Hooplah.Org A Story of Graceful Stumbles

Assignment troubles over, Fashionability

I feel victorious. After sending about 15 or so messages back and forth to my professor regarding my assignment... yesterday I was finally fed up. It felt as though I was just repeating myself over and over. It was frustrating that no matter what reasons I provided, my professor either ignored their significance or asked me in another way to explain how I thought the question wasn't possible to answer. After stating my reasons for roughly the 6th time, I included this last paragraph at the bottom of the e-mail:

Furthermore, I am getting tired of having to repeat myself again and again.
Most of the time, it doesn't seem like you are even reading what I'm writing. It's nearly been a week now. If you are not willing to discuss assignment grades, much less ever consider a compromise after someone has laid out a logical reason for what they did (no matter how much you can rebut my reasons, you were not there when I was completing the assignment), then you should have never given the invitation for such conversations in the Q&A you provided for the class. If I continue to have trouble getting a more adequate grade for my efforts, or at least some acknowledgement that my thoughts were correct on some level, I will seek a higher authority to evaluate the situation.

Apparently that threat was enough to get some action in my favor.

I spent all of yesterday worrying about how I would carry it out... I had decided my first step would be to contact my guidance counselor on Monday, the same one who I originally contacted about attending Strayer, and ask her what she would suggest... and from there maybe request the ability to get a second opinion from a professor there on campus. Worrying about what to do had me so unraveled that my IBS reared it's ugly head for the first time in almost a week and a half, and toyed with me for the rest of the evening and for some of this morning as well. But, that was all in vein... because yesterday evening, my professor responded to my e-mail and told me to complete question 4 in place of question 1 and to have it in the dropbox by Monday. I completed it within 2 hours of getting the e-mail, and submitted it in the dropbox for week 4 just like he requested.

I just checked, and I now have a 100% for the assignment rather than the previous 25%. My grade for the class jumped from a 69 to a 94. There are very few things that I chose to stand up for... especially on an issue as serious as this. If I had had these classes in person, I never would have been able to gather my courage or my thoughts to fight for what I thought face to face to him. Sigh... why couldn't I of taken high school online as well.

On to more positive notes... I believe both my mother and I can officially qualify as "white trash." We've been shopping for clothes at Dollar General... and enjoying it. I actually found a very cute two piece looking shirt and skirt. I would ever, ever wear them together... but separately, they actually look really cute. My mother also bought me a shirt made out of a material I love that has an indi-looking design on it... It's alright I suppose, and though I dislike the sleeves, she swears up and down that it looks good on me. I also got a white shirt to go with the new dress, and some new summer-y white shoes. It surprised me to find pretty decent clothing there. When Matt comes here, he says he's going to take me clothes shopping, since most of what I have in my closet either doesn't fit, or I no longer feel comfortable wearing. If he does successfully drag me into a store with the intention of buying me clothing, I'll be heading straight to Wal-Mart and Target.

In the past 3 years, I've learned to accept alot of things about my appearance. While short hair may be fun, I look and feel more comfortable with long hair. While I may love bright, flashy colors to look at... I've come to accept that they don't look that good on me. In combination with my long hair and usually thin frame, I look like a modern day hippie. And though I tried to fight it for quite some time... I am finally willing to give into long dresses and gypsy shirts. Should play the hand we were dealt, after all. I look at all the clothes in my closet, and all I see is the word "teenager." I'm more than through with that time of my life, and am ready to start developing the 20-something me. Maybe if I get bored later, I'll edit this entry and put in some pictures of the new outfits... but I wouldn't count on it.

I wish I could take a job just for 1-3 days a week... doing something like factory work. I think I would excel at that. No customer service (thank freaking god) and I have no problem going as fast as I possibly can at work. I did it while at Food Lion and at Giant, and they never seemed to appreciate it... maybe I would at least hear "good job" or something at a place where speed is the most important thing. Sigh... I can dream.