I'm on a tight budget this semester, but I have a loop-hole that allows me to buy CDs: I joined a CD club about 18 months ago, and in exchange for getting 12 free ones at the time, I agreed to buy 6 more in the next 2 years. You know the drill. At any rate, last month they sent me an oh-so-polite reminder that I still had 4 more CDs to purchase before May, or else I'd be in violation of club policy, and I didn't want that, did I? Oh darn, I thought, I'm just going to have to buy some CDs. What torture.
The ones I ordered last week came today, with exquisite timing, actually, redeeming an otherwise heinous day. I'm now the proud owner of 311's Grassroots, Brighten the Corners by Pavement, and The Score from the Fugees. Actually, they're all albums that I added to my wish list on the suggestion of old friends from high school, so I've had a flashback-y kind of afternoon.
So far, my favorite of the three is 311: Upon first listen, you might think they're just another average rock-band-with-rap-influences, but if you listen carefully it is so much more complex than that. The music is incredibly textural, with layers of ingenious percussion, melodic bass lines, and little creative moments that pop out all over the place. Also, it's generally upbeat without being irritatingly peppy, so it had the welcomed effect of giving me some energy for homework.
Yes, homework: Classes have started and I'm already half-buried. For once, though, I'm actually genuinely interested in each of my classes. A brief run-down:
- Directed Research in Psychology: Just what it sounds like- I design, implement, and report on my own semester-long psychological research project. Despite the unfavorable conditions under which I carried out my research last semester, I'm really taking a liking to psychological inquiry. My advisor for this semester's project is Joan Ostrove, a new psych prof who so far seems warm, vibrant, and supportive. I'm looking forward to working with her and expanding/continuing my work on sexuality and body image.
- Clinical/Counseling Psychology: It seems I got into this class through the will of the gods, and so far I absolutely love it. The prof is Jaine Strauss, my advisor, who also happens to be perfect in almost every way. The hour and a half just flies by, and the issues we discuss are incredibly challenging and intersting. This is why I'm a psych major.
- Geography of World Urbanization: This is my official "what the hell" class of the semester- I spent last semester in three centers of "World Urbanization", if you will, and so I thought this might be fun. It also happens to be a real piece of cake: Our main project of the semester is to build a website on the city of our choice. Since I've got the "building a website" part down already, I just have to fill in the content.
- Sacred Space in America: Today I was irritated by this class for the first time, and I'm not sure if it was on account of my cranky mood or because I was actually bothered. There's a weird faction of very preppy overall-wearing styled-hair girls in my class who also seem to be remarkably naive. The prof reminds me of a minister, soft-spoken and gentle. Class is a little like church, only the sermon is on sacred space. This class also is proving to have strange intersections with my geography class, causing me to twitch whenever that fact becomes overly apparent.
Classwise, the semester is shaping up to pretty good. It's outside of class that things get more complicated-- Look for more entries soon.
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