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katekatAmong other inanities (becasue there were so many in terms of Bush's policy that I just can't even stand to speak about) I was appalled to hear the presedent of the US, folksy guy that he is, say that he wasn't trying to "diss" his staffer for giving him a cold while he was trying to run for election. This is NOT the vernacular of his people. I wanted to scream STOP! STOP THE MADNESS!
Of course, I should've known it was a sign of things to come for the day.
You see, I'd created this fantastic little jeopardy game for the class I TA for. It was the last day, and instead of doing a wrap up that might leave them teary eyed and even more tired than they already are, I thought, "Hey, let's do something fun! Wouldn't that be great!? And then they can get some extra credit to boot."
That was the wrong decision. They were all so point hungry they turned into raving animals. Do NOT TRY THIS THING AT HOME kiddies. Or don't reward the winning team with extra credit, because they will cry foul play on eachother, howl to the rafters when you nix points because you accidentally skiped to the answer slide when they were answering, and complain complain complain that they're being missed, that they're under points, that they're... somehow being cheated of EXTRA CREDIT. It was a circus of nightmare proportions.
The only good thing was that I still kind of had fun with it. Honestly. It's scary but true.
However, the sexy yummy tasty day didn't end there - oh no - today we got a presentation in our grad seminar from a woman who is so literal I actually compared her in my head to Bush this morning. She's about that analytical too. And we were reading this fantastically weird and wonderful story by a Japanese author named Edogawa Ranpo (it's a made up name based on the japanese pronounciation of Edgar Allan Poe). First we got beat up by this guy who wants to be a professional translator (always fun having someone from outside your class just pick you apart) and then we had to listen to the most boring woman in the world present on the history of mystery writing in Japanese literature.
Now here's the thing: Edogawa is known as the king of Japanese mystery, it's true. BUT, he was also a member of this awesome group in the 20's & 30's that wrote erotic-grotesque-nonsense (ero-guro-nansensu in the Japanese). And THAT'S what this story was - a fantastic dream piece about changing bodies and frenetic dances and wandering in the woods of one's unconscious. It had NOTHING to do with mystery writing at all. So what does this woman's presentation focus on? MYSTERY WRITING.
It was frightening because I had to actually quell the impulse to bang my head on the conference room table.
However, the day is done. I did manage in the last 15 minutes to slip in jouissance for the hell of it, so it wasn't a total loss.
Then I forgot where my car was parked and ended up walking around the entire school to get back to it because I'd walked to one parking lot on one side of the school, realized my mistake, then walked back to the other. Inane, I tell you.
I think I've learned my lesson - no more presidential speaches in the morning. It's just wrong.
Of course, I should've known it was a sign of things to come for the day.
You see, I'd created this fantastic little jeopardy game for the class I TA for. It was the last day, and instead of doing a wrap up that might leave them teary eyed and even more tired than they already are, I thought, "Hey, let's do something fun! Wouldn't that be great!? And then they can get some extra credit to boot."
That was the wrong decision. They were all so point hungry they turned into raving animals. Do NOT TRY THIS THING AT HOME kiddies. Or don't reward the winning team with extra credit, because they will cry foul play on eachother, howl to the rafters when you nix points because you accidentally skiped to the answer slide when they were answering, and complain complain complain that they're being missed, that they're under points, that they're... somehow being cheated of EXTRA CREDIT. It was a circus of nightmare proportions.
The only good thing was that I still kind of had fun with it. Honestly. It's scary but true.
However, the sexy yummy tasty day didn't end there - oh no - today we got a presentation in our grad seminar from a woman who is so literal I actually compared her in my head to Bush this morning. She's about that analytical too. And we were reading this fantastically weird and wonderful story by a Japanese author named Edogawa Ranpo (it's a made up name based on the japanese pronounciation of Edgar Allan Poe). First we got beat up by this guy who wants to be a professional translator (always fun having someone from outside your class just pick you apart) and then we had to listen to the most boring woman in the world present on the history of mystery writing in Japanese literature.
Now here's the thing: Edogawa is known as the king of Japanese mystery, it's true. BUT, he was also a member of this awesome group in the 20's & 30's that wrote erotic-grotesque-nonsense (ero-guro-nansensu in the Japanese). And THAT'S what this story was - a fantastic dream piece about changing bodies and frenetic dances and wandering in the woods of one's unconscious. It had NOTHING to do with mystery writing at all. So what does this woman's presentation focus on? MYSTERY WRITING.
It was frightening because I had to actually quell the impulse to bang my head on the conference room table.
However, the day is done. I did manage in the last 15 minutes to slip in jouissance for the hell of it, so it wasn't a total loss.
Then I forgot where my car was parked and ended up walking around the entire school to get back to it because I'd walked to one parking lot on one side of the school, realized my mistake, then walked back to the other. Inane, I tell you.
I think I've learned my lesson - no more presidential speaches in the morning. It's just wrong.
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Date: 2007-12-05 02:37 am (UTC)But yes, extra credit can be a DANGEROUS thing. *g*
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Date: 2007-12-05 03:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-05 02:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-05 03:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-05 03:54 am (UTC)This NIE report thing is kinda spooky. Time magazine is reporting that Bush has decided not to invade Iran....but others are saying there's a cabal in the intelligence community (and maybe his daddy is behindit) that is pushing hard to undercut all of the bellicose talk coming from the administration. I tend to believe the latter because Time is a right wing dishrag...but it is interesting. Stuff is happening in the background that doesn't involve us mere peons.
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Date: 2007-12-05 04:00 am (UTC)The NIE report thing is WEIRD. I don't even know quite how to parse it, especially since they were saying something at one point about how they'd had the information years ago, and tried to tell Bush, but he didn't want to hear it then (or something to that effect). Anyway, i love the idea that his father's people might be undercutting him. That would be AWESOME.
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Date: 2007-12-07 05:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-05 06:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-06 12:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-05 09:09 am (UTC)Oh my god, that sounds geektastically amazing, frankly. I know I'm picking up on a completely different aspect of your post, but... wow, that sounds almost as if it could be the Japanese Metamorphoses. I wonder if I could do a cross-cultural comparison...
(Hi, I'm Mish, and I'm a total nerdigan.)
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Date: 2007-12-06 12:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-06 12:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-06 12:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-09 07:23 pm (UTC)Doesn't necessarily have to be that cause, but for a long time that's how we could tell Mom's gray Sentra from the parking lot full of distressingly similar vehicles; ours had a red ribbon on the radio antenna, visible a couple hundred yards away.
I don't even give El Dopo Presidente ear space anymore. Too depressing.
-BJ