no more certain than I think I might have been before: uncertainty, con't.

[elpollodiablo]

"Doing something" = Helping Bristol McTrustfund turn $100MM into $500MM

[DCDave]

 

[elpollodiablo]

Really though I don't expect to really enjoy teaching until I actually get to teach a lit course. Composition instruction is the academic equivalent of line cook at Wendy's.

[Good Intentions]

Does it matter that I don't really give one half of one fuck that students intermittently sleep through my class? Cuz I really don't. I absolutely don't make enough money to scold anyone, nor do I think it really matters, inna final analysis. I'm sure the department might take issue with that, though.

The first class I took, Calculus 1, the lecturer told us that it's far better that we fall asleep in her class than not come at all. Not all my lecturers have had that attitude, but I think there's something to that.

I do, about once a semester or so, take a big sigh and tell my students that they're not at all taking their work seriously enough, and that however it might feel to them, their workload is a joke (despite what I'm sure they tell themselves) and they have no excuse for slacking off. I probably shouldn't.

[milesofsparks]

...who fucked who in regard to my education...

I believe you mean 'who fucked whom'

sorry, couldn't pass it up.

[jm]

hahaha nice. mos

[elpollodiablo]

I guess my favorite part of the Post-Colonial Studies seminar today was when my colleague invoked Robert Mugabe as an authoritative voice on the subject of homosexuality in Africa. "You'd call him ignorant? He has a doctorate!"

[jm]

No one who speaks German could be an evil man.

[nonotyet]

Someone who is not me but shares my first name is using my email address for all and fucking sundry, and I just discovered now that they have reserved a flight on November 10 from Denver to Los Angeles. Previously, this Sarah who is not me has:
had cartilage formula delivered from NuSkin (WAIT THAT IS A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SARAH)(WHAT THE FUCK IS CARTILAGE FORMULA)
ordered books on art therapy from Amazon (that time I called them to make sure that none of my financial information was involved and they were like "probably she just typed in the email address wrong")
and is now going to Los Angeles.

I do not know how to stop this, or if I should be concerned at all. I have a really generic email address but I have had it for, like, ten years, and I have never had emails like this. Either people are just prone to typos or this is a new exciting form of phishing, and I am depressed because these people who are using my email address are way more exciting than I am. Also they are art therapist sharks, evidently.
 

[YojimboMonkey]

e-mail back and cancel her flight, that'll teach her

[Ignatius]

If it is a gmail account and if there are dots in either one of your email addresses but they are otherwise the same they get mixed up sometimes.

[Little Sixes Little Nines]

yeah, gmail have a very fucked up relationship with dots

[Maaik]

Good christ, I am going through another one of those periods where all my confidence in my profession goes out the window and I'm constantly afraid that people are going to find me out to be an unqualified fraud.

Goddamnit.

[Anne the Man]

  It's alright, Myke, because you have the power of being awesome behind you. I don't have more specific helpful talk than that, but you are a smart guy and I doubt you're unqualified.

[elpollodiablo]

Seriously thinking about canceling class tomorrow morning just because I don't have anything to talk about. "Sorry kids, no class today. They didn't give me enough asinine time-killing activities and readings to fill out 150 minutes this week. Please compose a five paragraph essay on the perfunctory nature of higher education. I'll be sleeping in after staying up until midnight playing Fallout and drinking whisky."

[mixed cats]

Tell them to bring their laptops in for a LAN party

[coldforge]

Just reamed out a friend who I feel like has been a smug, superior dick to me for a while. Been a while since I did that. Feels gross.

[jebreject]

I hate how fucking guilty I feel when I take time for myself. I made loose plans with friends this weekend, and I'm flaking out on all of them. Which, I mean, I realize is understandable and justifiable given the circumstances (for those of you who aren't on my FB, my grandfather just died, and it's hit me pretty hard), but I still feel like such a total asshole and like I'm letting people down. There was a show last night and another tonight that I really feel like I should be at, but I just can't bear the thought of going and being around strangers or standing in the cold-ass garage behind the Borg Ward. But now here I am, making myself feel even worse because I'm letting myself take time for myself.

[clare]

Fortunately people get it when a family member dies, so you aren't actually letting them down. Big hugs to you, and I'm glad you're taking time out for yourself.

[auto-da-fey]

I've been growing my hair out for some months now, mostly because the lady likes it that way. I don't have strong feelings one way or the other, but it's become a big shaggy mess (which is clearly her preference) that hangs down into my eyes, and I'm not sure what to do about it because I've never learned how to deal with hair (my two techniques over the course of a lifetime are 1. defer to ladyfriend of the moment, or in the absence of a ladyfriend, 2. wait until my irritation hits critical mass and then chop my hair into abbreviated oblivion).

[jm]

oblivs, as it were.

[nonotyet]

YES

[auto-da-fey]

new uncertainty: I have to go give a paper in Boston tomorrow in the early/mid-afternoon. I had a choice between flying up at 9 and having plenty of time to get to the conference, get registered, find my room, etc., and flying at 10 and sleeping an extra hour but having a tighter time-squeeze. no bonus points for guessing which I chose.

now it's nearly midnight, I haven't rehearsed this paper a single time, and the beer I'm drinking (Flying Fish's Exit 4, from their American Trippel thing--dunno, M left it in my fridge) must be stronger than it seems because I feel tanked.

also I haven't packed, written syllabi, etc. and when I get back from Boston, I leave immediately for Egypt with precisely one day of downtime before the semester. ugh.

[auto-da-fey]

also I cut my own hair tonight, which was probably a bad idea but the sort of thing I do when the alternative is preparing for a conference.

[elpollodiablo]

Protip: anything with the word "tripel" on it is gonna be pretty strong.

Good luck tomorrow.