Finals Week--As Stressful for Professors as it is for Students

Well, the Eagle and the LoneStar College are in Final Exams mode now.  I am wading through three stacks of Term Papers and Homeworks and gearing up for a new class to start at the FireBird U this Thursday.  On top of that,  Winter Mini-term at the Eagle College begins on the 20th and I'm teaching one day class there.  I'm done with the first class' HW and Term Papers, now moving on to the 2nd as I am writing this blog.  But I want to let any of my Tweeps that are Uni Students know this:  the act of grading one class's worth of  papers takes as much time and is as stressful to the faculty as it is for you to write one and turn it it.  And no, we won't make it easier on you by just not assigning them or not grading them thoroughly as we would lose our jobs and they'd hire someone else who would. 

Managing Disappointment

I got word on Tuesday that I was not selected for the FT position at the Eagle College Central.  I can only guess that I was equal to the other finalist but he or she either had a PhD or was the one they were going to hire anyway and I was just passed through to make sure that all qualified applicants were considered and interviewed.  My boss at the Eagle Collge SW told me that one of the FT faculty may retire in Jan due to health issues, so that might mean I'll get hired on FT month to month and he'd let me know ASAP.  If I were to get into that position month to month, it'd be a much stronger case for the department to award it to me full time and make me the inside favourite rather than the outsider.  Meh!  I've got 5 classes between 3 schools for the Spring semester so I will just be grateful for that in the meantime. 

Managing Disappointment 2

One of the women I was talking too online did not reply to my last Email, so I am presuming that she's backing off due to not wanting to lead me on, though I made it clear I was happy with friendship and didn't want to date her.  Another woman I'd met (the one at the gym) has said she wants to be friends due to going through an ugly divorce and an ugly post divorce dating relationship, so she's skittish on that.  However, she also mentioned she had several single/divorced friends I might like and wants to arrange a meet up with a couple of them.  We'll see... I really like the woman from the gym though...  And another woman I found both infuriating, attractive and exciting turned out to be a Lesbian.  UGH!!!  That's three strikeouts in a row.  WTF?!?!?!? 

[Note:  I'm removing the rant as that was written when I was really angry about stuff that happened this past week beyond the issues with those women.  While I realize that I flirt and lay it on a bit thick via Twitter, in real life I'm not as agressive.  I show interest, but I don't lay it on too thick face to face.  I guess my online personality is more bold and agressive.]
To my Tweeps, I am sorry that I was so rude in the last paragraph but I feel like the Female of the Species is taking a dump on me as of late and I'm really angry at the world over that, not getting the full time job that I know I deserved and am dealing with the usual seasonal sadness that hits a lot of us in Wintertime.  I am not mad at those women that are in relationships who rejected me for that reason--I wish you all well and most of you are in great relationships with great men.  I don't try to steal another man's girlfriend or wife and I don't try to date women in committed relationships. 

For those women that are Lesbians, there is no hate here for your sexual orientation that is wired inside of you and just take it as a compliment that I found you attractive. 

For those that don't want a Long-Distance Relationship, I can certainly understand WHY it's less than appealing--travel costs, not being able to go to eachothers' place  and spend the night, not being able to go to dinner every week, et. al.  And although cheap long distance phone calls and free internet video chat have made maintaining this A LOT easier than it was before when we just had snail mail and expensive long distance calls, it still is not as good as being local.  However, I also know some that have worked for a while, provided there was a timetable that one person or the other would move to the same area and be face to face.  I am willing to relocate, kids and all, if it's the right person.  I am just disappointed that the women I am most interested in have, as of late, not even been willing to give it a try.

The thing that makes me the angriest is I feel that several women i have been very interested in have dismissed me out of hand without giving me a fair chance.  I consider this to be a form of injustice, especially given these are women with whom I've had good conversation and things have progressed in a seemingly normal fashion with them, more or less.  This kind of crap really makes me mad because the mating game does not usually have women have to express interest in a man and ask him out.  Despite all the talk of women's lib--and make no mistake, men and women are equal under the law, both equally capable of great things and equally capable of horrible things and grand stupidity--I have very rarely seen a woman ever ask any man out.  Men are forced to risk rejection and women just get to pick and choose, which to me is the ultimate unfairness in our relationship between the genders.  I think this is part of the reason why many men just hook up when they can and don't give as much as they used to in relationships as they did before--it's their way of payback for how women take such things for granted (i.e. they want all the benefits of a committed relationship but don't want to pay any of the costs).   I know this is not all women, but it seems that way as of late.