Oh Man, School Doesn't Get Any Better Than This

Ever sign up for a course on a lark only to find out its completely ****ing awsome? I needed to fill out a schedule for summer term, so I looked for available course sections in required courses. The only one that really fit my schedule was a course called Arts 310: Art and the Warrior. Sounds pretty cool, right?

Well, cool doesn't even begin to touch it. No papers, no tests, no quizzes. Course texts: Marcus Aurelius Meditations and Sun Tzu The Art of War.

Ah, but it gets better. The primary course material is hands on, in this case, meaning that we will spend most of our time learning how to fence (Western styles and kendo/katana), spear techniques for fighting in phalanx, and legionary combat. Additionally, we will learn to make armor and swords(!), and, as a class, we will construct a trebuchet to hurl watermelons at distant targets.

Suddenly, I love my life.

Wow. I thought you went to UNCA, but this pretty much settles it. Amazing. I was there 3 weeks ago.

Small ****ing world, no?

Incidentally, where are you located out of now?

Indeed. Small enough that my girlfriend's dad teaches there. First-year student?

EDIT: the outskirts of Pittsburgh, PA.

Nah, I'm finishing up a degree I left behind several years ago for a work opportunity.

Which professor, if I might ask?

At the risk of sounding paranoid, it might be rude of me to say without even asking her. This is, after all, the Internet, and while I think most Internet-related fears are silly, it'd probably be a bit presumptuous of me to just spout off about it. I doubt she'd care, but I'd do well to make sure.

And now, to be completely hypocritical: what're you majoring in?

History/Classics

And they tell you a college education's of no practical use.

Although the spear training might give you the edge in sales negotiations.

That class sounds extremely fun.
I took fencing in college and loved it. And the reading is awesome stuff, highly applicable to life, warrior or not.

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Review: Cabin in the Woods 8/10

Heh. This is both the fundametal problem and the existential joy of interdisciplinary gen ed requirements. Sometimes, you get a calculus teacher bumbling through art history. Other times, you get to wear armor and whale the **** out of your classmates.

The course readings are excellent, though I must say that their very best feature is that I already owned them. That's 20 bucks I don't have to spend, which means I'm treating myself to something decent to eat for a change, probably bouillabaisse, so long as all the ingredients are available at Earth Fare.

So we had our first project due on Thursday in Art and the Warrior. Well, I suppose 'project' isn't quite the right word, more like "presentation plus the opportunity to have fun at the expense of my classmates." My merry little band of strategoi and I did a glib little ditty of a PowerPoint detailing the way in which hoplite combat reflected and legitimized the social institutions of the Greek polis. Then the fun part: we dragged everyone outside to form a phalanx and march around in simulated 'helmets.'

I learned a couple of things about my classmates:

1. Some of them have trouble counting to four. We're trying to draw them up in mini-phalanx with a frontage of four and a depth of four, but somehow, three people instinctively went to form a fifth line and had to be shooed into place.

2. It's impossible to look cool with a KFC bucket on your head.

Anyway, on to the pics...

First, the strategoi (hint, I'm the dude):

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The instructor is a LARPer, can't you tell by his invisible shield? ****, it's spreading to the whole mob!

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The Kentucky Fried Field Sobriety Test

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hahaha...christ, that is NOT how i thought you'd look like....

and i wish i was there so i could laugh and point at all of you...*rotff*

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http://www.last.fm/user/diezelpower/

So what did you imagine?

Horns and a bifurcated tail?

Only when I'm out clubbing, chicks dig the O. Scratch, Esq. thing.