Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Today's Piss List

1. One of my students is trying to blackmail me to the tune of $1,800. [Un]fortunately, because of language barriers, I can't figure out why or how.

2. I am suffering from acute PMS, which, combined with the easy availability of Halloween candy is causing a serious lapse in discipline.

3. A particular big-name stakeholder has changed the criteria for funding this year. And although I sat on a conference call today and listened to the stakeholder's 45-minute explanation, I still do not understand what the hell they want. Neither do they.

4. My hair has been sticking straight out behind my right ear from four days, and will not lie down.

5. I had to go to Nathan's parent/teacher conference at 8 AM this morning. I am not able to create complete sentences until about 8:30.

6. My program has almost no materials budget for this year. That is why Ray's computer needs a new hard drive; why the CD player is broken; why the shipping for the new text books was much more expensive than I thought it would be; why the printer needs a new "Maintenance Kit", whatever the hell that is.

7. All attempts to scale Mount Paperwork have been foiled by one fire on the mountain after another, all of which need to be stomped out before any more progress can be made.

8. My summer clothes are still hanging in the closet. My winter clothes are still in trash bags up on the closet shelf. I wear the same pair of pants over and over rather than take the time to get out my warm clothes. I am in denial.

9. I hate my house - it's ugly. And my street- it's noisy. And my fingers - they are bony. And my hormones, which are the cause of all the trouble. I'm going to bed.

5 comments:

anantadharma said...

Oh Kate, I do admire your ability to make light of your own stress. You're a phenomenal writer and an amazing person. The PMS will be overwith soon... I can't imagine anyone perceiving you as less than super-intelligent, despite a brief lapse in vocalization ability... think about how much laundry soap & water you're saving wearing just the one pair of pants (you're helping the environment!)... and I'll bet that little piece of hair sticking up looks kinda cute.

Katherine said...

Kate, Kate, I commiserate! PMS makes everything so much worse. Hang in there. It will be over soon...er, until next month, of course. Not to depress you--or me.

Unknown said...

there is a movie from coen brothers. unfortunately, i cant remember its name right now. and in that movie, there was a Korean boy who was trying to blackmail his teacher based on a very ridicolous claim. maybe, your student was inspired from that same movie.

Unknown said...

u can delete this post. it is a dummy post just to enable the "follow" option.

Anonymous said...

WTF? Only 1800??? I remember laughing my ass off in front of the first guy who came into the lab one day offering me a bribe to massage the data. When I realized he was being serious, I laughed even harder.

Keep your chin up...the world is full of assholes.

John K.