"Idiot Wind"

Today's rant is going to be a hodge-podge of the idiots I've had to deal with lately, because I think we'll all find it amusing and because if I don't blow off some steam, I may kill someone. The overwhelming idocy I seem to have to deal with on almost a daily basis startles me, especially since it doesn't all come from student-athletes.

The first idiot was here in the Writing Center, about two or three weeks ago, and was a student-athlete. I think I might have mentioned him--a tour came through, and this moron kept telling said tour that we wrote papers for him. As a result of his stupidity, we are limited in what we can and cannot do to a student's paper. One of the big things I'd do is help with word choice. Students, whether athletes or not, often use the wrong word. Either they don't have the vocabulary for what they're trying to say, or they just misuse a word. Whatever, it happens, even to me. So I'd suggest other words. Or I'd rework a sentence so it flowed better. Well, no more. Now all I can do is circle where the mistake is and tell there's a mistake. I can't offer suggestions on how to fix it. Stupid.

The next group of idiots were encountered this past Saturday during the OU/OSU game. I went for my jog during the third quarter, and as I was walking back, I saw a group of OU students (well, college-age guys wearing OU shirts) heckling a ten year old wearing OSU stuff. A ten year old. Am I alone in thinking that if they have to pick on a ten year old to win an argument, they really have no business being in college? Mind you, OSU fans were no better--as I continued walking, I came even with an older couple in orange. As we all walked past a house near the stadium, someone started up a call and answer "OSU" "Sucks." Well, this set the old guy off, and he starts complaining loudly about how asinine OU fans are. Which they are, but OSU fans are not innocent themselves. I mean, come on, people, it's a freakin' game you're getting worked up over here. How or why is this so damn important?

I sometimes wonder if all these morons are placed in my path simply to test my patience. Or maybe it's just indicative of football and its fans (the student-athlete who caused trouble a few weeks ago was a football player). This state's morbid fascination with all things college football is ridiculous and probably some sort of social disease. I keep wondering if it's airborne and whether or not I should wear a mask when I come to work.

In non-football-related stupidity, I think folks need to learn how to use their damn turn signals. Lemme explain--the little switch thing on the left side of your steering column? Yeah, that's the turn signal. If you push it up, the right turn signal flashes. Push it down, the left turn signal flashes. These are designed to be used before you turn. Not in the middle of the turn. Not after you've started the turn. Before. In case you're curious, it's to warn other people on the road what it is you're doing so they don't run into you. I swear, if I come across one more dipshit who doesn't know how to use these things, I'm going to go librarian poo.

Tune in next time, when I'll discuss merging onto the interstate and why that doesn't mean "driving 35 MPH" or "coming to a complete stop when no one's coming."

~chaos cricket

Song of the Moment: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, "In the Dark of the Sun"

"With A Little Help From My Friends"

So I was discussing social group dynamics with a coworker of mine last night (yes, this is what he and I do for fun--discuss social theory and anime. Sometimes at the same time. He's an intellectual, and I pretend to be one, so it works). He said he'd noticed that in social groups on college campuses that have graduate programs, a group of undergraduates will often have a "token graduate student." He'd noticed these groups were, in general, more stable, but didn't know why. He also didn't know why there'd be one or two grad students in a group of undergrads.

Then we figured it out, and it seemed blindingly simple--these grad students were most likely only recently graduated from their undergraduate work. At a large institution like OU, I'm sure a high number of the people who decide to get an advanced degree remain at OU. It makes sense--you already know the professors, you know the program and what's available, and it's just easier. Granted, not everyone does, and sometimes you get students like me, who are from a different school. But then again, Ozarks didn't have a graduate program (if they had, I'd have probably continued attending there). So the token graduate student was, until recently, an undergraduate, and this was simply the group he'd been in prior to moving on to the next degree. I know that several of the people I'm friends with were not in the same year I was at Ozarks, or even if they were, a good number of them did not graduate when I did. Even though I went off for graduate school, I was still friends with them. I had the unique opportunity to be the token grad student in two social groups--one at Ozarks, and one here. In the Ozarks circle, it was usually like I'd never left when I went to visit. It felt normal, more like I was returning home than visiting from home. The OU circle, on the other hand, is composed of an old high school friend and several of the people she's introduced me to. This new circle also includes several students who have yet to complete their undergraduate degree, but some of those are also age peers. It's kinda weird, really.

But yeah, it all made sense when my coworker and I thought about it--why would someone abandon their social group just because they were done with their undergraduate degree? I mean, you're isolated enough as it is as a graduate student. You aren't on campus very much except for class or research, you take classes at different times from other students usually (all the history graduate seminar classes in the history department are at night). It would make sense that you'd want to retain your old social group for more than the obvious reason that these people are your friends and have been for a while now. There's the added fact that most graduate students do not socialize with one another. I've never gone out for a beer with a fellow grad student. Never gone over to their place just to hang out, or gone to see a movie. We see each other in classes, perhaps in the library. We are peers, but not friends. It's kinda weird. Also, I noticed a lot of the other graduate students around here are too narrow-focused, too serious in their endeavors, too concerned with becoming "professionals" to want to loosen up, relax, and even just smile. I think I'd go insane and strangle someone if I were like that. I need to interact with people, and while I still get to interact with my friends from Ozarks in a limited capacity, I need people I can call up and go visit without having to make long-term plans or worry about whether or not I have the whole weekend free to do so. I need people who are close enough that we can decide to go see a movie that evening 30 minutes before it starts, not 4 1/2 or 5 hours.

That seems like a weird place to end the rambling, but I'm not sure I have anything else to add. I guess I just consider myself lucky to be included in so many social groups, token grad student or not. To you, my friends, I say thank you.

~chaos cricket

Song of the Moment: Counting Crows, "Einstein on the Beach"

"Sail Us To The Moon"

I had this nifty rant about diversity on college campuses all written up, and I keep losing it when I try to load the post. I keep forgetting how to work this stupid thing, so instead you're just getting a random rant about whatever I come up with.

We had an idiot in the Writing Center Friday. Now, idiots showing up in the Center is not anything extremely out of the ordinary. With a student-athlete population as high as OU's, there's bound to be a fair percentage of them that's dumber than a box of rocks, and just happened to make it into college because they could play a sport (probably football). Well, this guy was an idiot for new reasons. See, we have recruitment tours that come through the place every so often. It impresses the parents of prospective student-athletes to see the academic services center we have here at OU (which is deservedly impressive--the folks who work here, and I'm not just talking about the Writing Center, are quiet good at what they do). Anyway, this moron decides to announce to a tour that we have written papers for him. This is patently absurd--we don't write the papers for students. So it reflects poorly upon us, and I don't like that sort of thing. Now we are even more limited in how we can edit the papers, because any stuff we were doing that might be considered borderline cheating (such as suggesting words to replace for crappy word choice, something we do quite a bit) we can no longer do. All because one idiot thought he was being funny. In reality, he only hurt himself and us. On top of that, we then had to have a meeting with our boss about this crap, and that was unnecessary, really, or should have been. I swear, it only takes one fool to reflect poorly upon all student-athletes.

~chaos cricket

Song of the Moment: Radiohead, "2 + 2 = 5"