Gotta love it, but it's still a bitch...
So goes so many things in life, neh? School, yes, parents, yes, siblings sometimes, yes, work, yes.... love-hate relationships. They rule my life.
Aaaanyway. Here are pictures of my sword!!!!! Yaaaaaaay! Although I'm still pretty much giddy with excitement, same goes. It's a *bitch* to try and use the thing after you've been using a bokken for, what, two years or so now. I feel like I've started alllllll over again. Even SD could obviously tell I was frustrated, and he kept cringing as if I was going to break the tip off of my sword or something (that made me cringe, because I couldn't figure out if I was doing something wrong...) and he kept reminding me that I hadn't lost any knowledge, only gaining, which is why he said I should feel fine about going back to practicing with the bokken now and then when I got really frustrated. The no loss/gain thing kind of felt like justifying pushups, which just made it worse in an almost comical way. Plus I still had the whole hakama get-up to contend with, but I didn't do any kneeling cuts because SD thought that would be too overwhelming, and I think he was definitely right. So the hakama thing wasn't so bad, except I definitely tied my obi too tight this time and my scabbard kept digging into my side...plus you have to move the scabbard a lot, and it took a lot of muscle and self control to wedge the thing back over my floating ribs every time.
That sounded like a lot of complaining, and trust me when I don't mean it in a really negative sense. Nothing felt better than standing there and wearing the right stuff and using the right equipment, and even at my most frustrated moment (and I daresay uncool and ungraceful) I felt damn good.
Except, of course, for the fact that I wasn't feeling all that great, because I'm kind of sick right now.
But it was great, and it's allllll good, and ejoy the pictures!!!! I would insert a link to my gallery here if I knew how, but I don't, so you can feel smart all by yourself by clicking on my gallery and looking at it. There's just the one gallery, so you shouldn't get too confused.
Hopefully it shall be brief, this rant.
So my courses next semester. I'm currently taking 'human anatomy', which is a two semester course (must be taken consecutively, fall and then winter) and I'm supposed to take 'embryology', and I want to take 'nutrition and immune function' and 'applied music'. Fine, good, whatever; the only one out of that list that makes me different than about two hundred other people is applied music. So tell me please: why do they make it nearly impossible for it to be *possible* for me to take those courses, when they are required???? There are two lab sections, you see, for embryology. First lab section directly conflicts with my anatomy lecture, so is not a possibility. Second lab section is a direct conflict with my current anatomy lab, which means I'll have to switch. I suppose that wouldn't be the end of the world as long as I got my group to switch with me (because I like my group) and begged the prof to let us keep our cadavre (because, morbid as it sounds, we like him too...) but here's the catch: all the fourth years, sweetly ignorant fourth years, that didn't take embryology when they were supposed to are already able to pick their courses. Us third years have to wait until the end of the week. So by the time our course selection window roles around, the more-convenient afternoon lab slot (the only one that works for us third years in anatomy) will be mostly full, if not full.
Hence why we decided to email the embryology prof, who, overwhelmed, dumped the problem on our program coordinator. They decided that they didn't care. They aren't opening any new lab slots. Don't ask me what they think we should do about that....I suppose they expect us to beg Hermione from Harry Potter to give us that time-traveller pendant thinger. *sigh*
To be fair, our anatomy prof, who was politely forwarded the email, in a not-so-subtle-hint from our coordinator suggesting that she ought to ignore our whining, has suggested that she might try to open a lab slot for her anatomy course on Wednesday. That wouldn't actually *help* me, because I have nutrition and immune function in the middle of the standard afternoon lab slot, but it's nice that she's at least sympathizing with us. It's also nice, considering she had the lab slot scheduled since before the beginning *this semester* (ie, way before the other prof) that she's willing to try and move things around and make them work for us anyway.
So there's my rant. I hate administrative bullshit.
How's that for a bipolar journal entry? It might make more sense if I tell you I wrote it in two distinct phases. But in any case, I *really* have to get studying now..... eeeeeek!
Aaaanyway. Here are pictures of my sword!!!!! Yaaaaaaay! Although I'm still pretty much giddy with excitement, same goes. It's a *bitch* to try and use the thing after you've been using a bokken for, what, two years or so now. I feel like I've started alllllll over again. Even SD could obviously tell I was frustrated, and he kept cringing as if I was going to break the tip off of my sword or something (that made me cringe, because I couldn't figure out if I was doing something wrong...) and he kept reminding me that I hadn't lost any knowledge, only gaining, which is why he said I should feel fine about going back to practicing with the bokken now and then when I got really frustrated. The no loss/gain thing kind of felt like justifying pushups, which just made it worse in an almost comical way. Plus I still had the whole hakama get-up to contend with, but I didn't do any kneeling cuts because SD thought that would be too overwhelming, and I think he was definitely right. So the hakama thing wasn't so bad, except I definitely tied my obi too tight this time and my scabbard kept digging into my side...plus you have to move the scabbard a lot, and it took a lot of muscle and self control to wedge the thing back over my floating ribs every time.
That sounded like a lot of complaining, and trust me when I don't mean it in a really negative sense. Nothing felt better than standing there and wearing the right stuff and using the right equipment, and even at my most frustrated moment (and I daresay uncool and ungraceful) I felt damn good.
Except, of course, for the fact that I wasn't feeling all that great, because I'm kind of sick right now.
But it was great, and it's allllll good, and ejoy the pictures!!!! I would insert a link to my gallery here if I knew how, but I don't, so you can feel smart all by yourself by clicking on my gallery and looking at it. There's just the one gallery, so you shouldn't get too confused.
Hopefully it shall be brief, this rant.
So my courses next semester. I'm currently taking 'human anatomy', which is a two semester course (must be taken consecutively, fall and then winter) and I'm supposed to take 'embryology', and I want to take 'nutrition and immune function' and 'applied music'. Fine, good, whatever; the only one out of that list that makes me different than about two hundred other people is applied music. So tell me please: why do they make it nearly impossible for it to be *possible* for me to take those courses, when they are required???? There are two lab sections, you see, for embryology. First lab section directly conflicts with my anatomy lecture, so is not a possibility. Second lab section is a direct conflict with my current anatomy lab, which means I'll have to switch. I suppose that wouldn't be the end of the world as long as I got my group to switch with me (because I like my group) and begged the prof to let us keep our cadavre (because, morbid as it sounds, we like him too...) but here's the catch: all the fourth years, sweetly ignorant fourth years, that didn't take embryology when they were supposed to are already able to pick their courses. Us third years have to wait until the end of the week. So by the time our course selection window roles around, the more-convenient afternoon lab slot (the only one that works for us third years in anatomy) will be mostly full, if not full.
Hence why we decided to email the embryology prof, who, overwhelmed, dumped the problem on our program coordinator. They decided that they didn't care. They aren't opening any new lab slots. Don't ask me what they think we should do about that....I suppose they expect us to beg Hermione from Harry Potter to give us that time-traveller pendant thinger. *sigh*
To be fair, our anatomy prof, who was politely forwarded the email, in a not-so-subtle-hint from our coordinator suggesting that she ought to ignore our whining, has suggested that she might try to open a lab slot for her anatomy course on Wednesday. That wouldn't actually *help* me, because I have nutrition and immune function in the middle of the standard afternoon lab slot, but it's nice that she's at least sympathizing with us. It's also nice, considering she had the lab slot scheduled since before the beginning *this semester* (ie, way before the other prof) that she's willing to try and move things around and make them work for us anyway.
So there's my rant. I hate administrative bullshit.
How's that for a bipolar journal entry? It might make more sense if I tell you I wrote it in two distinct phases. But in any case, I *really* have to get studying now..... eeeeeek!