I made my professor mad today. I didn’t do it on purpose.
It started with me being late for class. I only got about an hour and a half of sleep last night, mostly due to me being cold and too stupid and stubborn to get out of bed and turn on the heater or even turn on the bed heater. Then the fitted sheet on the bed flipped off, and I was constantly sticking to the rubber mattress. Talk about something that hurts! Try ripping your leg or arm off of a water bed mattress!
I got up at 7am when my alarm went off, turned off the alarm, turned on the heater, turned up the bed heater, and then crawled back in bed. I said I’d just snooze for a few minutes, warm up, then get up and go to class. A few minutes turned into an hour, and I had to race and get dressed, pack Ron’s BlackBerry in my bag and race out the door and to the car. Of course it was frosted up and my car takes forever to heat up in the morning.
I got to class late. The professor was even later than me. I found Ron sitting in the third row, rummaging through his notes. I tossed my bag down in my seat, got his BlackBerry out, and took it to him. “You left this at my house,” I said, holding the phone out to him. He didn’t even look up at me. “Take it,” I said, still holding out the phone. The professor came in and started setting up the lecture. “Ron…!” I said. He took out paper and a pen and started taking notes on the professor setting up the lecture. I sighed and tossed the BlackBerry into his lap. He didn’t move. I went to my seat and set up my own notes.
Two of the women in my class asked me what was going on with me and ‘my friend’. I muttered something about it being nothing and switched on my iPhone to play music while I waited on the professor to finish setting up the lecture. This silly rap song about John Wayne was playing. The professor made a comment that we didn’t need a sound track. I switched it off. Or so I thought. In the middle of the second slide, long after the lecture started, the song started playing again at full blast. Turns out I set it as a ringtone and someone — no names mentioned — sent me a text message, causing the phone to ring. The professor slammed his text book shut and yelled at me to ‘pull the battery’. I smiled. “Ever see an iPhone? The battery is permanent,” I replied, shutting the phone off.
After class, he demanded that I stay after. He gave me this private little lecture that I needed to take my education, particularly his class, with a little more seriousness, or he was going to Admin-withdraw me from the class. That means I’d get an F for the semester. I can’t afford an F in my transcript.
The two women and Ron were waiting for me in the hallway when I hurried out of the lecture hall with my bag. “What happened?” “Are you kicked out?” “Did I do it? I’m so sorry!” I stormed out the door and to my car and hurried out of the lot.
The professor that I have is an easy going guy and he’s never lost his temper before, with anyone, even when I emailed him a few times because I wasn’t getting a response. No one on campus has been able to piss him off before. I have. What I seen in his eyes when he was giving me hell was pure and unadulterated anger. I didn’t even mean to make him mad. I certainly wasn’t goofing off.
All that aside, it’s Josh’s birthday today, and James and I are doing PlayList tonight at 10pm Central/11pm Eastern/9pm Pacific, and the links to the show are in my links page. If you want to watch, you’re more than welcome! <3