(1) Nate: "Are you guys alright with this? Does this make sense to you?"
Me: "I wonder when was the last time Nate got a
haircut? There is a picture on his website of him shaving his
hair but that has got to be from the 90's.....seriously, his hair is
longer than mine..."
(2)
"You know, Nate really does look like Liam Neeson when he was playing
Qui-Gon Jinn....I wonder if Nate has force powers? YOU
UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF THE INTEGRAL...no, wait that's Darth Vader,
and James Earl Jones never had that much hair. And never taught
math. I bet this lecture would be more interesting if Nate had a
light saber...yah...light saber.
"Wait, what
did he just ask? I don't know...just smile and nod. Maybe
it'll look like I was kinda paying attention."
(3) The Hat
The
first thing I notice when I engage my eyes and force them to function,
is the guy in the hat; He's always with that hat. It's like he
doesn't want to expose his hair. Or perhaps it's a wig? I
think he teaches math, even though there is more Greek than numbers on
that Blackboard behind him. Hmm, that blackboard is really messy.
You can see centuries of writing etched on it. He is saying
something, trying to communicate. I engage my ears now, but still
don't understand anything. I look at my watch. Is it
frozen? The Guy in the Hat is panicking because everyone around
me looks equally dead. I find him interesting, and decide to doodle him
in my notebook. I focus on him, concentrating. His panic turns to
relief for some reason and he smiles at me. An hour crawls by, I
look at my watch again. I must be trapped in a time tunnel! Not
even a minute has passed! The guy next to me was staring at my doodle.
After a life-time, the Guy in the Hat says with obvious gratitude
that the class is over. We file out like Zombies. See you
next class, same time, same place, same guy, same Hat.
(4)
We often think of our weekends during those moments of silence...such
as this thought that oft runs through many of my classmates brains:
"Was is beer before liquor never sicker?....or was it beer
before liquor gets you drunk quicker?...maybe liquor before beer never
fear?....nope, it's definitely liquor before beer, best times all
year."
(5) My
notebook is full, formulas oozing off each page. Partial fractions,
secants, sigmas splattered everywhere. I'm listening, sorta; I
try. But my teacher speaks in tongues. He clicks and
clucks, rants and raves, and all I hear is: ``Bumblebee tuna." What the
hell is he talking about?
Don't get me wrong, he tries. I just don't get it. And neither of us know what to do about it.
But
what's with questions like, "The Maclaurin series of sin(x) is?"
Seriously, why should I know? You really wonder what we're
thinking during those awkward moments of silence? Here it is: Please
keep talking so the clock will start ticking again.
(6)
I wonder how long we can keep up the blank stares...Will it be long
enough to get him to tell us a humiliating story about himself? I
sure hope so, I can only stay awake for so long with Taylor series as
my only entertainment.