It's back to school...

... and images of target and wal-mart supply shopping, years upon years, flash in front of my eyes.

The start of school in the fall, that whole yearly endeavor, always surprises me. Always. granted, I'd be surprised even if it was the third week in September, but details are neither here nor there. While school is school and all students, from first timers to us volunteers ("you're voluntarily here?"), are back on their knees, the experience does seem to... mature (?) over the years. Or maybe that's just me. Just this week, upon browsing a recent Daily Texan on my boss's desk, I asked said boss, "How old were you when you realized that college students are really just children too?"

Does that ever stop happening? Looking at a previous stage in life, be it the 1st grader (now in grades that require numbers) looking at the "babies" in kindergarten or the post-doc assessing the first year graduate student on the first day of class or the tenured professor chuckling at said post-doc, do we always look back and think, "Gosh, I was just a child then!" Does that ever cease to occur?

And to answer the question on your mind, yes, I'm in the middle of school work, near the end of the 4th of 6 papers (the topics of last weekend's classes) that need to be read by, I believe, Monday night. A reader response is required for each paper. Nothing outrageous, pretty modest actually -- just a few sentences or paragraphs offering your own thoughts on that particular paper. Basically, enough to prove that you read them. However, tomorrow is your humble coder's 28th birthday, and who the hell wants to read white papers on mobile computing and MANET*s?

Following shortly after that wave of nostalgia washes over you each late August, early September, another jolt of deva-ju presents itself, just as disarming as the preceding one. Usually first sighted towards the end of September, it's not unknown to hear of cases as early as the end of August. Resistance, as they say, is futile, and while you are wiser and stronger than any of the dozen or so previous encounters, the fight's result is never in question. Not once. And if you ever think it is in question, well, I've got just one response for that:

"I was such a child then!"

Procrastination, baby!

* Mobile Ad-Hoc NETworks -- as sexy as it sounds. seriously!

woohoo!

just turned in the last homework for my summer seminar. i can really get use to this no-class-meetings-all-online thing. however, that's not going to happen.

now, i've got about a 3 weeks break before the fall semester fully kicks in. first weekend of classes is the 22nd of august. i look forward to new subjects of study, sure, but am i ready to dive into another semester, yet? ask me in three weeks.