What online classes are like.

So on-line classes are a little different. You never get to interact with the other students (not that I was ever one for hanging with the classmates), but your sense of the teacher is a little limited too. The trade off is the flexability in time. I can work on things at my own hours and focus my work on after my kids go to sleep instead of worrying about showing up at a class on time with all my work done.

I think the most interesting thing has been the online chats. When you're in a classroom, whether or not you ever realize it, there's an order to things. Even when you don't raise your hand, people don't tend to interrupt each other. You digest comments and usually one or two people try to dominate the conversation and others hold back from some fear of public speaking or something.

During online chats, someone will ask a question and four different people will frantically type in four different points taking the conversation in four different directions at once. I think the greatest skill in teaching an online class is learing how to moderate an online discussion so that all the good points gets fleshed out a little. You've got to be able to type faster than everyone else. And being a quick thinker probably doesn't hurt.

Maybe younger people who text frequently processes random outbursts better than I do. I'm not sure.

But overall it's been a good experience. Tonight we're workshopping my first chapter in an online chat. I'm wondering if I'll figure out anymore about the piece I'm working on.

Fastest Game

1-0. A's over Giants. Showed up twenty minutes late and missed the first three innings. Got a beer. Missed another inning and a half. Didn't see the only run of the game. Caught some excitement in the 9th, but that's about it. That was the fastest baseball game I've ever been to. A's 5th starter looked like an all star today

I took public transportation there and back in a roundabout fashion. I spent more time traveling to and from than actually watching the game.

What's Next?

So this Sunday, Wifey had a class and I had kids to myself most of the day. Fortunately, there were Sharks hockey games and Yankee baseball games and Magic basektball games to keep them distracted while they were lying around the house. The older one is calling baseball "football" and hockey "skiing" and finds it hilarious. I have no idea why.

The second half of the day was a scramble to get the first chapter of my novel done for class. It took a couple hours, but it's done. It's not perfect, but it's good enough that I feel comfortable moving on to Chapter 2.

I guess part of me thought it might get easier at this point. I've figured out the big hazy outline of what I want to write about. I've started the development of a whole bunch of characters with great potential. And I sort of know where I want to go. But for the moment, I don't know my next step. Where do I start chapter 2? What's my entry point? What is actually going to happen in chapter 2 to make it interesting? What needs to happen so that I eventually get to Chapter 3. So really, it hasn't gotten that much easier.

I guess I've got a little time. The next few weeks I have to focus on what reading and commenting on what everyone else is writing for this class.

Good times at Work

The place I work had an organic food fair today. They had all kinds of samples of different drinks and foods that are available. Everything from grass-fed beef to aloe drinks. And it was a beautiful day to walk there. So I didn't eat the lunch, Wifey packed for me yet. So today, I enjoy working here.