Today has been ... long. The snow that everyone has been predicting would come felt like a slap in the face. I drove, partially because it was so cold and windy this morning, and partially because its dark when I go in and dark when I leave. The ridiculously low pressure passed through here, and I'm not sure my hands and knees will recover any time soon. Thank god for ibprofuen. The car may or may not have been a good plan. The bad thing about the weather is that I now have to figure out things to do with my hair that will fit under a beanie. So long bun...
I have late to both my classes today, which was okay. The second was better than the first. That may be because my cell phone went off in the earlier one, and now I owe donuts.
My labs went more or less smoothly... except for one of my students. I told him that I didn't have a lab report for him, so nothing was graded. He said that he'd turned it into my box, and that he wasn't taking late points for it... that it had happened once before and it wasn't his fault. Here's the thing, the first time, the lab report was misaddressed. If he puts the wrong section or TAs name and the report gets lost, its not his ow fault if the report goes awry. I can't be held responsible. If he turned in the report and someone stole it, I feel like we (the TAs) would notice a marked difference in the quality of the report. This is, in any case, an unlikely scenario because I check my box regularly. My policy thus far has been that if I don't have the report in my box at the approprate time, its late. I will, of course, check my room to see if I accidently left it here during the grading fiasco that has been the last few nights, but I doubt that. I already looked through my bag. Its the 7th report of the semester, and I have held firm with my policy... except in a few rare cases. This kid is not a special case.
I am in a position where I don't feel like I can give. I am a young teacher, barely older than some of my students. Add to that the fact that I am not a large individual (When I go out to fast food, I still order the kids meals because an adult meal is too much for me to eat), and that I look young. I try to stand firm in what I do. I will not let myself be intimiated by a student. I want a friendly, working relationship where I am avaliable should they need me. I want them to grow as human beings, which I realize may or may not be in line with being a tough grader, but never the less, that is important to me. I don't think its fair to the kids who did things right to make an exception for him.... its one thing when your friend dies (you TELL me your friend died), you have to go home, I KNOW you did your work and I KNOW you're a good student. Its another when you're mediocre at best and this is your second offense. I'm as frustrated as he is... I just don't know what to do, and now I'm rambling.
Speaking of kid's meals, I went to Mickey D's for lunch, driving my car. I left my head lights on, and went into lab. Car was dead when I left work at 7:30 in the wind and cold. I didn't think I could call AAA, although apparently, I could have. So, I did the next most logical thing. I walked down to the University Police Station to ask for a jump. Apparently the police are too busy protecting and letting people with one headlight off with warnings to actually serve. So... I called Michael Cera. He's basically a saint. His car, though is a 4 cylinder, and it wasn't sufficient to start my six-cylinder Honda. So, MM lent me her car to start mine. VERY kind of her. Grandma Gold (her car) is like my car's baby... its probably a 2004 or 2005 Accord (mine is a 1996). It has an electric key and everything! Mike and I jumped the car, and then he went home.
I had to drive for at least 30 minutes, because thats what you have to do after you jump your car to re-charge the battery. I had to be careful about where i tried to drive, though... I can run away South, East and West. The only place I don't have someoene to run to is north. Naturally, I had to drive north tonight so I wouldn't give into the urge to run away.
Now, I'm fed and warm. I'm going to watch the Rocky Horror Glee Show on Hulu, finish reading about making soluable antibody complex and get some sleep. Tomorrow will be another hectic day.
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