Finals: another horror story

I decided to share another horror story of finals, since I'm watching my mom and brother this finals week while I've got no homework of my own to do.

Or, well, it's sort of a horror story of finals. It's about the final weeks of a term. And I did show up an hour late for one final.

~ ~ ~

My first term at Portland Community College (PCC) had gone fairly well. Sitting in classrooms was a bit strange for me after I'd been homeschooled for so long, but I made the transition gracefully. I'd even gotten over my fear of the strict writing professor, once I discovered that he had a sense of humor.

Then two weeks before finals, I got sick. I tried pushing my way through it, and insisted on going to school despite how bad I felt. Until...

...early Friday morning I got so sick that I fainted.

I'll spare you the details of my fainting and how sick I was. Suffice to to say that I was so sick that I couldn't really do any homework at all for a few days. At least through Sunday, as we entered the week before finals.

(It isn't really relevant to the story, but I do want to mention that I turned 18 that Monday. It was the day I started feeling human again.)

I think it was a couple more days before I was able to return to classes, which was maybe mid-week before finals. One thing quickly became apparent: I could not possibly manage all my homework. After being so sick, even for a few days, it was an impossible task. But, out of my three classes, I could manage two of them. Or so I thought. So, which class would be the most difficult to cope with, and professor should I ask to cut me some slack?

I chose my (no longer so scary) writing professor. Probably because his was my hardest class. I e-mailed him, explained that I'd been really sick, and asked for just a couple extra days to turn in my final paper.

My (actually quite wonderful) writing professor shocked me by saying that he would give me an Incomplete, and said I could take a whole extra week to turn in my paper.

Things still weren't easy for me. While I was busy worrying about my writing class, I wound up missing some homework assignments for my music class. I'm not sure if I forgot the homework or if it was assigned during classes that I missed. Then (probably because of missed classes) I didn't realize that the music final started an hour before the regular class time.

Imagine arriving to your final exam an hour late

In the end I got two A's and a B that term, the B being in writing. So I guess showing up late to my music final actually wasn't a problem. Still, my heart may have stopped momentarily when I realized what I'd done.

Pretty fireworks...

This will be two posts in one day, but oh well. This isn't exactly the sort of post that can be scheduled to go up later.

I also want to note that this is something that I'm sure I don't have all the facts on, though I think I know enough, and I don't know that the general public will ever know every little detail.

On November 30th the local (to me in Portland, Oregon) Oregon Zoo welcomed a new member to its elephant herd, a lovely baby girl. People have been very excited about this, exclaiming over the new baby just generally rejoicing. I even voted on the new baby's name on the zoo website, and I'm sure I wasn't the only one who was excited to do so.

Then the Seattle Times wrote an article stating that the stud elephant belongs to Have Trunk Will Travel (HTWT), a company that rents out elephants and apparently has a history of animal abuse. (Most people are screaming about abuse, but I've also seen a few who say they are quite ethical. I don't know the truth.) The contract for using him as a stud gives ownership of babies # 2, 4, and 6 to HTWT, and ownership is apparently transferred 30 days after the baby is born.

This calf is the stud's second baby at our zoo. Obviously, this means that she will belong to HTWT. A lot of people are now furious and screaming that the zoo basically lied to us by neglecting to mention this little detail before now.

As a matter of fact, I found a news article talking about this contract a year ago. The zoo hasn't dwelt on it, and I admit that I hadn't known about the contract before now, but I don't think it was exactly hushed up either. I think the zoo just didn't see the point of discussing it, seeing it as a non-issue.

The controversy over this contract has only been in the last 24 hours, so it's a story still in progress. But the zoo has stated on their Facebook page that they're keeping the baby. And in a news conference this morning that they said that they are negotiating specifics with HTWT, but that the baby will stay at the zoo.

I guess I could have just sent you to read the various news articles, but it seemed better to explain it here and add links. What I'm really interested in, and why I decided to write this post, is to comment on the comments on the zoo's Facebook page. I'm fascinated by the wide range of responses, from people (like me) who trust the zoo, to those who are screaming bloody murder and threatening to boycott. They're being pretty noisy, and it's a real fireworks show. Some even commented on the zoo's announcement that the baby will stay on the zoo to cry over the supposed fact that she will be ripped from her mother in less than a month for a life of abuse and torment. Did they even frickin' read what the zoo said??

It's amazing how determined people can be to find tragedy where it doesn't exist.

It's also amazing how one news article, about a contract that was made public knowledge some time ago (but which people either missed or have forgotten about), can change a celebration over a baby elephant into a huge fuss that has people turning on our well loved local zoo.

I for one trust that the Oregon Zoo knows what it's doing. If only because it would look bad for them to say they're keeping the baby only to then hand her over. I look forward to learning the baby's name, and to seeing her when she is deemed ready to be shown to the public. I hope that those screaming bloody murder will eventually calm down. In the meantime I'm watching the pretty fireworks on the Oregon Zoo's Facebook page from people who have suddenly decided that our zoo is evil. Hopefully they'll will put away their torches and pitchforks soon.

Photo I took of an elephant at the Oregon Zoo

Weird dreams

There is a mystery in my family. But first, I need to point out that I play Dungeons and Dragons (D&D), whereas my brother plays Minecraft.

The mystery? I'm the one who dreams about Minecraft.

Why can't I be dreaming about dragons or orcs or some random strange creature from D&D? Why am I having dull dreams about making things in Minecraft? Actually, the possibly sad thing is that the dreams aren't dull at all.

(No offense to anyone who plays Minecraft. It just isn't my thing. I'd rather fight orcs and bugbears. Though I do enjoy hearing about Minecraft from Tall One, and sometimes like to watch over his shoulder.)

In the latest dream I wanted to recreate New York out of stone blocks. Why? I have no idea. But that was my plan. I tried making a small house first, and unfortunately ran out of stone for even that small project. So I had to mine more stone, but then had to eat because my energy was running low. Luckily I had food in my inventory, then unluckily then ran out of stone to mine...when I told Tall One that he laughed and said that stone is the most common thing in Minecraft.

He also said that I can mine for him in his game, since I'm apparently so good at it.

Please, I'd rather have dreams about dragons. Please.

The dragon I encountered, but (luckily) didn't have to fight