"It is unfair that anyone should be devoted to me, although it can happen with pleasure, and freely. I should mislead those in whom I quickened this feeling, because I am no one's ultimate end, and cannot satisfy them. Am I not near death? So the object of their attachment will die. Therefore just as I should be guilty if I caused a falsehood to be believed, however gently persuasive I had been and however pleasurably it had been believed, giving me pleasure too, in the same way I am guilty if I make myself loved and if I attract people to become devoted to me."
--Pascal, Pensees 15
I have a student who has missed probably four weeks of class; he is now explaining that there are some personal and family issues in play here. Sigh. You know how tired this makes me? To his credit, he has submitted all the written assignments. Still, if attendance is mandatory, it's mandatory. argh.
White pants can be stylish, when worn with care (no, Piers has no white pants, and isn't likely to). The thing is, really tight white pants on a person well on the far side of "buxom" . . . um, perhaps another option, yes? The same goes for those t-shirts that are screen printed with character faces (Spongebob, Elmo, Cookie Monster). Probably ought not be worn in sizes above XL.
I read some nice things about myself today. Actually, I think they said less about me and more about the students that wrote the comments, but still. It's good to have a reminder that my efforts are not utterly in vain.
There was a Really Important Meeting about our ORP (Optional Retirement Plan) today. We were all urged to attend. I chose to not attend, being engrossed in my own work, and knowing that whatever is said today will change sometime within the next five years--thereby making today's meeting entirely irrelevant for those of us who have only been here five years.
I really like it when my students are successful.
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