Expectations

Somehow, they never turn out the way you envision.  Expectations are funny like that.  If you set the bar low, you'll surely be pleasantly surprised; expect a lot and you get let down.  It's not rocket science, but life still throws me curve balls on occasion.  Really, I think the lesson is to just stop trying to expect anything and allow life to happen as it will, without preconceptions.  Which all sounds great in writing but seems very hard to do in reality.  And has also gotten me in trouble, with accusations of being callous.  Gah.

I recently made the mistake of forgetting everything I wrote above, and set my expectations too high.  I was swiftly reminded that the world does not care what expectations little old me might have of life, and that humility is a positive trait.  Whoops a' daisy.  Hopefully I'll remember that lesson for a bit longer this time, so my pride had a bit of time to heal. 

OK, admittedly it's happened twice lately, but the one instance I didn't feel any unreasonable expectations were being laid out.  Just show up on time for the class that you're supposed to teach, and I'll be happy.  Meh, whoever thought that that would be an unrealistically high expectation for some people?  Oh well.  Once again I learned. 

Don't make expectations, and you won't be disappointed.  Or at least not as much as you would have been if you had made those expectations.  Now I have to go bang my head against the wall a bit and scream about why can't things just work the way they're supposed to.  Good evening, all!

Really, guys?

Kent has an interesting history that includes the Ohio four of 1970, as well as heavy partying, liberal views, and a diverse student body, in color, culture, and ideology. Most of us are proud to go to a school with an active Socialist group, PRIDE! Kent, Black United Students, Arab group, as well as College Libertarians, Republicans, and ROTC. We may disagree here in Kent, but we get along and (generally) respect other people's views. That goes for the city and the university. No one's proud of the incident that marked May 4th, 1970, but we are proud that the whole incident started out with people standing up for what they believe in. Yes, it turned ugly, and there are ideas as to why that happened, but I'm not going to get into finger pointing right now. If you read some of what I have to say in other places, you probably can deduce where I stand on the matter of May 4th.

This weekend, Kent had another brouhaha involving students and uniformed individuals. Over a block party. A freaking end of school year block party. I have some issues with this turn of events. Like wanting to brain the parties involved.

Lately, there's been lots of moaning on the campus about the economy. Understandably so. It's the idiocy behind the whining, and the hypocrisy that baffle me. One page will have students worrying about financial aid and how their going to pay for school, the next has the latest greatest new techno toy. One page with complaints about how the university wastes money left and right, the next about exactly how to exploit your food plan to the greatest advantage before the end of the year.

So now, almost forty years after May 4th, and just a few days from its remembrance, you spoiled brats decide to throw a party (by the way, school's not over yet, genius- still two weeks plus exams) and don't know when to stop. The police get there, you start fires. Riot gear and SWAT teams arrive, you throw street signs into the fire. At what point did it maybe occur to you that you're just being ignorant and childish? Oh, that's right, it didn't or else you would have stopped the wanton destruction. All this over a stupid party. You'd think we were becoming Ohio State University or something.

You want so badly to celebrate not having classes? Fine- drop out. You hate the way the school schedules classes, making you take thing unrelated to your career goals? Fine, leave. Maybe, if learning is such a bane on your existence, you should do everyone a favor and go get a job at McDonald's. If you hate something so much, then stop doing it. Maybe then the college could offer better scholarships to those who want to be here and are benefiting from their time at KSU. How's that for a financial aid package?

What hurts me the most is the change. When did students stop giving a shit about the world around them and only care about their own Id? To this degree? I'm off to find something fun for next weekend on the weekly volunteering email blast- ta!