Technically, the first day of winter quarter was yesterday, but I only started classes today. Impressively, it went from zero to suck even faster than last quarter. Pushing my bike back to the apartment with SuperK, I was already at my mid-quarter level of rage. It's not a good sign.
Last night, I went into mini-panic in anticipation of the suck. I got the syllabi for my classes before the break, so I knew the workload ahead of me. Attending class today added the element of humanity. I am currently taking 3 classes, all of which culminate in a 20 page paper. In each of 2 grad seminars, I will be reading a book of theory a week, then writing. And add grant proposal+syllabus+prospectus. The History of Argentina class would be great if it was actually just the standard lecture. The professor is fun, but clearly hasn't updated his syllabi in 15 years. Also sketch - required reading = the professor's books. In the same way that I don't like self-citations in articles, I don't trust teachers who only their books. It's like trying getting paid twice and doing half the work. I am one of 2 grads, the other being Dumbass, who thinks we're all chummy.
The popular culture class had potential, but it going south quickly. The professor pretends to be super-interested in all of our research, and then proceeds to dismiss people. And as the added bonus, I get to lead a discussion all by myself on one of the hardest books. Lucky me. Oh and because the professor screwed up, the book on the syllabus that we all ordered already wasn't actually the one she wanted, that is now in the bookstore. But instead of having the one person who bought the 2nd book return it to the bookstore, all the rest of us just dropped $30 on a book we aren't using and will have to buy another $30 book.
Class session themselves are fun, but then I have to deal with annoying people. Zero STILL doesn't know my name and then gets miffy when I correct him. C has adopted Zero's habit of shouting and ignoring social cues. The people I like either get blown off or don't speak at all. However, there is an added bonus that we already know each other and can sort of mock either already.
Added bonus - a flaky friend asked me to pick him up from the airport and then drive him to the ass end of town. Oh, but since he forgot to pay his phone bill, he can't call me when he arrives and just expects me to keep up on his flight status, assuming he makes all his flights. This has moved out of "favor" or even "karma banking" into imposition.
10 weeks. 2 books a week. 60-80 pages. 4 people on the shit list already.
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