i heart teachers

i had the most fantastic teacher day, ever.

my wildland/amenities management class this morning i had a presentation - it was supposed to be on thursday but last thursday the teacher asked if i could switch because someone else had a scheduling conflict. so he thanked me before class for doing that. and even though i ran everyone over class time (i was the last presenter) he said i had a really good presentation (though its possible that he was just placating me after seeing my nerve-wracked presentation. i didn't feel nervous beforehand, i just got a little rambly and couldn't find the words... so i think i may have sounded awkward - but it was obvious that i had a lot of information to impart as well.) so that was good.

Then i hung out in the computer lab for a while and read some articles - then on my way to the Hitchcock class, i was walking along and i hear this "hey! how are you?" from Brian McDonald. He was one of the teachers of my Storyboard for Animation class last summer, and the one who told me that i seemed like an actor. I liked him a lot and i liked his approach to films from a more story-based viewpoint, but i wasn't sure if he would remember me so it was cool to have him stop me on campus and ask how i was. We talked for a bit and he reiterated that i should take an acting class or something because he thought i'd be good at it. and that he'd cast me. (i'm not sure if he actually would, but it was an awfully nice thing to say.) Then the rest of the computer animation kids walked up and told me they liked my voice over last year on our story reel. so all that was even more good than the presentation thing.

after my hitchcock class, i stayed to ask Tweedie (the prof) about the Bejiing Film Program - and so we chatted about that and then we were kind of talking about stuff in class and i told him it was so weird that i'm going to graduate next quarter and i don't have a Tweedie class! (i've had him consistently for a year now.) He told me i should audit his 1960-present film class again, jokingly, but in a way that made me feel like he enjoyed having me in class. Hes my favorite film teacher, so it was cool.

He also advised me about writing to Willis Konick asap for my independent study course next quarter, because his class is so full already. So i spent my next break before class composing an email about how i wanted to write about music in kubricks films, half expecting that he'd say he just had too many people in the class or something, and then i got a reply just a couple of minutes ago, that said: "I'd be delighted to work with you on the subject of music in Kubrick's films. A fascinating subject indeed... you can attend the class any time you want to, and I think it might be interesting for you to view the major Kubrick films, and you might want to hear what I'm going to say about them." So Yay! Independent study that i'm actually interested in and from somebody who sounds like they know what they're talking about (hes email said more to make me believe this was already a subject he had explored a bit).

So yay! Yay for teachers! I miss being a teacher's pet. I look up to my teachers a lot, and to have them recognize me as being a good student or whatever just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside.