More from the old days

I'm busy studying (really!), so here's another post from the old days. I posted this on September 21, 2004. Seems like a long, long time ago. Since then I guess I've occasionally caught a few more glimpses of these people, but it's still a rare event when I spot a professor outside of class (and not entering or exiting the library). Not sure why I was writing in all lower case back then.

where's the teacher?
i find it interesting when people you only view in one context show up in another. for example, it seems somehow odd that i have five professors (including my lrw prof, who is a full-time faculty member) and i’ve only seen one prof outside of class. in five weeks here i’ve never laid eyes on any of these guys (yes, i have all male profs) except in class (and heading to and from class) though twice i've seen profs walking in and out of the library.

for all i know, these other profs simply disappear into thin air after class and resurface again just in time for the next class. maybe it’s like that movie i saw a preview for, where the woman apparently lives in some alternate universe and her kid was taken to the other world. it’s some intellectual utopia where everyone speaks in questions and no one gives answers but god help you if you're at fault in a car wreck or breach a contract.

professor contracts, on the other hand, i see everywhere. he’s strolling around campus, hanging out on the bricks, walking around different parts of the library. i’ve seen him lounging outside the rat and reliable sources have spotted him at a local tavern, which he’s confirmed is his favorite watering hole. i see him at all hours, too, not just regular daytime working hours. i even saw him at the football game. the other day he talked to a friend and i for half an hour in the library, about more or less nothing (he talked. we listened…).

i don’t know what’s better: having profs as mythical creatures who inhabit another world or seeing them mingling with students and seeming like real, live humans. no doubt professor contracts enjoys himself on a daily basis; i have no idea whether the other profs are having fun. i do know that contracts is the class i feel most lost in but i think it would be a tenuous link to say my utter cluelessness is related to the prof existing outside the classroom...