Why do I have to run into people who champion the fact that the three year old that they know, knows and can mimic wrestling moves and sayings? Why is this supposed to be a good thing? I cannot imagine why we should encourage this sort of thing all the while thinking that it will have no effect on those with such knowledge. These kids will probably grow up to be worse that the ignorant little snots who were firing bottle rockets at my car tonight. Oh, how I love Halloween.
Recently I have been consumed by the subject of developmental biology. Not because it is interesting, not because I like it, not because others like it, but because I am paying to take it and it is a required course. Once you get past the dry, monotone lecture by the professor, leave the room, and relax at home in front of the telly, developmental biology lecture isn’t really that bad. I am plagued by the realization that I do about 10 – 20% worse on exams where I study alone. The key to me doing well is learning most of it myself, and then conferring with others about the details. This, miraculously occurred this time, after several exams of pulling my hair out in the library alone. While the actual event occurred this time, it was not as successful as I have found it to be before. One person in my developmental class, lacking the decorum and maturity that the rest of the group exhibited, continually made sexually associated jokes. You see, some of the subject matter in developmental biology deals with sperm structure etc, which lead to many jokes concerning “framing the gnome”, or whatever the hell the kids are calling it these days. I’m not saying these were not funny, I am merely pointing out that this type of distraction does not lend to learning the intricacies of sea urchin developmental experimentations. Perhaps I am making excuses too early.
Last weekend I had the good fortune to visit Ikea (which stands for, well I don’t know what it stands for), the place where you have to put everything together yourself, with the exception of carpets and candles (and the food in the cafeteria). As this was my first visit there, I hadn’t any expectations, other than I thought that this was another “airport hanger” sort of shopping experiences. It wasn’t, but they should do something about their ventilation system, and the fumes were quite strong from the chemicals, varathanes, etc in the “merchandise”. I’m not complaining, though I was lucky to get out of there without spending any money, which was not altogether easy in my chemically altered state. Normally, such things might cause some sort of wallet hemorrhaging that starts off slowly, but escalates into things I regret later.