Election Day Eve Eve

Let's just get this out there:Now that that's out of the way, I am stoked for this week. Not only because of the election...no, wait, that's the only reason I'm really stoked.

Actually that's not true. I have a lunch and symposium with some big names in the Renaissance field this Friday. That should be interesting. I just hope to not appear like an ignorant fool in front of them. I mean, I'm smart. I know things. Yeah...

As I promised another update, I do indeed deliver. I've been spending most of the weekend working on getting my new laptop and wireless printer/fax/scanner/copier set up. When I wasn't doing that, I was wasting time playing Secret of Mana or Super Mario RPG on the Wii. And here is my big problem. Not the procrastination. The fact that I have 2 next generation systems, and I'm content playing SNES ports. I've obviously played them many times before, but they suck me in again and again. However, I do get to talk about/play Gears of War in front of my Video Game Theory class this week. That should be pretty sweet.

School's going well. I'm enjoying teaching, but at the same time I'd much rather be able to focus solely on my classes and research. Word around the department is that we'll be moving to a 2/1 load beginning next year, so that'll be pretty nice. The student body, if I haven't already mentioned this, is quite interesting at ASU. Aside from the 60,000+ and growing population (apparently ASU's goal is an enrollment of 90,000+, and the University president refers to graduates as the "product," chew on that), there are a lot of kids who walk around oblivious. I mean lost in their technology in the wrong lane on their bike I'm just waiting for that idiot to get hit oblivious. I seriously might clothesline someone off their bike, or skateboard, or weird skateboard shoes (the two wheels on the bottom of their shoes and that's it).

Classes are going fine. TA Seminar is a class I've taken before in the form of Composition Theory, though the nice thing is the rest of the semester is devoted to working on our 102 syllabi for the spring. I'm disappointed in the film course I'm taking. The title of "Identity and World Film" was intriguing, but I wasn't expecting a course cross-listed between three departments and the undergraduate and graduate levels. As a result, I'm lectured to, asked what an article said, and taking quizzes. I am working on a paper discussing gender roles in The Crying Game, but that's really an independent project worth the same amount as one of the quizzes. Oh joyous day.

My best course is "Video Game Theory," and not just because it's about games. I'm currently doing a lot of interesting research into the differences between adaptation and transmedia storytelling. Hopefully I'll be able to use some of these ideas in my dissertation, so this is really te class that's most interesting and engaging. At the same time, it's a lot of reading. And I mean a lot.

In terms of my degree, things are going well. I've cleared all my distrubtion requirements, so except for 6 hours of literary theory, I'm pretty much cleared to take the classes I want to as I work towards my dissertation. Which is much better than taking all these other classes that may be interesting but not quite helpful.

Anyway, big week coming up with the election, VT playing Maryland on Thursday night, the lunch and symposium on Friday, student conferences all week, a quiz in the film class, and of course the research. Guess I better get on it. Peace.