My New Enemy

I hate blogger templates.

I have tried, and failed at finding a suitable template to replace the one I currently possess. Why? Because I am realizing that no one can leave comments on my posts. I also have another enemy. I was going to wait and announce him at the end of the semester but I just could not hold back after today's debilitating onslaught of condescending "encouragement" and perpetually raised brows.

My new finance teacher is a trip.

I think he spends more time telling us how much we are going to get the material wrong on the test than he actually does teaching the material. Now, I could drift and let the integrity of my rant drop somewhere into the depths of ad hominem by procuring acidic insults based on two class periods and a slew of stereotypes. But that really wouldn't make much difference. But you should know that at from 7:30am-8:50am on Tuesdays and Thursdays there is a Travis Corrigan sitting on the back row of an auditorium... slowly dying inside.

I strongly desire to intellectually challenge this man who thinks he's smarter than me because he writes his test questions (I'm assuming) with the highest employment of confusion possible. I want to show him that some of us aren't sheep, easily swayed by the droning of a convoluted man hiding behind the lecturing ego of a furrowed brow.

I must play his game. Show He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named that he's mortal like the rest of us. Shake his comfort zone a bit. But I must remember my place. I do not know it all. I have something to learn from this class, even if it is just a new form of survivial... or patience. I must remember the past times when I have challenged professors early in the semester, only to be shamed by a poor grade, given by poor effort. I can't going around trying to start a fight with everyone who annoys me, any blood-drunk fool can do that.. remember?

But then I think that it's not really a competition, that I really have nothing to prove to this person. He breaths and bleeds like I do. If anything, his arrogance and need to control me through my grade has given away a fundamental flaw in his scheme: his class is not life. I don't care what grade I get. I have much more going in my life than what I receive in some dreaded finance class.

As a dear friend and former professor of mine said to me semi-recently, "Travis, you just need to tell yourself that this is one professor during one semester during a short period of time in your life. Get in, do the work, get the grade, get out."

The point, I am realizing, is this: if I play his game, in hopes of beating him at it, he wins regardless of the outcome this semester. My New Enemy would be myself, for I've taken the bait.

Challenge: have perspective. Do your best not to lose site of it when you encounter those who really get under your skin. Me included (on remembering to have perspective - I know I get under all your skin already). I could also use some help, if someone, anyone, in the blogoshphere knows how I can get a new template and let people post comments just email me... I'm all ears.