Fire Envy

I found a way I am jealous of the undergraduates here. I walked past this nasty flat the other day and saw papers strewn about the lawn. I thought, "Ugh, what pigs" while conveniently forgetting what my house's lawn looked like senior year. :) Then I figured out what the papers were. They had had a bonfire of all their notes from some class. I actually felt a distinct and real pang of jealousy.

I had classes this year that I hated. One in particular. I would have loved to torch all the stupid papers and all the stupid articles and especially all her idiotic comments on my papers. But I can't really do that at this stage. I mean, some of the articles are really good and applicable to my life as a teacher. Her comments on papers are important for my developing academic (and hopefully publishable) writing. Plus, where would I have this fire? :)

I miss the days when I could acknowledge that classes were a true waste of time. Astronomy. Lord, I hated that class. Fun lab group, but otherwise, a big black hole (pun intended) of educative experience. Greek and Roman Civ. God, I struggled. I know nothing about history. I spent the first half of the class frantically writing down everything the professor said and rereading all the chapters a billion times then finally giving up and realising this stuff wouldn't stick. Naturally, I picked up my frantic reading a week before the final. None of this stuff has ever helped me again. Those classes, I could torch the materials to. I could, without guilt, give a big "Screw you!" to the profs of. These classes, bah. I need to use this crap for furthering my professional experience, blah blah blah.

I miss when I could say, "School, you matter not." It will make me feel better when we have our beachside bonfire this weekend. No papers, but burning will be involved. Maybe it will satiate the pyro inside.