Comments about modern students from an actual English teacher

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Form letter junk mail

A new rash of form letter junk emails have hit my spam box.

All of them have the subject line: Re. (fill in the blank)

And the text says:

Ahahahaha looks like we share the same opinion (fill in the blank).



Check my profile at:

Some dating site referral link
See what else we have in common ;)

You just have to laugh at the laziness of the people who send out this spam. Does the company send their spammers a form letter to fill out? I am thinking yes because the only difference between the letters is (fill in the blank) and the sender (and the referral number, of course). C'mon spammers, create your own letter if you are going to spam me; your job is to entertain me, not make me think that I am watching TV reruns.

Revising my class schedule

Checking my transfer sheet, I realized that one of the required classes I need did not transfer with the right course number. So I had to drop the Critical Essay class.

Faced with the choice of dropping the Korean War class and taking the missing class (Introduction to Literature which has to be taken at UCD), or taking the missing class another semester and enrolling in another class instead to keep me at the twelve credits, I chose to punt and take Immigration and Ethnicity in American History instead.

I actually thought about signing up for this class in the first place, but decided to try to take two English classes this semester instead. Haha---the joke is on me. At least, I have only missed one class (a whole three hour of lectures), so hopefully I should be able to catch up.

Classes I am taking this semester

This week was the first week of classes for the Spring 2011 semester at the University of Colorado at Denver. This semester I am taking my standard allotment of four classes (12 credits).

I finally got into the Critical Writing Essay class. It is one of the classes that I have to pass in order to get my degree. This class involves a lot of writing and developing the ability to actually wax on about the meaning and structure of a piece of writing.

I am also taking 1950s: Korean War, Cold War and US Transformation. Personal interest---it actually fills no slots other than an elective. Have to do an small research project---I am thinking something to do with the pulps (either men's magazines or science fiction).

My other history class this semester is Urban Development in the US; it is a class focusing on how cities developed and some of the social changes that resulted from having big cities in the United States. Again, personal interest (though I am hoping to convince an advisor to count it towards my US history requirement). I am hoping to get some background for the urban fantasies that I find myself writing.

My last class is Medieval Women---Whores and Saints. I am taking this class because (1) it fulfills a requirement, and (2) it is being taught by my favorite professor (ironically the professor that I hated the most at the beginning of last semester). Based on last night's class, it is going to be a major learning experience.

So there are my excuses for not getting a lot of writing or occult work done over the next few months. But on the bright note, I am getting closer to graduation (not that it means much to someone who plans on flipping directly into the Masters program).

Critical Writing Panic Attack

As I noted in a previous post, my wife was hoping that the start of the semester would even out my bad mood. No such luck. Today, I had a small panic attack (and am still on edge) in the Critical Writing class.

Definitely not the way that I wanted to start that class. But I do understand why it happened.

Critical Writing is one of the classes that I have to take in order to graduate (provided that I want to finish up the Literature major---or even a minor in Lit). I knew that the class was going to be hard. But the more the professor talked about what we needed to do to pass, the more I wondered what a high school dropout like myself was doing there.

I am not sure that I can get across that bar at all. Oh well, even if I crash and burn---hopefully---I will pick up the skills I need to survive my senior seminar in the fall. And yes, I am so stubborn that I would rather flunk the class than drop it. Here is to the book and 600 words (good words) that I have to finish before the next class.

Clarification of my job skills

Just a quick note to make something clear: When I say that I am not qualified for anything outside of flipping burgers or supervising people flipping burgers, I am actually saying that I don't have a piece of paper that says that I am quailified for anything else (aka the lambskin that the university gives you saying that you have an education and are programmed to jump though administrative hoops while sitting still). It does not matter what type of skills, management or otherwise I have, without that piece of paper, it is like having none. Of course, that is like saying that because I have not gotten published by a big publisher that I have no skills as a writer.

Where would we be if we did not have our gatekeepers keeping the riff-raff out?

Foul mood continues

Well, my foul mood has continued. Blame it on my brain rotting. Or something.

My wife is hoping that the start of the new semester improves my mood. I am not so sure that it will. One of the things that is driving me batty is the little voice that says that I should drop out of college and head back to working in restaurants.

(As if there are any jobs to be had in restaurants, even if one is available 24/7. And outside of restaurant work, I am only qualified [or not] to do freelance writing.)

It is the little voice that says I should be doing more to get us out of our little budget problem that is driving me nuts. My childhood training kicks in, and that makes me grumpy. Which is turn, drives my wife nuts.