on an ever spinning wheel, as the images unwind
Monday, 21 February 2022 02:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
freckles_and_doubtoh thank the cosmic wossnames, this third attempt at new glasses actually works, I can both read and see the computer screen. Conversely, distance is now a bit fuzzy, but I suppose I can use the previous, inadequate pair (no close vision, also hurt my nose) for driving and watching movies. Not that I ever watch movies any more. Or drive, very much. Yay, pandemic. Anyway, I thought the poor little optometrist lady was going to weep with joy when I pronounced these ones fit for purpose, I shudder to think how much the two remakes have cost them. They've been very sweet about it.
The lens prescription is now fine, but this pair was hurting the hell out of my ears, and it's all been a bit of a revelation: I have never before in my life had a glasses prescription which wasn't correctly made, or frames which were actually uncomfortable to wear. I've always been able to put on a new pair of specs and hie me into the wild blue yonder, rejoicing in vision. Multifocals are, apprently, a bugger. Fortunately the amazing optometrist lady was able to bend the arms into a shape which no longer hurts, so we are now good to go, but really either I've been incredibly lucky with prescriptions for my entire life, or this particular one was jinxed. Probably both.
I have been not really posting because the last two weeks have been ungodly and horrible, I worked a 14 hour day last Sunday trying to finish up late reg submissions, I have never seen students so disorganised. On top of the blissful student disregard of deadlines, the already excessive challenges of remote reg in two weeks shorter than we had last year, were sharply exacerbated by, yup, yet again, campus closing down for student protests. About fees, again. I am, however, pleased to report that campus being blockaged and closed down, and lectures being interrupted by an SRC hellbent on preventing the academic year from continuing while any student was denied registration because of fee debt, is a lot less stressful when one is working remotely. Also, technology helps: while the protesters tried to disrupt live online lectures (by singing, in at least one case), a quick round of academics swapping tips on Mute All quickly settled the hash of that particular outbreak.
Now it's all gone suspiciously quiet, awaiting, I think, the Council meeting tonight which will decide if some, or all, of the fee blocked students will actually be allowed to register. If no, all hell will probably break loose with further blockades and protests. If yes, all hell will break loose as we suddenly have to register nearly two hundred additional students two weeks into term, using an exhausted advisor cohort, in as short a time as possible, since we're already a week and a half into term. Yay.
This has probably been the most exhausting and difficult reg season I've ever experienced, the volume of email I've had to deal with, and the levels of bewilderment and disorganisation of students, have been unparallelled. The legacy, I think, of two years of remote learning, and a growing and horrible detachment from the processes of academia on all levels. Our systems were not designed for this, and have adapted only partially, reluctantly and inadequately.
The lens prescription is now fine, but this pair was hurting the hell out of my ears, and it's all been a bit of a revelation: I have never before in my life had a glasses prescription which wasn't correctly made, or frames which were actually uncomfortable to wear. I've always been able to put on a new pair of specs and hie me into the wild blue yonder, rejoicing in vision. Multifocals are, apprently, a bugger. Fortunately the amazing optometrist lady was able to bend the arms into a shape which no longer hurts, so we are now good to go, but really either I've been incredibly lucky with prescriptions for my entire life, or this particular one was jinxed. Probably both.
I have been not really posting because the last two weeks have been ungodly and horrible, I worked a 14 hour day last Sunday trying to finish up late reg submissions, I have never seen students so disorganised. On top of the blissful student disregard of deadlines, the already excessive challenges of remote reg in two weeks shorter than we had last year, were sharply exacerbated by, yup, yet again, campus closing down for student protests. About fees, again. I am, however, pleased to report that campus being blockaged and closed down, and lectures being interrupted by an SRC hellbent on preventing the academic year from continuing while any student was denied registration because of fee debt, is a lot less stressful when one is working remotely. Also, technology helps: while the protesters tried to disrupt live online lectures (by singing, in at least one case), a quick round of academics swapping tips on Mute All quickly settled the hash of that particular outbreak.
Now it's all gone suspiciously quiet, awaiting, I think, the Council meeting tonight which will decide if some, or all, of the fee blocked students will actually be allowed to register. If no, all hell will probably break loose with further blockades and protests. If yes, all hell will break loose as we suddenly have to register nearly two hundred additional students two weeks into term, using an exhausted advisor cohort, in as short a time as possible, since we're already a week and a half into term. Yay.
This has probably been the most exhausting and difficult reg season I've ever experienced, the volume of email I've had to deal with, and the levels of bewilderment and disorganisation of students, have been unparallelled. The legacy, I think, of two years of remote learning, and a growing and horrible detachment from the processes of academia on all levels. Our systems were not designed for this, and have adapted only partially, reluctantly and inadequately.
