Having a class at 3 pm was something we all tried to avoid in college. It was a bewitching hour for the early partiers. Anything after 1 pm was a bummer. The quarter I had a 3 pm class was the quarter my friends would have Budweiser parties starting at 2 pm and watch Merv Griffin. To make my astronomy class, I had to leave around 2:30, walk past the huge crowd of evangelical-style preachers who drew huge crowds on the Oval and find a seat in a very large classroom with a full house.
I was usually able to make it just as the lights went down and slide into a seat in the back row that had long table top desks. Good for leaning on your hands and staring into darkness with slides of supernovas, black holes and the like. Not a bad class if your “Merv “party had to be interrupted for academics. You certainly weren’t going to be called on indiscriminately in a concert size class.
I was never the best but nor was I the worst at science. I held my own and actually learned some interesting factoids that I’ve been able to use at least when watching Jeopardy but also so I don’t look like a fool when it comes to weather, plants, and understanding how and why vaccines work…yeah, I said it…
I always thought it was funny when I would go home on break and get asked what I was taking that quarter. When I said “astronomy” more often than not someone would say, “They teach that in college?” My response, “Not astrology, astronomy…”. It happened a lot.
Any-hoo…one fine day I made my way across our large campus and was able to take advantage of a seat at the table just inside the door. Good position for a dim room as class had already started and I was a touch late. Little extra time with Merv that day. I admit to being a little “jammed out” but I was in my seat and learning in a dark, cool room with awesome slides.
I have, even to this late day, a habit of sitting tipped forward on the front two legs of my chair, leaning on the table. That particular day I saw in my peripheral vision light from the door as someone later then me tried to quietly sneak in. The next thing I knew there was a loud noise and I was sitting on the floor viewing the room and the screen from under the table. The class was laughing and I was trying to figure what happened. OMG! I thought I fell off my chair…no subtle recovery was possible. The professor even stopped the class and looked up to see what all the noise was. It was mortifying. No more Budweiser parties before astronomy class for me!
My reprieve however came in the form of a fellow student who was apologizing profusely for accidently kicking the chair out from under me. I thanked him just as profusely as we righted the chair, he found a seat, and the professor moved on. I have never been so thankful after landing on my ass.
I got a B- in that class…see, I held my own.
Khatzkel Did It 