The universe conspires against me!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

(Too mild for the pit)

I would swear it does if the rational part of my mind were any weaker.

Back in 2003 I started college at the age of 26, with the intent of being a Pharmacist. That didn’t work out and in 2005 I transferred to Mizzou. Because of my age and lack of Academic achievements in high school, I didn’t really qualify for any grants (other than Pell and some small ones). I ended up having to take out loans, and loads of loans to go to school and work part time.

Financial problems hit me earlier this year and I was forced to take a full time job in the middle of the semester. The one I found that met my needs was a night job. My grades plummeted and I dropped a class, too late though and instead of a W, I got an F. I got mostly C’s and a C- which put my GPA below 2.0 and I was put on Academic probation.

This semester I took some cuts and pulled my hours down to 20 hours a week, and set to work hard. I am struggling in some of the classes and I don’t know why. I just don’t seem to grasp some of the material and it seems like I don’t have any time to study more in depth.

To top it off, I am taking a Software Engineering class in which 40% of the grade is a final project. (I have 3 such classes) In this class so far I have done it all. The scope of the project we are working on is too much for one person to complete, but my group mates don’t complete any of the tasks I send them (I am project manager). In fact they rarely respond to my emails.

Today I write my Academic Advisor and ask for some options and she says I don’t have any, if I drop the class, I get dropped out of Engineering (I am a computer science major), if I fail the class, I get dropped. Sigh. Then a guy in my class says that if I work 20 hours or more a week I can get out of Academic probation- he did for that reason. My Advisor said nothing about this!

I also write my teacher. I need closure quickly, but now my email provider has been down all day (and it is probably just me - I have livemail). ARGH!!

I can’t take this crap anymore. I feel like a total loser anyway, being on probation like this, why is the universe so cruel that it has to pick on me and take away my email when I need it most!?

*also cars always pull out in front of me and turn at the next road making me have to stop, every time I pull into my apartment complex there are 5 cars driving slow (every time, not just once in awhile), yet the road I live on isn’t that busy, I think my Fiancee is cheating on me and her EX (who I think it is) is better looking than me. Oh, and birds crap on my car and spotlights fall from the sky and stuff.

2

I feel for you. I decided in 2003 to get a business degree. Since then, I’ve had appendicitus, a cancer scare (thyroid), my wife has had two cancer scares (breast cancer, lump turned out to be nothing, and skin cancer, mole turned out to be pre-cancerous), we’ve had a second child, I was layed off from a job in 2004, I was fired from a job this past summer, my father-in-law died of cancer last year, I had a bout with bacterial pnemonia a couple years ago, I just blew out my knee and I’ve missed four days of work, we bought a house in 2005, but before that had moved in with my in-laws and stayed there 9 months, my daughter’s been in the ER a few times with acute Asthma, my son stuck a barbie shoe up his nose, and there’s a few things I’m sure I’m forgetting. Oh, yeah, I totaled a brand-new car back in January. Missed a day of work and had to juggle transportation for a while. That was a blessing in disguise, though. We replaced it with a much less expensive car that’s more easily affordable.

I work a very demanding white collar job that often has me working 50-60 hours a week, I coach my daughter’s soccer squad on Saturday mornings, and I’ve got to spend “quality time” with both kids and my wife. I take two classes per semester, and maintain a B average (a few B-, one C-, a few A’s). Busy busy busy. When I first went back to school a few years ago, I went full-time for the first year (10 classes in 12 months). At the end of the 12 months I had a 3.8 GPA. I had a less demanding, but still full-time job then, and we only had one child.

During this time, I also lost my grandfater, and my wife lost her father (as I mentioned above), her maternal grandparents, and an uncle.

We have wondered many times if the universe is out to get us. I find comfort in the idea that the universe is actually a very cold and idifferent place that’s oblivious to my existance.

3

Uh, way to make my problems seem insignificant. :wink:

4

Er. Sorry 'bout that. Didn’t mean to.