First of all, I need to give a very big, very warm and sincere thank you to all of you who offered advice and words of encouragement in response to the little mental meltdown/explosion of neurosis I unleashed on you all the other day. The advice was terrific and in the light of this little fiasco, it's very clear that I need to familiarize myself with the chain of command because I currently have no clue who advocates for the students on campus. Beyond the head of my department, I couldn't tell you who I would have had to take my case to.

So... the little fiasco has come to a resolution finally. Thankfully. I had a meeting scheduled with Professor Yumminess yesterday afternoon and I had been planning on stopping by the Absent Minded Professor's office after that to see what was up with her. If I was able to get no satisfaction from her, I had planned on marching straight into the department head's office. Luckily, it didn't come down to that. Before I left work near 3 yesterday afternoon, I checked my email one last time and found that she'd finally dropped me a response to my email. She said:

Kevin,
The panel time was switched to ensure that you would have sufficient
time to present and would have a larger audience.
No need to worry: You may present on May 23rd, though time for
discussion will be limited.

Okay, first of all, she switches it the night before she wants me to present to ensure I have a larger audience? Apparently she does not realize that public speaking and I are not on the best of terms these days and I would really rather prefer to present to as small of a group as possible. In fact, I'd be thrilled if I was only giving my presentation to her! I hope that everybody that presented this past Wednesday decides that they don't need to attend the last class. That'd be spiffy, thanks. What bothers me though, is that she switched my presentation date without any prior notice or without even asking me if I was ready to go. Why in the world would I have a presentation ready to roll a full week before I was supposed to deliver it? *headslap*

So the news is good. I won't be docked the points for my presentation. Thank the gods. But seriously, what is up with that? I have no idea what runs through her boggled old mind, I really don't. I think she's a really nice lady, she's very sweet, but she's absolutely nuts.

So... After my meeting with Professor Yumminess, I popped in to see Dr. B who is the head of the Honors Department and my thesis advisor. I'm in an independent study thesis class this semester, so I'm responsible for gathering research material for my chosen topic. I've emailed him a few times this semester to update him on little nuggets of information that I've run across and whatnot. He has to grade me for this "class" so it's important to keep him in the loop. Well, since I was in the neighborhood, I figured I'd let him see my bright, sunshiney face for a change. We talked for a couple of minutes, I told him about what I'd been finding for my thesis and he seems genuinely excited about the process, which is cool. But after I finished my spiel, he looks at me and says, "So who do you have working with you on your thesis?" *headslap headslap headslap* I gently reminded him that he'd volunteered to be my advisor. Once I'd said that, his face lit up and he said "That's right," and then said he was excited to be working on this project with me. Ummmmmm.... yeah, it shows.

This has been a pretty up and down week. But... it's almost over. I have to work like a madman this weekend. I have to completely strip down and write my final two papers over again, but I've got a map this time, so it shouldn't be too hard. For my Med class, I have to rework the paper to make it more of a historiography because Professor Yumminess said that it reads like a research paper. Shouldn't be too difficult. And for my I/P class, I have to rewrite it to make it read more like a research paper and less like a historiography. Apparently, I've confused the two classes. *rolling eys* But the paper for my I/P class will actually be easier to rewrite because I can stand upon my soapbox and simply transcribe my bellowings.

The end is near... I can taste it. I can hardly wait.

Thanks again everybody. You guys rock.