Boring new school post.

I started school and everything is new and I don't feel too stressed out yet. This is partially due to the fact that I decided to limit my work load, which was partially due to the fact that I hadn't realized how involved my teaching responsibilities were going to be.

Whats really nice is that I already feel like I have a home at the school. I have office space complete with two huge metal desks pushed together in front of a frosted window and a crappy wooden chair with a chartreuse velveteen chair pad, and some bookshelves. It is huge and on the 9th floor adjacent to the planetarium. Everyone is very warm, in fact I feel most times that I am the one who is the most cold and reserved. I am shy because I am straining to try not to feel intimidated by all the brilliant people and research I see around me -- its hard to see them as peers but I'm getting there.

So far everything is tenable, although tomorrow whose to say? That's my current philosophy. This weekend is going to be swallowed up with preparing for my first week of lectures, (preparing notes and making hand-outs). I had been told that I would be conducting a discussion section but after meeting with the professor I was told that the structure and composition of the class merit an "old school" resuscitation section where I do a pared down lecture on the sticky points and allow for more questions and participation than can be permitted during the large impersonal lecture. This also means at least for this term, (I'll be doing this same course all year), that I will be required to show up for lectures for the class. I found out that it wasn't the Air Pollution course like I had thought but instead is the general meteorology course. I would have been happy with either of these but maybe this course will help me cement the basics. I've had a tendency to flub them up when I am flustered lately.