So Clearly the Signs From the Universe are HITTING ME OVER THE HEAD

That's it, I GET IT UNIVERSE. I HAVE UNOFFICIALLY DECIDED TO MAKE ONE OF MY GRAD SCHOOL STUDIES BE EDUCATION. UNOFFICIALLY ONLY BECAUSE I NEED TO FINISH THE UNDERGRAD WITHOUT DYING. BUT I AM NOT BECOMING A STUFFY PROFESSOR, OH NO, I AM GOING TO DEVOTE MY LIFE TO CREATIVITY.

Reasons?

- History Professors That Keep Pointing Me In That Direction With That Knowing Sort of Prodding
- My Job Of Awesome Which I Miss Like Fyre
- My Inability to Learn Anything Without BABBLING About It
- My New Favorite Aero Professor

More on that professor. So today, we get to class and he's setting up the computer projector for something. I'm thinking "oh neat, he's going to tangent on some Skunkworks stuff and basically make my life" because really? Tangents aren't just so that shit doesn't end up on the test. Tangents are where I actually learn as opposed to endless notes on the board (first_seventhe totally knows what I'm talking about).

So what he put up was this AMAZING video where an old dude was talking to a bunch of educators and basically said everything that I'd suspected since entering college and nearly losing my soul and getting it back. Basically, this guy said, "the older you get, the less creative you are encouraged to be".

!!

( and more on that, because I'm apt to ramble )

tl;dr version for those watching at home:

Yay creativity!
Boo soul-sucking equations!
OMGWTF can I has graduation now?

~Cendri

YES THIS TOTALLY DESERVES ITS OWN ENTRY

OMFG. ALRIGHT. I TOTALLY NEED TO BABBLE AT MORE PROFESSORS MORE OFTEN.

So.

Since I went and visited Professor Jersey Highwind in his office, because apparently he has office hours anytime he's in there (which meant I simply went up to him at the end of class and said, "HEY WHEN ARE YOU IN YOUR OFFICE" which resulted in some giggles form the prof coming into the class, who is now Professor Boyscout, as he comes up again later in this story). So I showed up, told him about my history project and what I spent last semester doing and that I am basically the Engineer Who Sucks At Math Like Whoa, which resulted in some fabulous discussion and postulation.

Of course, on my way to his office AFTER WRITING HIS OFFICE NUMBER DOWN, I had a dyslexic moment and mixed them up. So, I got lost. In my own damn engineering building. I found an office open with a dude that didn't appear to be doing much (Professor Boyscout, who is apparently one of he department heads?! WAY TO PICK THEM) and he helped me figure it out, and was a little lost himself. He said "ah, good, I got my boyscout deed of the day out of the way before lunch" and also remembered me from class as "being the one who asked Prof Jersey Highwind when he's in his office in such a blunt tone."

ANYWAY.

As a result of fabulous discussion and postulation and then good old JH asking why I suck at class sometimes, he said:

"Hey, since you kind of work in this field, if you have time, why don't you try designing a module for this class?"

My immediate thought was "DO I GET EXTRA CREDIT?" but this is college, and they don't offer that stuff in my classes. However, should I ever be on the borderline between two grades, this helps. After leaving the office, I realized just what I'd been asked.

WHICH FUCKING ROCKS.

Naturally, I decided to talk to Professor History Gast after his class about this development. And like a good hippie with a technical bent, he was naturally excited. And offered to let me use the module as a chunk of my project.

WIN.

I guess the real dilemma is... how do you teach airplane dynamics concepts in an interesting non-book and lecture way? How do you turn the book into a RESOURCE and not a BIBLE? What can I use from work to translate to much more complicated and not entirely grokked problems on my part?

And how can I involve crayons in this??? Come on, like you wouldn't want to play with crayons in class.

Suffice to say, this will be eating my brain for a while.

tl;dr version:

- profs are people too
- if you suck at something, fix it
- i want to play with crayons