Last Seen Making Fun of Strangers . . .

Finally, a question!!!

Steph - Where's your blog? - Heather

Thanks for asking, Heather. I really didn't think anyone cared! If you can bear with me for the usual long-winded response, I'll explain.

Many aspects of the universe have conspired to prevent me from blogging in the last 2 weeks. It all started with an evil A&P prof, who shall remain nameless. Let's just say that if you're planning on taking classes at a local university, please contact me for confidential advice, as I have now actually attended most of the colleges in the greater Pittsburgh area.

Anyway, Dr. Meaniepants teaches for the test. No, not the all-important professional exam I must pass to receive certification, but rather his own tests. Apparently, this seemingly kind & gentle man is a tyrannical ruler in his own mind. His very lifeforce is dependent upon ensuring that nobody learns anything about A&P that will be useful in the future. He wants us to learn the useless miutiae of the human body because he seems to receive joy only from torturing his students. The only thing he loves more is to give tests. Sometimes 2 in one week.

We have a test every week 2 weeks at least. Often, we only have 6 days from the intro of new material until an exam. The pace is maddening. Although complex science courses always include a lab component, we don't get to "do" anything in lab except have more lecture. There is no hands on action & we aren't in any way exposed to living things. Thus, it's a theoretical kind of abstract biology course which means nobody is learning a damn thing!

Which is too bad, because anything below a 75% is failing & failing any course gets you dropped from the program. So in many ways, studying has become my life.

Usually I still manage to fit in the important stuff, like feeding my dog & blogging but a chain of unforeseen events was recently set into motion. If you recall back to the original posts on this blog, this whole thing was supposed to be a vehicle to develop a character in my novel, which has since begun to collect dust because I spend most of my free time studying. But that sudden nerd-o-morphisis has drained all of my creativity.

No longer could I call up a cool comeback to my snarky neighbor or a witty quip to flow from my characters' lips. Neigh, I could only think & speak & write in stilted, uptight grammatically & scientifically correct non-fiction. All of this studying was driving me mad & sucking the very coolness out of me.

There've also been some concerts, a wedding, a dog-breaks-bed incident & some other miscellaneous situations that demanded my full attention. Compounded with a buggy home computer that was "in the shop" for weeks, a loaner computer 10 times worse than the one being repaired & this being busy season at the widget factory, I had no means of blogging without getting fired.

A couple of times, I managed to get to Widget Co. early or blog during lunch but that just wasn't working for me. I need to blog unrestrained without fear of bosses or coworkers or time constraints. However, I've learned some valuable lessons here & plan to put them to work in the future.

I've decided to stop spending my entire life trying to get an A in A&P. I have a high enough grade that as long as I pass the rest of my exams, I'll pass the course. This is one case where mediocrity is good enough for me & I will sacrifice the A (or even the B) to take my dog to the park, go fishing or just watch a TV show without feeling guilty.

And I've got my computer back, but it's still not fixed. It's barely 6 months old & I've had nothing but problems, have sent it back 3 times for repairs but received no satisfaction whatsoever. So if my blog ever halts permanently & without explanation, you'll know I finally snapped & strangled the bastard that sold it to me & am in prison with no means to blog.

Until then, I plan to keep it coming & be more regular with the posts. But thanks for asking!!!