First Day of Classes

After just one day of classes, it isn't easy to gauge just what the semester will be like . Still, I have to take a stab at it.

Computer Graphics - apparently all that time reading about game development is going to pay off. I knew every term in the first lecture and what it meant. Now I just have to figure out how to do it, which is a completely different beast. Should be a fun and interesting class.

Number Theory - this one is going to be hard as hell. Lots of proofs and very hard math will be the norm. However I'm excited about this one too, because it looks like we'll be learning some very interesting things. That is, if you consider proving the fundamental theorem of arithmetic to be fun :) I just have to make sure to keep up with the work and ask lots of questions.

Operating Systems - This will be another toughie, but judging from past experiences with this prof. I should do just fine if I put in the necessary time. Of course necessary time often means working on a program until four in the morning. I've...become used to it actually.

Software Engineering - tough to predict this one. It seems that it will be mostly lecture with big papers/projects as our assignments. Should be interesting though, since SE is such a critical thing to understand.

Music - yeah, I'm taking a nice little music class too. Now the professor I'm taking has taught friends of mine in the past, and they loved him. I can tell he really knows his stuff, but something about his personality rubs me the wrong way. How do I describe it.... ah yes. He's a cultured and sophisticated musician. That means he comes off as pretentious, impatient, and a little bit elitist. This seems to be common among arists/music types, and I just don't like that. His best comment?

"You all speek English don't you? Well, at least to some degree..."

No sir, I speak in fucking 1's and 0's. But when I get students for CS tutoring I dont' make them feel stupid becuase they can't write numbers in binary. In his defense, it isn't easy to do lecture when people are silent to your questions. In any case, I'll just chalk it up to first day misunderstanding and try my best to participate.

Last year I signed up at Gamasutra, the site for game developers, in order to do research for a paper. I got a booklet in the mail from them detailing the Game Developers Conference. It is actually open one day for students, and nothing would make me more ecstatic than to attend. However, the cost and distance are far too much. That won't stop me from "kind sorta in passing" mentioning it to professors in some wild and failed attempt to get the school to send me. Might as well try.