Thursday, August 28, 2008

The last day


It's the last day of school before my eight week vacation. I'm done grading papers and all I have left to do is clean the room. Fortunately I have a student worker who has to do whatever I tell him to so I'm going to make him move things around and carry heavy stuff.

For my Contemporary Composition class their final project was to write a short story about anything they want. We've spent all semester talking about story structure and character development so for many of them this was an easy project.

When I told them to torture their characters they were really listening. We've got rape and violence and really sad families all over these stories. I'm hoping to God they aren't based on truth.

One problem I keep encountering is the tendency to write as much as six pages of story in ONE paragraph. And since there are a few language issues and some grammar problems, a few of these one paragraph wonders are a giant headache to read. But plotwise, the kids did a really great job. Two of them could even go on to write for real I think.

Except this one girl whose entire paper was the plot to Cellular. Who on earth would pick that movie to plagiarize? I guess she thought it was so terrible I wouldn't have seen it. Oh, no, young bucky. I've seen lots of bad movies.

I liked Phone Booth, for the record. But not Cellular.

Anyway, Dell still won't give me my power cord so 1) Although I love the computer I will NEVER buy one from Dell ever again and 2) I can't work on my screenplay until I get the problem fixed and since I'm going on vacation it's going to make me very, very angry very soon.

I'll be gone on a trip this weekend. I hope for all our sakes the power cord is waiting for me when I get back.

11 comments:

  1. KILLING SPREE SPARKED OVER DELL POWER CORD

    I, for one, think the Times could benefit from such a headline. Or, as one who scours the headlines while bored at work, at least I would.

    Maybe it's time to switch to a Mac. They have a deal now where they'll transfer everything from you PC for free when you buy a Mac.

    A holiday weekend and a vacation. Look at you. Enjoy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You Mac users are like fundamentalist Christians. Just because the customer service sucks at my church does not mean I want to worship your God.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous4:28 PM

    I used to have a Mac back in the day...

    Someone gave it to me.

    I never could get it to make toast.


    Unk

    ReplyDelete
  4. PCs are fucked from the get-go. I went Mac and I'm a true believer. Buy a used one on Ebay and you'll see. Have fun with Beefcake.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Phone Booth wasn't too bad. The thrill and suspense build-up was good. Hope you have a nice relaxing vacation!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you for the well wishing, guys.

    Now get your filthy Mac away from me. How many times do I have to say I do not like Macs? Not only do I not like them, I LOATHE them. Every time I have to use one at work I get enraged at the interface and want to throw them through the window. So no, I will not own a Mac. I'm glad you're happy with yours, but I do not want to join your religion.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Since I own a PC and am perfectly happy with it, I won't try to talk you into getting a Mac.

    But if that girl had stolen the plot of Phone Booth, would that have been ok? (Gee, I kinda liked Cellular...)

    ReplyDelete
  8. No that would not have been okay. She totally tried to pretend she didn't know what I was talking about too, but unfortunately for her, her best friend had already narc'd on her.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Both PHONE BOOTH and CELLULAR were written by the same guy.

    Have you tried going to Frys to find a power cord? The reason why I'm PC isn't because I care about the big PC/MAC war, but because when I need a new keyboard I can wander into Frys and buy a name brand for $4.99... while a Mac keyboard would cost me an arm and a leg (just looked it up - $100!) and any other quality parts or peripherals I can buy cheap because there are 100 different manufacturers competing with each other. And never really had a problem. Check out Frys - they may have your cord for less than Dell would charge.

    - Bill

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh I know they were written by the same guy. That's why I'm comparing them. One movie was good, one was not, but they were at the core the same idea.

    And thanks for the Frye's suggestion, Bill. I'll check it out.

    I am not getting a Mac.

    ReplyDelete

Please leave a name, even if it's a fake name. And try not to be an asshole.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.