hello
  i'm reading through the lecture notes and i have some questions.
 
  first, what is meant by psi*? i think ive seen that before but i do not remember and its not in any of my notes. is it the wave function of a particle moving in the opposite direction as psi?

• First of all, Kudos for reading and asking questions! $\psi^*$ is literally the complex conjugate of $\psi$. The physical meaning is actually exactly as you say! Moving in the opposite direction! A more correct way to say it is the time-reversed state. However, just knowing "complex conjugate" is fine at this point.

  also, is the hamiltonian operator just the energy of the system? i have never heard of it before this class.

• It could be that it was shown with the Schrodinger equation (in 101), and the meaning was not let known.

  TISE (time-independent Schrodinger equation): $H \psi = E \psi$. $H$ is the QM operator for energy. The eigenvalue of $H$ or the expectation value of $H$ is the energy.