Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Music+Reading = Relevant to Engineers?

Hey guys!

How goes it?

So my first two days of school are over, and they passed by relatively painlessly I might add. But the courses I have lined up for this semester do not spark any ounce of excitement within me at all. Oh well, not like I was expecting anything anyway. 

However, there is one in particular that seriously knocked my socks off ! (and not in a good way).

So this course is called Intro to Studies in Science, Technology, and Society. It's one of the mandatory tech electives we must take for our degree.  So I walk into the class & the prof begins by explaining the course:

This course is about the history of the history of technology, and the history of the philosophy of technology, and the history of the [insert something else here] of technology...

Ya-da-ya-da-ya-da continue...

So for the duration of this course, I am going to be lecturing about something that's completely new to me. I decided this would be interesting so it would be a learning experience for both you (the students) and I! How fun!

How can this course be any fun...sigh...1hr10 minutes left keep talking...

The topic we will be discussing is MUSIC.

 Excuse me?

Yes! Music! We will listen to songs and watch movies and go on fieldtrips. This course covers all kinds of music from Rap to Rock to Techno. No Jazz though - I don't like Jazz.

I'm sorry, but on what planet did Music all of a sudden become relevant to my Engineering career? GAH! You can imagine the look on all our Engineering faces - yes, the entire class is made up of Engineers. It's like doctors having to take Botany or something...but that would at least have some relevance since they could learn about the medicinal properties of certain plants or something...OR! hmm..well, let's face it, music is random no matter what faculty you're in (unless you happen to be taking Music or something of the like).

OH! And another thing...on our class syllabus the mark breakdown only added to 95% which we pointed out to her (our prof) to which she responded "SHIT! Really? Oh dear...I'm a humanities major, I can't do math."

Great. Math is what we Engineers do! So maybe we can teach her Math and she can teach us Music! Oh dear oh dear...perhaps this course is the faculty's attempt to broaden our horizons.

The only music background I have is 7 years of piano, but that was 10 years ago so I doubt that will be of any help.

Luckily the course seems pretty easy with a take-home midterm and a take-home final, and a peer-evaluated group project. OH AND THIS COURSE HAS LIKE 50 MILLION PAGES OF READING A DAY. I haven't read that much in my past 3 years of university! Oh well.

Did I mention that the class is 50/56 male? That's 6 females in a class of 56! You know you're in an Engineering class when...

OO OO! One thing I did get super excited about was this:

PINK ENGG PAPER!!!!!!

It's the special type of graph paper we have to do all our assignments on - and it's pink! Usually it's boring blue, but it's pink! The Engineering Students' Society has sold green and magenta and orange...and I was waiting and waiting for a pink or a purple but I thought the day would never come since the faculty is dominated by men and I doubt many guys would be interested in writing their homework on pink paper, but that's okay, because I love it, and the day I get to write my assignments on pink paper has finally come! Yes, this is what my life has become - me getting excited over pink gridded paper. Wee..

So what was/is your favorite class in school??

Mine used to be Math in high school until University introduced me to complicated integrations and derivatives and limits and 3D shapes and double integrals and triple integrals and...I'm so glad that's over with. 


Sorry for this pretty pointless post, and sorry if I'm neglecting to reply you guys and stuff. I really don't mean to! I hope your weeks are going swell, & I will see you guys sooon!

Until next time!

8 comments:

  1. LMAO at your prof cursing! Icing on the cake....hahaha! Oh yeah, pink paper rocks! Maybe that's how they keep the few female students interested. :P I loved History and English. Math, notsomuch.

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  2. hahaha yeahh, i had one girl friend who was an engineering major and she was like the only girl in the field.

    isn't it funny how the little stuff makes us all happpyyy? hahaha.

    does lunch count?? i always looked forward to lunch.. nomnomnom.......

    AND i totally understand what your prof was saying how she was a humanities major.. lol! i hate maaaaath :)

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  3. At least that pink gridded paper made your day, hehe.. Why not ;)

    My fav class was German language :)

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  4. You wrote "knocked my socks off"!!! No one says that anymore. I say it, but I never hear anyone else say it or see it written. You claimed you had bad girlfriend habits, but no one who writes "knocked my socks off" could be a bad girlfriend.

    Since other bloggers have made that same claim, I was thinking about starting a semi-regular "how to be a good girlfriend" blog series. Now I don't have to!!!

    Favorite class? I hate to admit it, but I actually enjoyed accounting--I even did my accounting homework during english class.

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  5. my fav. class was physics... loved it, and it was kind of easy :P

    at some point, Dutch and English class was cool too, because the teachers were really funny. That counts!

    So, what are you learning in music class then?

    loves

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  6. ^@MKL. German? That's interesting! I can't learn a new language even if I tried. I took Mandarin for 13 years and have forgotten how to read/write/speak it already! big fail.

    ^@toothfairy. we are learning about how technology influences culture and how culture influences technology in regards to music. i am definitely way out of my league for this class !

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  7. I never said anything about people dressing up, but it became part of the joke somehow!

    About a year before I ever blogged, my wife encouraged me to start one devoted to helping guys become better BFs, hubbys, dads. I thought about it, but really, guys only take advice from people who agree with them--most of us stick with our enablers, not someone who might set us straight. So I didn't bother. Then ChinkyGirlMel got me to just blog in general.

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  8. ^ haha yeah it's true. There really is no way to get a guy to change his ways!

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