For talking about anything other than what every GoT fan is talking about right now.
Poll time! Do you still have that dream once in a while where you need one last test to get your high school diploma and you realize that it’s eighty pages long and you didn’t study? I want to know how common that is.
SiubhanDuinne
Well, not that one specifically, but yeah, lots of dreams about being unprepared for deadlines or important interviews or something.
pat
I actually forgot to study for a final in social studies (never my strong suit, I was a science nerd) in 9th grade. I think I got a sympathy C.
Jerzy Russian
I don’t dream about the high school diploma, but I do get this dream whereby I am enrolled in certain classes in college and it is near the semester and I am freaking out because I have not gone to any of those classes.
billcoop4
I don’t take HBO so I’ve never seen GOT. Doesn’t really sound like my cup of tea–but I wouldn’t have watched The Sopranos, either.
The only-all nighter I pulled in college was the night before the very last day of classes senior year, for the major assignment of the Intro to Comp Sci course I should have taken Pass Fail. That program worked, but sucked the big one.
WMC
Mary G
Sully is back at NY Mag. Plato predicted Trump in the Republic and America is ripe for tyranny ??? Oh noes! We’re all doomed!
Corner Stone
Not exactly the same scenario, but we’ve discussed similar here at least once before.
“They’re called “good student dreams,” because “bad students” — people who DON’T go to class, etc. — mostly don’t care about school, so there’s no emotional attachment that manifests itself in unnerving dreams.”
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Mary G:
Just what the world needs now – another white guy’s opinion.
nutella
Nope, I never have school dreams.
dnfree
The variation of that dream for me is that I registered for a class but then forgot to actually attend it until suddenly I realize the final exam is today.
There actually was one class in college that I purposely didn’t attend. It was an art appreciation course, and the tests were true/false. On the first test, one of the questions was “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. True or false.”
I thought that was such a ridiculous question that I decided to quit coming to class and reading the assignments and just wing it. The instructor’s tests were (I thought) transparent. If the multiple choice question had a lot of qualifications (In year X, in city Y, artist Z did such-and-such), it was false because at least one of those items would be untrue. Otherwise, probably true. I relied on someone in the class to tell me when the tests were.
So you can see why I might have this kind of dream, but I’ve heard they’re pretty common anyway.
Major Major Major Major
I have a dream where I have a math final for a class I forgot I’m taking. It’s always in the computer lab room from the first floor of high school. But I’m in college for it.
oldster
I was a bad student, then a bad college student, then a bad grad student, then a bad assistant professor, associate professor, and full professor.
I’ve been retired now for a few years, and I still get those dreams. Only now, I am more likely to get them from the teacher’s perspective: it’s the end of term and I have not prepared the final exam. It’s the beginning of term, and I’ve just learned I need to give a lecture on a class I did not know I was scheduled to teach.
It never stops. No, wait–for me, it will pretty soon.
Mnemosyne
I have apparently long since left high school anxiety behind, but I do sometimes get college dreams where I signed up for a class and completely forgot to go. I also have those dreams about non-college things, like that I signed up for some kind of organizing course that I completely forgot about, and now tiny demons are nagging me about it. It gets weird.
catclub
@SiubhanDuinne: When I had school anxiety dreams they were usually in the fall – starting school time, rather than the spring – exam time.
It was always odd to have one 15 or twenty years after being a student and think – oh, it is september.
different-church-lady
No. I have the dream where I didn’t finish high school as a teenager and now I’m going back as an adult and I have no idea where my classes are and I know there’s not a hope in hell I’m going to graduate.
schrodinger's cat
For me its a math final, I am in my school uniform and I can’t solve a single problem on the test.
different-church-lady
…and I very frequently have a dream where I have purchased a house, but neglected to move out of my old apartment, and I go back there months or years later and all my stuff is still there and I think, “Oh my god, how much back rent do I owe?”
Mnemosyne
Oh, and since somebody here is always an expert in a historical period I’m interested in: if you know of a good book about the social history of Scotland in the Napoleonic War era (so roughly 1800 to 1820), let me know. I have a huge reading stack right now, but I’m feeling that may be a research gap.
Miss Bianca
It’s always math class, for some reason it almost always involves my 9th-grade math teacher; and it usually involves the cold-sweat-inducing realization that yeah – the final is coming up and I haven’t been to class once. Oh, and yeah – it’s the last class I need to graduate from HS, but I’ve been out of high school for years – it’s something I’ve been suddenly informed I need to do. Kind of like being drafted…back to high school.
different-church-lady
…and I’ve now had flying or floating dreams so often that I think, “Yeah, flying is just a thing I do.”
schrodinger's cat
Does any one watch, The Americans?. Will poor Martha make it to Russia?
different-church-lady
@dnfree:
That was the correct answer!
liberal
The dream for me is that I’m in a PhD program and had registered for some class and entirely forgot to do anything for it, and now I have to take the final exam.
Beth in VA
@Jerzy Russian: This exactly. I’ve missed every single class, and the exam is right now.
Mnemosyne
@different-church-lady:
I assume those dreams are my brain telling me I should go back into therapy and clear out some of my excess baggage. I haven’t done it yet, though.
Amaranthine RBG
@Miss Bianca:
My recurring nightmare is I’m called into Dean’s office week before graduation and, as it turns out, they were taking attendance in every class and, for some reason, my many, many absences were not tallied up until now.
Amir Khalid
I am three decades past being in any sort of educational situation, let alone one involving exams, and yet I still get those dreams too. I always figured they were a genre of anxiety dream.
Mai.naem.mobile
Not about school. I used to have this one dream where this cartoonish yuuuge Michelin Man kind of character was stepping on me. Thats all I remember of the dream. Haven’t had it in a while. Used to have it 2-3 times a year.
Omnes Omnibus
@Jerzy Russian: That’s mine. I wake up in a panic and then realize that I have my BA and another degree.
PhoenixRising
My sister is defending her diss in 4 weeks. Called me yesterday morning in a sweat. She dreamed that she died and her data was never published.
So she called me to explain that she was emailing me the login to her data set and the link to the team at the particular research lab that she would want her data to go to if she actually dies before publication.
So yeah. Goalposts moved, scoring system didn’t change. I was in some hot water for responding to her complete wailing and gnashing of teeth rendition of this dream with: And what was the subconscious part?
divF
@oldster:
Me, too. Same unprepared-for-a-lecture dream.
max
Do you still have that dream once in a while where you need one last test to get your high school diploma and you realize that it’s eighty pages long and you didn’t study?
I had the actual experience. I’m not sure it was that short. I didn’t study. I passed it with a score that was tenth in the state.
I never have that dream. I was always hideous at studying at tests, but pretty damn good at passing them.
max
[‘No, no cheating, thank you.’]
Mnemosyne
@Amir Khalid:
I used to get dreams about being chased by zombies, but once I figured out they were anxiety dreams, they mostly went away. They only come back if my unconscious is starting to get pissed off at me ignoring a source of anxiety.
The Lodger
@Mai.naem.mobile: Was he orange?
different-church-lady
…and then there’s the one which is oddly indescribable… but the best I can do is to say that the world is very small and filled with an even, strange light with a greenish, cheap florescent fixture quality. There is no physical motion that is possible, and I feel as though my entire being has been condensed to the point of a pin. I think perhaps my breathing stops in real life.
I used to have them fairly frequently as a child. Occasionally they reoccur in adulthood.
cmorenc
@Tim F:
I still have variants of that one about once a year – except it’s always a college class, and in addition to being unprepared, as I try to make my way to the exam I realize I don’t know where it is, and people start looking at me strangely as I’m walking by them and at first I think it’s because I look so obviously stressed and perplexed, but then I realize it’s because I’m naked!
Fortunately, the dream (or at least the part I remember about it) always ends at about that point.
jeffreyw
I often dream I am flying and I am anxious because I know how much it will hurt when I wake and fall.
Kristine Smith
In my particular variation, I’m already in college when I find out I need to go back to high school and take a test in a class I somehow neglected to attend.
I’ve also had the “missed class in college until it’s too late to drop and I have two hours to study for the final” dream. It’s usually an advanced math class.
Major Major Major Major
@Mnemosyne: Sorry, Iceland ca. 1000ce here.
Mnemosyne
If PurpleGirl or other kittencam folks are around, somebody needs to name a “Hamilton” litter soon, because the puppy rescuers have already started.
WORK!
Suzan
I still have them. It’s college, I signed up for the class but didn’t go thinking I’d just read the book but didn’t read the book and I can’t remember where the classroom is. I also have “naked” dreams. In some various state of undress, no shirt, no pants, naked in bed in the courtroom! Luckily, I don’t have them that often.
different-church-lady
Now, on the positive side, there’s the recurring one where I’m a member of my favorite band and on-stage, and even though I’m holding an instrument I don’t know how to play, I magically am playing it perfectly.
Omnes Omnibus
@srv: Given the number of people who say that the dream that they have happens in college, you are an idiot again. No, still. My bad.
different-church-lady
@srv: Nobody ever escapes high school.
dnfree
@different-church-lady:
Back in the 1960’s it was the right answer!
Hungry Joe
This is so common that it has a name: the Good Student Dream. Apparently only good students — i.e., those who cared about school — have it, and it can last a lifetime. Mine, like so many, involves a math class: I haven’t been to class all semester, and now I have to take the final. I berate myself: Why, WHY did I do this to myself AGAIN?
Some professors have told me that they have a similar dream: They have to give a lecture and they haven’t prepared.
I also have a Bus Driver Dream, from my three pre-journalism years as a city bus driver. I go back to the bus yard after all these years, am given what’s known as “a piece of work” — a route to drive, back & forth, x number of hours — and I don’t know the route. I have to try to drive it with a route map on my lap, and I always miss a turn, freak out, and wake up.
Kay (not the front-pager)
I’m in my 60’s and still have the college variant of that dream. Only I’m more likely to not be able to get to the classroom, or to realize partway through that I’ve been going to the wrong class all semester and don’t recognize anything on the test.
Also the one where I’m partway through my day and suddenly realize I forgot to dress. My dream self has all sorts of ways of trying to convince those around me that it’s quite normal, while frantically trying to find something to put on.
TMI?
Scamp Dog
@Mary G: That is a truly, astoundingly wrong piece of writing. For a while, probably around 10 years ago, I thought Sully was an intelligent, thoughtful conservative. He wrote movingly about the wrongness of torture. Then I read some of his other stuff and realized he’s a polemicist, trained as an Oxford debater.
He can come up with an argument for any side of a question. He can come up with good arguments for things that make sense, and total, obfuscatory nonsense for things that don’t. How he chooses which side of a contemporary political debate he’s on eludes me.
In this one, he goes on about how horrible it is that we’re engaging in too much democracy:
A few paragraphs later on, he complains that George W. Bush won the popular vote, but won because of the electoral college and a partisan Supreme Court decision.
Oy.
Miss Bianca
@Amaranthine RBG: oops!
Emma
@Jerzy Russian: This one. Oh yeah. And after I got out to the workforce it morphed into one where I was attending a conference and on the last day I realized I hadn’t even picked up my badge or attended any of the lectures and I was supposed to report on them to the rest of the library staff.
Miss Bianca
@different-church-lady: Unlike me, who has to go on stage in some costume drama – Strindberg’s “Miss Julie”, usually, atlho’ sometimes it’s Shakespeare – and I’m all like, “what? I’m in this play? where’s a script? Can I learn my lines in five minutes? Shit!” and then it’s Curtains Up and I have to wing it.
Ah, good times.
On the other hand, I have also had dreams where I’ve been on stage with my favorite musicians, and something similar to your experience has happened. For some reason, Richard Thompson and Liz Carroll are always the ones who help me out.
Gelfling545
My main anxiety dream started in 1998 & I still get it occasionally. The night before my father’s funeral I dreamt I had overslept and missed the service. I woke up once in a panic, fell back to sleep & dreamt it again. Now if I’m especially anxious about something I have the dream again & really wish I didn’t.
Stella
I thought that everybody gets failed to study dreams.
My mom spent two weeks in a really deep coma on a ventilator and she said afterwards that she thought she was lying on a beach in the sun, under a blue sky, listening to the ocean. I don’t know if that counts as a dream. Get your flu shots, because being on a ventilator is a drag.
scuffletuffle
My college dream is that I have spent the entire four years fucking off, and suddenly get one last year to make up everything in order to graduate. I then have to find my dorm room and apparently have to progress through the entire campus to do so, lugging my shit as i go. Always a relief to wake up and realize i’ve already got the BS, fucking off notwithstanding.
normal liberal
I’ve been having the college version since about 24 hours after getting my diploma. My subconscious has redesign my college’s campus many times, and I’m always showing up on the last day for a math or econ exam. Then I remember that I have the damn degree, and the nest one too.
These days dreams are either stress or fever induced, and the febrile ones are incredibly vivid, weird and I remember them in too much detail. I’m sure there’s an excellent physiological reason for that.
ETA redesigned, next, typing on an iPad sucks.
Jerzy Russian
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yup, I have exactly the same ending, right down to the listing of advanced degrees.
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: I spent a huge amount of undergrad fucking off. Going to the library and reading Robert Benchley instead of Russian history, sleeping, going to Pat’s Tap in the afternoon. College was fun. I graduated in four.
Mnemosyne
@Hungry Joe:
I wonder if I never have the math test dream variant because I never cared about math? It’s always something I care about, like English or history.
schrodinger's cat
@Mnemosyne: I am actually pretty good at math IRL. In English or history you can BS and write something but in math (or physics) you either know it or you don’t, its pretty much binary, the grade distribution, hence the fear.
O. Felix Culpa
I have had such dreams. And had an experience like that in real life sophomore year of college. I was meeting with a professor during exam period (can’t remember why I went to see him) and 15 minutes into the conversation he says, “Shouldn’t you be in my final exam right now?” Heart attack. I had inexplicably gotten the dates mixed up and thought the test was the next day. He rushed me to the exam room and gave me the exam materials. I was so rattled (and underprepared given the anticipated timeline) that, needless to say, it was not my best test performance. Thank goodness I had gone to see him, though. Otherwise I would have missed the exam altogether and zeroes have an abysmal effect on grade averages.
ETA: I never missed an exam again. I’m also thankful to the dear man, as he was wonderfully kind in my distress.
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodinger’s cat:
Not really true.
schrodinger's cat
@Omnes Omnibus: No not with zero preparation but if you are somewhat prepared you can coast.
Kristine Smith
@Mnemosyne:
I’m pretty sure I dream about math because it was my worst subject. The fact that the class is usually senior/grad level just adds to the fun.
nutella
@nutella:
But reading this thread reminded me of my real estate dream:
I go to some city in another state because I have a new consulting assignment there. I find an apartment, pay the deposit, and sign the lease. And then, I forget all about it.
In the dream I suddenly realize I must owe somebody in that city a lot of money but I can’t remember who or where.
To this day, I sometimes wake up with the uneasy feeling that I need to find and pay off that lease.
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodinger’s cat: Again, I disagree.
Mnemosyne
@schrodinger’s cat:
I’ve been bad at math since about 4th grade, so I guess my subconscious doesn’t even try to stress me out about it anymore. I used to worry I might have dysgraphia (which is the math version of dyslexia), but since I can do math correctly when I absolutely have to, I think it’s just severe math anxiety.
Mike J
Red Sox sweep the FY.
Alison Rose
I never even heard of a dream like that. My only bad-school dreams dealt with the asshole jocks and might have had a bit of a Firestarter theme to them >:)
Question for the hive mind: I want a portable speaker that I can use to listen to music from my iPhone in the car. “The car” is my parents old ass car that was made before iPhones existed, so there’s no way to connect it directly to the car. I don’t need concert-worthy sound – I just want a little speaker I can plop on the dash or something and connect it with Bluetooth or a USB cable, and one that isn’t too pricey (not one of these $200+ ones, wtf). Recommendations are appreciated!
Mnemosyne
@Kristine Smith:
I hung around college until they finally dropped the math requirement for my major (film criticism) so math was by far my worst subject. That’s why I think it’s that my brain just doesn’t care about math anymore so it tries to freak me out with other subjects
:-)
SFAW
@efgoldman:
Oh, right — as if you can actually remember them, wot wif all the chemicals you ingested. You probably had Owsley on speed-dial.
Or would have, if speed-dial had existed at that point.
randy khan
@Hungry Joe:
I wonder if it’s more people who cared about their grades than who cared about school. I had other anxiety dreams when I was young – particularly one that involved carrying something really awkward to hold that I could.not.drop – but I’ve never had the exam dream.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mike J: Orcs sweep Balrogs.
seaboogie
@different-church-lady: Lucky you! A former BF of mine used to do astral flying in his dreams. Very cool, super-spiritual dude. I never did that, but remember dreaming of being able to flap my arms enough to get airborne for a while.
O. Felix Culpa
@Omnes Omnibus: I agree with your disagreement. :) Any prof worth his/her salt knows the difference between a knowledgeable, well-reasoned essay and uninformed bullshittery, *even* in the humanities.
Old Dan and Little Anne
I fell asleep in an English literature class my freshman year and woke by kicking out my legs and shouting, “the nuns did it!”
Kristine Smith
@Mnemosyne: I was a chemistry major, so I had to get through Calc IV at the very least. I managed. I even did pretty well in a few of the classes. But it was a struggle at times and I had to do a lot of extra work before things sank in.
SFAW
@srv:
Hmm, I wonder how she managed to do that. Maybe some ex-Compaqers/DECcies would care to register an opinion?
Of course, most of the tech world knows what a “remarkable success” HP’s swallowing Compaq was. Carly does too – since it’s the primary reason she hasn’t been a CEO for … how many years has it been?
Fuck you, Ted, you intellectually dishonest freak. Let’s hope INS decides to deport your evil ass back to Canada. (With apologies to all youse Canadians screaming “NO! DO NOT WANT!”)
PurpleGirl
Well, the elevators are turned off. In about a half-hour the rest of the power will be turned off so the electricians can do the repair work on the power plant. I’ve lit a bunch of candles and shut off most of the things I usually have on at this time. So good night folks, read you in the morning. Everyone sleep well.
Omnes Omnibus
@O. Felix Culpa: Thanks. There is a STEM snobbery that suggests that Humanities and Social Science majors are not rigorous. I don’t buy in.
seaboogie
@Mnemosyne: I turned my former boss at the olive oil mill onto a t-shirt ( “I was told there would be no math”) that she got for all of the millers, because it is somewhat technical, but there is also an art “have the feel for it” and mechanical aspect to it:
SFAW
@efgoldman:
That’s the spirit! Or beer. Or wine. (Better that, than CH3OH, of course. Would give a different flavor to being “blind drunk.”)
O. Felix Culpa
@Omnes Omnibus: From close (and far too much) personal experience, neither do I. Buy in, that is.
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus:
Agreed. I can especially say that criticism is one of those things that every idiot thinks s/he can do, and really can’t. Kind of like all of the people who are convinced teaching is easy because they were students once.
BBA
I have variants of that dream very often. I had a long and bizarre time as a student, frequently splitting time between different schools (and at the end between school and a part-time office job that became full-time once I graduated) so usually the dream is I’ve been working full-time but I never got the last few credits to graduate, so I have to go to a class I’ve never attended in a building I don’t know, my notes are gibberish and the final is next week…
I skipped the last year of high school and went to college without a diploma, which probably has something to do with this particular concept.
Lately I’ve also been having lots of claustrophobic dreams, where I’ve somehow gotten myself into an impossibly tiny room with an impossibly narrow or unreachable exit, and I’m trying to remember how I got in so I can do it backwards.
Mike J
@SFAW: I conslutted at HP in Silly Valley and Q in Houston during the era and never met an employee of either company that didn’t want to choke upper management. Also the only place I ever worked that made me cover the Dell logo on my laptop so nobody working there would figure out other companies existed.
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
Well, I’m sure they’re rigorous for SOME people.
[NO, I’m not being serious.]
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne:Or legal analysis is simple because the words are mostly in English. Etc.
RK
I never needed to study for any tests. The night before Ben Carson and Black Jesus would visit me in my sleep and provide all the answers. It’s a good thing that my pajamas had a belt buckle though because Ben came by himself one night and tried to stab me.
Mnemosyne
@O. Felix Culpa:
Or to put it another way:
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: I quit gin for a while in college because of the elevator thing.
Tom
@schrodinger’s cat: I think Tatiana has some plans for Martha that don’t involve her living a long, healthy life in the glorious Motherland. If you know what I mean…
O. Felix Culpa
@Mnemosyne: Hah! Too true.
SFAW
@Mike J:
Some of that existed at DEC, but not to as great a degree. And, according to legend, HP was once a great place to work, I imagine when Bill and Dave were still running it. But Carleton Sneed Fiorina fucked up two major tech companies in a row, a string of “accomplishments” almost as impressive as anything Bob Shrum has done.
Oh, right, I forgot she started as a secretary, and pulled herself up by her own bootstraps, walking 20 miles a day — uphill both directions — to the copy machine, etc.
Those two deserve each other.
Tom
@Mnemosyne: I take the attitude that there’s no such thing as writer’s block – you can always write badly.
Punchy
I just had a dream that me and a female colleague were trapped in a cave and had to cuddle-sleep to stay warm. I wasnt sure if I should tell her about this dream…not sure if thats sexual harrasment. I did tell the wife and, boy, that was a dumbass move.
Cacti
@billcoop4:
I haven’t had cable for the past year and a half and haven’t had HBO since I don’t know when. Nothing against either of them, just would rather spend my $$$ on other things.
So, I’ve missed out on nearly all of the HBO prestige TV show era.
schrodinger's cat
@O. Felix Culpa: @Omnes Omnibus: in my own experience it was easier (measured in hours per week spent outside class) to get a good grade on say Marketing than Electromagnetic theory.
SFAW
@efgoldman:
Nastygansett! Outstanding!
There’s a regional high school out my way called Narragansett. I really have a tough time calling it — hell, my brain keeps auto-filling the name, unless I exert sufficient control — by its proper name, because of that particular liquid “refreshment.”
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: I went to school with hockey team owner’s kids (Blackhawks), Hollywood actor’s kids (Scott/Dewhurst), Wall Street kid’s (Citibank folk), and chain steakhouse owner’s kids. (Morton’s). Good booze and good other thing were widely available.
Corner Stone
@Hungry Joe: This is weird because I not only quoted you, I linked you at #6.
Do I need Bruce Willis and that freaky little kid to see my posts here?
SFAW
@Punchy:
Least surprising thing I’ve read today.
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus:
You lawyers here have told me that I sometimes come across as attempting legal analysis when on my end it’s more that I’m attempting a vaguely rational-sounding version of Fuck you, you fucking fucks when there’s a case that upsets me, so I’ve been trying to make it more clear that I’m asking questions or repeating what others have told me and not offering analysis I don’t really have.
Mike in NC
The “Lucifer in the Flesh” comment gave me a modicum of respect for old Orange Boner.
schrodinger's cat
@Tom: Oh noes, please no bumping off poor Martha. I will miss her. I don’t like Stan at all.
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodinger’s cat: Marketing is a humanity or social science?
Mike J
@SFAW: I really liked the HP people. I rarely work for tech companies and it was nice being around my tribe rather than corporate IT types (some of whom are very smart, but on average less clueful than real tech people, at least when it comes to computing.)
O. Felix Culpa
@Punchy: Was that a serious question? If so, I would strongly suggest you do NOT share. Could redound unfortunately for you.
SFAW
@efgoldman:
Um, I think that should be changed to “how long were you married?”
redshirt
@SFAW: No one should share their dreams.
If you share your dreams with me I can tell you what they mean.
seaboogie
@Omnes Omnibus:
I think that anyone who believes this may be immediately pegged as an arrogant asshole with a personality disorder. When I see legalese (and all the ( ( ( stuff), I decide pretty quickly that a legal professional must be hired. Taking my shoe off and hitting myself in the head with it would be far more pleasant than wading through that arcane mumbo jumbo.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne: Thank you for that.
normal liberal
@Punchy:
Do not tell your colleague about it. Really. Don’t. Much more idiotic than telling your wife.
Just way too ick. Although I’m sure you’re a wonderful person and all…
Cacti
@Punchy:
Yep.
schrodinger's cat
@Omnes Omnibus: Its not math based. What I said about marketing was true for English too in my case.
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
Well, based on the marketeers at far too many companies, the answer is something close to “remedial finger painting.”
Mike J
@Punchy:
My girlfriend picked Brad Pitt for her free pass. I picked her sister.
TheMainGaucheofMildReason
No, but I have the dream where I forgot to take a class, or am missing part of my dissertation and have to do a lot of annoying crap to finish my Ph.D again.
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodinger’s cat: And there is the STEM snobbery.
Punchy
@Mnemosyne: my college math class was in, incredibly, the dance building. So trying to focus on the Yakov Smirnoff clone peddling integrals and derivatives while hotties in leotards and skintight clothing walked by every 3 minutes was nigh impossible. I cannot believe I passed that class.
SFAW
@efgoldman:
I’m closer to 495. Your friend (the music director) is/was at Narragansett? Or some other school ’round these parts?
schrodinger's cat
@Omnes Omnibus: Is it better or worse than liberal arts snobbery?
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
Ah, but is it snobbery if they really ARE better?
Omnes Omnibus
@SFAW: Prove it.
Cacti
@Omnes Omnibus:
Couched in ignorance at the definition of Humanity and Social Science.
DCrefugee
@Alison Rose:
If it has a cassette player, you can get an adapter that plugs into the iPhone’s earphone jack and plays audio over the adapter inserted into the car’s cassette receptacle. There also are devices that broadcast a very short-range FM signal tunable over the car’s radio.
If you want to go with a BT speaker, there are many choices well under $200. Just know that a single BT speaker isn’t going to be as good as using the car’s audio system. Or, just replace the car’s radio with something newer that has BT and could even play back Pandora from your iPhone, also for well under $200.
Good luck…
SFAW
@schrodinger’s cat:
It’ll be about the same, the moment Shakespeare writes ‘The first thing we do, let’s kill all the STEM snobs”
schrodinger's cat
Humble folk who specialized in humanities, I bid you good night.
WTH is STEM, who came up with that the acronym?
Punchy
@normal liberal: I know this girl pretty well, and so I think she’d find it more funny than ick. But I’ll shut the shout hole and not bother, lest she tells others and HR suddenly wants to chat with me.
Is there a worse feeling than the HR rep waiting for you at your cubicle on a Monday or Friday morn?
redshirt
@TheMainGaucheofMildReason: Do you have any sources for this claim?
Mnemosyne
@schrodinger’s cat:
I’ll just say that intro-level classes are usually easier than the upper-level classes. But I’m assuming your bachelor’s degree is not in marketing.
:-)
Cacti
@schrodinger’s cat:
English is a humanity, and I spent less time outside of class on it than I did Electromagnetic Theory. I spent also spent less time out of class on Marketing, therefore marketing is a Humanity.
Who can argue with that airtight logic?
Dork
@Mike J: Now that shit is funny right there.
schrodinger's cat
@Mnemosyne: Its in physics with a math minor. Physics snob!
SFAW
@efgoldman:
Nashoba Regional is in Bolton (or Notlob, for some of you). Bolton is at/near the intersection of 495 and State Rte 117. Nice town, I drive through it often. Narragansett is in Baldwinville, a suburb of Templeton (sorry, just a little joke), about 30 miles from Bolton. Gansett also has this big-ass windmill (which didn’t seem to be spinning last time I was there – maybe not enough wind?)
schrodinger's cat
@Cacti: May I say that your handle is appropriate! You are prickly.
Timurid
@Omnes Omnibus:
I believe that is filed under “Occult.”
seaboogie
@Omnes Omnibus:
@SFAW
I believe that we need STEM to build a sustainable future (if that even remains possible). And we need the humanities to make living in that future worthwhile, so we can continue to envision a future.
Omnes Omnibus
Where is schrodinger’s cat? She disappeared from my thread.
Cacti
@schrodinger’s cat:
I may be hard on the outside, but on the inside, I’m filled with soft nougat.
peach flavored shampoo
Has Failgunner Ted officially picked his Cabinet yet? What about his Postmaster and Surgeon Generals?
SFAW
@Punchy:
Still not a good idea, which you have apparently also concluded.
Mnemosyne
@schrodinger’s cat:
So, yeah, I’ll chalk it up to not getting deep into your humanities classes. ;-)
I know just enough about story (fiction and screenwriting) that I can listen to Hamilton and think, “No wonder it took him six years to write this!” And that’s with people who know more about music than I do pointing out the musical motifs that underscore the story decisions. People who watch or listen to a finished work of fiction don’t always realize how hard it is to get it to look that effortless.
seaboogie
@Mike J:
It has been lovely knowing you.
Mnemosyne
@efgoldman:
Isn’t the Postmaster actually written into the Constitution? I’m too lazy to go look it up.
Cacti
Since it’s May 1, today in Seattle, the Black Bloc anarchist idiots had their usual targeted and random vandalism march.
They’re probably the only group around that makes me root for the police.
SFAW
@Mike J:
Your previous posts have not exhibited extreme stupidity nor suicidal desires, but …
Jesus H Christ! Are you a complete moron?
peach flavored shampoo
@seaboogie: “Family get-togethers” takes on a whole new, perhaps literal, meaning.
SFAW
@Mnemosyne:
Why would Cruz care about that? Or have religious nutcases suddenly decided that secular stuff has some value?
ETA: Ineffectually shakes wimpy fist at efgoldman
farthestnorth
Sully’s back! In New York Magazine. Now with even more intellectual pretensions!
Mike J
@SFAW: The really disappointing part was when ScarJo rang me up the next day and I had to say no.
seaboogie
@Mnemosyne: Hey Mnem….
When Chernow’s book came out 6 years ago, I sent a copy to my Dad because he loves US history and biography (we moved to Canadia in ’75 and I’m the sole kid back stateside now). I put a fresh US tenner in as a bookmark.
Dad is a widower now, and struggling with the loss of his wife/our beloved step Mom who passed away a year and a half ago. I asked him if he knew that the hottest ticket on Broadway is Hamilton – the musical, from said book. He said that he couldn’t imagine such dry detail being interesting in a theatrical format. Today he received the CD cast recording that I sent him, and will be listening to it once his house guests have cleared out later this week. I can’t wait to hear his reaction, and am going to suggest he listens to it with my nephew who hangs chez Papa pretty regularly. Kid is turning 17 soon, and I think he’ll dig the music and Dad will fill in the background on the story.
Mnemosyne
@seaboogie:
Hopefully he’ll love it! If he has any trouble with the lyrics, you can download them for free at Atlantic Records’ website for the cast album (sorry, don’t have the link at hand, but Googling “Atlantic records Hamilton” should get you there).
They also link to all of the Genius.com annotations there that explain the history, the rap allusions, and the production history, along with other fun tidbits.
Alison Rose
@DCrefugee: I did try one of those cassette things but it didn’t work. Nothing happened :/
frosty
Mine were always set in the old (1902) wing of my high school, I was taking 5 courses, and never showed up for one and now it was finals week.
Interestingly enough, the HS built a new building and had an open house for alumni in the old one. I went, saw a couple of my former teachers, walked through the 1902 wing and I haven’t had that dream again.
Whew!
SFAW
@Mike J:
Listen, if you’re ever in that situation again, just refer her to me — I’m willing to sacrifice, if it will help you out.
seaboogie
@Mnemosyne: Thanks for the heads up – I’ll pass that on to me Pa and the ‘phew who will be his translator for contemporary music and tech know-how. Can’t wait to hear the feedback.
different-church-lady
@schrodinger’s cat:
No, you’re thinking of journalism.
Uncle Cosmo
@different-church-lady: I was recently a candidate for a sleep apnea study & wore a monitor one night. As he was downloading the data from my unit, the assistant told me that in the course of normal sleep the typical human being stops breathing for a period of 3 seconds or more between 5 and 11 times an hour. Thought you might find that interesting.
Uncle Cosmo
@Mnemosyne:
W.B. Yeats, “Adam’s Curse”. Emphasis added. (Published 1904–“nothing new under the sun”.)
Central Planning
@schrodinger’s cat:
I don’t know who came up with that acronym. It stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. People are adding Arts into it now too, so sometimes you’ll see STEAM. I think they should call it MEATS or maybe METAS. Anyway, Arts has been added because art is a critical part of many (all?) of the engineering disciplines – think civil engineering, architecture, and even programming.
The oldest CP once submitted a program to the literary magazine at school because he felt programming was more an art than a science. He was called down to the advisor’s office because of his submission. He made his case and got the program into the magazine. I think he was in 7th or 8th grade at the time.
schrodinger's cat
@Mnemosyne: I was just talking of the exams I took as student. Of course, writing a literary masterpiece is as difficult as path breaking scientific research.
SFAW
@Central Planning:
Not really. Although the best designs are often called “elegant,” it’s not really a function of aesthetic sensibilities, except in a somewhat-narrowly-defined way. And that somewhat-narrowly-defined way rarely appeals (“aesthetically,” so to speak) to those outside the specific discipline(s). I agree that some things historically classified as “art” have been things that only certain shamen (shamans?) appreciate; But is “art” which, in general, can only be appreciated by a few, really a thing, except for a few “artists” who think their stuff is too good for the masses?
But, seeing as how I’m an engineer, WTF do I know about art or art appreciation?
I await the day I hear someone say “I may not know good program structure, but I know what I like.”
SFAW
@schrodinger’s cat:
Oh, stop it. No need to kiss up to the non-STEMmers. I agree that writing a literary masterpiece is exceedingly difficult, but unless you’re James Joyce (or equivalent), it’s all been done before, and you’re just modifying a pre-existing design. “Path-breaking” research is just that, it’s not a one-off.
ETA: And even Joycean stuff such as Ulysses and Finnegan’s Wake, is just more rearrangement, albeit unlike prior art.
ETA2: And, I realize that some – perhaps most – will be more than happy to tell me I have no idea what I’m talking about. They may be right.
Central Planning
@SFAW: OK, maybe I misspoke a bit and I can agree with your point.
The traditional term “art” is not required in the engineering disciplines. Google has art defined as “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.”
I think engineering can take creative skill and imagination. That’s easier for me to accept than math, but I suppose there could be elegant proofs and theorems which required some skill and imagination to come up with.
I have the engineering mind, so I truly do understand what you’re saying, and I would not classify myself as artistic at all in the classic sense – drawing, painting, etc. But I think some of the things I do – for example presentations and network designs have components that are related to art.
SFAW
@Central Planning:
I agree.
I think presentations are more about conveying a specific type/amount of information. That they may be aesthetically pleasing is often a positive — so that the pointy-haired bosses can approach some level of understanding, let’s say — but it’s still just a PowerPoint file.
Elegant network design is tougher for me to judge (both with respect to your comment, and whether a network design is “beautiful.”)
I don’t think you and I are in fundamental disagreement.
Grumpy Code Monkey
Most annoying dream ever…
Back in ’91 or so I went to a week-long Unix systems administration class in Dallas. Wednesday was file systems, which was dense, dry, and tedious, and to keep myself focused and awake I’d had something like seven or eight cans of Coke and Dr Pepper (maybe a Mountain Dew towards the end of the day).
Naturally I can’t get to sleep that night and spin constantly in the bed (could have powered a large appliance). Finally, at 3:00 in the goddamned morning, I’m able to close my eyes and get to sleep.
The next thing I know, sunlight is streaming through the windows, the clock says 9:30, and I’m an hour late for class. I leap out of bed in a panic…
…then open my eyes for real; the room is still dark, and the clock reads 3:15 in the goddamned morning. In the span of 15 whole minutes, I had gone straight to REM sleep and dreamt about being late for class.
Didn’t get a ton of sleep after that. Fortunately, I wasn’t alone; at least three other people were in as rough shape as I was, for largely the same reasons.
Central Planning
@SFAW:
I agree with your lack of disagreement!
I think we would also agree on art, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Or pornography. I know it when I see it :)
evodevo
@Jerzy Russian: @Tom: Yes. I keep wanting to yell at the screen. “Martha – you won’t like it there. Run to Canada and ask for asylum!”
delosgatos
I sometimes have a dream close to that one. My most common riff on that dream theme is dreaming that it’s I’m teaching a calculus class, final exam time and I haven’t covered some vast swath of material yet. I taught calc and other undergrad classes for ten years so I guess this is the flip side of the unprepared student dream.
low-tech cyclist
I used to have those dreams occasionally, from my late 20s into my early 40s, IIRC.
The scenario was always the same: I’d signed up for a class in college that I forgot about and never attended, and had to take the final exam totally cold without having attended a class or cracked a book all semester.
But I haven’t had that dream in a couple of decades now, at least that I remember. Of course, I almost never remember my dreams any more.
Tom
@evodevo: At first I was surprised to be rooting for the KGB, but then I realized I was actually rooting for certain selected members of the KGB.
Also, is it wrong that I want to have a boss like Arkady? He is competence porn in action.
dnfree
@Omnes Omnibus:
“STEM snobbery”. Really.
The difference is whether a test is over objective material that there is no way to fake your way through, or whether it is subjective material that with knowledge of the subject matter, you can come up with an answer to an essay question and it will be graded on whether the professor likes it or not, or it meets expectations.
Sure, there can be objective tests in the non-tech subjects, in which you have to know what year the Battle of Hastings occurred, or even what the battle was about. But especially the further you go in a subject, the more likely it is that a test is about opinions that must be backed up with explanations, than about actual binary right/wrong questions. It’s not “easy”, but it’s more likely you’re going to be able to get a B or a C with your background knowledge if you did the readings, whereas in the STEM fields it’s more likely you’re going to get either an A or an F.
I still remember one question from advanced calculus that I could not visualize or calculate. I skipped it in the homework assignment because I couldn’t figure it out, and then there it was again on the final exam. Does that ever happen in the arts?
schrodinger's cat
@Tom: Arkady’s the boss. The character I like least is Stan, he is kind of a dick to everyone, from Aderholt to his wife to Martha and Nina to his boss Gaad. Are we supposed to hate him?
schrodinger's cat
@dnfree: Thanks! You put it better than I did. It happened to me in a classical mechanics final. I had not really figured out rotating co-ordinate systems all that well and in the finals we had a problem on a spinning top.
J R in WV
@Miss Bianca:
In real life, Calculus involves both differentiation and integration, the two are linked, and you can derive integration from differentiation and vice versa. Calculus in my program was the class for math majors, and it was 3 semesters, one 5 hour class and 2 four hour classes.
Final for Calc I – I think we did Integration first and Differentiation second, and on the final, whichever came first, I had totally blanked on the techniques for solving problems. I was pretty tense as math doesn’t come easy for me. So I decided to take a few minutes of the 3 hours exam to meditate and calm down. I did deep breathing and silent chanting with my eyes closed.
When I was ready to start the exam and opened my eyes, my professor was looking at me with a worried expression. I decided to start at the back of the exam, which I was more familiar with. That went easy.
When I finished the Differentiation part of the exam, I used the covers of the blue book (where you do your work to show how you derived the answers – do they still use blue books for math exams?) to derive Integration from the Differentiation I had just used.
Then I did the front half of the exam. I got a C+ on the semester – so the exam went pretty well for someone who froze on the first page of problems. I actually got a B on Calculus III, we were doing orbital calculations which was surprisingly fun!
Shell
Im 60 years old and I still sometimes have that dream. The other common one, for me, is to be traveling on a plane and realize Ive forgotten my passport or any luggage.
J R in WV
@Omnes Omnibus:
It took me from 1968 (freshman year the first time) until 1984 (graduation, BS in computer science) to complete college. There was also a hitch in the US Navy (1970-1973) working in newspaper composing room (hot type to photo offset transition) and at a public TV station, learning to farm with horse drawn tools, rebuilding an old farmhouse by installing central heat, electrical wiring, insulation, and running water.
Then I started over in college enrolling in the fall of 1980 – I had quite a few liberal arts credits, which made it easier to concentrate on the core classes, computers and maths. I was deans’ list much of the time, but didn’t so as well as the other guys in my study group, who were all summa cum laude or such…
chopper
@low-tech cyclist:
that’s the one i still have from time to time. pretty rare these days tho. guess after almost 20 years fears of finals starts to fade.
dnfree
@schrodinger’s cat:
My problem as I recall it was the intersection of two hollow pipes of the same diameter, at a right angle to each other. What is the volume of the area where they intersect? I still puzzle over what that must look like from time to time, even though my ability to do calculus is no longer existent.
Stardus614
Yep, except it’s college, and I don’t remember ever having signed up for the course at all.
Tom
@schrodinger’s cat: Stan I have mixed feelings about. He was introduced as someone who was already messed up from his undercover work and we get to watch him gradually fall apart over the course of the series. The only time he’s got things together is when he’s deep into an investigation.
schrodinger's cat
@Tom: Yeah, he is a good investigator but not a very nice person. The way he roughed up Philip in the first episode this season for going out for coffee with his divorced wife.
schrodinger's cat
@Tom: Yeah, he is a good investigator but not a very nice person. The way he roughed up Philip in the first episode this season for going out for coffee with his divorced wife.
ETA: Why can’t I edit my own comments?
SFAW
@dnfree:
It would seem unlikely that a problem in advanced calculus (or linear algebra or differential equations) would appear on a final in an arts-related course. But I could be worng.
dnfree
@SFAW:
I mean a situation where you encountered a question you could not understand or solve on the homework and let it slide, and then the same question (which obviously you weren’t the only person to skip) shows up on the final, for a much greater portion of your grade than the original question.
How many times on an arts test, or as homework, do you see a question you can’t understand despite trying to? (Not counting practical matters like for instance creating pottery on a wheel, which I tried once and I have great respect for anyone who can do it.)
mwing
Yes, Often. And here’s what’s annoying: I’m almost 50 and haven’t been in any sort of school for years. And- this was never a problem for me in real life. I studied for tests at a reasonable level, I got the sort of grades which make other kids dislike you, and I never worried about the academic side of school.
So this is really annoying- to have anxiety dreams about the one thing YOU WERE NEVER ANXIOUS ABOUT IN REAL LIFE! It is so not fair. ;-P