Thoughts on the First Day of School

Some of this has nothing to do with school; be warned if your expecting all academic talk.

*Gray hair with young faces is an interesting visual paradox. I'd never really thought about it, but I figured I wouldn't notice it too much. When I saw someone today who had a liberal amount of gray-stippled hair, I actually noticed. It belied their young face and neck, which made for a very interesting dissonance.

*My history course isn't so much an academic exercise as it is a brief lifestyle change. I spent two hours in class this morning, and a roughly equivalent time in the library (after a brief lunch break) listening to recordings, browsing scores, and writing preliminary analyses. I expect this everyday. Certain days will involve paper writing, which I expect to fill the balance of the afternoon and into the evenings. It's a much more immersive "academic" experience than I've ever had. I'm eager to see how it goes. It feels more like I'm more a sort of research fellow than a student. I guess this is what all those musicologists do whenever we're in rehearsal.

*I saw someone who looked extremely atractive to me. I admit that I stared unabashedly, while my body endlessly looped the last pattern of action I just finished: pulling books out of shelves, opening to the table of contents, and replacing them. After I while, I became self-conscious and DIDN'T look, but then I began to worry that maybe me "not looking" was too conspicuous. I don't know why, but many people I know have that same feeling. They feel that someone who doesn't know them will be able to scan the room and find them as the one person who's thinking of looking, but not actually looking. But, who can understand why we think what we think?

*I was worried that there might be lines at the bookstore, before my 9:00am class time. That turned out to be groundless. The store was empty. Not even a cashier at the front when I entered. Spooky. In fact, much of campus seemed that way. Somewhere in my head, I know that summer term has a miniscule percentage of students enrolled, but it didn't hit me until today. It felt like times I've been on campus when a snow day has been declared. Except that if it snowed today in 98 degree heat, not only would it have been a meterological miracle, but I think the flakes would have caught fire on their way down.

*I stared in open wonder at the woman behind me a stoplight who was managing to eat something from McDonalds, talk on the phone, and apply lipstick simultaneously. My wonder turned to fright when the light turned green, because she proceeded to drive with her hands still occupied. I laughed when I realized that even having a hands free phone, she would still be a few hands short to be doing everything she was doing while driving a Yukon. I hope she doesn't kill anyone.

*While walking from my car to various places on and around campus, I realized that even though it's hot, having a breeze helps. Moving air somehow allows you to believe that the moving air is cooling you, even though in reality it is so humid that your sweat doesn't evaporate, and water actually condenses out of the air onto your skin. Perhaps a realization like this is the first step towards dying of heat stroke. After all, the first sign of hypothermia is that you start to feel warm.