Friday, January 21, 2011

A New Year and Good Things to Come

Ladies and Gentlemen,

If you could direct your attention to the right of the screen. That's right. Soak it in. It is an all Neil Diamond Play List for your enjoyment. And because of the fact that Brother Neil is turning 70 on Monday (January 24th)!!! So I encourage you all to press that play button and turn up the tunes in honor of this fantastic singer-songwriter. Unfortunately, www.playlist.com has a rather small selection of Neil...but they've got the oldies and goodies, which is an ample amount for sparking your love...if it's not there already, you know.

Rest assured that I'm planning a huge party for Neil complete with cake, music, and awesomeness. Also rest assured that you guys will be getting a full post on that spectacular event sometime next week.

Meanwhile, I'm going to update you on school. Cause everybody else is doing it.

I'm going to tell you how my first day of class went. But before I can do that, let me clarify some points.

I'm a Psychology major. And I will be the first to admit that Psych majors are interesting people. To say the least. I mean, where else can you find a group of students who know exactly who Zimbardo, Little Albert, Kitty Genovese, and Genie are. And be able to tell you why they were significant. And probably stem off a couple other names, theories, and/or studies that relate. Not to mention the fact that professors in the Psych department can get students nerdily laughing just by mentioning "the phallic stage" or "the real sciences." We are an interesting group.

The question we ask is "Why? Why do we do the things we do?"

Constantly analyzing. Body Language. Looks. Words. Actions. Habits. Thoughts.

It's never ending.

Which is why my first day was great.

My teacher started by drawing this on the board:"Now, students," he articulated, "Each line represents a matchstick. There are 16 matchsticks. You must rearrange them making it so there are only 4 boxes. But you are only allowed to move 3 matchsticks."

We had the rules. I stared at my paper. How the crap was that supposed to happen? Only 3 matchsticks. And 4 boxes. Hm...

"Each matchstick must provide only one side. Each matchstick must provide only one side." My professor kept saying that like it would solve all our problems.

Finally, I figured it out! I moved 3 sticks and made 4 boxes!

Can you figure it out?



Really.



Actually try this one.



Hm.....?


So finally the professor asked if anyone had figured it out. I timidly raised my hand. His eyes locked onto mine as he bellowed, "You got it?"
"Mmmhmmm," I nodded.
"Draw it on the board."
So I did. This is what I drew:Get it? (okay, and I didn't really write ta-dah at the end...but you understand my excitement?)

Yeah. I finished that and my professor said,
"In all the years I've been teaching this class-more than twenty-that is the first time I've ever seen this solution....Who knows what that means about you."

That's it, folks. I'm a freak. Anyway. Here's my schedule for anyone who wants to know what kind of awesome classes I'm taking and how by the end of this semester I'll be that much better at reading your mind:
  • Personality Theories (How can you beat learning about all the weird, eccentric personalities out there with the most hilarious professor on campus?)
  • Behavioral Analysis (a class wrought with pigeons. And possibly disease. Some majors deal with cadavers. But we deal with training pigeons)
  • Guitar (finally putting that guitar I got 5 years ago to use...)
  • Group Counseling and Therapy (yep, we get to be the crazies in our full fledged therapy sessions. it's the best)
  • CSIS (computer science intelligence systems. GE. barfbarfbarf)
  • Effective Parenting (another aspect of my life that's supposed to scare me out of parenthood? possibly...)
  • Yoga (doesn't even need an explanation)
My first day was a little rough (you know, having already been proven by the DSM-IV that I'm psychologically abnormal), but besides that it's been going really well. Thanks for asking.

And just a reminder: Don't forget to wish Neil Happy Birthday on Monday!

4 comments:

Taylor said...

Kim! Haha, I am a psych major in my heart. :) I will hopefully get a degree in it, eventually. But I agree, I LOVE PSYCHOLOGY! I'm taking Behavior Analysis right now and I love it. Except we play with rats and not pigeons. :)

I love the fact that I knew all of your nerdy jokes. Zimbardo, phallic stage, Kitty, and Albert.

And I did figure out the match stick thing! a little different from you though, so you must be just amazing. :)

whitney said...

It took me a ridiculously long time to figure out any of the matchstick solutions (and a little cheating help from spence :P). After that I got a couple on my own. I'm thinkin' you most definitely must be a genius.

As for Bro. Neil...Happy Birthday, oh hairy chested one! Ahhh, he holds a special place in my heart, even before I married into the Lifferth clan (not to mention his very own playlist in my account (True Story), but I'm more selfish then you and just keep it to my own little self).

hmmm...I'm thinking that I might have to have a party with the kids myself. I feel the need for another dance party coming one. Pretty sure the last one was for Halloween. Which is just too, too long!

ps-I'm waaay jealous of your class lineup! It looks soooo interesting! I just adored my psych class in college.

Zachary said...

We celebrated Bro. Neil's party at my apartment as well :)

And congratulations on being a genius!

Taylor said...

Yay Kim! Sorry, I thought I'd answer your question on your own blog so that you'll be sure to see it. :)

I'm going to move home and go to SLCC next year. My plans on being a pharmacist were stressful and in retrospect impossible. So through a lot of soul-searching I decided that I'm going to get an associates degree at SLCC in physical therapy assisting. I'm super excited for it though! It's something I love. My dad is a physical therapist and I love working for him and helping people. So if I get accepted in the fall I'll be done a year and a half after. It's definitely a step back from my previous goals, but it's the right thing for me. :) Maybe after I get this and start working I'll go back and get a psych degree. :) That's my dream.

Oh the life of Taylor. But I miss you dear Kim! And I'm so glad that we are blog friends!