New Semester, New Post

So since several of my fellow members of the blogodrome have been criticizing my recent absence, I've decided to appease the masses with this brief office post. Sorry I haven't written much recently, but since it has been break, I haven't been doing all that much that is worth posting. But just this week I moved much further in the phases of life my parents have ingeniously set forth:

Phase 1: Buy XBox 360
Phase 2: Buy new 27" flatscreen tv
Phase 3: Buy new tv stand for said tv
Phase 1b: Get replacement 360 for broken one

That's as far as I've gotten thus far, but the path set forth before me is fairly clear:
Phase 4: Move to new, better apartment (possibly selling phases 1-3 to pay for said apartment)
Phase 5: Buy new sound system to go with new apartment for new tv
Phase 6: Find desirable mate and woo said mate with promise (lie) of financial stability, as evidenced by phases 1-5
Phase 7: Buy house to settle down with said desirable mate
Phase 8: Produce offspring to appease parents
Phase 9: Finish dissertation
(Phase 9 may be moved around to suit circumstances)

In other news, I taught my first discussion sections today. This is my first time teaching an English major course, and the students all seem very energetic, particularly for early Friday morning. In my second section, two fights broke out. One was over the merits or lack thereof of the musical Wicked (thus revealing who the theatre major snobs were) and the other was over the merits or lack thereof of Mean Girls. If they can get this passionate during introductions, I can't wait till we talk about actual literature. Cause there's nothing closer to an 18th century version of Mean Girls than The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Unless it's Clarissa. (I can totally see Lindsey Lohan as Clarissa, can't you?)

I gave my students the same questionnaire that I gave out last semester, with some interesting responses. I found out one of my students went to my high school. And another of them hopes to get out of my class an A, a greater appreciation of American Literature, and a girlfriend. And, as last semester, the ultimate showdown ended predictably. Of my 34 students, 21 believed Batman could take Samuel L. Jackson in a fight, whilst 10 felt badass Jackson could best the Dark Knight. One claimed indecision, one poor sod felt that Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze could take them both, and one pried deeper, inquiring as to Jackson's motivation for fighting the Bat in the first place. This Freud-in-training felt that if Jackson were fighting for his family, his children, or some greater cause, he could win, but if he were just fighting for his life, Batman would edge him out. Some of their more intriguing responses were:

-Several chose specifically George Clooney's Batman, as he was too sexy to lose.
-"...and I know that deep down Samuel L. Jackson is just a puff ball."
-Samuel L. Jackson lost points from several for appearing in Unbreakable.
-Batman apparently has superpowers (little did I know...)
-"Probably Frank Miller's Batman, 'cause he was hard." (I think I need to have a talk with this student about proper word usage.)
-One student felt Adam West would win out over all the others, and I admire him for his gumption.
-"Samuel L. Jackson -- total BAMF."
-"Sam L. Jackson, because I'm picturing it as a debate and he's a really smart man! *plus he's older and wiser."
-One student claimed Jackson in Pulp Fiction would win, but any other Jackson would lose.
-"Batman hesitates to actually kill his opponent. Samuel L. Jackson has no such qualms."

That's all I've got time for now, but I do promise to post more regularly now that school has started again. What else am I going to do, dissertate? Yeah, that's a laugh.

(Oh, and if you're on Xbox Live, my screen name is Doombear14. Add me if you want to play some Halo 2 or some Gears of War or...well, that's about all I own at this point.)