Today started out kinda rough. Some mornings -- actually, a lot of mornings as it turns out -- just don't seem to go right for me at all. I don't know what it is. I just have terrible luck with these things. Or I'm a shitty planner. Sometimes I'm pretty good at it, but most of the time I'm just way too scatterbrained to really figure it out. So I'm like perpetually running late, and this is a nightmare for my stress levels. I ended up skipping my first class because I wasn't going to make it on time and wanted to eat and collect myself.
So my first class today was Intro to Rhetoric and Composition Studies, or Rhet-comp, as the professor called it, effectively confusing about five people to the point that they were about to leave, thinking it was the wrong course. That would've sucked, since the class is held in the Unitus Building, approximately 2600 miles (coincidentally, the length of the continental United States) away from the main campus. Uphill. I'd heard good things about Dr. Miller, knowledgeable in her field and accommodating to students so it should be a good class. I've read a lot of Aristotle and my boyfriend happens to be a rhetoric and linguistics major. I've got this shit in the bag.
My last class, 2600 miles back to the main area of PSU, was Intro to Fiction Writing. I hate lower level class because people are usually idiots, but I think because of the time it's scheduled, there aren't as many freshmen so discussion doesn't make me long for a bullet in my head. The professor, Dr Serber I believe, was apparently a dance major before she got injured and got into writing. She's adorable and blunt towards stupid comments. I love her already.
I've got one online course as well, Intro to Technical Writing (lots of prereq courses this term for my writing minor...). Looks pretty simple, and will probably actually be useful for a career later on. Holy shit, applicable stuff? No way.
I picked up some of the textbooks from the library this summer so I'd know what I was getting into and I've fallen in love with Robert Ollen Butler's "From Where You Dream: The Process of Writing Fiction." My favorite quote, the one that won me over in the very first chapter:
"Please get out of the habit of saying that you've got an idea for a short story. Art does not come from ideas. Art does not come from the mind. Art comes from the place where you dream. Art comes from your unconscious; it comes from the white-hot center of you."
I had to pick up a copy from the bookstore even though I've got a copy from the county library... it's probably the Triggering Town of this term for me.
Speaking of the place where I dream, riding the train today I spent nearly the entire time staring out the window thinking random thoughts, seeing random sights. Back when I was a Biology major I'd feel immensely guilty doing this, because it meant I wasn't memorizing flash cards and formulas when I should have been. As an English major it's not only allowed but encouraged! I love it. It's pretty easy to see why I was so miserable as a science major when I notice how so many aspects of the writing process come natural to me and are enjoyable. I definitely should have switched over earlier... it would've saved me a lot of time, money, and stress. Ah well. Contrary to what John Mayer sings, sometimes you do need another kind of green to know you're on the right side.
So anyway, I think the term will go well and I'm excited to learn as always. Smiley face. Optimism: I has it.
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