Wednesday, January 27, 2010

teaching, sunrises and the piano

today i taught my first recitation! my biggest concern was that there wasn't a whiteboard in the room in which i was scheduled to teach. luckily i was able to track one down before class. call me old school, but i'm of the opinion that solving ordinary differential equations should not be taught, or reviewed as the case was, via powerpoint.

i've been getting up earlier and earlier lately, readjusting my body to being up before the sun. the past couple days i have been blessed with views of beautiful sunrises during my morning run. this morning i was out the door running a few minutes past 6a and was hoping to be on the mopac pedestrian bridge at the right time to get a good view...as it turned out today has been overcast, so there was no sunrise this morning. i am going to try and bring my camera with me, so i can share with you some of the beauty i've been seeing lately!

yesterday morning at 4a, i was unnaturally awakened by loud heavy metal music being played right outside my room. i eventually fell back asleep (after someone else had apparently knocked on his door and told him to turn it down), but was a little unsettled when i got up for real. after my run, i went across the street to the institute and, for the first time in 8 or more years, sat down at the piano. half an hour and a few hymns later, i was in a much better state. actually, i have been thinking i might just wander over there to play a couple days a week in the mornings before heading into work. by no means do i want to play in front of people anytime (there were awkward pauses to be had as i found the right keys), but i was surprised at how quickly playing music can come back to you. i didn't think i'd even be able to get something out that was recognizable!