[TIME]
Saving
This week I started using the little “daytimer” I keep in my moldering backpack.
I did this after I showed up for my summer class two weeks late. Excited about the breadth and depth of the Chinese history I would be studying I sauntered into 424 Kent hall 10 minutes before class started. The dread and disbelief that proceeds full-fledged embarrassment (which of course is one of the channels one uses to enter into the cycle of deep-seeded anxiety) began when the two other “early-birds” started talking about their papers which were due that day. They said this was the fifth class in the course. The professor after listening to the story of my non-appearance said, “That’s a problem.”
Things got worse. After checking the computer downstairs I saw that the last day to drop the course and get your money back was several days ago. Meaning I wouldn’t be getting a refund if I dropped it. The professor said I should talk to the dean about that and if I couldn’t get my money back maybe I could try to stay in the course.
After reading madly all night attempting to catch up with 1895 Peking I spoke to the dean She said, “I don’t think the registrar will want to give you your money back because you forgot the right dates.” That made me feel nice. So I spoke to the professor again and he said if I stay in the course and get perfect scores on the tests and papers the best I can hope to get a “D” because I missed four three hour classes. I can’t do that.
In the end, they gave me half of my money back.
I don’t know how I managed to confuse the beginning of this session with the next one (which does start at the beginning of the month – the next month) but it makes me feel about as inane as a fly dropping on a grape. Even more absurd than I feel now checking my daytimes every few hours.
Saving
This week I started using the little “daytimer” I keep in my moldering backpack.
I did this after I showed up for my summer class two weeks late. Excited about the breadth and depth of the Chinese history I would be studying I sauntered into 424 Kent hall 10 minutes before class started. The dread and disbelief that proceeds full-fledged embarrassment (which of course is one of the channels one uses to enter into the cycle of deep-seeded anxiety) began when the two other “early-birds” started talking about their papers which were due that day. They said this was the fifth class in the course. The professor after listening to the story of my non-appearance said, “That’s a problem.”
Things got worse. After checking the computer downstairs I saw that the last day to drop the course and get your money back was several days ago. Meaning I wouldn’t be getting a refund if I dropped it. The professor said I should talk to the dean about that and if I couldn’t get my money back maybe I could try to stay in the course.
After reading madly all night attempting to catch up with 1895 Peking I spoke to the dean She said, “I don’t think the registrar will want to give you your money back because you forgot the right dates.” That made me feel nice. So I spoke to the professor again and he said if I stay in the course and get perfect scores on the tests and papers the best I can hope to get a “D” because I missed four three hour classes. I can’t do that.
In the end, they gave me half of my money back.
I don’t know how I managed to confuse the beginning of this session with the next one (which does start at the beginning of the month – the next month) but it makes me feel about as inane as a fly dropping on a grape. Even more absurd than I feel now checking my daytimes every few hours.
posted by Darren Byler at 2:15 AM
2 Comments:
i would say situations like that are where the phrase "a sinking feeling" came from. how disappointing. hope you can catch the next one. am i catching that you are back at kent state or does another u. have a kent hall?
Thanks for the comment and sympathy. No, I'm still at Columbia, where, weirdly, nearly all my classes are in Kent Hall, home of asian studies.
Post a Comment
<< Home