The mad physicist and I

Staring at the blank, white washed wall, all I saw was an unlimited amount of little, white paint dots. Nothing exciting. At this point in my life I felt very bored, tired and thought that physics was too big for a chap like me. After sitting on the couch like a total slump, I grabbed my plump, seven inch textbook and started reading every chapter like a mad maniac. I was taught that rereading the textbook won’t skyrocket my grades until I actively engage in my studying. I turned the pages of the book looking at all these complex lessons and equations and to be particularly honest it made no sense to me. Just some colorful pages filled with complex diagrams that no one in the world could understand and about the math integrated in them, was horrifying and worst case scenario, I didn’t know the definition of physics. I didn’t know why I got into this field in the first place. I envisioned my desperate chances of becoming a genius. No physics, no genius. That’s how my programmed mind worked. 

Laziness was an inception that made me reach this extremely disappointing stage. I dodged my books and chose to watch the television (an absolute time wasting machine). I know, I know, blaming the television for not studying won’t do wonders when I couldn't limit watching it myself. In simple words, I struggled with procrastination and I made it a habit. 

After a whole lot of overthinking, I finally looked at the computer for any assignments frozen with fear that my teacher had assigned me any. It said “Assignment on Advanced Physics, due: 8th of July, 2021” My eyes widened, my face turned pale white, my hands moistened and dear me, I fell off the chair. 

“God, help me!” I said rather hunched (because I fell off the chair).

I pulled my chair, took my book, opened the assignment (which was four pages by the way) and started searching for answers. There were answers for some and the others were completely blank. I was onto a solid start and suddenly I was blank again. I was eventually out of my mind and staring at the blinking cursor. It blinked and blinked with similar intervals each time. I wish I could answer questions in a fraction of a minute (it’s a skill that I hope to develop in the near future). To develop it I need to know what physics is!

Suddenly, I started to see an old school styled laboratory. To give you a taste of what the room looked like: it consisted of a blackboard scarred with chalk scribblings, a series of chairs and tables aligned just right and a collection of test tubes in all shapes and sizes. This was far better than my makeshift lab at my home. But, there was something weird. I didn’t have my own hands. I looked at myself and I wore a thick jersey over a brown t-shirt. I was dressed up exactly like a professional physicist who just came into the room after having lunch. I gazed at myself stunned and not knowing what to do. But, the fact that I will be able to get a free somewhat exciting physics lesson resonated in my mind, encouraging me to not jump into panic mode.

Just as I rolled my eyes to search for my book, I started to write with no control of myself. I struggled to move. I was writing and writing a whole lot of information and I couldn’t process any of it. I started to realise that I was not my real self and that I could see the vision of someone else. Then a bell rang with a sharp ting and instantly a set of students began rushing into the class. The character (I exactly didn’t know his name) who I had the vision of, was talking to the students and all I could do was see what he did. It was excruciating and kind of disappointing to not understand the information taught by a great physicist. Then, first off was the homework phase. He introduced the bread and butter topics of basic physics and made his way up. A frenzy of enthusiasm struck me.

“Nice, sometimes this could help me solve my homework!” I thought to myself.

I saw the chalk moving and moving without coming to a stop. It was finished in ten minutes. He reached for a new box of white chalk and began scribbling the drawings. The box looked premium. Equations were written every moment. They popped up on the blackboard like magic. Some were easy and some were out of this world. The students also advocated some suggestions and it was kind of nice to be present in such a class. Sometimes, the environment that you are in can also affect your studying. 

After an hour of visual learning, I get to see my real environment (my home). Sadly, I couldn’t implement anything in my studying. I rotated around three hundred and sixty degrees to make sure that I was home and not somewhere else. I touched my eyes and moved my hands and legs. I was happy that I was a free bird. The thing that saddens me is that even though I was a free bird,I was not free from what I call the “physics cage”. I saw my physics book lying still on the wooden table. On a scale of one to ten, I rated the class an eight. Not bad, just perfectly fine. My motivation mushroomed in my mind to become a physicist like him in my long career into physics.

This experience didn’t complete my assignment nor gave me a whirlwind tour about physics, but it showed me a glimpse of what it takes to be a mad physicist and that I was a million miles away from being a genius. Plus (bonus point), I also learnt that to be a genius, you need to have that tingling madness for learning in you.