Skip The Budgie

The new year starts with no major incidents, I remain mostly sane and gear myself up for the astounding stupidity that is bound to accompany the new term, and worry about what is going to happen to me when my secondment finishes in March.

There is an error in the system. I am triumphant with my individual student timetables. Well mostly. I figure that they're accurate enough to go live, at least - I'm sure if the students care, they will soon let me know if their timetables are wrong! This is going to open me up to a world of pain-in-the-ass queries I'm sure.

But there is an error in the system. Just as I'm about to make it all available, I realise that most of my students suddenly don't have timetables anymore! It's not just mine, either! SOMEBODY (not me) held down SHIFT when clicking 'allocate' and BAM! 3000 students suddenly leapt off the radar.

It takes a few days to get them back, oh the hilarity, the fun and games, the finger-pointing. During this time we are told that in November we only used 15% of our available space. This seems strange, given that our rooms are always full and too small.

The first term's exams are under way, I see a student who is supposed to have a scribe in his exam and is dismayed to find that he doesn't. in fact, the exam room is full over other nervous students who don't look like they want to do their exam if someone's going to be talking all the way through it.

After we stop laughing, we have to make him wait while we find someone to be his scribe and he gets more and more agitated. It becomes clear to me at least, that he will certainly be claiming Extenuating Circumstances if he gets a bad mark, mainly because he keeps going on about how much this is all upsetting him, instead of doing a bit of last minute cramming like any normal person.

I build an origami X-wing to alleviate the tension.