Taking night class again

You guys remember taking night classes back in college? Those three hour slogs that starts at 7:00 PM. You’re fighting the urge to fall asleep the entire time. Did we really learn/retain anything pertinent from those courses? It was mostly just for the credit, and the privilege of only having one class per week.

It would seem I want to relive that experience as an adult in his mid 30s. I signed up for a six week foundational improv class at BATS School of Improv. Right here in San Francisco at the Fort Mason Center. During the six week we meet every Tuesday from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM. Indeed, it is just like the night classes back in university. Except this time, I voluntarily signed up for it, paying a not unsubstantial $350 for the 30 hours of training.

Why an improv class? Because peer pressure. My good friend took an introductory sampler class - at the same company - and was hooked enough to continue on to the proper stuff. Drawing from a sense of duty, I decided to accompany my friend on this new adventure. On the other hand, I think improv will greatly help me to be more social and getting out of my head. The whole point of improv is no preparation: it’s whatever coming out of your mind at that exact moment. You have to be flexible, intuitive, and most important: not give a crap about what other people think.

The moment you think you have something, the situation can change on a dime. It’s easy to then get caught thinking for something suitably appropriate, instead of simply going with the first thing that pops into mind. Improv is really useful for the self-conscious of us to get out of our heads. The remaining five class periods are going to be fun.

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Safety deposit box.

First week of school

It’s been a fairly hectic week. San Francisco State University resumed in-person classes for the spring semester, at 50% of all courses. First week of school is always a hectic time for us on the tech support side (I barely had time to eat lunch on Tuesday) I actually shifted my schedule to an earlier start time to accommodate the service needs. Thankfully I already wake up much earlier than I need to for work, so my rigorous sleeping schedule remains intact.

Three days in thus far and I’ve taken over 10,000 steps on every one of them. This is great for my cardio. If I had an Apple Watch I’d certainly have closed those rings. It’s lovely to see an active campus again full of students and staff. Even at 50% capacity, the halls seem mighty crowded, and lines have returned to the campus food shops. It’s nice to have people back, though I do miss the eerie quiet of the pandemic ghost town just a little.

Some of my coworkers would say they miss being able to find parking easily on the streets surrounding campus. I of course don’t have the problem: I smugly walk to work in about 10 minutes from home.

California and San Francisco have lifted the indoor mask mandate starting on the 16th. The City also no longer requires proof-of-vaccination for indoor dinning. Strangely, San Francisco State have kept its own indoor mask mandate for all of its buildings, deviating from the San Francisco public health guidelines for the very first time. Let’s see how keen people are to follow the masking rules when our campus is the exception, rather than the norm.

From a pure comfort standpoint, I am more than ready to not wear a mask for all eight hours of my workday.

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That one week of the year.

Overheard in the Library hallway

The hallway outside my work office is a busy part of the Library with plenty of foot traffic. Whenever it's Finals time the conversations and exclamations I overhear are super interesting. For one it's incredibly easy to discern who is done with Finals and who isn't: those who are have a sunny and loud disposition to their voices.

They would smugly mock their friends for still having tests to take and needing yet another night's worth of studying. "What are you doing in the Library?" they condescendingly/jokingly ask. 

Some of those not yet finished with classes (perhaps they picked professors who hold exams on the actual week of Finals and not the week before like the cool ones) have walked down the hallway saying horrible things like how they hate this University and should've tried being famous on Instagram instead. I may have made-up the latter but on appearance being an "influencer" on social media seems quite lucrative. 

You get the few cryers as well, which always freezes me stuck between letting them get it all out and being a gentleman going out into the hallway with the box of tissue. Two weeks ago I experienced the perfect symphonic alignment of a female student crying in a concert with a baby (of another person's). You can't put a price on that, my friends. 

To those stressed with Finals: hey, it's okay. This too shall pass. Soon it'll be over, you'll survive to fight another day, and with the students gone the campus will be nice and quiet. 

Ready to play.