3 February 2009

Perfect… Almost…. :)

I am excited. But I don’t think that my excitement is going to be well expressed here – as I am a bit feverish now. Perhaps because the room temperature was a little less than what it should have been. Being a sunny day, I had kept the window open and let all the cold air come inside – without considering the idea of warm clothing! :(

I am a bit absent minded too. For eg. I am wearing two different socks right now. :)

Back to excitement – I would be giving a course next semester. It is not fully confirmed yet, but there is a very high chance. Imagining about it itself gives me goose bumps. As far as I think/plan, it is going to be a basics-of-computer-science course, which would let students get their hands dirty with some simple programming language (eg. python).

Well, I don’t care if people think that I am boasting. But my experience says that I am pretty good at teaching. I am good at explaining things with enough analogies. I am a good computer-scientist/programmer too. And my students have really liked me too.

So I guess, that the course would be good. After all, I am going to put my efforts to make it a memorable experience to the students.

Would there be any best teacher of the semester award? ;) (Am I asking for too much even before the decision is made?). I will need to burn the midnight oil. :(

Another thing is that I would be giving a talk, in March, for a couple of *important people*. :) I have to make that too a good one – so that, the name of my institute should be popular among them. In fact, that is my real duty there - in return to the opportunity given to me. :)

There is one more small thing to be excited about – but since I am not quite sure if it is excitement or  a bit negative, I don’t mention it here. I’ll wait till it becomes more clear to me.

DreamsWhen some dreams come true, many other dreams are mushrooming, budding. :)

I was talking to a friend of mine and she agrees with me - that, many of our dreams are considered to be results of arrogance. I have experienced it. Why would people bother with others’ dreams?

So, I go with what my mom says - why would I be just a king in the dream when I can be the emperor himself? So while dreaming, I don’t care if others care. I just have learned to tell only to a few selected people.

So, there are dreams in which I am the emperor himself. If time proves me right to have had such dreams, I shall tell you. :)

In fact, dreams don’t come true. We make them happen. And making them happen is sometimes not that easy! :)

Signing off, Sands.

PS: Regarding the title – yesterday, I was walking fast to the main hall of the department, when professor and a colleague came against me. The colleague exclaimed - “Hey, you walk perfect”. I smiled and said, “almost” and we all laughed. So, yes, I walk again .. almost perfect. (except for climbing down stairs) :) [Isn’t it another reason to be excited?] :)

PPS: Fever is on its way. In the past 30 minutes things’ve gotten worse! :(

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I too wish that, you be the emperor.....

Amma.

Anonymous said...

Best wishes for the course - I am sure you will be able to do a great job!

For ideas/inspiration, here is an *amazing* intro course (based on Python - and successor to the MIT SICP):

http://mit.edu/6.01/mercurial/spring09/www/index.html

If you are looking at something more abstract/mathematical, you would enjoy learning (and teaching) Haskell (FP is going to be the "next-big-thing", according to some people):

http://www.realworldhaskell.org/blog/

Pramode
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Sands | കരിങ്കല്ല് said...

@Amma ...
:)

@Sir,

It was from other two MIT courses, available at OCW (Introduction to programming and Mathematics for Computer Scientists), I got inspired.

And there is another course in Uni. of Saarland (Germany) -- German Page - which I was practically doing this semester.

And No sir, no Haskell yet. Let me master python first! :)

Anonymous said...

Great.... Full of good news!!

CONGRATS (for the talk, health and course)

Vivek.

Anonymous said...

I will check out those courses ...

If you keep your course material online, I can do a trial run here!

Pramode
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blahblahblues said...

Thanks for that post. I enjoy reading your musings. Your english gets better and better. Good for you for putting yourself out there with in a public blog.

-Garrett