So far, this summer has been pretty awful. We’ll start with classes.
So, I’m three classes away from graduating, and I was hoping I’d be able to take two classes in the summer (one each session), and just one in the fall, mainly because tuition is cheaper in the summer, so I’d have less tax to pay on it. Well, come registration time, I find that the IS department wasn’t offering any graduate level classes second summer session. Well, fine! So I registered for one class in the summer (one that I wasn’t particularly interested in, but I didn’t have much choice), and two in the fall. A few weeks later, I went in to print out a copy of my schedule, and I noticed that it was only showing one class for the fall. What the heck!? I went looked for the missing class in registration and it was gone! Poof! They’d cancelled it and not even had the decency to send out an email letting people know! So I’m looking around for a class to replace that one and in the meantime I email the professor who was teaching my summer class to see if he’d send me the reading list so I could start trying to get the books. He emails me back and tells me that he doesn’t think the class is going to make, because I’m the only person registered for it. *scream* So I’m down two classes, and it’s looking like I might not graduate in December. Well, I finally decided that I would switch my one remaining fall class to the summer (it was being offered both times) so I’d at least have a summer class and could give myself a bit of time to try to figure out what to do about the two other classes I needed. I finally found another class in the fall that I hadn’t already taken, and then I decided to email the professor of the fall class that got cancelled (happened to be Java), to see if he’d be willing to teach it as an independent study. I still haven’t heard back from the man. So instead, I asked the professor who’s teaching my summer class if he’d be willing to do it, and he agreed, so I’m finally back to my three classes, and I’m actually doing what I’d originally planned; two classes in the summer, and one in the fall! But good grief, the stress involved in getting to that point!
Next stresser? Well, the powers that be at the library decided that it would be a good idea to consolidate the three reference points (and the reference collections) into one central location. Ok, fine, that would probably be a good idea, if we actually had an area in the library big enough to house all three reference collections. But since we don’t, and parts of the reference collections are still going to be scattered around the library, it makes no sense to me. But they didn’t ask my opinion, so I guess it doesn’t count. (Can you tell I’m vaguely annoyed by this whole thing?) Anyway, as soon as I got back from vacation, I was told to pack up all my stuff and bring all the departmental supplies to the supply person downstairs. We then sat in our offices for over a week, waiting for the IT people to get around to moving our computers (why we weren’t allowed to move them ourselves, I’ll never know). The move itself was stressful enough, but having to sit in clutter for a week while we waited to move was worse! So last Friday we finally got to move, and I’ve lost my lovely windows (I had two walls made of windows in my last office) and now I have to share one window with three other people and I’m not even the one closest to it and I’ve no privacy and… well, I keep telling myself I’m graduating in December. I still have no idea what’s going to happen to my student workers. At one point they said they were going to be shifted to the departments that are taking over responsibility for the journals and reference collection that were left upstairs; then on Friday I was told to email them and tell them to check in downstairs from now on. I wish they’d make up their minds so I can tell them something definite. My students who aren’t working this summer know absolutely nothing about what’s going on. Grr! Ok, enough ranting for now.
On a more pleasant note, I’m going to be directing the melodrama (The Drunkard) at the theatre this summer. Auditions are this weekend and the show goes up July 21st – 23rd. It’s my directorial debut, and it should be a fun show. It’s a small cast of only five people, which is generally lots of fun. I’ll keep posting on how it goes!
