BB is a lady, okay? ...at least in the literal sense.

Just got back from taking BB for her morning walk n' tinkles where we ran into a nice older lady walking her little snowy white terrier mix. I'm not going to lie, it didn't escape my attention that her pristinely groomed wee little dog stood in stark contrast as she sniffed BB, who stood in all her scruffy, overgrown, piss-stained glory. Nothing brings out the yellow patches in your dog's white fur like natural sunlight. She'll definitely go in for a pre-holiday vacation salon appointment (PETCO grooming) next weekend so she can be so fresh and so clean clean for her BFF (my dad). Also, I would like to mention that Schmoobles and I live in a condo in a very nice, lakeside gated community (why did they let us in here??) where my 1998 Toyota Corolla sits aside shiny new Lexuses and Hummers (blegh) in the parking lot. And so I appreciated that the nice old lady walking her non-piss stained dog with a latte in one hand and wearing a designer bejeweled tracksuit was friendly and not at all judge-y towards the non-showered vagrant walking her filthy animal while wearing sweatpants, flip flops and her boyfriends way oversized drum corps hoodie around the manicured neighborhood.

***

In other news: I FINALLY completed 2 out of 5 (maybe 6?) grad school applications last night. Go me! Only a few more to go... and then we wait.

Also, story time: So I have this student in my non-majors Music Literature class. In a classroom of apathetic, lazy, questionably-functional students, this student - M - stands out for her ability to completely and totally appall me in an increasing fashion with each test that she turns in. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that examples of her work are:

"During what years was the Classical Period? (     Beethoven        --         Flute Clarinet      )"

and

"Please list the three main composers that formed the First Viennese School of music: 

1.       Banjo         
2.      Janissary    
3.         ???          "

You guys. It didn't take me long to figure out that what she was doing was just haphazardly writing in any and all words that she just heard me say in class. It didn't matter in what context or what the question was. Once, she went so far as to answer questions by writing in musical terms that we had never even come close to discussing in class, but that she saw written on the chalkboard leftover from a previous advanced music theory class. BLAAGH! What do you do with that??

Even on a short essay question where I asked them to describe, briefly, the role of the Catholic Church in influencing music during the Medieval Period, she wrote two paragraphs on how much she liked listening to music and how she would continue to appreciate music for her entire life. So I wrote, "M, I appreciate this sentiment, but this does not address the issue of the Catholic Church in Medieval music. Please see me after class."

So she stayed behind and talked to me that day. I began with, "So...M. I know that you listen in class and take notes because you seem to retain all the terms that we talk about. ...It's just that you don't seem to be absorbing the context of these terms..." I told her that I was worried about her test scores and she started saying things about how she has test anxiety and just wants to get the tests over with as soon as possible. Blah blah blah (not buying it). So I asked her, "Is there anything your other professors do to help you with this anxiety? What can I do to help you actually understand the material?" And she said, "Well, nothing. You're always really good about giving us notes and study guides." ...Ok.


Anyway, I emailed the class last week about offering some possible extra credit writing assignments they can do before the end of the semester and in return I got this email from M:

I mean, I teach college, right?? *siiigh*