Once a week I have to meet with my professor for the the class I am a TI for. I dread it every week. It's amazing how relieved I feel once I walk out of that meeting, knowing I don't have to have another meeting with him for a whole week. Suddenly I feel all energized and I walk back to my townhouse with the idea of completing a lot of my work that afternoon. This energy is lost in the two minute walk back to my townhouse. Maybe if I sprint out of his office and back to my townhouse it will last long enough so that I can actually complete something.
It's not that I don't love the professor I'm a TI for. It's just well, he's not the greatest at holding conversations. For instance, literally every meeting we have starts off with him commenting on the weather. Then I say something in response. Then he looks up the weather for the rest of the week and says something like, "Well it looks like it should clear up by Friday," and I say something like "Oh that's good," because nothing more can really ever be said about the weather. The weather is just the weather.
I've often tried to use my bubbly smiley nature to try and spark some sort of real conversation, but he seems completely immune to it. I'll comment on something and laugh, expecting him to join in, even if he's faking the laughter. Instead he will just stare at me like I'm a child entertained by the fact they can drop their spoon on the floor. The conversation is so uncomfortable though, that I still attempt to make the situation lighter by saying random things and laughing at them. This enviably leads to it being more uncomfortable. It's a horrible spiral of awkwardness.
Meetings are worse than classes because unlike a class, there is no fixed end time. There's just that weird "well I guess we don't have anything more to talk about so I'll go now," end period. What's even worse is when I think everything we need to talk about is done, so I get up to leave only to have my professor look at me and say, "Where are you going?" At this point I have a choice: 1.) I can lie and say something like "Oh my leg was just falling asleep, I had to change positions. It's better now." or 2.) I can shyly something like "Are we not done?" Neither are ideal. Both add to the awkward spiral.
Sometimes he will just end the meeting suddenly by turning his chair around towards his computer while saying, "I guess we're done. See you next week!" I'm always cut off guard when he does this, and for some reason I feel the need to gather up my things unnecessarily fast like I'm being thrown out of his office or something. Unfortunately, when I get nervous like this I make more mistakes, so I end up dropping my things all of the place or tripping on his rug on the way out. He probably thinks I'm on crack.
I watched this kitty video four times in a row. I think I will watch it some more before the day is done. Kitty! Video!
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