Well, I've gotten through my first week of classes. My advisor's trip has been delayed until mid-February so I will not be left totally hanging for my thesis.
This quarter's classes are Intro to Hieratic taught by a man who many older students equate with Satan. Hieratic, for those of you who don't know is allegedly the cursive form of the hieroglyphic script. In reality, it's an exercise in insanity - as it is a cursive script written on papyrus or ostraca it is far more fluid than hieroglyphs and each scribe has his own handwriting. Rock! Those of you who find what I term "cheerleader script" annoying (i.e. very loopy writing with circles or hearts and crap to dot "i's", etc) will find it interesting to learn that people have been doing that shit since the dawn of time.
Up next we have the second part of our history sequence, this time covering Ancient Egypt. No paper this time around, much to my relief.
And I have a class in the art and archaeology of Syria-Palestine. Our first actual lecture consisted of some basic geography, etc. followed by an introduction to the professor's theory regarding archaeological inquiry based heavily in hermeneutic philosophy, especially that of Ricoer (sp?). You philosophers with pithy comments, please email them to me. Or if you're interested in his adaptation, let me know and I'll send you a copy of the first chapters of his book which outline his ideas.
I am still working in the Museum Office coping with the incoming email from crazy people, among other things. Some of you may be familiar with the letter allegedly from the Smithsonian regarding some guy's "contributions" to science. That letter is an excellent demonstration of what my job is like.
Some of you may remember the guy with the "prehistoric gold" or whatever-the-fuck who emails me about once a month. Well, his pictures have improved. And he's moved on from email. He called the office Monday wanting to speak to a "Paleolithic Archaeologist" as his theory regarding his "electrum" has changed. He now thinks it has something to do with Paleolithic cave art. Methinks I should check the program listing for the Discovery channel to see what they were showing last week... Anyway, I didn't realize who it was until after I had assured him that I would see if someone in the OI could help him. So, anyone up for doing a bad French accent and pretending to be an expert on cave paintings?