let me join the fray of grumpy people, pt 1
I don't know if "grumpy" is the right word, more like "frustrated" and "want to beat some people with a stick". Not just in one part of my life, but like in
all parts of my life, even the ones I don't directly participate in (e.g. family things thousands of miles away).
So school, I only have a few more weeks this semester, and that's a good thing, except when I realize what is DUE in those remaining weeks. It goes like this (and this isn't including finals, because those things don't cause great consternation for me)...
* org change & behavior class: a group paper, combined with a group presentation. I've been dragging my team members kicking and screaming through the semester, and a few of them have completed all their tasks but the remaining folks did a half-assed job, don't seem to understand that they need to fix their half-assed-jobness, and thus I must do that (note: I know that "must" isn't correct, but the alternative of "bad grade" necessitates the "must" for me). The presentation is on 12/2 and we have one idea, and thankfully one of the other good folks has stepped up to be the "leader" for it, but still, I fear it will suck. So, stress there.
* bus systems & policy class: there are two more group things here, one lab and one case. My group, bless their hearts, they try so hard to do good work and just miss the mark every so slightly...these people, I don't mind at all working with, even though I could a) be a total bitch and just do all the work for everyone or b) tell them how wrong they are and then not help them fix it, but I don't do either. I sort of push them in the right direction, and go with whatever they come up with, unless of course it's so terribly wrong that I couldn't abide by it. I'm getting an A in the class regardless of the group things, so I'm more concerned with getting the lightbulbs to go on in their heads than whether or not I look good.
* intl & comparative mgmnt: whatever. I think we have an exam remaining. no group stuff, that's cool. This class is such an incredible waste of time, but I do a lot of grading during his lectures, so it's kinda like two-hours of built-in multitasking.
* mgmnt issues in high tech companies. This is the "want to smack someone" class. We have a group project, to analyze quality issues in a high tech company. I offered one of our clients up, with the thought that sure, client contact could answer some questions for us. Didn't hear from the dude for a few weeks, and then he came back with basically "can't do it"...which is fine, if we had known anytime sooner than that. My fault for not staying on him, but really...fine line when there's a favor involved. So I offered some more ideas and people on my end were basically unable to help us out, so I threw it back to the group and said "look, I think you all need to jump in here and offer suggestions or paths to try because as it stands now I am the only one owning this and that's not fair to everyone". What I really meant, of course was "for the love of god, would you people step up and look like thinking individuals and either answer my questions or come up with your own, or at least say something that makes it look like you even have the foggiest idea of what this class is about, because I think you all are the ones who are getting less than 50% on the exams." To be fair, there are two people in the group who are trying, but aren't getting it. The other two, I have no idea what their deal is. Also, it's not like I'm getting any greater grade than B on the exams (I am a terrible bubble-test taker). Grr. I really need to take a step back from this one.
* phil of science: it's a happy little online class. I have to write a paper soon, but it's a generic research paper that's all of maybe 5 pages and I have zero concerns about it. I have a group project that I'm involved in this week, and while I have no concerns about it from a subject matter standpoint, there's this one group member that is just psycho when it comes to posting things, etc. As I said today, "this is an asynchronous class, and I'm starting to feel as if I need to apologize for not being in synch" which of course is not true, but that's what I said instead of saying "Jesus fucking christ, beeyatch, chill out and give us all a moment to deal with our own schedules and get to the same point as you with your obviously-don't-have-to-work-or-juggle-classes schedule."
* victorian lit: We have a paper to do: "pick something thematic, talk about at least two authors" ... those were his instructions. He then went on to explain that he's just really flexible and doesn't care what we write about or how we approach it, as long as it's well-argued and looks like we have a clue about what we're doing. I'm really fine with that, it's just a little too flexible than what I'm used to. I also think that if the class makeup were different, he would be more specific, but while it's an undergrad class, of the 15 people in it I think more than half are in the MA program as conditionally-classified folks getting up to speed, or post-bacs or something that's basically "not sophomore English major schmucks" although we have a couple of those. I must say, though, that last night's 2 hour lecture on all things Arnoldian was basically the highlight of my week...not to knock Matthew Arnold at all, but that should tell you the kind of week I've had.
As a side note, I take shitty notes in class. I'm a listener, and this prof is really funny and a very good lecturer (whatever that means). So I was joking with another woman in my class, who takes copius notes (pages and pages and pages to my few lines of crap), and I said something along the lines of "you should see
my notes...they're along the lines of 'Tennyson - important'". Everyone laughed. I tend to be the ice-breaker in that class. Go figure.
Stay tuned for part II, where I describe the grumpiness and frustration caused by the class I teach! Part III, because you
know you want to read it, is all about family frustrations. (Dad, don't be concerned. I mean
extended family. You know I love you and mom. At least today.)
