everyday defeats

[cosmo105]

i'm sure you have your own. along the lines of Caitlin Atkinson's Chapters. (http://www.caitlinatkinson.net/chapter1.html)..


yesterday, i set about making my morning swig of chocolate soymilk mixed with flaxseed oil to help me down my miscellaneous supplements. as usual, i began to shake the box (it comes in an aseptic package, like a large juicebox), without realizing that the snap top of the package was not properly closed.

chocolate soymilk proceeded to project itself across my shirt (which had taken me a while to pick out that morning), my feet, my shorts, and most of the counter in front of me (drenching my breakfast, and papers and various other crap on it).

i let out a little pained cry.


after rinsing that shirt off and donning another, i ventured out in the hot sun to my last college. i parked, paid the meter, walked the long trek to the admissions office. waited in line, picked up my transcript (that, in order to receive it, i had to perform those same actions yesterday). drove home to pick up my student reports/degree progress that i had forgotten there, then drove to my new school to speak with a stranger.

the thing is, when my transcripts were originally sent to them, the grades for the classes in progress hadn't posted yet. and these classes are prerequisites for most of the other courses in my study. i didn't know i had to send a transcript again. so i was told by my nutrition department counselor to speak to the professor of the chemistry course i wanted to enroll in about it, and i emailed him and called him and waited for weeks with no response. finally i called the department office and they said to come in and speak to the department chair. thus the transcript - i got one, rushed ($12.50 a copy) service, paid the $4 parking fee, parked in the sweltering heat, and walked to the chemistry building. waited next to some wannabe punk guy wearing way too much cheap cologne trying to strike up conversation with me. finally spoke to the department chair -

prof: so, you need chem 103 to get into 104.
me: took chem 120 at my school, which is the equivalent to your school's 103.
prof: where's the proof of that?
Jessica pulls out assist.org transfer sheet, showing that 120 is equivalent to 103
prof: ah. but i need a course description and authorization.
me: oh. i was told that all i needed was to show you this and you'd approve...
prof: well, i can't do that without the proper description. you sure that's not 101?
me: no, there's a 101 class, this is different. i think it's in the nursing program or something.
prof: well, why didn't you get registration to approve it as a substitute?
me: i didn't know i'd need to. they told me it'd take 6-8 weeks to process when i called them last week anyway.
prof: yeah, that's not true. i don't believe it.
me: what?
prof: it doesn't take them that long. tell you what, why don't you take this transcript - oh. wait.
me: what?
prof: well, it's already opened. it's not official anymore. i wish you hadn't opened it.
me (annoyed and getting desperate):...you opened it! i bought this one especially for this meeting, to show you!
prof: oh. well, why don't you get another one, and walk to registration and tell them to see if they can process it quickly so you can register for this class. i bet they could do it.
me: ...i guess...i could...
prof: let me just check something real quick for you.
prof exits stage right to an adjacent room, typing noises ensue. after a moment, he returns to the table and sits down.
prof: well!
me: well?
prof: i just checked on the class.
me: ...
prof: it's full.
Jessica lets out a fuck-this-i-give-up-there-god-you-win-are-you-happy-now? sigh.
me: oh. i...i'll take it next semester. it's ok.
prof: you have very good grades...are you sure you don't want to be a chemistry major?
me: yeah. i'm sure. it's a difficult subject for me, i really have to work hard at it to get those As.
prof: it's hard for all of us, even the professors here. but the thing is we work hard at it because we like it so much.
Jessica grins as hard as she can without grinding her teeth into a paste, swallowing the words "i don't like chemistry though," says her polite thank-you-anyway, and exits stage left.
scene.

[Waus]

What a dick.





Purdue hasn't given me the shaft like that yet.

[cosmo105]

eh, it's not really his fault. i just think it's ridiculous how much paperwork and bureaucracy is involved in transferring courses. i mean, why can't all the courses just be the same numbers so that there's no confusion? and i've gone through all the steps, talked with counselors, gone to the transfer center, and i still feel lost. there's never enough staff to give you the attention you need to figure out exactly what you need to do to get your degree. my taxes were easier than this.

[enree erzweglle]

Soy milk gives me a headache predictably.

That guy with the big cheap cologne must have been a great combination with the big heat out there. What a day.

I loved chemistry and have taken about all they have to offer. At first college-level chem hurt my head the way soy milk does but then something happened and I got it and it was (lb).

[cosmo105]

eh, i like chem and i don't. i'm really interested in it, for sure. but some aspects of the classes i've taken have been just boring and ugh for me. and i've got years of biochem and microbio ahead of me :\

[beastieangel01]

my taxes were easier than this.

amen to that.

sorry about the pain in the ass, m'dear.

[cosmo105]

i want other people to add their own everyday failures in here so we can all laugh at ourselves and cry into a bowl of sorbet together.

[Echewta]

Going to college is just for people afraid to get a job.

[ToucanSpam]

That's university for you, giving everyone the run-around and telling you one thing one day and it changing the next.


I recall when I began my university career two years ago, I was given credit for second year english and a second/third year history to go towards my degree (thanks IB). Anyways the whatever-entrance person was like 'it's a go', and now two years later the history is worthless and I have to take as many courses as I can stuff into two years to satisfy graduate school. Great, I guess I'll just whip up three or four thousand dollars out of my white Canadian middle-class bum.

[monkey]

transfering is just about the most annoying bunch of beaurocracy ive ever dealt with. i transfered from one school where i had 45 credits and my new school only took 28 of them. the rest were "unnaccetable due to lack of equivalent course." of course, i blame school #1 for making up classes such as "antiquity and the 19th century" a required freshman course.

as for chem: try to get in it anyway. first day, at least 10% of the class drops out. it's how it goes for most lower level sciences, kids get all excited about the class until they realize the courseload sucks.

[like2_drink]

maybe i'll just be a roofer

[cosmo105]

oh, i know most of them would drop anyway. but my prof probably wouldn't be able to sign me in anyway, because of the transfer thing. the head told me they'd be doubling the class size next semester, so i figure i'll wait until then. i just have chem fresh in my mind from my last class, and i don't want to forget anything...ah well, i have 12 units now and that's all i need. sigh.

[ToucanSpam]

I can't for the bullshit of transferring to another school to do my MA.


PS- Organic Chemistry is retarded.

[SobaViolence]

when i transferred from Waterloo to Ottawa
it took 5 months to get in
just processing and shit
needed high school and uni transcripts, which both took a month to obtain
i got accepted with 1.5 weeks before school started

and i lost a whole semester worth of grades in the process

i feel your pain.
don't give up.
(y)

[Waus]

Defeat.


I took this awesome video compositing course and the professor really liked my project. He said he'd have projects he was working on this summer and he'd hire students if we needed some kind of work.

I got all excited (I love video graphics) and asked him about when I could start. This was a couple months before school got out. He says "Oh yeah! You guys are great (my group)! I could totally use you on this project I have coming up. They already told me I got the grant, and I can pay you guys as highly as I'm allowed to for a student for about 20 hours a week!"

So I'm geeked. I e-mail the guy, but he doesn't respond to e-mails as we discover, no biggie, he's busy. I talked to him after class about it and he said he'd let me know as soon as the paperwork came through for his grant. He gives us his cell number and takes mine down.

School is rapidly coming to a close and we're asking him for details in class. He says he's still waiting on the paperwork. School's over. Turns out the guy not only doesn't answer e-mails, but also his cell phone. His voice-mail message "WAAAAAAHHHHH!!" Seriously. College professor. I leave a few messages asking if he could give us an update on the grant. No calls back.

About 3 weeks into the summer my roomie gives up on him. I get a job doing grunt web-design work for the engineering communications office. What a flake-ass professor.

[cosmo105]

this morning, whilst ironing one of my favorite shirts to wear today, i guess i must have still been half-asleep. i wasn't paying attention and ironed right over the printed design. i totally fucked up Carrie Brownstein's face. whimper. :(

[Bob]

ah forget it

[ampm]

i'm sure you have your own. along the lines of Caitlin Atkinson's Chapters. (http://www.caitlinatkinson.net/chapter1.html)..


yesterday, i set about making my morning swig of chocolate soymilk mixed with flaxseed oil to help me down my miscellaneous supplements. as usual, i began to shake the box (it comes in an aseptic package, like a large juicebox), without realizing that the snap top of the package was not properly closed.

chocolate soymilk proceeded to project itself across my shirt (which had taken me a while to pick out that morning), my feet, my shorts, and most of the counter in front of me (drenching my breakfast, and papers and various other crap on it).

i let out a little pained cry.


after rinsing that shirt off and donning another, i ventured out in the hot sun to my last college. i parked, paid the meter, walked the long trek to the admissions office. waited in line, picked up my transcript (that, in order to receive it, i had to perform those same actions yesterday). drove home to pick up my student reports/degree progress that i had forgotten there, then drove to my new school to speak with a stranger.

the thing is, when my transcripts were originally sent to them, the grades for the classes in progress hadn't posted yet. and these classes are prerequisites for most of the other courses in my study. i didn't know i had to send a transcript again. so i was told by my nutrition department counselor to speak to the professor of the chemistry course i wanted to enroll in about it, and i emailed him and called him and waited for weeks with no response. finally i called the department office and they said to come in and speak to the department chair. thus the transcript - i got one, rushed ($12.50 a copy) service, paid the $4 parking fee, parked in the sweltering heat, and walked to the chemistry building. waited next to some wannabe punk guy wearing way too much cheap cologne trying to strike up conversation with me. finally spoke to the department chair -

prof: so, you need chem 103 to get into 104.
me: took chem 120 at my school, which is the equivalent to your school's 103.
prof: where's the proof of that?
Jessica pulls out assist.org transfer sheet, showing that 120 is equivalent to 103
prof: ah. but i need a course description and authorization.
me: oh. i was told that all i needed was to show you this and you'd approve...
prof: well, i can't do that without the proper description. you sure that's not 101?
me: no, there's a 101 class, this is different. i think it's in the nursing program or something.
prof: well, why didn't you get registration to approve it as a substitute?
me: i didn't know i'd need to. they told me it'd take 6-8 weeks to process when i called them last week anyway.
prof: yeah, that's not true. i don't believe it.
me: what?
prof: it doesn't take them that long. tell you what, why don't you take this transcript - oh. wait.
me: what?
prof: well, it's already opened. it's not official anymore. i wish you hadn't opened it.
me (annoyed and getting desperate):...you opened it! i bought this one especially for this meeting, to show you!
prof: oh. well, why don't you get another one, and walk to registration and tell them to see if they can process it quickly so you can register for this class. i bet they could do it.
me: ...i guess...i could...
prof: let me just check something real quick for you.
prof exits stage right to an adjacent room, typing noises ensue. after a moment, he returns to the table and sits down.
prof: well!
me: well?
prof: i just checked on the class.
me: ...
prof: it's full.
Jessica lets out a fuck-this-i-give-up-there-god-you-win-are-you-happy-now? sigh.
me: oh. i...i'll take it next semester. it's ok.
prof: you have very good grades...are you sure you don't want to be a chemistry major?
me: yeah. i'm sure. it's a difficult subject for me, i really have to work hard at it to get those As.
prof: it's hard for all of us, even the professors here. but the thing is we work hard at it because we like it so much.
Jessica grins as hard as she can without grinding her teeth into a paste, swallowing the words "i don't like chemistry though," says her polite thank-you-anyway, and exits stage left.
scene.


I need an internet bookmarker to read this thread.

[marsdaddy]

I got an urgent call yesterday from one of my colleagues. He needed my help to get something done. He only calls when he needs my help. Usually it's something he can do himself so I decided, rather than help him, I was going to teach him to fish. So I started asking him questions.

He answered a few, then started to get annoyed. He said something to the effect of, "are you going to help me, or not?" I told him I was helping him and wanted to understand where the process was breaking down. He told me, there is no breakdown, he just needs my help. He then said, nevermind and told me he'd talk to me later. So he called another of my colleagues, who also always calls me for help. That colleague called me.

Now, it's a day later, he still needs my help, but he thinks I'm going to tell my colleague how to help him.

Maybe this is a win for me and defeat for him?

[Documad]

Within the past week, I slammed my bare foot in my own driver's side car door and also shut my electric car window on my own hand. The foot thing is particularly stupid because I slammed my RIGHT foot in the door while sitting in the driver's seat.

If I'm starting menopause or something, I'm just going to have to kill myself.

[Documad]

this morning, whilst ironing one of my favorite shirts to wear today, i guess i must have still been half-asleep. i wasn't paying attention and ironed right over the printed design. i totally fucked up Carrie Brownstein's face. whimper. :(
Not Carrie's face. :(

[Bob]

at first i read that as "charlie brownstein" and i thought it was some kind of jewish peanuts spin-off or something

[cosmo105]

so the other night, i bought a bag for keeping greens fresher in my fridge. The Greenskeeper or some crap. the directions say to spin the bag to dry the leaves, so i figured it would work about the same as the produce spinning bags i have used in the past. i drop in about a whole bag of rinsed baby greens, and proceed to spin...of course, it has no drain, so the water goes all over the kitchen. i freak out and walk to the back patio to spin it there. seems to be going well, a lot of water is coming out. i guess i had not tightened the drawstring enough, tough, because as i was kind of tossing it around...it opened...dropping about three quarters of the greens onto the brick floor. sigh. :(

i ought to write a script, i tell you.

[Tone Capone]

Lord. That's horrible and funny at the same time!!! BAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!
Hope you can keep those days to a minimum :p

[cosmo105]

i was wondering why my backpack was making weird rattling noises every time i moved. i went to get some of my roasted almonds out of their ziplock baggie only to find that it was empty.


:(

[beastieangel01]

I thought I'd get lucky and find really good buffalo chicken strips via a drive-thru. At Carls Jr. I know, I know. That was really dumb but I thought "well, MAYBE...."

WRONG. INCORRECT.

I feel sick to my stomach, lightheaded, and I want to curl in to fetal position. I only had four bites. And I am saying this as many places as possible to warn other buffalo chicken fans to STAY AWAY from the Carls Jr buffal chicken strips. Okay? okay.

I feel like my eyes are going to roll in to the back of my skull, and that I'm going to fall over right on to my face any minute here.

[Lo_Lyfe]

I was told I couldn't change a finance-based bullshit unit for a relevant marketing unit, so I didn't. Then I found at after the penalty date that I could have done so, but now I'd be liable for the cost of the course. That was a bit of a defeat. So I went to the Dean of Students, wrote 3 emails, had him refer me to the fees department, did the same, claimed to be the victim of shabby service and misinformation and had the withdrawal approved with no penalties.

Suck my penis before I cleans it, bureaucrats! A victory in a thread of defeats!

[funk63]

What a dick.





Purdue hasn't given me the shaft like that yet.


Purdue! hehe like west lafayette Purdue?