Lesson Learned

This week has been almost intolerable. It's just one of those weeks where everything that could go wrong, went wrong. I try to be really optimistic about it and everyday I woke up I said, "Well, today is going to be better." Sadly, it kept going downhill, until this morning. It's a really long story but the nutshell version is that I wanted to adjust my English major and become a contract major. This basically means that instead of taking the normal English track in literature, I wanted to specialize my classes into only British literature or related categories. I did this because I know that I want to pursue English literature in grad school, so why take classes in subjects that won't help me? 

Anyways, to do this contract major there are a couple steps one must take. First, you need to meet with your advisor and talk about what classes could fall under some kind of cohesive theme. Next, you set up a presentation for the department chair to show her your list of classes, why you wish to alter the literature track, and then gain her approval. Lastly, you have to take her signature to the registrars office and have it officially filed. So, I finished the first step last semester when I first decided I wanted to do this. I finished the presentation last night because my meeting with the department chair was today. 

As most college students know, professors can sometimes have the biggest God complex, and the longer they have been a teacher the worse it gets. This woman has a HUGE complex and it really grated on my nerves today. The absolute only time she could meet was right in the middle of one of my classes. I tried to get another time but nothing, so I emailed the other professor and told him my situation, luckily he was super understanding. So I confirmed the meeting and had my awesome presentation all ready to go. I show up for the meeting and she makes me wait outside for 15 minutes, though I'm not sure why. Then when she finally called me in the meeting lasted a whole 1 minute. I worked really hard on my presentation and she didn't even care to see all of it. Thankfully, I got approved, but still. Moving on, that form I mentioned above in step three, I didn't even know about it until she asked me for it after the 1 minute meeting. So I couldn't even finish this stupid contract major. 

So I go to the registrar to get this 'form' only to be told that no such form exists and I have to go type up a form myself and get all the appropriate signatures on it then turn it in to them for official filing. 

At this point I was super upset, but then I started to think, "I'm tired of all this [blank] going wrong and I'm not going to tolerate it anymore". So, with only 15 minutes left before my next class I booked it to a language lab, typed up the form myself and went right back upstairs to the department chairs office, walked right in (only to see her with another professor), and said, "Excuse me, Professor, I'm sorry to interrupt but I need your signature on this please." I handed her the form and got her signature and went right back to the registrars office and officially filed that insufferable piece of paper.

So, I guess the lesson for this week is that if everything seems to be going wrong you need to step in and make it better yourself. If you always let everything walk all over you and get you down then you're not respecting yourself the way you should. I learned that I need to take control of situations that I need it and never let anything ruin my day. 

Lesson learned.