Muzzy arrived yesterday!!! I'm so excited! I could hardly contain my excitement as my plush Muzzy toy came tumbling out of the package with a collector's tin full of Muzzy DVDs, and CDs, and CD-Roms. Hooray for Muzzy! I can't decide which language to concentrate on, so I'm bouncing around a little, although I probably shouldn't. The French Muzzy makes me feel smart, because I understand just about everything they are saying, no problem. The other languages make me feel rather slow. I think I'll concentrate on French (improving listening comprehension, mostly, and getting some basic vocab that I missed out on in French 1, due to my teacher, though Lac du Bois admirably made up for most any gaps), and perhaps also work a bit with Spanish, as it's an important language in the USA today. Although, I really want to learn German. And Italian is pretty, plus I already have a foundation in it. I wish there were more languages! Except then I really wouldn't know which to choose, and I only have a limited amount of Muzzy time each day.
I finished all of my reading for Comparative Race Relations yesterday, but I got a migraine for most of the afternoon today, so I haven't written the two-page paper yet. Oh well, it's not due until Tuesday, so I can work on it tonight and tomorrow. At least the reading is done. And then I have to finish my Shakespeare reading and write that two-page paper, but that's at least pretty fun and feels like I'm building towards something career-related. Although, in a way, I like Comparative Race Relations, as much as I've complained about it to friends and family. I don't usually like... how to say it... problematic? history. History that makes me feel queasy inside. And honestly, that's most of history. I like English political history until 1832, but mostly domestic, not foreign policy. I like the history of the Amerindians in the pre-Columbian period. I like theater history. "Safe" history, in a sense. Older history, without much relevance to the present moment, beyond the basic fact that everything in history reverberates to the future. But this class is forcing me to examine problems that face us today, which is something that I should really be educated about, things that mean something to the world, to humankind. Something that helps me as a global citizen to understand others and the way our perception of the world and its peoples is constructed by society. So, in a sense, I think as much as I will complain about it, it will help me grow as a person more than my other courses. Perhaps it will be a bit like how reading Middle Passages last semester opened my eyes to contemporary problems in Africa and the USA through an examination of the tumultuous history of both the continent and people of African origin, although obviously the class will be more indepth than a single book.
I'm a little tired of being safe all the time. Maybe branching out is good.
In other news, saw Sinfonicron's Gondoliers last night and it was really cute, and tonight is a wine and cheese party at Zan, Mike, Thomas, and Annie's because Allison is visiting. And then papering and more Muzzy!!! Hooray for language acquisition!
I'm glad your getting a class that will be such an interesting challenge!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I really want your Muzzy. I haven't done any language study in ages and I miss it!
Also, it baffles me that you say you don't like "queasy" history, but you're a fan of the part where people are getting burned alive and disembowled and drawn and quartered and all that sort of stuff.
ReplyDeleteYou=Completely Nuts