Unless I get a lot of homework from other classes, I'm going to be writing in here a lot more.

It is 10:30.  One class down.  Two to go.

Now I am free until my English class from 12:30 to 1:45.  My last class of the day is Intro to Film at from 3 till 4:50.  In theory, this schedule should give me plenty of time to do homework throughout the day and to run errands so my evenings are free.

There will be no homework for my sociology class.  My entire grade is based on three tests, each one half-multiple choice, half-essay.  I already have the essay questions for all three tests so I can work on them throughout the semester.  The instructor for the class seems pretty good thus far.  She's quick, clever, funny, and looks and dresses like Daniel Radcliffe in the Harry Potter films.  (His Muggle clothes; she doesn't dress in Hogwarts robes.)  We spent the morning, after a brief introduction to the broad umbrella that is sociology, examining her trip to the laundromat with her girlfriend and her interaction with the possible heroin-shooting homeless people hanging out in said laundromat.

Good times.  I think I'll go find a quiet corner to read in and grab some lunch.

My ingmorance of past participles remains intact.

Two down, one to go.

My English class should be great.  A lot of writing and no sentence-diagramming or tedious grammar lessons.  And best of all - no text book.  My teacher is a no-car, anti-textbook industry, liberal Wisconsinite.  The semester will consist of writing, discussions, and workshops.  I've never workshopped anything, so this will be a first for me.  And I don't take criticism well.  What can I say, I'm stubborn and lean toward the view that if they don't get it, it's their own inadequacies and not the inadequacies of my writing.  Of course, I also know that's crap and I'm probably wrong.

The ice-breaking exercise for this class was to write a short paragraph about yourself, but to include one lie.  We broke into groups and read our paragraphs and the group had to guess the lie.  Two people in my group wen't with obvious lies, like being a midget (he was quite tall) or being a direct descendant of Jesus Christ.  (Who isn't?)  The Hispanic girl tricked us by claiming she was born in Mexico when it was really Texas, and the last fellow, a cook at the restaurant Magnus, lied about being born in Canada.  My paragraph is as follows:

My name is Jeremy.  I was born in Wisconsin, but raised in rural southern Indiana.  I graduated high school with honors, excelled in track, yet undermined the status quo with an underground newspaper lampooning the bad teachers.  I am now raising my son, who is twelve, while I go to school and drive taxi and write about the crazy people I drive around.  My interests are varied, from psychology to graphic design, to religious studies, to bicycling.  My plan is to be a novelist and failing that, a teacher, following the adage that those who can't do, teach.

Right off, my group said, "You don't have a son!"  Yes, I do.  "Then he's not twelve!"  Yes, he is - in the 7th grade at Cherokee.  "How old are you?"  I turned thirty this summer.  "Man, you are well-preserved.  I would have guessed twenty-four.  Wait, so what's the lie?"  I didn't excel at track.  (Which is only partially a lie.  I never went out for track, but I probably would have excelled at it since I could run a five-minute mile back then.)

We then had to take turns introducing a member from our group to the class.  The Magnus cook introduced me as, "This is Jeremy.  He was raised in souther Indiana and is a novelist."  I introduced "...Travis, who likes skateboarding, plays the guitar and will be transferring to OSU when he graduates." who in turn introduced, "Shawn.  He's in the Army Reserves... and... he likes to drink."

The whole class erupted in laughter while Shawn tried to defend himself.  "Hey!  He took that out of context!  There's a whole paragraph of good stuff in there and THAT'S what you take out!  Breakin' my balls, man!"

The instructor said, "See, and that's an very telling lesson about context."

Intro to Film in one hour.  This semester, thus far, seems like it is going to be a fun one.