Thoughts on my last year

I had something of a revelation today as I was sitting in class. Sitting here, 12 hours later, I'm not even sure anymore what brought it on. As my prof was talking about something or another related to Cotton ginning (digression: why does AGSM seem to want to make us all into cotton ginners? I think it's because so many of the elders in the dept (like Dr. Parnell) made their names in cotton) my mind started to wander, but in a directed way, related to the subject at hand. Suddenly, I realised that two years ago, before I got into this program, I wouldn't have had the knowlage (or inclination) for my mind to wander the way it did. I would not have asked myself the questions I did, much less be able to come up with reasonable answers to those questions. In short, I realised that I have learned to think like an engineer.

I found myself doing something similar again this evening. I was walking across Eli Whitely park, and the sprinklers were on. I noticed that they weren't really working in an optimal pattern, and just seeing them reminded me of how I always used to see the sprinklers on at the worst times (e.g. just after it rains). I started idily speculating on how I'd fix the system if it were up to me, and I realised that I actually have (or soon will have) all the requisit technical knowlage to design and direct the instalation of a better system, if I had to. I think this means I'm almost ready for a real job in the real world. That's a scary thought.

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