Barely Punctual, Annoying Girl, and Politics at Generic University
Here's what happened to me today.
I got to class with a few minutes to spare. All last week, I was doing very well at being up early (06:00 or before) each day, getting to campus the better part of an hour early, and getting something accomplished. I don't think I've been on campus exceptionally early at all this week. Next week's my last, absolutely last, day as an "undergrad" (which is to say, recent graduate sitting in on undergraduate classes), so I really want to kick ass and take names.
Anyway, I was on time, which is more than I could say for Annoying Girl. Once we passed 09:20 without a trace of her, I figured she was skipping class again, and I was as happy as a little girl. We hit 10:00, and it was break time, so as usual most of us went down to the coffee shop on the first floor and got something (a cream cheese danish and tea for me), then went back up to the top deck to stand around and chat for a few minutes before class started up again. While we were talking Annoying Girl showed up, more than an hour late, with disheveled hair, and a spaghetti strap top with the straps down around her arms (as opposed to on top of her shoulders where they belonged). According to The Sarge, she looked "like she slept on a bus." Gunny reported that she'd come in and apologized profusely, saying that she was still wearing what she'd worn last night, and she'd not been home yet, and that she was amazed that she'd woken up at all.
Gee, I wonder if everyone's favorite party girl got some last night? For crying out loud, I've seen street people and hippies who looked more dignified than she looked today. A note to all you college freshmen out there: if you get so piss steaming drunk that you don't make it home, and your options are to A) go home, shower, change, and arrive two hours late to a three hour class, or B) go straight to class looking like you got kicked out of Fred Durst's love shack two days ago and you've been wandering aimlessly since, and arrive an hour and fifteen minutes late, do your classmates, instructor, and everyone who will see you on the way a favor: take the hit on points and get back to your place, and get yourself put together. Or, better yet, just suck it up and show up to class the next day. Or, even better yet, don't set yourself up to make decisions that will prevent you from taking care of your responsibilities.
Anyway, after class I headed back to my car to switch out my school bag for my gym bag, and chatted a bit with the Mormon Buddha (who may actually be reading this) and the Dark Horse Historian (who may also actually be reading this) about Marine Corps fire team and squad level tactical training, which I was lucky enough to participate in back in May.
Once we parted company, the Dark Horse Historian and I continued back to my car. When the three of us were talking, the [Generic University] Historians' Club came up as a topic, and the Dark Horse Historian, who was somewhat involved with them this year, asked me to clarify a couple of things about the state of the group.
For those of you (maybe all of you) who don't know, one of the groups I was heavily involved with during about half of my time at college was the Historians' Club. I was part of a group that re-founded it during my sophomore year, and I went on to be vice president (which is to say, essentially acting president) my junior year and president by senior year. I pretty much ran the club for two years of my college career because of the other obligations the president had to keep a handle on during my tenure as vice president.
Once I finished my one-year term as president, I declined to vote in the end-of-year elections, and was succeeded by the only candidate, an extremely liberal girl a few years older than me who's both an undergraduate student and a department employee. One of the things I made a point of during my presidency was to keep my political views out of the picture. Everyone knew where I stood on politics, but not because of anything I did with the club. As far as I'm concerned, students at a public university, or any university, should not be indoctrinated when they go to a meeting or function of an academic student organization. In the same way that I think it was inappropriate for Ward Churchill (fake indian, fake professor, overall fraud) to be paid on the taxpayer's dime to write drivel and tell people that America is evil, I think that inserting politics of any kind into the agenda of an academic club is irresponsible and unethical. Not only did my successor disagree with me (though I think she honestly didn't think she was as completely partisan as she is), but several of the other club members were fairly put off by my adamant stance on the issue. Once the elections were over, I was done, and didn't attend another club meeting, though I did attend one of their presentations a while back.
Anyway, in addition to filling the Dark Horse Historian in on some of the back story of the Historians' Club, I learned from him something that Rampage has been telling me for quite a while (Rampage still gets the club's E-Mails): the club has gone very political, and it's turned all business. One of the things that I can give my predecessor credit for, and can take credit for myself, is that she (and I) made a point of having some actual fun activities (movie nights, a fun day in the quad, field trips, et cetera), aside from the administrative end of things. If you happen to be a university freshman, you're reading this, and you plan to get involved on campus, take my advice: college students can only maintain an interest in work-related activities if there are bread and circuses to keep it all interesting, even in philosophical or academic organizations.
Bottom line, if you want to get involved in politics on campus, join the College Republicans or the... Yeah, you thought I was going to link to the College Democrats, didn't you? Nice try. Anyway, if you want to be political on campus, get involved with a political group; don't hijack a non-partisan academic group and change its agenda to fit your mindset.
Anyway, after all of that, I hit the gym, and did a hundred situps, a hundred pushups, and a bunch of machine-assisted pullups and negatives. Then I hit the pool for twenty-five minutes; then I got lunch, which came with the aforementioned autographed box. After that I went to work, washed a van, went home for dinner, and now I'm back at work for the evening.
If you've read all of this, I'm amazed.
I got to class with a few minutes to spare. All last week, I was doing very well at being up early (06:00 or before) each day, getting to campus the better part of an hour early, and getting something accomplished. I don't think I've been on campus exceptionally early at all this week. Next week's my last, absolutely last, day as an "undergrad" (which is to say, recent graduate sitting in on undergraduate classes), so I really want to kick ass and take names.
Anyway, I was on time, which is more than I could say for Annoying Girl. Once we passed 09:20 without a trace of her, I figured she was skipping class again, and I was as happy as a little girl. We hit 10:00, and it was break time, so as usual most of us went down to the coffee shop on the first floor and got something (a cream cheese danish and tea for me), then went back up to the top deck to stand around and chat for a few minutes before class started up again. While we were talking Annoying Girl showed up, more than an hour late, with disheveled hair, and a spaghetti strap top with the straps down around her arms (as opposed to on top of her shoulders where they belonged). According to The Sarge, she looked "like she slept on a bus." Gunny reported that she'd come in and apologized profusely, saying that she was still wearing what she'd worn last night, and she'd not been home yet, and that she was amazed that she'd woken up at all.
Gee, I wonder if everyone's favorite party girl got some last night? For crying out loud, I've seen street people and hippies who looked more dignified than she looked today. A note to all you college freshmen out there: if you get so piss steaming drunk that you don't make it home, and your options are to A) go home, shower, change, and arrive two hours late to a three hour class, or B) go straight to class looking like you got kicked out of Fred Durst's love shack two days ago and you've been wandering aimlessly since, and arrive an hour and fifteen minutes late, do your classmates, instructor, and everyone who will see you on the way a favor: take the hit on points and get back to your place, and get yourself put together. Or, better yet, just suck it up and show up to class the next day. Or, even better yet, don't set yourself up to make decisions that will prevent you from taking care of your responsibilities.
Anyway, after class I headed back to my car to switch out my school bag for my gym bag, and chatted a bit with the Mormon Buddha (who may actually be reading this) and the Dark Horse Historian (who may also actually be reading this) about Marine Corps fire team and squad level tactical training, which I was lucky enough to participate in back in May.
Once we parted company, the Dark Horse Historian and I continued back to my car. When the three of us were talking, the [Generic University] Historians' Club came up as a topic, and the Dark Horse Historian, who was somewhat involved with them this year, asked me to clarify a couple of things about the state of the group.
For those of you (maybe all of you) who don't know, one of the groups I was heavily involved with during about half of my time at college was the Historians' Club. I was part of a group that re-founded it during my sophomore year, and I went on to be vice president (which is to say, essentially acting president) my junior year and president by senior year. I pretty much ran the club for two years of my college career because of the other obligations the president had to keep a handle on during my tenure as vice president.
Once I finished my one-year term as president, I declined to vote in the end-of-year elections, and was succeeded by the only candidate, an extremely liberal girl a few years older than me who's both an undergraduate student and a department employee. One of the things I made a point of during my presidency was to keep my political views out of the picture. Everyone knew where I stood on politics, but not because of anything I did with the club. As far as I'm concerned, students at a public university, or any university, should not be indoctrinated when they go to a meeting or function of an academic student organization. In the same way that I think it was inappropriate for Ward Churchill (fake indian, fake professor, overall fraud) to be paid on the taxpayer's dime to write drivel and tell people that America is evil, I think that inserting politics of any kind into the agenda of an academic club is irresponsible and unethical. Not only did my successor disagree with me (though I think she honestly didn't think she was as completely partisan as she is), but several of the other club members were fairly put off by my adamant stance on the issue. Once the elections were over, I was done, and didn't attend another club meeting, though I did attend one of their presentations a while back.
Anyway, in addition to filling the Dark Horse Historian in on some of the back story of the Historians' Club, I learned from him something that Rampage has been telling me for quite a while (Rampage still gets the club's E-Mails): the club has gone very political, and it's turned all business. One of the things that I can give my predecessor credit for, and can take credit for myself, is that she (and I) made a point of having some actual fun activities (movie nights, a fun day in the quad, field trips, et cetera), aside from the administrative end of things. If you happen to be a university freshman, you're reading this, and you plan to get involved on campus, take my advice: college students can only maintain an interest in work-related activities if there are bread and circuses to keep it all interesting, even in philosophical or academic organizations.
Bottom line, if you want to get involved in politics on campus, join the College Republicans or the... Yeah, you thought I was going to link to the College Democrats, didn't you? Nice try. Anyway, if you want to be political on campus, get involved with a political group; don't hijack a non-partisan academic group and change its agenda to fit your mindset.
Anyway, after all of that, I hit the gym, and did a hundred situps, a hundred pushups, and a bunch of machine-assisted pullups and negatives. Then I hit the pool for twenty-five minutes; then I got lunch, which came with the aforementioned autographed box. After that I went to work, washed a van, went home for dinner, and now I'm back at work for the evening.
If you've read all of this, I'm amazed.
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