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I like watching snow fall. I even like being out in it while it's falling. Unfortunately, snow on the ground downtown is just icky. It's got so much sand and salt in it that if it exists at all, it's sort of brownish grey. If it doesn't exist, it's a brownish grey slush puddle. Snow on the ground at our apartment is much better.
I've been doing a lot of thinking in French lately. Since it's all in my head, I don't know if it makes any sense to anyone else, but my instinct says it's mostly right. Instinct is why I'm a terrible teacher; if something just makes sense to me, I have an awful time trying to explain why. If you're trying to get somebody else to understand something, "Because it just is" isn't a great place to start. Most people get there eventually (ever try explaining something to a little kid? You get to a point where there isn't any more "why", it just IS), but I tend to start there.
If I were an admissions committee and I got an application that said basically "I love doing this and I want to learn how to do it right so I can do what I love for a living", I'd accept that person. I've read some of the statements of purpose for the dental school program applicants, and they all seem to be less personal than that. Most of them want to get into prosthodontics to advance their careers or to get into academia, but I haven't yet seen one that says "I want to do this because I've seen some/done some and I love it". So am I tilting at windmills, trying to get myself into grad school to do what I love? I don't know.
It's quiet at work today, since most of the students and faculty are in New York at a meeting. I might see about sneaking out early if I can. If so, I think I might go do some Xmas shopping.
Oy. One of the students who is here smokes like a chimney and now my office smells like an uncleaned ashtray just because he came in to borrow my stapler. Yech. I can't imagine why anybody who doesn't smoke would take up a habit they knew was going to make them smell like that, although I suppose they don't notice that they smell like that after a while. Yech, anyway.
I've been doing a lot of thinking in French lately. Since it's all in my head, I don't know if it makes any sense to anyone else, but my instinct says it's mostly right. Instinct is why I'm a terrible teacher; if something just makes sense to me, I have an awful time trying to explain why. If you're trying to get somebody else to understand something, "Because it just is" isn't a great place to start. Most people get there eventually (ever try explaining something to a little kid? You get to a point where there isn't any more "why", it just IS), but I tend to start there.
If I were an admissions committee and I got an application that said basically "I love doing this and I want to learn how to do it right so I can do what I love for a living", I'd accept that person. I've read some of the statements of purpose for the dental school program applicants, and they all seem to be less personal than that. Most of them want to get into prosthodontics to advance their careers or to get into academia, but I haven't yet seen one that says "I want to do this because I've seen some/done some and I love it". So am I tilting at windmills, trying to get myself into grad school to do what I love? I don't know.
It's quiet at work today, since most of the students and faculty are in New York at a meeting. I might see about sneaking out early if I can. If so, I think I might go do some Xmas shopping.
Oy. One of the students who is here smokes like a chimney and now my office smells like an uncleaned ashtray just because he came in to borrow my stapler. Yech. I can't imagine why anybody who doesn't smoke would take up a habit they knew was going to make them smell like that, although I suppose they don't notice that they smell like that after a while. Yech, anyway.
