Nirvana

"No more classes, no more books, no more teachers, dirty looks!"

- Bugs Bunny

Since summer classes were required for the duration of my stay in college (the last summer term was optional, but I was dating someone then, and the allowance that I had to forego if I did not enrol, was rather quite difficult to resist, moreso for a "starving" college student like me), the last time I had a real summer break was the summer immediately after graduation. I remember haggling with my then future employer about starting in May. I remember sorely needing a respite. Either that, or I was just plain lazy.

While there are no summer classes at Malcolm, the flexibility of the final exam schedules usually result in a virtually non-existent summer break. At the end of 2006, we had to deal with a professor who supposedly sent his questions via email to his staff, which questions, we were told, mysteriously got lost somewhere in the maze that is the information superhighway. We found out later on, that we had the exact same questions with us from the very first day of classes.

Last year, a professor who I saw for a grand total of four (4) times in the classroom, asked us to submit our answers to his final take-home exam on the last weekend of May. Enrolment for the coming academic year, was about a week thereafter.

This year, after dropping one persecution syndrome sufferer, we were left with (1) a course in which a failure is as close to an impossible condition as one can get, (2) another in which we knew that nobody is going to flunk if this one particular person passed (he did, so we're all expecting 1s), and finally, (3) the mother lode of all pain, suffering and perseverance.

For the first time in a long while, I have two months to do, well, absolutely nothing. So, for the next 60 days, except for the few times that the government decides to ruin my day and air propaganda (or their version of fiction) instead of regular programming, I get to enjoy RPN/CS; I get to wonder why Lyka and her pack don't just get rabies shots (mostly I just stare at the lead actress, ogle is too strong a word); I get to see a high school classmate flip her hair in a detergent ad on TV; I get to watch all the basketball I want (but, I missed KU-Memphis - the best college game in recent memory was aired the morning of Civpro finals); I get to play all the NBA Live that I want; and maybe, just maybe, I get to have some productive work done at the office.

I also have 60 days to have seven teeth filled, and bring my wife to her PT sessions. I have a book to finish, an outing to attend, and a trip to plan. I have all these lovely things to do, which does not involve, among others, getting screamed at and remembering periods for filing petitions and appeals.

Can you believe it? Fantastic.