Monday, March 8, 2010

Weather

Alice in Wonderland was amazing. I felt like I lost myself in the baroque childish nature of the film.

Last night I slept very well after a curious experiment involving rice crispy treats and a great deal of salt and vinegar chips. My mouth burns today.

I understand that bipolar disorder runs in my family. Sometimes I get rash emotions that come quickly and influence my decisions in bad ways. I think that logic can control it most of the time...but then again I'm back to the old question: Can we reason away emotion?

I was really frustrated today at my cell biology professor. She's a "squirly old woman" as my friend says...and her class is virtually unbearable. Cells are fascinating...but a saggy, monotone, nasal, ancient, short, unenthused, sadistic, unpleasant, swine of a woman completely destroys the subject. I worked my ass off on a project recently...understanding and experimenting on the cannabinoid receptors in peripheral nocioceptive neurons...and all her times to check the paper were full. I looked at my friend's paper after she "checked it" and there was ink all over it. I don't know what she expects from us...but some people signed up for like 2 or 3 times...which left me nothing because I never know my schedule until the week it happens (the uncertainty of tutoring has become all too annoying lately).

Thinking about it...I have very little respect for many aspects of Ohio University. I used to love it here freshman year...but as I grow older I see more and more cracks in the sidewalk here. The judiciary system, administrative decisions, and quality of education is not what it should be in the biology department. It's like they try to fail you. Some lab-rat profs shouldn't be teachers. There are the articulate and interesting types (Dr. Sue, Dr. Zook, and Dr. Berstein were very entertaining), but the pleasant experiences given me by these teachers are tapered by the fact that lecture is a deadzone for learning. My friend James doesn't even attend his Bios 170 class because the lab-rat prof is so awful at teaching that it's more beneficial to just read the book.

Occasionally you have a teacher brave enough to teach in a non-native language. This is spectacular; I know how it is to try and communicate with someone in a different language. I went to Spain for about 2 months. Therefore, the difficulty facing foreign professors I can understand...but there's no excuse for a large chunk of the inept teachers here at OU.

English department: phenomenal. Spanish: acceptable. Chem labs: Straight out of the 50's...where is the money going? Bio: Apart from the research...leaves plenty to be desired.

When will universities really focus on teaching? I think that it should be mandatory that a professor have research experience...as well as a fraction of education background...or at least basic human social skills.

Right now I have an interesting prof for chemistry, a fun Spanish teacher, and a stern but dynamic math teacher. I leave cell bio in a bad mood though. 3 more days of it. Woo!

It's so beautiful outside. I'm going to have a good day outside from that bad cell bio thing. I know my GPA is going to go down quick this quarter. I'm at a 3.6 this quarter...I'm probably getting a 3.0...which will bring it down to a 3.46 according to how many credit hours I'm taking. Next quarter is the same courseload...but I have the same Ochem and biocalc professors...and I have a better physics prof.

I should go do some physics before my 4 pm tutoring session.

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