i am trying not to have a frickin coronary. the way that the university is dispersing our funds is causing me stress. we can't afford to buy almost 1000 worth of college books between the two of us without our student loans. The university received them about two weeks ago. They 'release' the portion for books on the first day of school. I am about to flip the hell out because i can't get my damn text books to complete my assignments... the first assignments are due tomorrow.
what a fuckin crock. the teachers mildly understand... mildy. and i really wish i could stand on some desks. but no one really cares. this means that whatever damage that i incur to my grade on this isn't available for margin of error the rest of the semester.
not only is it shit that these books are so fucking expensive. (price gouging) but it's shit that the university holds on to your funds *unless* you sign up for their 'card' where they profit. bullshit.
not to mention that two of my professors have no make up exams, attendance is completely mandatory (i'm a college student, not a child. I might have extraneous circumstances) but anyhow, they deduct points for absences and tardies.
i have tried to chill out and not get weird or freak out. but now i'm freaking out. i'm sick of the dire wording of all the university communication. (I've received about four letters from the Uni saying that they were going to drop me because of grades. I'm on the deans list. apparently, they thought that i'd dropped out of last fall.... instead of starting in winter.)
i've just had it with the 'go to this office, go back to this office, wait for two weeks, if you don't hear from us, everything is fine' what the hell. who is allowed to run a company that way?
anyhow. so tomorrow, i am showing up unprepared and more than likely sitting in a front seat in front of the teacher pretending to take notes madly because i don't want her to call on me and ask me a stupid question.
ugh. seriously having a coronary.
We are out and about searching for the right location for Michael to get his doctorate.
"right" is relative, and includes:
willing to pay Michael (doctorates get paid because they are usually assistants and teachers)
not a research motivated facility. (Michael wants to teach. Not do a bunch of painful research where your days, months, and thoughts are dominated by whether or not your university was able to get funding to do your special project. Even worse, if your university looses funding to continue your education.)
Less Drama. (We went to Michigan State where one of the lead teachers is such a hot ass that she actually sent Michael and email originally that basically said that "I see you have a bachelors in fine art, we have strict requirements for students and they need to meet the grades and test scores... blah blah blah." In other words" Hey art boy, this is a real school... your bachelors isn't worth anything to me." To which we gracefully responded with Michael's credentials and she somewhat begrudgingly agreed to meet with us. Then when we drove seven hours and spent a decent amount of money to explore the option of pursuing Michael's doctorate there, this same woman spent FIVE minutes with him before telling him that his interests were different than what she covers and shuffling him downstairs to another person. Michael had several meetings with that department and the head of the department said "did this woman talk to you for five minutes and then shuffle you down to someone else" They KNEW that she does this!
Anyhow. People that we can work with is a MUST.
So we are applying to about 10 universities, and universities out of the country are not off the table, but we would have to find one that offered a doctorate in Retail/Marketing/Mass Communications/Advertising.
What we would LOVE is to end up in Oregon/Washington area, spend some time next to the Pacific.
Anyhow. I gotta get off of here because we are actually trying to get out the door again.... we stopped in Findlay and had a stay at the Quality Inn. It was nice to get away from the family for a few days. I love all of Michael's family, but his parents have needed some extended attention. They are getting into their late seventies and are basically starting to get to the point where they can't take care of their house. :(