstorming process:
Marcelina: But look! He’s obviously way smarter than anyone else. Or at least he thinks he is.
Me: Exactly! He makes up four-way-puns on the spot! He can break into spontaneous rhyme! That’s what I like in a man.
Marcelina: And here he makes fun of them! No one guesses he’s being two-faced, so he references Janus. That was deliberate!
Me: It’s like dangling the bait. He wants a challenge! Or maybe… ::gasp, tangent:: Maybe he wants someone to figure him out! Maybe he’s tired of being smarter than everybody. ::second gasp:: Oh my god, maybe he only wants to be looooved!”
5. Devil’s Advocate vs. stubborn denial
Chungy needs to learn the difference between being a “Devil’s advocate”, questioning and challenging and keeping me and Schlien in-check, and just blindly denying all the evidence Marcelina and I offer.
Sample conversation:
Me and Schlien: Our point of view is correct because of thisandthisandthis… (etc)
Chungy: Prove it.
Me and Schlien: !
6. Iago Quixote
Still talking about Iago, Mrs. Elieff asked us “Why does he do the things he does?”, which is incidentally the first line in “What does he want of me”, from MoLM. This led to amusing Iago = Don Quixote jokes. Har.
7. Terror Drills
Thank you, oh American government, for leading the public to think that plastic sheeting and duct tape is adequate defense against chemical weapons. In addition to the Fire Drills and Tornado Drills, we now have what the students have dubbed “Terror Drills”, in which all students head for designated windowless rooms, and teachers then block up the entrances and exits with duct tape. We talked about it in Physics, and we agreed that this was about as effective as holding up a sheet of paper to prevent a gunshot wound.
8. Hypocritical teachers
My photography teacher is driving me nuts. There’s a list a mile long of reasons this is so. But I’ve ranted about it to my parents and friends at length, so I don’t feel the need to rant again in my blog. It’ll just get me worked up again. Grrr.