How I aged 20 years in a day

The saga begins thusly:

On Saturday, I received the following email from my "academic advisor"*

Blythe,

Have you been satisfying your missing pre-reqs? I just received an email from our Registrar stating their records show you are missing all six pre-reqs. Are there any community college transcripts you need to submit?

Stan**

This was crazy. I knew that, and was not concerned. I had one missing pre-req, a math class I was already taking. All of the others had been fulfilled. The university had told me so. I know, because I was paying careful attention: these pre-reqs must be fulfilled prior to student teaching, or they don't let you do your student teaching, you don't graduate, and you don't become a teacher. So, yeah. I was pretty sure I had met the requirements.

Stan,

That is so weird. The only pre-req that I had not completed was the math class (in which I am currently enrolled). I am not even sure what other pre-reqs you are talking about. Do I need to re-submit a college transcript?

Blythe

I considered the matter dealt with, though I was irritated at the prospect of spending $7 to re-submit a transcript I had already given them at least twice.

He acknowledged that was weird, because "no one even usually starts missing all six pre-reqs." He got the register to re-evaluate my transcript (which, yes, they did have). She got back to us quickly.

I now show that NS with lab is met and so is the College Comp I from Scripps.   All else is still needed.  Are we missing transcripts, we have no others pending. 

You read that correctly. They admit that I have fulfilled TWO of the SIX pre-reqs. I know that I need to fulfill one of the math requirements, so there are now *THREE* pre-reqs up for discussion: one English class, one Social Studies class, and a math class. Note, I was a psych major. Almost everything I took should have qualified for social studies. I took a variety of theatre literature classes, which should have easily met the English requirements, and psychology statistics should have done away with the math requirement. What was the issue? 

Well the English Courses typically have to have an English designator such as English Composition, Lit, Reading.
Stats has never counted to satisfy the Math requirements.
History, Geography, Civics and Econ are the courses I typically see satisfying the Social Studies aspect.
And a Life or Physical Science (Biology, Botany, Chemistry , Geology and others fall into this category)
Math for Elm Ed you've already taken.
I'll have to stand back and allow our Registrar and the Program Director sort this out for you. If it turns out you do need a class I can help you find what you need.

Stan

Thanks for your support, Stan. And for your advice. At this point, I'm getting really concerned. Am I not going to be allowed to do my student teaching and complete the program? What. the. hell.

I am so frustrated by this situation. I don't understand why I was led to believe that my classes would fulfill these requirements or, having determined that they will not fulfill them, why this is the first I am hearing of it.

I have been very unhappy with the communication between School** and its students, but this really is the most egregious example of poor communication I have experienced thus far.

Please advise me as to how to proceed with this.

Blythe

Translation: You are my advisor, goddamnit. Where have you been all this time?! And now that you are here, advise me, for goodness' sake!

I sent another e-mail to our (really lovely) program director, explaining the problem.

Hi Gloria,***

I'm not sure if you are the person to approach about this, but my plan is just to keep asking people until someone can help me!

I was recently (Thursday) told that I had not completed the required pre-reqs for the MIT program. This was quite surprising news to me, as I had been told upon my acceptance to the program that I had only one additional pre-req to fulfill, my Math for Elementary Teachers class (in which I am currently enrolled). This would have been a pain, but not a significant problem, if I had been told this back in the fall of 2012. Clearly, though, that is not what happened. In fact, I wasn't even concerned when I first saw the e-mail-- I thought it was a simple matter of a misplaced transcript. This is the first I have heard of any incomplete pre-requisites, and I am, as you may imagine, panicking a little bit.

I truly believe that my undergraduate experience fulfills all of the pre-reqs, and I am surprised and very concerned that this seems to be a matter for debate (or outright dismissal). I plan on finishing my MIT program in June, with my full time student teaching starting on April 1. This is sounding like it could throw a serious wrench in my plans.  I am a strong candidate in the program, and I know I have been doing well in my internship placements. I am eager and excited to have my own classroom, and would be devastated to have to postpone or delay this goal.

I believe you have been copied on most of the e-mail chain surrounding this issue, but if you have not, I can give you more details about the problem. Can you please advise me on the steps to be taken?

Thanks,
Blythe

By now, I'm really worried. I am having visions of a very, very different Next Year than I had anticipated. In an effort to calm myself slightly, I write the following note:

-       - I wonder if they have the power to waive the requirements, or accept other classes in their stead.

-      -  If they CAN do that, I think they WILL. It’s not in anyone’s best interest for me to not be able to finish the program.

-       - If they CAN’T, then realistically this will only delay my degree by a year. That would be annoying as hell, but survivable.  Right now, it sounds like a really long time, and would be awful. But, reallyreally, it’s not that long in the grand scheme of things. 10 years from now, it totally won’t matter. Maybe, actually, this will give me the opportunity to do something I’d Really Like To Do. Like, maybe I’ll travel. Maybe I’ll do something totally different, like work for a non-profit for a while. Maybe I’ll do RETAIL. Maybe I’ll completely disregard money and logic. Or, at least, partially disregard money and logic. I will be angry and upset and sad, and that’s all ok. But it will be ok.

It doesn't work as well as I would have hoped. I feel slightly calmer, but not really. I bite my nails, and wait for a response from somebody, reloading my e-mail account every minute or so.

At about 4:00, I received a call from the Really Lovely Program Director.

"Hi, Blythe. This is Gloria. How are you doing?"
"Panicked, yourself?"
"I would have been too, in your position. I'm really sorry. We've worked it all out. We looked back through our records, and we did tell you that you only needed the one pre-req. We really are the culpable party, and we have worked it out. I sat down with the registrar, and we have taken care of everything."

So, after hours of an elevated heart rate and rapidly increasing quantity of grey hair, it's resolved. It will be fine.

Gloria was very apologetic. The registrar was impersonal but polite: "I am sorry for any additional worry or stress this caused and do appreciate your patience." (What patience?) And Stan? I got the following e-mail from him-- the same one that Gloria and the registrar got too:

Thank you all.




*I have never met this man. He e-mails me once a quarter to tell me for which classes I need to register.
**Name changed, to protect the guilty
***Name changed, because this is the internet.

All the broken hearts in the world still beat

I have been obsessed with this song for the past couple of weeks. My love of the song, the video, and Ingrid Michaelson knows no bounds.

Now you can obsess too.

You're welcome.

A Shout Into The Dark

Wow, hi.

Does anyone still read this? I mean, I barely read it. Or write it. Obviously.

So, hi, if you're out there.

My life has been so very full, in joyful and wonderful and painful and exhausting ways. Not a single one of them has been recorded here, for the following reasons:

1) Lots of them involve people other than just me (I know, it's shocking that I don't live in a vacuum), and their news is not mine to share or deconstruct on the internet.
2) Some of these people are Children, and that means REALLY I can't share it on the internet.
3) Some of these people are Children in a Public Middle School Whom I Know Through Student Teaching, so that means I Really, REALLY can't share it on the internet.
4) Some of it is private. It's mine to share and I Don't Want To.
5) The rest just isn't that exciting to talk about.
6) I'm actually quite busy.

So, sorry. Don't take it personally.

All I can say is that I feel a little post-Grinch these days. Between all of the many wonderful and hurty things my people and I are going through, I feel like my heart has grown three sizes... and it was actually pretty sizable to begin with.

I've started a prayer list, though, which is a little funny. Because, well, I don't believe in anyone to whom one would, actually, pray. I'm a cheerful, moral atheist. I can't even say that I think "thinking good thoughts" or "sending good vibes" makes any difference to anyone at all, but I do that very actively. (I sometimes accompany my good-thought-sending with a text message or phone call telling people that's what I'm doing. Otherwise it seems a little incomplete.) If you want my good thoughts, though, let me know. (Note: I do, sometimes, pray for people who believe in prayer themselves. I cannot explain this behavior.)

I have ALSO started an Exciting Plans list. I am so excited about my 7-ish year plan. There is a LOT of traveling involved. It's going to be great.

And that's all.

EXPLOSION OF THOUGHTS.

You're welcome.

4 Things

I was tasked with coming up with 4 unexpected/surprising things about myself, courtesy of a friend on Facebook.

1. Though I am petrified of heights, I have "ride in a hot air balloon" on my lifetime To Do list.
2. I am collecting hilarious or meaningful quotes from middle schoolers, and secretly think I may make a book someday... even if it's just a Shutterfly book for myself. It even has a title, but I'm not telling, 'cause what if I really do decide to publish it?
3. I really, viscerally hate the Game of Life. I feel like it is judging my life choices (stop here and get married! choose the family path OR the career path!), and determining the overall success of life (MY life!) by the amount of money I earn.  And don't even get me STARTED on the little pink and blue people. Ugh.
4. A part of me truly believes that my car may, at any moment, begin flying. This is especially true when cresting a hill or going over a speed bump. It could happen.

Labels

I keep wanting to Write About Labels with some sort of adolescent zeal. About how much I hate them (stupid, limiting labels), about how we don't even need them. "Oh man, labels!" I want to exclaim, in tones of great exasperation. I want to rant, and rave, and whine and...  But the thing is, that's all a little bit hard to buy, coming from someone who wears some labels proudly, perhaps even obnoxiously. It would be hard to take me seriously, considering that I use the label "Feminist" like it's a second name. And so I have been pondering this for a while, and here is what I have concluded.

Labels are... tricky. They are like clothes. Some fit like they were made for us, and we are so proud to wear them in public. We know they look good. Even if they don't, they are so darn comfortable. That is the "feminist" label to me. It fits like it was made for me, and I wear it comfortably all the time. It didn't even have to be altered to fit me-- no qualifiers are necessary! Feel free to talk to me about it. It's a well placed label, and I love it.

Other labels, though, are a little more iffy. Some are more like those clothes I have hanging in the farthest reaches of my closet. There is something about them that makes it impossible to just cast them off, but nothing so appealing that I would wear them in public. They are scratchy, or they don't fit right. They're just uncomfortable. Periodically they get donated to Goodwill-- just because they aren't right for me doesn't mean they are wrong for everyone.

That's how a lot of other labels are. Some are just too restrictive, kind of irritating, and don't reflect "me." They aren't bad, per say, but they aren't exactly right.

So I treat labels like I treat my clothes: I wear those that fit comfortably and reflect who I am. And if it's not the Goldilocks of clothes (or labels)? If it's too much of something, or not enough of another? Well, then. I simply decline to embrace it.

Terminal Velocity

Well, it's happened. And I am not too pleased about it. It seems that, using my current (pretty decent) systems if organization and time management, I have reached maximum capacity; important commitments are being edged out of my brain. Last Tuesday, I absolutely and totally forgot to bring Neptune to his orthodontist appointment. Not only that, but it didn't even realize I had forgotten until his mom forwarded me an email from the orthodontist.

Oops.

The following day, in a burst of trying to make up for my unintended flakiness (with regards to the orthodontist, among other things), I approached my To Do list with zeal. On Wednesday, I:

Run errands to....
... The grocery store
.... Costco
... The Container Store
... All the Best Petcare
... UPS
... Wal-Greens

Called and scheduled/re-scheduled...
... One doctor's appointment
... One orthodontist appointment
... One hair cut


Taken kids from/to...
... School
... The doctor's office
... The hair salon
... The orthodontist
... Piano lessons
... Karate
... Soccer

Picked up forms from...
... The person who did my observation yesterday
... The doctors' office (a different doctors' office)

And I have developed the habit of actually looking at my calendar on a regular basis. That's pretty important too.

I've heard this thing about the best laid plans...

When I started this Masters in Teaching programme, I was very clear about my goals. (In my head, I mean. And to the people I knew pre-programme.) I was in this process for two things: 1) The piece of paper that would allow me to be a teacher 2) Mutually supportive professional relationships. I knew it would be a small group, and planning to make friends seemed like a tall order. Plus, I had friends. Awesome friends. I have always felt very, very lucky to have the friendships I do.

So there was 0 pressure on the whole friendship front. I was excited to make professional contacts, and eager to jump through the hoops that would place me in front of the classroom. I had dragged my heals about going back to school for a long time, but having decided, I was eager to Get Going.

And then... well, I made friends. Kind of by accident, but to my great delight. My cohort is full of wonderful people, and I am lucky to be jumping through hoops alongside them. We are quite the circus act, but we're in it together! 

On Saturday, our instructor did not show up for our 9:00 class. When 9:30 rolled around, the office manager poked her head in. "No instructor?"

"Nope."

"I tried calling him, but I am not getting an answer. You have a class at 1:30, right?"

"Yep."

"Why don't you just plan on coming back for that."

We grinned at each other. Just... peace out? Forget class altogether for the morning? We could do that! Lacie, Ruka, Grace and I headed back to my house for tea, the fox video, and exchanging of house decorating/renovating opinions (yes, really). For lunch, we headed to a local dim sum place, and made it back to school for our 1:30 class.

It was a glorious, fun, relaxing morning. I just delight in this group of ladies; we are so different, but we have such fun together, and work together so very well.

I am positively thrilled that my plan to Not Make Friends failed so spectacularly.