Ramblings and the Abuse of Power

I've been on break since Christmastime. Since I returned to lovely Madison, I've been sleeping until my body naturally wakes up, as God intended. Consequently, I've been sleeping in until 2:00 or 3:00 nearly every day, and staying up until 5am or so. This altered schedule was caused largely by our antics at New Years and the subsequent sloth nurtured by TheoryPirate and his out-of-town visitor Sparrow17 (see the Gray Matters link for these two scalliwags), who forced me against my will to stay up all night drinking, playing Halo2, and watching a lot of bad movies (Ghost Ship and a Japanese flick Battle Royale being two prime examples). I've grown to enjoy the total and decadent idleness that I've developed, but sadly, it will disappear in an instant tomorrow, when I wake at the ghastly hour of 7:30 am to go to orientation for a job I already did once before.

Of course, this orientation may prove necessary, as our administrators have made several changes to the syllabus that we are, in theory, teaching. And while I am baffled by their choice to make our own individual syllabi due to them for approval before they explain these changes (including the complete cutting of one rather long and enjoyable paper), I go in hoping for enlightenment and clarity. The fact that I hoped for these things all last semester regarding the syllabus then and never got it does not dissuade me in the least. I'm an Americanist, after all. Our entire canon is founded on eternal hope and eternal loss of innocence.

Regarding the abuse of power mentioned in the title, I just now discovered, completely by accident, that the course I am registered for has changed times, from 11:00 to 9:55. This marks a somewhat substantial shift. First, it means that most likely I won't be able to attend Bagel Hour at all (my Madison friends know of this phenomenon, and I shall explain it in a later post to you beloved outsiders). Second, and far more important, it illustrates a vast use of administrative power, designed for the sole purpose of making me wake up earlier. And while I am somewhat irate at this clear conspiracy within the dark backrooms of my beloved ivory tower, I am more perturbed that the university did not see fit to tell me that the time had been changed. Clearly the fault would have been my own for missing the first day, and while this may lead many of you to ruminate on the problems and difficulties of administrating a Big 10 University, I see it instead as an opportunity to muse on the godlike power that will someday be mine. With a mere act of will, apparently, someone (I assume the professor) can alter substantially the lives of a large body of students, and this is a power I yearn for. So now there are three things that keep me going in the academic field despite the long hours and low pay:
1. The godlike power to alter students' lives.
2. The possibility of a job from which I eventually cannot be fired.
3. My great great fear of the outside world and lack of marketable skills.

Finally, I'm in a reconstructive mood recently, and I'm trying to recover a tale created by myself and Quantum (of Bourbon Samurai, see the link) several years ago. It involved our friend Ferg, a Turkish Prison, a three-headed sheep, the Patriots (the seven old men who secretly rule the country, see Metal Gear Solid), a volcano, and our eternal quest for the perfect potato skins in downtown Chicago. I'd like to reconstruct this story for a later post, as well as the events leading up to its creation, so if any of my undergrad friends out there remember the tale as it once was told, please comment or let me know.