Monday, May 10, 2004
Weird Science
My first year of university I took a full slate of almost nothing, but science courses. I had been told all through high school that the only way that I'd have a steady job upon completion of my post-secondary career was if I graduated with a science degree. I was quite proficient at arts courses like drama, social studies, and English, but I was never encouraged to pursue an arts degree. I felt as though if I didn't take honours Math, honours Physics etc. that I'd wind up as a burden on society.
When it came time to enroll in university I made sure to take as many science courses as possible. I was convinced I was going to be a micro-biologist. I had no real idea of what that entailed (and still today I have merely a vague notion mostly from conversations with Derrick Hiltz and Sherri MacLeod), but I knew that it sounded like a great answer if I was quizzed by one of my parents' friends or one of my former teachers about what I was going to do.
I didn't worry so much about what my former teachers thought once I saw what they were checking out of the library, Clive Cussler novels. They made my selections look like pulitizer prize winners in comparison. I hate to say it, but the seemed like they were the adult equivalent of Choose Your Own Adventure novels. I didn't worry so much about my parents' friends once I fully realized that their own kids were huge fuck-ups. I have yet to see the offspring of one of my parents' friends achieve a Ph.D. Not that anyone in my family has either.
I was wholly unprepared for university science. I spent most of my time writing crude comic strips about former NHL head coach Mike Keenan and goalie Darren Pang as well as cartoons that concerned Snorks and the evils of pre-marital sex. I was out of my element and no amount of charm was going to garner me A's and B's. The rub was that all of my friends were doing great in school. I had surrounded myself with hardworking students and geniuses. I look like I had either Klinefelter or Turner syndrome in comparison...I kid, I kid.
Needless to say organic chemistry, c ++ programming, and biology all made mince meat out of me. One of the very few things I gleaned from chemistry was how to use a bunsen burner to transform a length of pipette into a glass heart. I promptly handed that glass heart over to my lab instructor. It was a 'thank you' for putting up with my inability to understand even the basics of organic chemistry. I would later see her at the public library checking out Harlequin romance novels. She didn't recognize me. I suppose the glass pipette heart meant nothing to her. Hells I ain't no Fabio!
My first year of university I took a full slate of almost nothing, but science courses. I had been told all through high school that the only way that I'd have a steady job upon completion of my post-secondary career was if I graduated with a science degree. I was quite proficient at arts courses like drama, social studies, and English, but I was never encouraged to pursue an arts degree. I felt as though if I didn't take honours Math, honours Physics etc. that I'd wind up as a burden on society.
When it came time to enroll in university I made sure to take as many science courses as possible. I was convinced I was going to be a micro-biologist. I had no real idea of what that entailed (and still today I have merely a vague notion mostly from conversations with Derrick Hiltz and Sherri MacLeod), but I knew that it sounded like a great answer if I was quizzed by one of my parents' friends or one of my former teachers about what I was going to do.
I didn't worry so much about what my former teachers thought once I saw what they were checking out of the library, Clive Cussler novels. They made my selections look like pulitizer prize winners in comparison. I hate to say it, but the seemed like they were the adult equivalent of Choose Your Own Adventure novels. I didn't worry so much about my parents' friends once I fully realized that their own kids were huge fuck-ups. I have yet to see the offspring of one of my parents' friends achieve a Ph.D. Not that anyone in my family has either.
I was wholly unprepared for university science. I spent most of my time writing crude comic strips about former NHL head coach Mike Keenan and goalie Darren Pang as well as cartoons that concerned Snorks and the evils of pre-marital sex. I was out of my element and no amount of charm was going to garner me A's and B's. The rub was that all of my friends were doing great in school. I had surrounded myself with hardworking students and geniuses. I look like I had either Klinefelter or Turner syndrome in comparison...I kid, I kid.
Needless to say organic chemistry, c ++ programming, and biology all made mince meat out of me. One of the very few things I gleaned from chemistry was how to use a bunsen burner to transform a length of pipette into a glass heart. I promptly handed that glass heart over to my lab instructor. It was a 'thank you' for putting up with my inability to understand even the basics of organic chemistry. I would later see her at the public library checking out Harlequin romance novels. She didn't recognize me. I suppose the glass pipette heart meant nothing to her. Hells I ain't no Fabio!
# posted by Die Brucke @ 7:44 PM 
