Deja vu and the Moldy Oldie:

You may have noticed from the time stamp of my previous entry that I am supposed to be in class right now. Let me explain: Tuesdays are a real bitch and a half. It is a twelve hour day. I have a 9:30 a.m. class, choir practice at 12:00, a class at 1:00, and my once-a-week Rastafari class from 6:30-9:30 p.m. As previously stated, in order to arrive on time for my 9:30 class, I need to get up around 6:00 a.m. Which means I like to be in bed at 9:30 p.m. Until we actually do solve the riddle of the space/time continuum, this simply is not possible on Tuesday nights. Super charging my hybrid (which I affectionately call my granola rocket; no, really - that baby hauls ass!) and doing away with speeding tickets could help, but neither of those are real possibilities, either. So, I knew Wednesday mornings were going to be really ugly. This one was worse than usual. I had a massive headache that just didn't allow me to get any sleep. And then there is the class.

It is the Interpretation of Christian Thought class that is being taught by my advisor. I was really looking forward to this class. Because he is my advisor, and this class deals with my sub-discipline, I was hoping that whatever term paper(s) we had in this class would serve as the writing sample I submit with my PhD program applications in the fall. No such luck. There are nearly 200 people in this class, and despite the fact he has five teaching assistants, reading that many papers is just not practical or possible. The only grades will be weekly on-line quizzes, a multiple choice mid-term, and a multiple choice final. Strike one.

I began reading the text for today's class, and got through a few pages before tossing it aside in disgust. Not only is it the most basic and introductory information on this subject, (been there, done that, BORING!) it is out-dated and now widely considered to be inaccurate. The book was published in 1992, not terrible old, but it may as well have been 1922. So many new discoveries have been made, and re-evaluations, and reinterpretations have been posited and accepted, that this book is laughable. Strike two.

Today's lecture deals specifically with a subject on which I have written several times, and for which I have presented papers at a couple of conferences. I could give this lecture. There was no way I was dragging my ass (and aching head) out of bed after maybe three hours of sleep, throw on some clothes, drive an hour and a half for an hour and twenty minute class on information I could recite in my sleep, then drive home while trying not to fall asleep at the wheel. Strike three. I'm out.