anonemouse

I am seriously starting to freak right now. Hell, I shouldn't even be on here, but I needed to let off some steam and try to relax for a bit. My first comprehensive exam is on Wednesday, I've got another on Thursday, and the third one is next Monday. And guess what? My advisor (who's giving me the exam on Wednesday) isn't returning my emails, so that's adding to the stress! Plus, it's the last two weeks of the semester, I have a shitload of grading to do (y'all know me, I'm a MAJOR procrastinator, so I have half a semester's worth of quizes to grade) and I have to give my class their final exam next week. On top of that, I need to do all my Christmas shopping, and then I need to finish collecting the data for my thesis and start working on getting it all together. Seriously, I'm about to start gibbering over here. You'd think I'd learn that procrastination is BAD and that it doesn't get me anything but thinning hair, but no. Apparently I need to have it drilled into my head, REPEATEDLY. :speechles

This is a rant about my students. Some of them, at least. WHY do some students think that they should be given the answers to everything and not be required to think for themselves or do any work to receive a good grade? I was just reading through the course evaluations and I'm seriously pissed at them right now. What part of REVIEW can some of them NOT understand? A review sheet is supposed to be a review of everything covered since the last exam, NOT "all the test questions in advance." Be glad you're even GETTING a review sheet for the exams, since I'm not required to give them. ESPECIALLY since I give you fucking extra credit if you complete it and hand it in. Of COURSE the class is hard. It's a fucking university-level biology class, not 8th-grade science! There is a limit to how much I can simplify material before the theory behind it is lost. Yes, I'm sorry I can't spend more time on certain topics or give more hands-on activities, but I have 14 chapters to cover in a class that only meets once a week for less than two hours. That's why I've made it very clear that you need to ask questions, come up and talk to me, or email me if you don't understand the material. I am seriously steaming here. Fucking ingrates. We REALLY need a "pissed as fucking hell" icon.

I go back and forth, honestly. Sometimes I absolutely love my students, or at least the ones that seem to actually give a damn. Other times, I just want to smack them. I think it's the time of year, too. The last few weeks of the semester are NOT fun, especially this semester (I'm taking the comprehensive exams for my degree starting on Wednesday). I think I'd enjoy it more if I were teaching different classes, too. Right now, I'm teaching introductory non-majors' biology, so the vast majority of my students are just there because they're required to take the class, not because they're actually interested in the material. Hell, half the time I'm not interested in the material. I would love to teach something that's actually at least half-way interesting, like evolution, conservation biology, wildlife ecology, or animal behavior. Unfortunately, as a grad student I'm stuck teaching the classes that none of the real professors want to teach (lucky them).

I would imagine that it's quite unlikely that, if someone chooses a surgeon that is completely unresponsive to them after surgery, they were the only patients of that particular surgeon that that happened to. So, IMO, unless someone chooses a very obscure surgeon who doesn't have many patients that are active members of a support site, it isn't likely that people wouldn't have seen reports of that type of behavior (or lack there-of, I guess). Of course, it CAN happen, I'm not trying to say that it absolutely doesn't. Sometimes, these things DO happen. But again, IMO, it's not very likely that it would be an isolated incident. And if it isn't an isolated incident, patients are generally going to talk about it and prospective patients would have heard about it.

If you're talking about WASa, I don't know where you've been, but she's never pushed anyone into having surgey in Mexico. All she's done is advocate that people do their research. Hell, she's even posted about the "armpits" of Mexico, and let people know where the dangerous areas are and what people going to those areas should or shouldn't do (for example, she's posted several times about the police that steal from tourists that approach them in TJ). That isn't "only posting the pros" of going to Mexico. She doesn't exactly mince words when someone is talking about using a surgeon with a bad reputation, either. She doesn't go around telling everyone that every single surgeon in Mexico is above and beyond the quality of American surgeons. She is, however, an intense advocate of patients doing their research, whether they're using American surgeons or Mexican surgeons. And to be very blunt, if someone gets stuck with a surgeon that doesn't answer their phone calls or follow up with them, that's their own fault for failing to do the necessary research. Stuff like that doesn't exactly stay quiet on the support boards, 'cause people are very loud when they have an experience that they aren't pleased with.

I feel for you, Sharon! I finished the course-work for my degree last semester, so now I'm just trying to get my thesis finished up (and studying for my comprehensive exams, which I start on Wednesday). I get paid an absolute pittance for the time I put in (I get paid less than $800 a month). I'm really starting to think that this is just really not worth the effort I'm putting in. Don't get me wrong, some of my students are wonderful, but some are just miserable little [insert favorite curse here]. And right now, the miserable ones are outnumbering the good ones.

Walmart wouldn't be nearly so bad if the stores were better organized, I think. At the ones I've been to, there are never enough cash registers open, so you spend more time waiting in line than you do actually shopping. Between that, the slow cashiers, the horrid parking, the masses of screaming children, and the people who NEVER seem to notice that they are standing in the middle of the aisle and you need to get by them, it's miserable. I try to avoid Walmart at all costs, unless I can go after 11:00 pm. Hell, I've even been known to drive half an hour to a Target in the next town over, just to avoid going to Walmart.

That would be awesome! Seriously, we need to get a bunch of the LBTers together. Just not in the next month or so, 'cause I'm already about to pull my hair out because of stress. Hell, it wouldn't take much, it's already shedding like mad because I'm about to freak out, between grad school, teaching, and looking for jobs.

There is that!

Unfortunately, I'd have to say that the worst reactions that I've experienced from other people were from fellow fat folks. Don't get me wrong, I've had a couple of so-so reactions from skinny people, but the truly negative ones have been from fat people. If you are on the "smaller" side for WLS, it's not uncommon. Heck, during the few actual support groups that I went to, I got several comments from people that had already had the surgery, telling me that I was "too small for surgery." That irritated me, mainly because while I may not have been as heavy as they were when they had surgery (most of them were RNY patients), I was still fat and I qualified for insurance to cover it.

Thanks, guys! I don't know whether to wish that I get one of the positions or wish that I don't. One's in Georgia and the other is in Florida, so it could make finishing my thesis on time pretty tough, depending on how often I would need to be back in Kentucky to do something. On the other hand, I'm REALLY starting to feel like I need a break from teaching for a while.

The mini bypass is an entirely different surgery than the RNY bypass, isn't it? Everything I've ever seen about it said that the mini was basically not a desirable surgery. I've only seen one surgeon do any major advertising for it, and he's basically not at all respected in the field, from everything I've heard. He's the one that does YouTube videos that bash and mislead about the band. I can't remember his name for the life of me, though.

Ooh, I like that idea, Green! If I'm still teaching next semester, I just might do that. (I don't know yet whether I will be or not. I've applied for a few jobs, so I'm waiting to hear from them before I commit to teaching.)

I hate to say it, but your hubby's right. Well, sort-of. He's marking you as his territory, just like dogs hump other dogs to show them who's boss. When you shower, you're washing his scent off, so he wants to do it again. I used to have a cat that'd do that to a giant stuffed rabbit that I had.

Ha! That's great! :heh: And sick, at the same time! :speechles

Yep, I fully agree. Not everyone should be going to college. There are so many people pushed into it by their parents or by expectations, when they really shouldn't be there. People are so afraid of hurting little Jimmy's feelings by criticizing him that they're just doing him a disservice. I've got students that have completely flunked out of college in the past (and now they're flunking my class, too). You'd think that they'd realize, "Hey, maybe this isn't right for me" or "Maybe I should take some time off and get some real-world experience and then see if I want to come back." Don't get me wrong, I'm all for people becoming what they want to be. But ONLY if that's really what they want to be and if they can hack it. As an academic, that article gives me the shudders. It's despicable (the practice, not the article).

This is why I'm seriously starting to consider just going into government or private work. I mean, sure I occasionally get good students that seem to appreciate me and realize that they need to put in effort, but they are FAR outnumbered by the assholes who think they deserve an A for just showing up. It just REALLY pisses me off when I read my evaluations (that go to my department head, no less) and I'm getting absolutely slammed in them because I'm not treating them like 10 year-olds, or because of something that I can't control, like the amount of material we go over (I have a set list of topics that my department requires me to cover).

Check out this thread.

And they've shown up! Don't y'all realize that all you are succeeding at is just lending creedence to what WASa's been saying? Little yappy poodles is about right, methinks. Neutered ones at that. :guess

Seriously, try lasers. They work wonders. It's expensive, but really worth the money, IMO. Even after only one treatment, I have seen MASSIVE improvement with the hair on my neck and chin. I can't believe I waited this long to do it.

You should've been here last night. It exploded. Just about every time I'd check the thread, we were on a new page. It was great. :biggrin1: *snort* Aw, Mom! You're ruining all the fun! :heh: :bounce:

Those are great!

I have to admit, I'm more than a bit of a scrooge. I'm not a fan of Christmas beyond getting and giving gifts. I don't even bother to decorate or anything. It's a waste of time, IMO. But hey, I'm an Atheist, so the holiday really has absolutely zip meaning to me. It's just a nice time to spend with family, to me.

Onederland! Woohoo!

The whining and crying for more extra credit, I mean. Just over two weeks until the end of the semester, and I'm starting to get students emailing me because they know that they are in danger of failing. One guy is even trying to get me to accept the past extra credit assignments. They have pre-lab questions for every lab, and if they turn them in before the lab starts, they can get up to a point of extra credit per lab. Somehow, he says he missed the 20 times that I announced that. I'm sorry, it's in the freaking syllabus and I clearly remember talking about it during the first lab period and in several others after that. Not my fault he apparently can't read or listen.