A good day for practicing my fake laugh
So yesterday, Thursday, was a busy day. Busier than expected, that is. I usually just have office hours from 9 to noon and then go to my weekly lunch meeting with the Sloan-Rigas program where we learn about resources that the grad school has to offer or something along those lines. This week, a professional representative from MIT Lincoln Laboratories came and spoke about what it was like to work there, although he kept saying he couldn't give much detail since it was "secret."
After a delicious free lunch, I usually head back to my apartment where I have the next several hours to myself and I can work on homework or something. But this Thursday, the professor I TA for is going out of town and needed to meet with me before he left. He wants me to lead lecture next Wednesday in Mechatronics class. Gulp.
So at 1:15 I met with him to go over the PowerPoint he created with lecture notes and make sure I understood everything. This professor has a tendency to go on and on, saying ten times the amount of words he needs to get the point across. And I admit, most of what he went over from the lecture went right over my head. But I decided not to ask him to explain because then I'd be multiplying our meeting length times ten. I figure I can look at the chapter in the book on my own and gain understanding that way. This professor also has the habit of winking at you while he's talking, indicating he's joking. So I utilized my fake laugh quite often. You know what I'm talking about--the little "hahaha" you let out with just enough expression to sound believable, even when you don't get the humor.
I debated whether or not to ask the professor for help understanding the next lab for Controls, the other class I TA, since he's also the lab supervisor for that. I decided I could afford the extra time and needed to know how to work the equipment so that I could help the other TAs since I'm supposed to be in charge of setting up the labs and stuff.
So we headed to the laboratory room where we spent the next hour working very slowly, him chatting incessantly the whole time; me, more fake laughing.
I finally had that set up and I was already late for getting together with a friend that afternoon. His name's Mike and he'd been at Buffalo Wild Wings last weekend with me and some other friends. We basically got together so he could tell me the long version of the story of why he's not a Christian anymore. I learned at BW3's the other weekend that he used to be very devout and then something happened. I was curious but he said the story was too long and he didn't want to talk about it right there with all those people. He sounded like he wanted to talk to me about it though, and got my phone number so we could talk later. We had originally planned Sunday but I told him I had a lot of homework and couldn't get together, so we postponed until Thursday.
Well, he picked me up, took me to his apartment, and just talked and talked. If you know this guy, you'll quickly discover he loves to talk. I didn't have to do much to keep the conversation going, just insert my fake laugh periodically. His storytelling consists of not really stating anything plainly but implying lots of stuff. I'm not good at picking up on that stuff so I was pretty lost the whole time. But I soon discovered the more questions I asked, the more confused I was and the longer it would prolong him talking...and talking...and talking...
We grabbed dinner together and even watched half a movie before I left to go to Intervarsity. Then after that, I hung out with people playing games and stuff and didn't get home until 3:00am. It was the first time I'd seen my apartment since I left it the previous morning. Let's hope Thursdays in the future go back to normal and aren't so busy.
After a delicious free lunch, I usually head back to my apartment where I have the next several hours to myself and I can work on homework or something. But this Thursday, the professor I TA for is going out of town and needed to meet with me before he left. He wants me to lead lecture next Wednesday in Mechatronics class. Gulp.
So at 1:15 I met with him to go over the PowerPoint he created with lecture notes and make sure I understood everything. This professor has a tendency to go on and on, saying ten times the amount of words he needs to get the point across. And I admit, most of what he went over from the lecture went right over my head. But I decided not to ask him to explain because then I'd be multiplying our meeting length times ten. I figure I can look at the chapter in the book on my own and gain understanding that way. This professor also has the habit of winking at you while he's talking, indicating he's joking. So I utilized my fake laugh quite often. You know what I'm talking about--the little "hahaha" you let out with just enough expression to sound believable, even when you don't get the humor.
I debated whether or not to ask the professor for help understanding the next lab for Controls, the other class I TA, since he's also the lab supervisor for that. I decided I could afford the extra time and needed to know how to work the equipment so that I could help the other TAs since I'm supposed to be in charge of setting up the labs and stuff.
So we headed to the laboratory room where we spent the next hour working very slowly, him chatting incessantly the whole time; me, more fake laughing.
I finally had that set up and I was already late for getting together with a friend that afternoon. His name's Mike and he'd been at Buffalo Wild Wings last weekend with me and some other friends. We basically got together so he could tell me the long version of the story of why he's not a Christian anymore. I learned at BW3's the other weekend that he used to be very devout and then something happened. I was curious but he said the story was too long and he didn't want to talk about it right there with all those people. He sounded like he wanted to talk to me about it though, and got my phone number so we could talk later. We had originally planned Sunday but I told him I had a lot of homework and couldn't get together, so we postponed until Thursday.
Well, he picked me up, took me to his apartment, and just talked and talked. If you know this guy, you'll quickly discover he loves to talk. I didn't have to do much to keep the conversation going, just insert my fake laugh periodically. His storytelling consists of not really stating anything plainly but implying lots of stuff. I'm not good at picking up on that stuff so I was pretty lost the whole time. But I soon discovered the more questions I asked, the more confused I was and the longer it would prolong him talking...and talking...and talking...
We grabbed dinner together and even watched half a movie before I left to go to Intervarsity. Then after that, I hung out with people playing games and stuff and didn't get home until 3:00am. It was the first time I'd seen my apartment since I left it the previous morning. Let's hope Thursdays in the future go back to normal and aren't so busy.
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