Politically Correct

I really am that person. Anything non-PC kinda bothers me, in some cases annoys me. It surprises me after all this time. Many of my friends really enjoy telling racist jokes without meaning anything, just amused at the corniness, and it depends on my mood whether these bother me or not. It's really the phrases used without the joke that truly annoy me (or if the joke is lame;) ).

One of my friends used a phrase the other day that generally would slip past without much thought, except for the fact that it was reiterated many a time and annoyed me. It wasn't even a slur or anything, I'm just that much into political correctness. He was talking about his friends showing up at a party and he kept saying "guy and his baby's mama". The guy of course got a name, the girl would maybe have a name after that description, maybe not. "His baby's mama" I realize is meant to be used as a more in-depth phrase than girlfriend, but not wife.

Unfortunately, here's the deal. The individual should come first, and this phrase is one of the worst I've seen for that. I took a class in college for future teachers, so they could all be politically correct, and we were actually graded on if we put the individual first. This was especially important for people with diabilities. So it was not correct to say "the blind boy" but rather "the boy who is blind", even better if you said "Bob, the boy who is blind". So if we apply that logic to my annoying phrase "Bob, and his baby's mama Barbara" we very much fail this woman as an individual, especially as half the time no Barbara is attached. Bob is good, we see him an individual immediately. Next comes his baby, next comes the girl - not defined as herself but in relation to his baby, next maybe comes her name. Sigh.

At the time, my correspondent was very close to pissing me off, not due to this phrase but other matters so I ignored my particular annoyance with this phrase in lieu of the general annoyance of the person but it stuck with me and I revisited it. Therefore I'm not sure how much of this particularly annoying phrase is just focused annoyance from my conversation.

I know all this, but I'm unsure why it bothers me so. I asked a friend about it and his first question was if my friend was black or not. He isn't of course, but my friend went on the explain that it was a very loaded phrase, especially for black culture.

Anyway, if you have any comments, feel free to drop me a line. Or alternately, you can ignore this as a semi-rant. :) Either is good.

A Christmas Present?

So, I go off to school in New York in less than a month and I'm still totally clueless as to housing and financial aid. Hrm. My parents, being sensible people who like to plan things, have been less than carefree during this time, increasing my anxiety levels with their added anxiety. So yesterday we contacted the school (again). The financial aid counselor was out for the day - I'm supposed to hear from him today. Housing assured us that I would be assigned something and that I'd get it by December 25!!! Christmas!

I know it sounds weird coming from someone who went off to Taiwan and on a ridiculous India trip with the least amount of planning possible, not knowing where I was going or how long I'd stay, BUT this is something that is driving me nuts. If I get housing I don't like, I'll have to search for an apartment when I get there in January. The stress of that radiates through me on ocassion when I contemplate it. Ignoring things is my usual tactic, but it's pretty stupid to ignore something so major to my future life. Every time I think about packing or things I need for New York (this happens on pretty much a daily basis), a lot of it is dependant on where I'm living. Grr. (Plus I hate packing! double grrr!)

A striking difference is in the financial aid process. As an undergraduate student, they lure you to their schools with money. They accept your application to their college and tell you how much money you'll get from the school if you enroll there. My new school doesn't calculate financial aid until after you've registered. How scary is that? I don't know how I'm going to pay for these classes I've just registered for.

I've done so much waiting in this process. I'm about to go nuts. Apologies for the angsty rant.

Sad to say, this isn't even bureaucracy at its finest, it's just bad. A good bureaucracy would have me jumping through endless hoops, running all over everywhere trying to get all the needed forms and getting frustrated but at least remaining hopeful that maybe this would the last and final form I needed. Not so here. I've done every form they've sent me. I did the application, sat and waited for a month. I did the acceptance forms, doctors visits, housing deposits. Then I sat and waited. And called and re-faxed. Then sat and waited. Then filled out the registration form. Sat and waited. Got my classes. Now I sit and wait. There are no more forms until housing and financial aid tell me something. Which they will. By December 25th.



Sigh.

UPDATE: So yesterday we were mislead/lied to about the financial aid counselor being in today. He won't be in until Monday. So they say.

Would You Like that Gift-Wrapped?

No thank you.

I've been wrapping presents recently. If I had an easily readable happiness meter (say, color-coded like our homeland security alert levels), mine will have beamed out happyhappy to everyone.

Something as simple as wrapping presents brings me such joy.


I've also been in charge of taking the cats outside. Their source of joy seems to be rolling in the dirt, then coming inside and sleeping on my bed. Hmmm.

I'm Registered!

School details are progressing, if slowly, and today they registered me for my classes!

Oh boy oh boy. The excitement builds, though there is still much to do. Big things too, like loans and housing, but as everyone knows I am endowed with a good bit of luck and invincibility. :D
Huzzah!
Cheers, ~allie

This email is to confirm that you are officially registered for the following courses for Spring 2007:

LIS 651-1: Intro to Information Professions

LIS 652-1: Information Services & Sources

LIS 654-1: Information Technologies

Sunrise

This morning I watched the sunrise for the first time in a long time. The pleasure was diminished however because I was cleaning up cat vomit.