February 29, 2008

  • atomic physics

    He stands up there... talking away, flipping through slides one after another with various pictures and equations. All the while, I am sitting there... thinking, "hmmm... well, I hear sounds coming out of his mouth... he is pointing to something on the screen with his laser pointer... Rydberg constant... what was that? 1 over lambda equals who now?... hmm... what time is it now? oh, look, only about 3 minutes have passed since the last time I looked at the clock... ooo the Balmer series... pretty colors of visible light wavelenghts being measured... but do I really care about how energy levels are quantized in terms of angular momentum? not so much... hmm... hey look... 30 seconds have passed! ok, now what am I going to eat for lunch? am I going to go to statistics today?... what, there are more sounds coming out of his mouth... is he actually trying to kill me? maybe."

    That was me in class just now. I wish I could care about this stuff. I just don't. I go from a fascinating lecture from Dr. John West in the morning about their physiological studies on a trip up to the summit of Everest... and then I have to sit through that!? And it's friday! I just want to go home! This is why you have to find the things that interest you. Otherwise, your brain will slowly but surely deteriorate from boredom.

    By the way, happy leap year day! (however it is you say that)