Okay! I think I have resolved my computer problems and my classes. I wasn’t able to do much online the past couple of nights, because the whole SP2 mess really hosed things up. At one point my monitor decided to make itself “vertical” and I had to crane my head sideways to read anything! I got that fixed but then it refused to come out of VGA mode. All I wanted was to have things back the way they were before I tried to fiddle with SP2! Fortunately Dave Pietromonaco has written a wonderful solution for monitor problems that fixed me right up!

Today I attended the history class and I was kind of taken aback by how uninterested the students seemed. I was one of just a few that asked questions or contributed during the entire class. I happened to bump into ayala920 on my way out of class, and learned she was headed to the Honors section of the same class. She wasn’t surprised that I was unimpressed by the regular class, and told me what time the Honors section met - and it was at a time I could fit into my schedule! So this afternoon I spoke to the Honors program director and got permission to switch, and then sent my academic advisor an e-mail and she clicked the magic button. So now I’m in class with ayala920, to_be_in_snafu, and three other people - there’s just six of us in the class now! The books are nearly twice as expensive as the regular section, but I think I will enjoy it a lot more.

I left the honors retreat after a few hours this morning. No offense to anybody who was there, but it was honestly not appropriate for me. I was further offended by the head of the department, who was rather patronizing to me on the phone when she realized I had left. (I’d informed the coordinator, but not the head.) To be honest I don’t think she realizes that she’s dealing with a mature adult. She pays lip service to it, but she still treats me like somebody who’s just been released from Mommy and Daddy’s care and needs to be monitored at all times. But you know what? I’m a big girl. I’m not going to be treated like I’m fresh out of high school.

We agreed to meet tomorrow on campus before the rest of the activities begin at 3:00pm. I plan to let her know exactly how I feel, and that I expect to be treated like an independent person, not a teenager. If she doesn’t want to treat me differently from the 18-year-olds in the program, I’d rather be dropped from the program. It’s up to her - if she doesn’t like my request to be treated like an adult, she can drop me. Or she can treat me like an adult, that’s the choice. But I will not be patronized.

I’m not explaining the specifics because I don’t want to seem like I’m whining…but she definitely came across as patronizing. Yup.

We went to yard sales this morning; I got a copy of Diary of an Anorexic Girl to flip through and a copy of Guided Tours of Hell for A for 50 cents each, and two boxes of Girl Scout cookies for $1 each. The books are both basically new. I don’t know how much time I’ll have for leisure reading anymore, though, because today my copy of Journey of Man by Spencer Wells arrived. That’s my first book for the honors program at Gallaudet; when I’m done with that one there will be another, and I also have to read Funny in Farsi for the general (non-honors) reading for the upcoming semester.

I also ordered a 1GB microSD card for my phone so I can carry around lots of pictures and lots of background themes and lots of music. But the damn thing is literally the size of my thumbnail. How does a gig of stuff fit on something the size of my thumbnail?!