A blossoming friendship with HatBoy and potato salad

1:55

I take the seat in the farthest corner in the room.
I take out my tea and wait.

Ralph has entered.

Never mind, Ralph left. Bye Ralph.

1:56
Ralph is back! We’re starting early today. There is a lot to cover, obviously.

Ralph walks up to the board.
He writes “How Reality Impacts Internet.” He does not underline it.

Ralph draws and arrow and writes “Money.” Here we go.

Ralph asks how we are doing.

Ralph says we will learn about Money and the Internet today.

Yeah right, Ralph.

1:57

Ralph says we will be going on a scavenger hunt today.

Ralph says he watches movie for company, sometimes.
He tells us about the movie he watched last night.

He does not tell us what movie it is. Ralph has moved on.

Ralph asks if we are aware of the “Potato Salad Kick-Starter Story”

We are not aware, but we look it up. Pretty cool stuff.

2:01

HatBoy is sitting next to me. He answers the kickstarter question

He whispers that he made his comment for the day.

HatBoy and I are on the same page.
I show HatBoy something funny on my computer. He giggles.

Ralph says if we can make something go viral, he will give us an A.

Ralph is back at the whiteboard.
He writes: “Impact, Desirable Outcome”
Ralph writes “Fun factor “on the board. I think Ralph is fun.

We are still talking about Potato Salad.

Ralph calls us out in the back for not talking.
He says if we took a test this morning then we don’t need to talk. 

None of us took tests but we decide still to not talk.
The boy across from me raises his hand.
He says, “Potato Salad.”
I do not know what the question was but Ralph approves.

2:08

The girl to the right of me mentions “Donkey Bingo.”
It is about donkeys and pooping. We swiftly move on.

Ralph points out that Band field trips are notoriously unsupervised.

I mention my school band’s mattress sale.
Everyone’s head whips around. I do not usually speak. I do not like this pressure.
Ralph thinks my answer is humorous.

2:14

Ralph polls the class. How many of us have sold something door to door?

He thinks it is painful.

Ralph mentions video games with special effects.
Ralph asks if we watch a lot of old movies with special effects.

Ralph reminisces of an old train action movie he loves.
He thinks the movie is “really cool.”
Ralph asks if there are any hard-core gamers here.

There are a couple.

Ralph leaves this topic.

2:23

Ralph says he wants us to feel comfortable talking about our family and friends.

Where are you going with this, Ralph?

RALPH MENTIONS TELANOVELAS.

I am dying, but I don’t speak.
I could school anyone in telanovelas. 

Ralph thinks NCIS is basically a soap opera.

He asks if anyone has ever watched a telanovela.
I do not speak, but I wish to.

Ralph asks if any of us watch TV on a regular basis.

No one in the room responds.

Either no one watches TV or they are observing as I am.

Ralph is very passionate about soap operas.
He finds them “interesting.”

2:30

It has only been a half hour.
I make a sound as to agree with Ralph. HatBoy looks over at me.

HatBoy has been texting this whole time.

HatBoy gets a huge grin on his face. I am curious as to the cause.

It was not Ralph, I’m sure.

I wonder if Ralph knows why I am constantly typing.

Ralph is still talking about soap operas. This may be Ralph’s favorite topic.

2:35

Ralph asks what kind of emotions the Internet supports.
He says “sarcasm.” I agree with you, Ralph.

Ralph thinks the best way to break up with someone is through email.

Come on, Ralph.
He says it is because people do not swear in emails.

Ralph is now directing his lecture towards me.

I maintain eye contact, but continue to type.

We are talking about Fantasy Football now.
Ralph does not know much about Fantasy Football.

He decides to move on.

2:38

Here we go. Human sexuality.

Ralph says there used to be a t-shirt at RPI that said, “Sex Kills, Come to [My College] and Live Forever.” I will not tell you my college. I respect Ralph too much. 

Ralph thinks the loss of a sense of humor is the first step in a decline.

Ralph says, “Let’s go back to money.”

Yes let’s, Ralph.

Ralph begins to talk about his cell phone plan.
Only twenty bucks a month. Wow, Ralph.

Ralph swings the conversation around to Target.

He advises us not to use our debit cards online. Solid advice, Ralph.

2:46

Tetris break. I will be back soon.

2:57

We’re back. Ralph did not notice me playing tetris.

HatBoy tried to see what I was doing, but I shielded myself.
I do not want to taint our blossoming friendship with my tetris-lameness.

It is approximately one degree in this classroom.

Ralph is curious what the abbreviation of China is.

The class responds. It is CN. Interesting.

3:00

I cannot believe it has only been an hour.

Ralph says Twitter is not making money.
I disagree. Ralph is not budging.

HatBoy is coming in clutch.
He googled it, and I seem to be right.

HatBoy has got my back. Fist pound. 

We do not actually fist pound, but I want to.

3:08

We’re getting into groups for an activity.

HatBoy asks to be in my group.

He asks what I have been doing all class.

He says I’ve been “typing away.”
I tell him. He thinks it is funny.

3:15
We’re starting a group project. I will recap later.

Update: I do not know what our group project was on. No one seemed to know. Ralph decided not to explain so we sat in our groups and talked about our favorite social media apps. 

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