posted
Forgive my indulgence, but this has been rattling round my brain for months and I simply have to spit out some of it. Forum-as-Therapy I suppose...
For the past four months, I have been enduring what turned out to be a labour of Hercules. It all started when I decided it'd be nice if there was a yearbook for my university class as we graduate this summer. So I asked and discovered nobody had ever done one in the department before.
Undaunted, I recalled the example of JMS and how the impossible can be made to happen, so I set about organising one. Little did I realise the apathy I would encounter. Nobody seemed willing to actually DO anything to help me. For months I took pics at social occasions, pondered what could go in it, and finally produced the material on inadequate computers and printers that took a dislike to my requests for "Copies=70" and dropped to a rate of one page per 5 minutes.
Around all this, of course, there was my study! But now it is over. Tomorrow I bind the modest but carefully-nurtured booklets that are the 1999 Physics Yearbooks. I have ended up doing almost all of it myself. On the plus side this has allowed me to fill it with little in-jokes. I gleefully altered my interview scripts with lecturers so now I ask them "Who are You?" "What do you Want?" and "Where are you Going?".
I also searched Treks endlessly for a cool quote, until one day I found it in "True Q". Riker: "For honours students, only the best!" (I also worked in a quote from Third Rock from the Sun about Physics killing people)
Later this week I shall see if the swines actually congratulate me/ pat me on the back/ offer their personal services/ etc. as I dish out my masterpieces. (As you can perhaps tell, I'd be rather upset if, as I fear, all I get is a grudging ten second clap prompted by a lecturer...)
<8-|
------------------ "...And Monty fans may like to know about these special books, available from all good bookshops..."
posted
Hey Monty, where in Scotland do you live/go to school? My wife and I honeymooned there, I thought it was the most beautiful country I'd ever seen.
Sorry your classmates are less than appreciative. A warning label "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" could apply.
posted
Monty, as a former high school yearbook and newspaper editor, I can relate to your situation.
------------------ "I'll be the sky above the Ganges I'll be the vast and stormy sea. I'll be the lights that guide you inward. I'll be the visions you will see." -- R.E.M.
posted
First of all, it's not a selfish topic, really.
And secondly: While I will never see the work you've put into this (and the final product for that matter), I can certainly appreciate it and admire you for your persistence and effort.
------------------ "Audaces fortuna juvat." "Fortune favours the bold."
posted
Brigman: I am, as I type, sitting on a bit of Glasgow. The University to be exact. Although I like to spread myself around the west coast as much as I can.
(It is nice here, except when it rains, or is freezing. The part of TNG: "Sub Rosa" where the Scottish mist "just sort of rolls in" on the bridge provoked uproarious laughter when I watched it with a large group.)
Anyway, the yearbooks are ready, and tomorrow we shall see the response....
------------------ "...And Monty fans may like to know about these special books, available from all good bookshops..."
------------------ "I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is called a disgrace, that two are called a law firm, and that three on the law become a Congress! And by God I have had this Congress!" --John Adams, "1776"
posted
Monty, we never made it to Glasgow on our trip; we flew into Aberdeen, drove up the East coast, down Loch Ness to Fort Augustus, cut across to go to Skye and then looped back through Glenfinnan and headed up to the northwest tip, before going back to Aberdeen.
We went in August of '97 and it only rained ONE day. But I was told the weather was very atypical at the time...
I hope things perk up for you on your project. Students are a cowardly, supertitious lot...
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