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THINGS THAT ARE STUPID. With the longer rants cut to save your friendslist.
1. Going like a week and a half without posting when I was going to try to post every day. Oops. Let's try for take two, shall we?
2. The guys I play as one hundred percent gay in a real person baseball RP knocking up their wives. Months after I have established, in a game where we try our best to follow real life events, that my fake analogues of these guys do not actually sleep with their wives. Cut it the fuck out, would you?
3. Not being able to get my meds. Last month, my insurance company did this cute thing where they accidentally deleted my account. It was a week before I could get my medication again. All I take is Adderall (legal speed derivative, wheeee!) for my Attention Deficit Disorder, THANK GOD. At least my LIFE wasn't in DANGER. Although going through withdrawal from Adderall is a bitch. It doesn't come with headaches and mood swings, but it does bring the worst insomnia I have ever had. Thanks partly to a nasty work schedule and partly to the insomnia that kept me from recovering from that schedule, I was operating on four hours' sleep in two days ON CHRISTMAS. God, I felt so sick. It is not right to feel that sick without an actual virus in your system. Oh, and a week was apparently long enough to get the medication out of my system entirely, because when I finally got it back, it was like starting all over again.
THIS MONTH, my pharmacy is OUT of Adderall. Luckily, I have a pill left for tomorrow, and hopefully, it won't take a WEEK to find a place that does have it, but come on. Two months' running? Can I please just go to Rite-Aid, hand them my prescription, wait half an hour, get my medication, and leave? Pleeeeease?
4. Having to make extra pharmacy trips that, thanks to my schedule, prevent me from working extra hours to get money I desperately need. Nuff said.
5a. When my worst high school English class was better than my current college English class. My Introduction to Literature class is a fucking JOKE. I'll gloss right over the part where we spent the first FOUR FULL CLASSES doing NOTHING that had anything to do with English. Apparently introduction activities are crucial enough to take up two classes, and also it's our job to determine the grading weight of various components of the class such as writing and attendance. Which also took up two classes. Funny how every other teacher I have ever had managed to figure that shit out without student input.
Let us discuss two other aspects of this class, instead. We have a list of the things we will be reading this semester. I have already studied eight of these, two just last semester. And those are just the ones with titles I recognize. And the level of the material? I'd say the intellectual high point is Edgar Allen Poe. I almost had to ruin that joke when I re-read the list and found "Ulysses," but I checked the textbook and of course it's not Homer. Or Dante. It's a poem by Tennyson that encapsulates a tiny piece of the overall story.
. . . I read Ulysses in ninth grade. I must have covered both of Robert "Hallmark stanza" Frost's (come on, if Frost were alive today, he'd be writing poetry for Hallmark and you know it) most famous pieces at least twice. The only year of high school I can't find a repeat for is my sophomore year. And, okay, I took honors English for my first three years and AP English in my senior year, and I am attending a community college, and this is a required class. I didn't expect every day to be Shakespeare and Chaucer. (WE ARE NOT READING ANY SHAKESPEARE, PEOPLE. NOT ONE. NOT EVEN ANY EXCERPTS.) But when the only - ONLY - novel we are reading is Huckleberry goddamned Finn? That's just insulting. I didn't have tremendous expectations, but I did expect to be treated as though I've picked up a book or two in my life.
5b. And as if that weren't enough, the teacher is incompetent.
Here is how we study these things that apparently represent literature. Our teacher gives us two or three study questions to go with the story/poem we are assigned. The best questions are the generic, bland ones. ("What is the symbolism of the items listed in 'The Things They Carried' [senior year!]? I answered that they don't symbolize shit, because the author takes such pains to explain their meaning that there is nothing left to freaking symbolize. This class really brings out my contrary tendencies.) The mediocre ones are the ones that make no sense, like drawing a parallel between two characters in two different stories who have nothing in common except setting out to accomplish an unpleasant task. Because that never, ever happens in literature. The worst are the ones that come with parenthetical comments that tell us what she thinks. The hell? That instantly makes it impossible to come up with my own damn thoughts, and that's if I can manage to marshal any on whatever bit of pap she's foisted on us this time. I have taken to writing answers that completely oppose whatever she's trying to tell us to say. My very favorite so far is one where she asks if we think a character is "evil." This is funny because in the syllabus, she takes great pains to tell us NOT to use vague, excessive language because it's so unquantifiable and allows little discussion. As we all know, "evil" is a nice tidy little word that requires no further clarification and is totally appropriate in a scholastic context.
All I could do was dismiss the concept of "evil," briefly explain why, and then go on to argue that the character, an escaped convict who slaughters an entire family so they can't tell anyone they saw him, is just doing what he feels he needs to do. I can't wait to see the comments on that one.
BECAUSE. Yesterday we discussed "The Use of Force." (Which I studied last semester, and now I hate this fucking story and I never want to see it again.) In it, a doctor becomes increasingly physically forceful with a child he suspects of having diphtheria (it took place in, like, the thirties), and he gets so pissed off at her for refusing to let him examine her throat to find out for sure that he admits freely to the reader that he'd like to rip her stubborn little head off. It's not a pretty scene, and his anger is excessive and creepy, but this is a life-threatening illness and he's seen kids die because they weren't treated in time. Personally, in the context of the situation, I think his actions are, if not ethical, then at least justifiable - it's his emotional response to the whole thing that obfuscates the issue and tends to get the kneejerk reaction of "OMG HE'S SO WRONG."
So, in class discussion of subjects such as English, where exploring interpretations is the entire POINT (as opposed to, like, math, where the answer is what it is and you just cannot argue that 2+2=5), the teacher's role is to facilitate discussion and ask questions designed to get students thinking and talking with each other, correct?
Not in my class! :D
In my class, the teacher's role is to assign controversial stuff, get discussion rolling, and then verbally bludgeon us into agreeing that she's right!
Seriously. That kneejerk reaction? She crammed it down our throats for fifteen minutes. Anyone who argued, like yours truly, was (almost literally) shouted down. Anyone who thought they could defend the doctor was clearly a violent psychotic babyrapist. (My words, not hers. I'm exaggerating. Slightly.)
I don't think I even need to tell you how appalled and offended I was. It's fiction. Just because I can understand the actions of a fictional doctor who fictionally almost assaults a fictional child in a work of fiction doesn't mean that when I leave class I go find toddlers to mutilate.
But worse than that? This is English class. This should be a discussion, not an opportunity for the teacher to climb up on her soapbox and pass moral fucking judgment. That's what really has me angry. This class may not be up to my high standards, and if I want to learn I'll have to do it on my own time, but there are plenty of kids there who did not spend high school in honors English and who are just not good at analyzing literature. Their strengths lie elsewhere. I'd like to know what the hell they're supposed to learn in a class where the teacher tells them not just how to analyze literature, but what they are supposed to think of it.
6. There is no six, because I completely drained myself on that last one.
I suppose I should balance this out with a list of things that are not stupid, but fuck that. I'll save that for later. Right now I just want to bitch.
1. Going like a week and a half without posting when I was going to try to post every day. Oops. Let's try for take two, shall we?
2. The guys I play as one hundred percent gay in a real person baseball RP knocking up their wives. Months after I have established, in a game where we try our best to follow real life events, that my fake analogues of these guys do not actually sleep with their wives. Cut it the fuck out, would you?
3. Not being able to get my meds. Last month, my insurance company did this cute thing where they accidentally deleted my account. It was a week before I could get my medication again. All I take is Adderall (legal speed derivative, wheeee!) for my Attention Deficit Disorder, THANK GOD. At least my LIFE wasn't in DANGER. Although going through withdrawal from Adderall is a bitch. It doesn't come with headaches and mood swings, but it does bring the worst insomnia I have ever had. Thanks partly to a nasty work schedule and partly to the insomnia that kept me from recovering from that schedule, I was operating on four hours' sleep in two days ON CHRISTMAS. God, I felt so sick. It is not right to feel that sick without an actual virus in your system. Oh, and a week was apparently long enough to get the medication out of my system entirely, because when I finally got it back, it was like starting all over again.
THIS MONTH, my pharmacy is OUT of Adderall. Luckily, I have a pill left for tomorrow, and hopefully, it won't take a WEEK to find a place that does have it, but come on. Two months' running? Can I please just go to Rite-Aid, hand them my prescription, wait half an hour, get my medication, and leave? Pleeeeease?
4. Having to make extra pharmacy trips that, thanks to my schedule, prevent me from working extra hours to get money I desperately need. Nuff said.
5a. When my worst high school English class was better than my current college English class. My Introduction to Literature class is a fucking JOKE. I'll gloss right over the part where we spent the first FOUR FULL CLASSES doing NOTHING that had anything to do with English. Apparently introduction activities are crucial enough to take up two classes, and also it's our job to determine the grading weight of various components of the class such as writing and attendance. Which also took up two classes. Funny how every other teacher I have ever had managed to figure that shit out without student input.
Let us discuss two other aspects of this class, instead. We have a list of the things we will be reading this semester. I have already studied eight of these, two just last semester. And those are just the ones with titles I recognize. And the level of the material? I'd say the intellectual high point is Edgar Allen Poe. I almost had to ruin that joke when I re-read the list and found "Ulysses," but I checked the textbook and of course it's not Homer. Or Dante. It's a poem by Tennyson that encapsulates a tiny piece of the overall story.
. . . I read Ulysses in ninth grade. I must have covered both of Robert "Hallmark stanza" Frost's (come on, if Frost were alive today, he'd be writing poetry for Hallmark and you know it) most famous pieces at least twice. The only year of high school I can't find a repeat for is my sophomore year. And, okay, I took honors English for my first three years and AP English in my senior year, and I am attending a community college, and this is a required class. I didn't expect every day to be Shakespeare and Chaucer. (WE ARE NOT READING ANY SHAKESPEARE, PEOPLE. NOT ONE. NOT EVEN ANY EXCERPTS.) But when the only - ONLY - novel we are reading is Huckleberry goddamned Finn? That's just insulting. I didn't have tremendous expectations, but I did expect to be treated as though I've picked up a book or two in my life.
5b. And as if that weren't enough, the teacher is incompetent.
Here is how we study these things that apparently represent literature. Our teacher gives us two or three study questions to go with the story/poem we are assigned. The best questions are the generic, bland ones. ("What is the symbolism of the items listed in 'The Things They Carried' [senior year!]? I answered that they don't symbolize shit, because the author takes such pains to explain their meaning that there is nothing left to freaking symbolize. This class really brings out my contrary tendencies.) The mediocre ones are the ones that make no sense, like drawing a parallel between two characters in two different stories who have nothing in common except setting out to accomplish an unpleasant task. Because that never, ever happens in literature. The worst are the ones that come with parenthetical comments that tell us what she thinks. The hell? That instantly makes it impossible to come up with my own damn thoughts, and that's if I can manage to marshal any on whatever bit of pap she's foisted on us this time. I have taken to writing answers that completely oppose whatever she's trying to tell us to say. My very favorite so far is one where she asks if we think a character is "evil." This is funny because in the syllabus, she takes great pains to tell us NOT to use vague, excessive language because it's so unquantifiable and allows little discussion. As we all know, "evil" is a nice tidy little word that requires no further clarification and is totally appropriate in a scholastic context.
All I could do was dismiss the concept of "evil," briefly explain why, and then go on to argue that the character, an escaped convict who slaughters an entire family so they can't tell anyone they saw him, is just doing what he feels he needs to do. I can't wait to see the comments on that one.
BECAUSE. Yesterday we discussed "The Use of Force." (Which I studied last semester, and now I hate this fucking story and I never want to see it again.) In it, a doctor becomes increasingly physically forceful with a child he suspects of having diphtheria (it took place in, like, the thirties), and he gets so pissed off at her for refusing to let him examine her throat to find out for sure that he admits freely to the reader that he'd like to rip her stubborn little head off. It's not a pretty scene, and his anger is excessive and creepy, but this is a life-threatening illness and he's seen kids die because they weren't treated in time. Personally, in the context of the situation, I think his actions are, if not ethical, then at least justifiable - it's his emotional response to the whole thing that obfuscates the issue and tends to get the kneejerk reaction of "OMG HE'S SO WRONG."
So, in class discussion of subjects such as English, where exploring interpretations is the entire POINT (as opposed to, like, math, where the answer is what it is and you just cannot argue that 2+2=5), the teacher's role is to facilitate discussion and ask questions designed to get students thinking and talking with each other, correct?
Not in my class! :D
In my class, the teacher's role is to assign controversial stuff, get discussion rolling, and then verbally bludgeon us into agreeing that she's right!
Seriously. That kneejerk reaction? She crammed it down our throats for fifteen minutes. Anyone who argued, like yours truly, was (almost literally) shouted down. Anyone who thought they could defend the doctor was clearly a violent psychotic babyrapist. (My words, not hers. I'm exaggerating. Slightly.)
I don't think I even need to tell you how appalled and offended I was. It's fiction. Just because I can understand the actions of a fictional doctor who fictionally almost assaults a fictional child in a work of fiction doesn't mean that when I leave class I go find toddlers to mutilate.
But worse than that? This is English class. This should be a discussion, not an opportunity for the teacher to climb up on her soapbox and pass moral fucking judgment. That's what really has me angry. This class may not be up to my high standards, and if I want to learn I'll have to do it on my own time, but there are plenty of kids there who did not spend high school in honors English and who are just not good at analyzing literature. Their strengths lie elsewhere. I'd like to know what the hell they're supposed to learn in a class where the teacher tells them not just how to analyze literature, but what they are supposed to think of it.
6. There is no six, because I completely drained myself on that last one.
I suppose I should balance this out with a list of things that are not stupid, but fuck that. I'll save that for later. Right now I just want to bitch.
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At least financial aid means that I'm not wasting my money on this shit.
I'm wasting someone else's! Yay!From:
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Providing that the wives exist in the RPG? Two words. Artificial insemination.
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The first time, I'd already given the wife a boyfriend ages ago, so that wasn't too hard. This time, I'm kind of having to scramble.
At least with my third guy, I started playing him long before we knew about his girlfriend, so she doesn't exist in the game. Impregnate away!
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BLAH. SCHOLASTICISM!
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Oy gevalt. That English class situation...@_@ I'd be quite upset as well. I can't even imagine if my music professors had done anything like that to me...
And o_O at your insurance company for deleting your account. Having to go without medicines like that really sucks. If I don't have my Paxil I get these "brain shivers" that make me feel like my head is coming off my neck.
*hugs*
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The drug situation sounds most annoying.
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