hey there
How's it going?
Good! How're you?
Not too bad. Glad to be at the end of the week.
Amen!
It's like every professor conspires together during the last few weeks before finals to kill you.
Literally, I have three big papers due by Tuesday. But that's okay! It's an adventure, right?
Yup. As long as you're on the top side of the dirt when it ends, it's okay. Speaking of the adventures, the prompt says something about craziest thing ever done. Any interesting stories there?
True! Ooh, craziest things I've ever done... Hm.. I flew to Russia alone? Is that crazy?
I guess it depends on the circumstances. Was it just on a whim or out of necessity?
Well our flight was cancelled and my visa didn't let me in the country until after my friends, so they went a day early and I flew out alone the next day.
So it sounds like it was kind of an unavoidable scenario.
Alright alright. What's the craziest thing you've done?
Hmm... It was probably on my mission, to be honest.
What was the craziest part about it?
There was one occasion when I was on exchanges with my district leader, and he got his bike stolen while we were in an appointment. When we came out, we started walking home for lunch when we saw a bike that looked like his leaning against a mail truck.
No way. Was it his?
It disappeared for a minute, and then some big guy came riding out in our direction. Yeah. My district leader stopped him and said, "Excuse me! Where did you get that bike?"
Wow, that's pretty gutsy.
He replied that he'd bought it down the street for $25 (likely story, but we went with it), and my DL offered to buy it back from him. Anyway, we started walking down to the convenience store to the ATM while they were haggling over the price.
Hahah, that is indeed a crazy story
It's not over. Sorry.
Keep going, I'm excited! I didn't mean to cut ya off.
We still had one bike with us at this point, and the guy looks at my DL, then down at me, then back at my DL, and said, "This is taking too long. Let's leave him." Obviously that doesn't work too well with mission rules, so he declined and the guy decided, then, that I should ride on the seat of his bike while he pedaled. So I hung onto the back of a random stranger in the middle of the inner city while heading down to a convenience store to buy back a bike that was stolen from us.
Oh my gosh. That had to be pretty crazy to write home about. "So the bike was stolen, and then I rode behind the guy we had to buy it back from" Geez. Yeah, russia has nothing on you.
The ghetto was an interesting place.
At least the guy sold you the bike back.
Yeah. We lived outside our area, so it would have been pretty lousy without a bike. Public transit there was about as useful as the turn signals on a BMW.
Hahah While I was in russia the bus system was awful so all of these private vans created a bus system, and everyone used it. So to go anywhere, you'd just in this white, windowless van.
That's not at all sketchy.
AND you paid for the sketchy ride! hahah
Probably had to check to make sure you still had both your kidneys when you were done, though.
You know, now that you mention it I did always black out once I entered the van... Mysteriously I ended up where I needed to go, just with a new scar. xD
Hahaha!
I just assumed a babushka sang me to sleep I wish you could share gifs or memes in this chat haha
Yeah... But I guess conversation bots wouldn't be able to process them very well, so it might defeat the purpose.
True true. But they'll need to learn sometime! Why not today?
I even have a big collection of memes, too.
The signs of a true troller Just kidding
I have my moments. After all, the best trolls don't even realizing when they're trolling.
Haha, true.
So... Maybe you didn't do anything crazy other than ride in sketchy vans, but did you see anything crazy in Russia?
That was actually the whole trip. I got off the plane into a sketchy van, and back onto the plane.
Ah.
Haha, we were in St. Petersburg, so we went to the Hermitage museum, Katherine's palace, church, and hung out with the friends we were staying with. It was eye opening. People dislike you because you're American and there's not much you can do to change that.
Yeah. I haven't spent much time outside the US, but it's definitely weird to see how others perceive you. I grew up in the South, which always shocked people on my mission because I didn't have an accent.
I want to explore the south more! Where would you recommend going first?
Nowhere during the summer unless it has quality air conditioning.
Hahaha! I went on a road trip this past summer and yeah the humidity almost killed me.
Florida's beaches are pretty nice, though, especially up in the panhandle where they aren't as crowded.
I was in Memphis on a a hot summer day.
Ewwwwwwww...
There was no iced tea or southern hospitality. Just heat
Yeah, the southern hospitality is a bit overrated.
Haha, do you not believe it's a thing anymore?
No, people just don't understand what it is. The honest reality is that they're just less willing to say what they actually think.
That's what it seems like, and with the Georgia accent most people don't hear the insults anyways!
And if they got through the accent, they'd mistake the insult as pity.
Indeed I also think it's funny that people assume those with southern accents are less intelligent. Perhaps funny is the wrong word
I'm not sure what the right word is. Maybe interesting?
Perhaps. So Jacob, no crazy plans tonight? It's Friday at 8pm??
Nah. I'm busy enough on Friday that Saturday usually ends up as my fun day.
Gotcha. Ya always have to be productive at some point in time!
I guess I could ask you the same question: it's Friday night. Just planning on catching up on some sleep?
Haha, perhaps try to take a nap? ;D I am just working on some homework. Well currently procrastinating, but soon!
I know the feeling. I have some papers to grade before the pay week ends.
I do not envy TAs at this time in the semester
Well... The professor for this class has a merciful streak, and the students' homework assignments have been much lighter, lately. I just haven't had much time to grade them.
Do you like being a TA in general?
It's not bad. Grading is a bit of a drag, but working with the students is fun, and I enjoy the subject matter.
Well then that's good! It has to be fun when you're explaining a difficult question and then the concept suddenly makes sense to a student.
Normally it's the other way around: I'm trying to explain a difficult question and the concept finally makes sense to me.
Haha, a learning matter for all then!
There's a saying in my major that you don't actually learn the material for a class until you've TAed it at least once.
hahah. Sounds like CS, where sometimes even the TAs don't know what they're doing.
Yeah. A lot of them try, but I wouldn't want to be in their shoes. "Why isn't my code working?!" "Uh..."
My major is like, do you have a question? Go learn about it on your own and then write a 10 page report.
I've got a roommate like that. He spends all his time reading books the size of War and Peace and writing papers on the concepts in them.
Oof. That's how mine feels sometimes. It's an adventure wherever you go right?
Yeah.
Oh the places you'll go... Or something like that :P
They're probably not where you expected to go, but sometimes that's a good hting.
Definitely. Well hey, it's been a pleasure, but I have to take off, it's time to buckle down and finish up an assignment.
Yeah, good luck! Nice talking to you.