powered by SignMyGuestbook.com
powered by SignMyGuestbook.com
Recent News... Just for Pope Gregory... |
2002-05-02 - 7:55 a.m. Randomly, a spotted triceratops Driving back from last night's performance of Romeo and Juliet, I looked to the left on 16th street and, suddenly, randomly, there was a spotted triceratops - Painted in a rainbow of polka dots and lurking on a street corner. WTF? Roland glances over. Oh he says, nonchalantly, It's an art school. That statue thing is always painted different colors. Randomly, my dad called me yesterday asking how to get the shots necessary to travel to Japan. He wants to fly to Tokyo to watch the Redskins play. Then, randomly, there was Alice. My study partner from grad school, fellow suffragette of 60 hour homework session on non-linear, six degree of freedom control theory and neural nets, walked in my office yesterday. I hear from my Alice very occasionally, since her life's been eaten by MIT where she's finishing her doctoral work. She's one of those great people that no matter how long it's been, your are instantly as tight as you ever were. Randomly, she was interviewing for a job at my workplace, completely unbeknownst to me. Suddenly, she's engaged to our former grad school adviser. It's hard attending a traditional graduate program when you are a professional working adult. Most of your fellow students are scared 22 year olds, worshipping at the feet of the professors. I had trouble being appropriately intimidated. I regularly defend my work before people who are *gods* in my chosen field. Hell, the guy across the hall, whom I regular torment to water his suffering spider plant, is internationally famous. People slaver at my feet when they realize I know him. Dr. Rob intimidated and amused me in equal measure. He breezed into my first class, looking like a harried grad student, and promptly taught a lecture that blew me out of the water. He used to (god help me) drink a Starbucks double espresso, tall, followed by a Coke during each of our lectures. We averaged 12 pages of notes per hour from this brilliant, but overly wound guy. Then, one day, he's throwing the leftover scratch notes off the teachers desk and he pauses. He studies the paper and holds it up to the class exclaiming, Look, discrete Fourier convolution! I am sitting in the front row. I am stupid. So, I say, Dude, you need a hobby. Dead silence descends around me. Dr. Rob looks like he's been hit by a board. I realize I have gone over the edge and am now, officially, in trouble. He blinks and says defensively, I have hobbies. He starts handing out homework papers. I have lots of other interests He writes the first line of notes on the board, but I am so not out of the cellar yet. I mean, we could discuss the new Hamlet movie if you'd prefer tackling Shakespeare. The class of 22 year old engineers, all of whom joyfully left English Lit behind three years ago, flinches in unison. I breathe a sigh of relief, for I am the only other alien who loves Shakespeare and has seen the movie. The three hour Brannagh version? Where they put back all that stuff from the first folio? Can we say overplayed much? Dr. Rob blinks again, and, to the horrified fascination of the class, we plunge into criticizing Brannagh's over the top performance, wondering why it was important to put back the bits about Denmark being invaded, bemoaning the chandelier theatrics, and praising Billy Crystal, who did the best rendition of the gravedigger I have ever seen. Two months later, after a week particularly short on sleep, Rick begins quoting verbatim the Tick monologue about Fishboy. Dr. Rob freezes, spins abruptly (boy does need to cut caffeine) then collapses on the floor laughing. We stare, wondering if we should get help, when a hand reaches up from behind the lectern. It forms a puppet shapes and we hear a high pitched voice say Read a book! [Handy the Map Puppet - another Tick character.] Not many professors know Shakespeare, control theory, and the Tick in equal measure. I adore Dr. Rob. He and Alice will be good together. No, they were never the slightest bit romantically involved when we were in school, but they were always good friends. But she moved away and finished growing up - then, one visit about two years after grad school and *poof*. They'll make a great couple. I adore my advisor. And (happy dance) I'm on the wedding guest list. Kymber listens to the randomness of my day and says, This stuff only happens to you. Only you. And Nia. � � � 
|