I bought a DivaCup online recently, and it arrived today. Thus far, it has provided more than its fair share of comic relief. There are quadrilingual instructions, so I learned how to say lots of menstrual words in French, Spanish, and German. (Also, "Produktsicherheitsinformationen" is German for "product safety information.")
The instructions begin with the following: Before each use, please examine the holes below the rim. They should be punched completely through and be free of debris. ...I'm very immature.
Also, since a DivaCup holds one ounce, it can double as a jigger for bartending emergencies.
Elliot: [runs up the stairs to the office] C'mere for a second! Laura: [follows him down to the kitchen] Elliot: Check this out! [turns on faucet] ... [pushes the little button that makes the faucet do this] Laura: ... Elliot: Did you know it could do that?! Laura: Yes.
The past few times I've gone to church (Wednesday for choir practice, and today to perform in the all-music service), there have been a couple of people sitting on the street corner holding signs that say "Pray to end abortion." At first I thought they were directly targeting my liberal Unitarian Universalist congregation, but then I realized that the church is across the street from the Feminist Women's Health Center, so that's probably the real explanation for their presence.
So, to the folks out on the corner this morning, thank you for your respectful dissent. I strongly disagree with your position, but I'm appreciative of the way you've chosen to communicate your point of view.
So, the student health center doesn't carry Plan B, and my local pharmacy is sold out of it. Glad I'm not having an actual emergency...
(Nobody panic. I'm switching birth control methods and thought it would be smart to have Plan B on hand in case something goes wrong. At this point I think I'll just order it from Drugstore.com rather than calling/driving all over Atlanta to track some down. But I did just write to the student health folks expressing my disappointment at their failure to provide adequate contraceptive options.)
Today I read the student evaluations from my TA assignment. They were generally positive, and said that I was good at explaining confusing concepts in simple language, and that I made students feel comfortable in class. One person called me "the best TA [s/he's] ever had." Another wrote nothing but "LAURA ROX!" My heart grew three sizes this day.
(Also, not specifically related to my teaching, but someone responded to the question, "What was the best thing about this class?" with "It routinely blew my mind." Awesome!)
The negative comments were things like, "Review sessions catered to the lowest common denominator," which is probably true -- I spent a lot of time making sure the struggling students were caught up to the appropriate level of material, with less time for expanding the horizons of the more advanced folks. There were also comments that said I was too strict in dictating the material (keeping them on topic for the most recent lecture), but then others said that I was too willing to let questions take us off track, so I guess that means I didn't consistently err too badly on either side.
The comments made me happy. I want to apply for some teaching fellowships soon, and this kind of feedback makes me think that I will do a good job. I really enjoyed working with my students last semester and would love to do more teaching.
Well, on the bright side, my DGS extended the deadline on our qual. The fact that he didn't do so until today meant that I'd already basically written the whole thing, though, so... eh. I actually feel really bad, because he told us that the reason he's been unresponsive to our concerns the last few days is that his mother passed away. Oh man. :-( If I was going through that, exam scheduling concerns would be at the very bottom of my priority list. It makes me glad that I decided to tough it out and not make a formal complaint to him, because I would feel like such a jerk for sending the self-entitled emails that I mentally composed in my state of outrage.
My TA supervisor also just lost his mother. He's leaving the country to visit family for a week, but has found a lecturer who can fill in for him, so the TAs won't have extra work sprung on them. And he was also really, really sweet when responding to my request to grade the final exam from Florida (making my travel arrangements less nightmarish, because I'll be able to drive down with Elliot rather than fly). He suggested that I just skip grading altogether, and find other ways to help out before the exam (review sessions, writing exam questions, editing the exam draft, etc...).
Part of the reason that I've been so hung up on weird, seemingly inconsequential things like flying vs. driving is that I just heard some bad news. My uncle (dad's brother) had some kind of medical emergency earlier this week, and tests revealed that he has serious heart problems. Still not sure whether he's going to need surgery or not. This is pretty shattering to our family, especially since he's been dealing with all kinds of health-related shit for the last year or so. He needs a kidney transplant, but he hasn't even been able to get on the transplant list because they don't want to give an organ to someone with major health issues. First he had thyroid cancer, which thankfully was taken care of with minimal complications, but you have to be cancer-free for X amount of time before going on the list. Now the heart stuff... I don't know for sure how that will affect things, but it doesn't sound good. Unfortunately we don't have a good donor candidate in our family, either. I would do it in a heartbeat, but we're incompatible blood types... I'm type AB-, which means I pretty much suck for donation purposes. My brother is a blood type match, but ohhhh boy. That situation is complicated.
So yeah, I always kind of freak out about the holidays, but it sucks extra hard when new nasty shit arises just in type for the always bittersweet family visits. I want to be supportive, but feel like there's nothing I can do. So I'm micromanaging my itinerary, or something. I don't know. And I hate thinking about my 16 year old cousin going through all of the pain that I went through when I was her age, watching her dad's health decline. His diagnosis is far from certain, but I find it harder and harder to be optimistic. I guess being there for them is important, even if I don't know what to do while I'm with them.
Meanwhile, I have these professional role models who manage to keep their shit together when life goes spiraling out of control, and I have no idea how they do it. I can't even imagine writing lesson plans with a loved one dying an ocean away. God damn.
So apparently the second part of my written qualifying exam is due Tuesday at 5 PM. My class found this out 20 minutes ago via email from our DGS.
It would have been nice if they'd told us when the exam would be, instead of deciding to just spring it on us when 1) several students also have to present thesis proposals on Monday/Tuesday and 2) most students are scrambling to get experiments done before Thanksgiving. I actually have an usually quiet weekend coming up, so I will be able to deal, but I'm shocked that they dropped a qualifying exam on us with a week's notice. The assignment is to choose one of several journal articles from an approved list and write a ~10 page critique of the methods, findings, broader implications, etc. using as many primary sources as necessary to make your argument. Meaning, there goes my free time for the week... I was gonna go to the gym when I got home tonight, but now I've decided I should read all of the papers and pick one, so I'll be ready to get started on the critique tomorrow.
Jesus Christ. If it's not one thing, it's another.
On the bright side, today was a good day for advocacy and navigating the intricacies of different university organizations. Trying to get people to cough up some money to fund an event may be easier than I thought. Yeah, not a very science-y day, but I feel productive nonetheless.
I was really stressed out in anticipation of today (lots of stuff going on...), but everything was totally fine. Turns out that an intimidating to-do list on paper is still achievable if I keep myself on track. Who knew?
The last three times I've seen You-Know-Who, he has kept to himself. Almost like a regular person, observing basic social norms. Who'da thunk? I don't know if the cops got to him, or someone else called him out, or peoples' passive-aggressive avoidance reached critical mass, or what, but in any case I'm pleased with the result. Let's hope it sticks.
My head is exploding from grad school. Today was particularly crazy. Also, I think I accidentally drank too many caffeinated beverages for one day. (Normal breakfast tea, plus a latte because I had some time to kill before a meeting and the coffee shop was right there, plus another tea at seminar, plus a soda at lunch. Oops.) So maybe that's why my head is exploding.
I have to start working on my dissertation proposal. Not the real one, but a little presentation for the other students in my class, to 'practice,' and take other peoples' questions. It's a little weird to be like, "So, basically, I propose to become the world's foremost expert on [topic] and prove to everyone how important it is." But that's basically what I'm saying. Well, that and, "Now please give me $30,000," because I'll be submitting it as a grant, ultimately.
ecstatic