In Continuum.

It's like moving into a new house, only it really isn't a new house. Getting used to a new school is like moving on into your new house with your old habits. You know, that smell that hits your face the moment you push the front door open, that smell of dust and new paint makes you nauseous and yet excited all at the same time. So you start to move your furniture into the new house, you throw away some of the older ones and buy new ones, because you can. After about a month or two, the once empty and abandoned house now has a semblance of a home, and you feel proud of yourself. So you sit yourself down on the new couch, careful not to leave bread crumbs in between the sofa cushions, or to topple a glass of apple juice on the carpet. That's really because everything is new, and you tend to be a little more careful with whatever you do around the house. You even speak softer because you are afraid that being too loud might shatter a glass somewhere. You don't want to jump around to your favorite song on the radio because even the neighbor downstairs are new. However, this elevated sense of caution really only lasts for so long, until you bring your bad habits along with you. 

It's the same as getting used to a school, you know, you bring your old habits along when you get comfortable - too comfortable. You start to leave your dishes unwashed in the sink, the clothes start to gather in a pile on your bed, and then the cigarette butts are spilling over the edge of the ash tray. But you cannot care less any longer, because you are no longer in that new house, you are just in a house. There's a difference, you know, and my father would testify to that. He lives in a designer's house in Taiwan right now, and by that I mean that he spent quite a load of cash on renovations. It is a posh house, really simple and elegant I must say, but you can never rid a fifty year old person of his bad habits. The first thing I noticed when I got back to Taiwan in August was that bicycle he won in a lucky draw, just leaning against the dining table. Then there were the cardboard boxes that were piled on top of one another in the kitchen, empty ones that he saved for no apparent reasons at all. So I cleared out the boxes in the kitchen and rolled the bicycle into the laundry area, all with my socks still on - imagine that. I'm just saying, that once you get comfortable with a place you are in, you get too comfortable and, well, your bad habit comes through. 

I have nothing against my seniors in school, in fact I think they are a fun bunch of people to be around with. Or, at least that is what I can tell from the brief interactions I have had with them. They are nice, really nice, but then you know how they can be at times, getting too comfortable with everything and, not giving the kind of respect a lecturer may deserve. It was philosophy class and there was Angelica, with her enlarged belly and a three month old baby inside. I don't know much about pregnant people, in fact I know very little about pregnant people. I do, however, know very much about the process in which one gets pregnant, but that's besides the point. I know of a little bit, though, and one of it is definitely the mood swings and the inability to function properly. Blame it on the hormones, the baby messes up everything in your body and makes you look bloated for nine months. I suppose if anybody is pregnant and still has to lecture a class, the last thing she wants is to have a class of students who have gotten a little too comfortable with the atmosphere, if you know what I mean. I could tell that there was a dark cloud forming on top of her head, the way she grasped the piece of paper and the way her forehead folded into a frown. They were pushing it, but it's not like the occasional "shh" sound from the rest of the study body did anything to settle things down either. 

I am guilty of that, but not exactly in a classroom situation. In fact, I don't suppose I speak for myself, but everybody out there who has a social life. You get to know a group of people, and you try to be the best that you can and you speak carefully, so as not to offend anybody, right. You don't see a cross hanging around someone's neck and then make fun of his religion the first time you meet him. That's just the epitome of social suicide, I feel, and people don't do such things. It takes a while, even if you do want to make fun of the religion, because that is what people do. You get to know, you integrate into his or her life, then you become comfortable with each other. This is the time when most people tend to do the wrong things, or say the wrong things, that's kind of how it happens anyway. Every accidental pregnancy occurred because of two people, a man and a woman, getting too comfortable in a bed, and that is what happens in a social life as well. You get comfortable with a group of people, sometimes you take them for granted, and you say the dumbest things to offend somebody. But you know, we are friends, we forgive each other. So we reflect, every once in a while, and you remind yourself that the mattress could be taken away from underneath you, and you could be back on the cold hard floor all over again. 

But those seniors, sometimes they don't seem to learn. I believe I blogged about them a couple of months ago, probably in the second semester, about how obnoxious they can be in class. I don't exactly blame them, because it's not like they don't have the capacity to shut up - they do. It's just that, while you are trying desperately to listen to someone else talk, constant murmuring and laughter in the background can get very annoying. I am, by no means, like Jan. I am not "sensitive to noises" and "easily distracted". I think I deal pretty well with noise, but sometimes it just goes a little overboard, you know? I love Angelica, I really do. So to see her desperately trying to manage a class is simply heart-breaking, for me. The last time I blogged about a similar issue in regards to a similar group of people, though not entirely the same, was during Rosemary's lecture, the first time I experienced her utter stupidity. Here's the thing, I don't like Rosemary, but I had even greater issues with these obnoxious people that I had to blog about it. I even called three of them "pigs", if some of the more loyal readers of this blog still remembers. Thank you for staying around my life, by the way. 

I don't know what is it with us humans, taking our bad habits around and then opening up the suitcase when we feel that it is the right place to do so, or when your butt feels comfortable in a certain spot. Obviously, most of us forgot to pack a pocket mirror or something like that to do some reflection, to see just how ridiculous and annoying you look every once in a while. It's fine if you are going to suddenly break into a hysterical laughter, but doing it constantly is just a little pushing it, don't you think? Aren't there better times to talk about your, well, whatever it was that you were talking about in your groups? You really could have waited, after all we did pay a lot of money to get to where we are right now. It's just irritating to see a whole bunch of people asking Angelica to clarify something when she has already clarified it about ten times. OK, maybe not ten times, but enough for someone with down syndrome to remember. She was going through the chapter coverage of the mid-term exams, and not every part of the textbook is covered. But there they were, asking her to repeat again and again when I've literally memorized the whole list myself. 

Come on, people, get your act together. Stop talking, a little more listening, sometimes it helps you know. And no, asking questions like "So the last two parts are out right?" is still incredibly stupid when Angelica just said the words "Only the first four parts will be tested". Of course, keep in mind, she has already repeated those words about five times to random inconsiderate people around the lecture room.  Isbandi was obviously on the verge of cracking the table in half, and I am sure one more stupid question would have pushed him over the edge. He was fuming, just sitting there next to me, with all the questions pouring in from behind. Yeah, Isbandi, I was sick and tired of their questions as well. I don't suppose if you are as inconsiderate in keeping quiet in class as you are deserve the right to have the lecturer clarify anything for you. It's like saying," I'm sorry Angelica, but I was talking trash loudly at the back of your class and completely missed what you said previously. Could you repeat it for the umpteenth time so that I can quickly go back to my loud and inconsiderate talking?" Seriously, some people need to get their priorities right. 

I think we are all guilty of this. I mean, we've all been pointed out in class before, I'm sure. You know, not exactly paying attention, zoning out, or texting underneath the table. I have been called out to answer a question, on purpose I'm sure, when I was typing away on my Macbook in class, sure. Still, I don't suppose my typing on the Macbook actually disrupted the class in any way, or at least I can safely say that my inattentiveness remained within boundaries and did not cross the border in any way. I don't think my "zoning out" caused others to be annoyed, irritated, or whatever. We all do small talks in class every once in a while, but then the consistency of this people is just, well, unbelievable. I sometimes wonder how they keep up their act so well, but mostly on how much they can talk about in any one sitting. Look, you people have your cigarette breaks, why don't you do small talks during the cigarette breaks? Seems to make a lot of sense to me, what else do you do if you are not going to talk during cigarette breaks? Stare at each other deeply? Not during Angelica's class man, or during anybody's class. Some people really want to listen to the class, some people really really really do.