Back to School

I’ve been seriously considering taking a class at the local community college next semester.  Not for credit, not to go towards a degree, just for fun.  A class that I find interesting, and fun, and enlightening.  Now I just have to decide which class to take, because I have a list of about 10 that I think would be interesting.

I found this post:  100 Totally Fun and Weird College Courses you can take online for free.  Offerings include:

• Magic, Witchcraft and the Spirit World, offered by MIT. 
• Creole Language and Culture, from Notre Dame.
• Physics of Rock Climbing, MIT.
• Kitchen Chemistry, MIT.  (I listed that one specifically for the two Jen’s!)
• Nine Lessons Learned About Creativity at Google, offered by Stanford.
• Eat Well for Less, Oregon State.
• The Dark Age, UMass Boston.  (I might have to take this one – I love studying The Middle Ages.)

There are some well-known and prestigious universities – just think, you could tell people you were taking classes at MIT or UC Berkley.  How much fun would that be?

I love classes that make learning fun.  If it’s fun, if you enjoy it, then you’re more likely to care about learning.  That’s one of the problems with the public school system in general, I think.  Learning isn’t fun, so kids don’t want to learn.  They study the basics, enough to pass the all-important tests, but it’s not retained for future use.

My favorite college professor was Dr. Hodges.  She was so enthusiastic about her subject, and she was always having so much fun when she lectured, that you couldn’t help but be drawn in.  I wouldn’t be surprised if she also had a theatre background, because she knew how to hold your attention, even in an auditorium with 100+ students.  I will never forget one lecture in particular, when she was talking about the “bathrooms” in medieval castles.  She drew it out on a transparency, told us how it worked, and said, “Isn’t that the coolest thing ever?”  And it kind of was, because she thought it was so cool.

The Amazing Race, Episode 7

I need to start doing some roadblocks – I think The Pilot is up to 4, and I have one, and the first was rockpaperscissors.  I already know what the roadblock is tonight, and I would know what it is if I was on the race, because I saw Kristy & Lena lose to those darn hay bales the first time around.  So I know that I would do this roadblock.

Off to Stockholm.  I didn’t realize we were already down to 5 teams.  This will probably be a non-elimination leg.  It’ll be this one or next one.

One member of each team must ride the “drop” ride.  This doesn’t seem to be a roadblock.  I love roller coasters, so I wouldn’t mind doing this one at all.  The first two teams have the right idea – work together to find the clue that you can only see at the top.  At this point, you’re the first two teams, so it’s the smart play.

Oh, and it’s time for the Travelocity Roaming Gnome.  I can’t decide if I like the extremely blatant product placement or not.  I mean, it’s rampant on the race, but the gnome is the primest example.

Detour:  Nobel Dynamite, or Viking Alphabet.  Blow stuff up or decoding a message.  Something tells me we’ll be blowing stuff up.  Because, afterall, there’s a boy on our team, and boys love to blow stuff up.  (What is that?!)

Oh, man, the faces on the “drop” ride are hysterical!  Flight Time just closes his eyes, scrunches his face, and shakes his head, not making a sound.  Hee hee!  I’ve been on rides like that – I completely lose all ability to make a sound or anything else.  In other words, I pretty much go into shock.  But it’s still fun!

BOOM!  Boys:  “WOOHOO!!”

Note to racers – If you are hopelessly lost, driving in circles (literally), STOP AND ASK FOR DIRECTIONS!!

Roadblock:  Who thinks they can spot a needle in a haystack?  And they’re calling it a “switchback”, a task that has occurred on another season.  186 hay bales, 7 clues.  Dem’s bad odds.  The odds kind of go in favor of later arriving teams, right?  If, say, 50 hay bales are already unrolled, and no one has yet found a clue, then it’s only 136 bales with 7 clues.  But since it’s such a crapshoot, does that matter?  I’ve never been good at odds.

OMG, Meghan totally psyched Cheyne out – it was AWESOME.  She said she couldn’t do it anymore, crying, then handed him the clue.  Yay, her!

If I remember from last time, the clue was just in between the layers of hay, so when you unroll it, you see the clue.  This time, it seems you have to dig a little more for the little flag buried in there.  Yeah, as if it wasn’t hard enough to begin with!!

Yes!!! Non-elimination leg!  I knew it.  Yay for the father/son team!  They’re awesome!

I’ll say it again – I pretty much love all the teams currently still in the race.  It’s so much fun to watch when there’s not an asshole or a bitch on my tv.  Note to producers:  Bad behavior does not equal bigger viewership. 

Next week:  Matt doesn’t know what a candelabra is.  Can-del-a-BRA?