Well, you didn’t think I could keep it up forever, did you? I had to stop sometime.
Actually, the supply of things to publish has not slackened. But my time has. Things are bad now. Really bad. How bad are they? Pretty darn.
Let’s see, I’ve got about four papers that are more or less late. That’s the biggest thing, really. Homework overload freaks me out, and then I procrastinate. I juggle very poorly.
The other thing is less traumatizing (for me at least), though by far it is more important. The state of North Carolina had decided that I am no longer a resident of NC. This means that I have lost about $4000 in grants from the state. As if this weren’t bad enough, the school, assuming that I would get the same grants I’ve gotten every year, went ahead and credited my account and gave me a $500 refund. I’ve literally had the carpet yanked from under me as I suddenly owe around $2000. If I don’t find alternative sources of funding, I get to get a job next semester, move off campus and go to school part time. Yippy Skippy! And yet this is somehow less bothersome to me than 4 overdue papers.
I think it’s because it’s easy to prioritize my financial problems, and break them down in to steps to viable solutions. I considered getting a bank loan to make up the difference, on the grounds that with an extra semester to look for a job, I’d have a better chance of finding a job. Unfortunately, it seems that they got this here recession on, and the chance of getting a better job in three months doesn’t seem to be any better than getting a “good” job now. It appears that I’m best off to save me the cost of the loan. My other solution involves politics. My advisor (in her indignation) wants me to take this to the president. She thinks that the school owes it to me to make up the difference. I don’t know anything about who owes whom, but I am more than open to other sources of funding. J So I went to the president. The president’s secretary sent me to the dean of the college before I could talk to the president. The dean sent me to the head of admissions. The lady who was the head of admissions left me with a voice mail saying that the school would not allow me to get funding as a NC resident because my “permanent address” is at the college. Tell me something I don’t know. Thus ends the first loop of the runaround. I figure by the third loop, I’ll know whether I have any chance of getting anywhere.
It’s the weirdest thing, though. I’m miserable so far as my classes are concerned. But my finances… happy as a lark. I know that it’s completely outside my responsibility and that I haven’t done anything I shouldn’t have. I’m in a place of absolute helplessness before God. This is a good thing. I know I can finally expect a miracle when I finally need one. The day I found out about my troubles, I was happy as a lark, laughing and ing jokes. I don’t think it was one of those “stress induced” thingies either. I’m upset about my classes, and happy about my finances. What’s the problem? I know I’ve been slacking in my classes and have done everything I could for my finances. No shame—no pain.
However. This here’s Thanksgiving break. Regardless of our classes or our finances, they kick us out for Thanksgiving. I’m going with Constance (and all her sisters and her cousins and her aunts) to visit family in the DC-Maryland area. I’m not taking my computer with me. Homework, yes. Computer, no. You know what this means. I suppose it might be possible for me to borrow somebody’s internet access for long enough to post something over the break. It’s also possible that I may pick up a lotto card while I’m getting gas and win the state lotto and resolve all my financial difficulties. But since I’m not a big fan of the lottery, I really wouldn’t be expecting to read too much of mine. And after I’d done so much to get my readership up…
Check out the archives and nibble on your fingernails until I get back. You’ll hear from me first thin, Monday morning, next week.
Kudos, and happy Thanksgiving!
KB
neumatikos 