Set up the spring of 2013 today. I was lucky, got all the classes I wanted. All my classes are on Tuesday and Thursday, so less driving. But Loooong days!
7:45 AM Comp II
9:10 Drawing
10:35 Literature and the Environment
2:30 PM Brain and Mind
6:30 - 9:30 Hinduism and Buddhism (only on Tuesday)
Brain/Mind is co-taught by the philosophy guy and the psychology guy. I'm super stoked about that class. Also H and B should be fun. Ooh Ooh! and Drawing! Don't know about the other two, we'll see.
I could have taken Descartes to Kant, but it's a Junior level. I think I better get Comp II out of the way.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Thursday, September 13, 2012
New wheels and do
Got a new Chevy Sonic last week. The turbo version rocks. Also, been toting around all this hair way too long. It wasn't getting any browner, and it wasn't getting any thicker, so away it went! I catch myself running my hand around on the back of my head to feel the burr. My hair hasn't been this short since I was 10.
I've noticed I sit in the same part of the room in all my classes. This one girl who happens to sit right in front of me in Old Testament has Psych right after me; I was late getting out of psych today, and she came in and, you guessed it, we used the same seat. If I get very far in psych, I want to do a study of where people sit, to see if all people do that, and I wonder if it would correlate to other things like what color car we drive. I'm gonna ask Beth tomorrow if she likes red cars.
U of O is uber big on writing papers. I average maybe 3 a week. I'm glad though. I can tell you all you ever wanted to know about APA, MLA, citing sources, etc. etc. I know you couldn't tell it from this blog. I started off trying to write it all neat and stuff, but I do so much of that at school, I think I'll just make this quick and messy.
Really digging my classes. But it's really awesome seeing all the different attitudes the other students are bringing. Especially in Old Testament and Ethics. There is some serious difference of opinion going on, and, with some at least, some real soul searching. Gotta admit, I've looked at some issues I haven't looked at in a while.
Yesterday I spilled coffee all in the seat of my new car and on my pants. Went the whole day looking like I had shat myself. Went to the Wednesday convo (chapel), and it was the best one ever. This guy named Marquis Hunt played sax on about 4 songs, and preached. He was a good preacher, but man he was smooth on the sax. Best convo ever. When I went to get my convo card stamped (I have to get 8 this semester, thus I go to chapel) , I didn't have it. I left my wallet in the car because it had coffee all over it. But the convo was worth it.
Eleanor Clift from McLaughlin Group spoke Spoke Monday night at school. She was really awesome. She spoke about the upcoming election. She was fair to both sides, but you could tell she leaned left.
Gonna try to make a "Project Poet" some Tuesday night. It's what everybody talks about, but it's at 9:30, and I live 40 minutes away. There is also what they call "Last Lecture" series, where different professors give a speech as if it was the last one they would ever give. Friday night at 7:30 is one I think I will go to. Dr. Van Scoy? not sure if that's the name. something like that.
I've noticed I sit in the same part of the room in all my classes. This one girl who happens to sit right in front of me in Old Testament has Psych right after me; I was late getting out of psych today, and she came in and, you guessed it, we used the same seat. If I get very far in psych, I want to do a study of where people sit, to see if all people do that, and I wonder if it would correlate to other things like what color car we drive. I'm gonna ask Beth tomorrow if she likes red cars.
U of O is uber big on writing papers. I average maybe 3 a week. I'm glad though. I can tell you all you ever wanted to know about APA, MLA, citing sources, etc. etc. I know you couldn't tell it from this blog. I started off trying to write it all neat and stuff, but I do so much of that at school, I think I'll just make this quick and messy.
Really digging my classes. But it's really awesome seeing all the different attitudes the other students are bringing. Especially in Old Testament and Ethics. There is some serious difference of opinion going on, and, with some at least, some real soul searching. Gotta admit, I've looked at some issues I haven't looked at in a while.
Yesterday I spilled coffee all in the seat of my new car and on my pants. Went the whole day looking like I had shat myself. Went to the Wednesday convo (chapel), and it was the best one ever. This guy named Marquis Hunt played sax on about 4 songs, and preached. He was a good preacher, but man he was smooth on the sax. Best convo ever. When I went to get my convo card stamped (I have to get 8 this semester, thus I go to chapel) , I didn't have it. I left my wallet in the car because it had coffee all over it. But the convo was worth it.
Eleanor Clift from McLaughlin Group spoke Spoke Monday night at school. She was really awesome. She spoke about the upcoming election. She was fair to both sides, but you could tell she leaned left.
Gonna try to make a "Project Poet" some Tuesday night. It's what everybody talks about, but it's at 9:30, and I live 40 minutes away. There is also what they call "Last Lecture" series, where different professors give a speech as if it was the last one they would ever give. Friday night at 7:30 is one I think I will go to. Dr. Van Scoy? not sure if that's the name. something like that.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
One Week Down!
I just finished up my homework for this week and am getting ready for bed. Thought I'd give a little update.
I had signed up for Comp1, Oral Communication, Ethics, Old Testament, and Critical Inquiry. This week I decided to drop CI and add Gen Psychology. I think that will be a good move for me. My idea is to shoot for a Psychology minor to go along with a philosophy major. Should be cool.
My comp professor looks just like Vanilla Ice.
I've written about 4 papers already. Gonna have to bone up on the APA style of paper writing and figure out how to cite authors and a whole bunch of stuff that most folks learned in high school.
I was a little nervous about how I would fit in with the youngsters. Turns out, I am the only old guy in any of my classes. But everything is going famously! I wear my red converse shoes, and everybody thinks I'll all cool and stuff. I think the teachers don't quite know what to do with me yet. But it's all good.
Friday, August 17, 2012
A Little Diddy
The moments between sleep and rising
always bring the finest wise-ing.
Before the brain is all there is
the mind is there philosophizing.
It hit me flashing as I oped
my eyes, not seeing as I'd hoped.
Fumble pen, write it down.
Just a line, no more is groped.
Tomorrows verse will be as clever,
but out of tune with this endeavor.
God, if you are somehow listening,
make me lucid on forever.
Monday, August 13, 2012
Starting school next week!
One week from today I will start my first day as a philosophy major at the University of the Ozarks in Clarksville, Arkansas. I am 41 years old and attending college for the first time, so I thought it would be fun to start a blog (another first for me) and chronicle my adventure! In doing so, I am hoping to improve my composition skills, typing WPM, and overall get in the groove of academia.
The U of O is a small private school. There are apparently only a few non-traditional students there, and only a few philosophy majors to boot, so it remains to be seen how well I'm going to fit in. I am hoping that somewhere in the world there are a few more "old guy" philosophy majors that stumble across this blog so we can form a support group! :)
So why now? After high school I went to a electronics school for a year and a half. While in school, I got married and had two children. Unlike many who marry early, I am still happily married to the mother of my awesome kids, who are both in college now. I used my education to go to work in industry, and eventually worked my way into an engineering position in an automotive factory. I made decent money, and enjoyed building automation, programming robots, etc., but after 20 years of this, I got burned out and began thinking about a career change. My kids are doing their own thing, and no longer need much help from me, so the timing seems right.
One day I was having a particularly stressful day, and decided to stop by the school (it is on my way), and see about auditing a philosophy class just to see how it felt. It turns out that the tuition to take one class is $3000.00! Not doable for me. So the admissions guy and I talked about what it would take to go full time, and it worked out that that was my only real option, since I could get financial aid, and a pretty hefty scholarship. So, here I am!
Why philosophy? Well, I've always been interested in a variety of fields: psychology, physics, biology, math, etc., so when looking at the majors, it seemed like philosophy touched on all of those areas a little bit. And I've always been one to ask the "big" questions.
So, I'm going to cut this off for today, but I am planning to record at least the highlights as I go along. I think it will be cool to look back in a few years and have a record of the changes I am bound to go through.
More to come!
Jim
PS. feel free to critique my comp skills, and if you've been down this road, let me know how it went!
The U of O is a small private school. There are apparently only a few non-traditional students there, and only a few philosophy majors to boot, so it remains to be seen how well I'm going to fit in. I am hoping that somewhere in the world there are a few more "old guy" philosophy majors that stumble across this blog so we can form a support group! :)
So why now? After high school I went to a electronics school for a year and a half. While in school, I got married and had two children. Unlike many who marry early, I am still happily married to the mother of my awesome kids, who are both in college now. I used my education to go to work in industry, and eventually worked my way into an engineering position in an automotive factory. I made decent money, and enjoyed building automation, programming robots, etc., but after 20 years of this, I got burned out and began thinking about a career change. My kids are doing their own thing, and no longer need much help from me, so the timing seems right.
One day I was having a particularly stressful day, and decided to stop by the school (it is on my way), and see about auditing a philosophy class just to see how it felt. It turns out that the tuition to take one class is $3000.00! Not doable for me. So the admissions guy and I talked about what it would take to go full time, and it worked out that that was my only real option, since I could get financial aid, and a pretty hefty scholarship. So, here I am!
Why philosophy? Well, I've always been interested in a variety of fields: psychology, physics, biology, math, etc., so when looking at the majors, it seemed like philosophy touched on all of those areas a little bit. And I've always been one to ask the "big" questions.
So, I'm going to cut this off for today, but I am planning to record at least the highlights as I go along. I think it will be cool to look back in a few years and have a record of the changes I am bound to go through.
More to come!
Jim
PS. feel free to critique my comp skills, and if you've been down this road, let me know how it went!
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