dear students…..

Could you please, like, pass your classes??!!?? You know, those ones that you HAVE TO PASS TO GET YOUR DEGREE?? That degree that you think you’re getting in August (or even better, thought you were getting in May because hey, you walked in the graduation ceremony, so, like, you’re graduated!!! Even though you failed everything you were enrolled in during spring, all of which you needed to pass in order to graduate!) –yeah,  that degree that requires all these courses that you FAILED?!?!?? Or never did bother taking to begin with??!???!

Why yes, I am just a tad cranky this afternoon!

We’re working on getting the students who have applied for August graduation checked out (probably obviously) and. O. M. G. We were actually kind of surprised at how well the spring graduation clearance went, in that there were not all THAT many crazy shortages and delusional students to contend with. Apparently that was because all the delusional ones applied to graduate in August. I am throwing in the towel this afternoon because the Failure Kids have just shoved me right over the edge. 

I had three in a row that had failed so many classes in their major (ALL Building Science) that I had to go through this complex GPA calculation to make sure they actually made an overall 2.0 in their major work (which is a C!  Who the hell can’t even get a C average in their major???? Somebody who needs to change majors, that’s who). (And the good news is that we are FINALLY getting a campus wide program that will calculate this kind of thing, instead of us doing it manually. With a piece of papyrus and a quill pen and an abacus. Hopefully it will roll out this fall and it is, so far, WAY less hellish than the Computer System From Hell, despite being by the same company. I think it’s actually going to work properly and be…. USEFUL. It is of course requiring an insane amount of data entry – "scribing" – which Mr. Organized has so far been involved in more than I have, although suddenly I’m having to go to some of the meetings too.) 

One of our lovely students had failed one major course four times, and failed two other major courses three times, and had failed a BUNCH of major courses once. And had used all their repeats that are allowed, so all the failures are calculated in the GPA. That one just SCRAPED by. Two others were in similar situations, although nobody else had failed one FOUR times. I’m keeping track of these names, and in the unlikely event that I have a house built, I am making sure they don’t work for whatever company I use. 

AAGGHHH!!!! This will be SO much easier when we get the new system going. Even though it’s, ummmmm, kind of taking away part of our jobs. A big part. We’ll just be able to run a program and see exactly what a student is missing. The funny thing is that our old old system, the one that the Computer System From Hell replaced, actually did flag shortages. Not all of them, but a lot of them. Computer System From Hell doesn’t tell you a thing. Even better, students will be able to access their own records through this new program, and it will tell THEM exactly what they need, hopefully ending forever the cries of, "But noooobody toooooold me!!!!"

But. Till then, we suffer through endless digging through files, looking at checksheets, looking at transcripts, trying to remember all of the ten zillion things that a student HAS TO HAVE TO GRADUATE!!!! And hoping we don’t miss anything really important. We do double-check each other, at least. Still, this is boring and tedious and very annoying when you hit a string of Failure Kids. 

WELL. I had no intention of ranting on about my job! I was going to mention the wonderful time I had last week visiting The Cousins. The trip was very successful. Daddy and I navigated security and lines and long treks across two major international airports like pros. Thanks to learning how to snag rides in the carts, and also to my finally realizing that when they make the boarding call for passengers who need help or extra time, that it,  DUH, means us! Old Man With Cane gets to mosey on down the runway ahead of the pack, which meant not having to fight for overhead space and having lots of room to get situated. Initially I thought that meant people who need physical help – like people in wheelchairs. Nope, it means anybody who needs extra time. So that was excellent. 

And the visit was very nice, although awfully short. Got to see all the cousins, Cousin E, Cousin MJ, Cousin J, as well as husbands and kids. Sadly, not the adorable Tyson – we stayed with MJ this time. And my aunt is doing much better than she was for awhile. She actually acted like she felt better than she did when we were last there in January, which was before she took a drastic turn for the worse. She was much more alert and talkative, and seemed more like herself. She was alarmingly thin, though. and is still in what is essentially the nursing home section of her complex. But she and Daddy both seemed to really enjoy the visit. 

Oh, look – it’s hours later. Imagine not getting to finish something. I didn’t even get to discuss my slightly alarming Big Birthday (the first time I saw the age my OD now says, I thought, WHAT? Why does it say THAT?!? That’s crazy! Hahahahahaha!!!!)  We didn’t do anything very major, but hopefully are going to Charleston this weekend. Birthday Celebrations continue all month. 

SO I’ll just leave with a few fun Delaware Visit pictures. 

Cousin MJ’s adorable little girls – they let us sleep in their rooms, and camped out in their parents’ floor. They are total sweeties:

This one loves having her picture taken –

I believe this is Emily. I kept wanting to call her Annabel, since one of my nieces had s very similar Annabel when she was little. 

Cousin J’s boys- they played non-stop with the little girls, which is apparently the norm. 

Cousin E’s daughter, the College Girl:

Cousin E and Cousin MJ:

Cousin MJ’s husband and Adorable Daughter:

Cousin J and the Cousin J Husband:

Daddy just standing around in MJ’s nifty screened in porch. 

Amusing appearance by one of the Cousin J boys;

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College Girl, Cousin E’s husband and Daddy. Who could sit around talking to Cousin E’s husband for years. 

Yes, I took a picture of Cousin MJ’s bathroom. It is SO COOL. It’s very retro, with the pink fixtures (pinker than they look in this photo). Her whole house is very nifty and very retro. I need to capitalize on the whole retro thing with my house, which is nearly the same age and also has many of its original fixtures. I could be retro instead of just pathetic!