Minor Annoyance

Let's just say that I can't wait for dental school to start. I'm actually quite annoyed with my undergrad kinesiology courses at the moment. I'm typing this entry with two bandaged fingers as a result of blood tests following a timed 10K on the stationary bike while wearing a VO2 mask that severely inhibits breathing. Surprisingly, I really like the research project that my group is conducting. We are looking at whether listening to upbeat music or watching television has a greater positive effect on exercise.

I'm more annoyed with the lab TA. I mean, I love my TA as a person and as someone to randomly chat with but I'm annoyed by her grading of lab reports. I'm okay with strict teachers and strict graders as long as they make it clear from day 1 that they are strict. However, the lab manual simply says to "answer all of the post-lab questions". So if the grader wants the students to "answer the post-lab questions using long-winded and in-depth paragraphs describing the results in terms of physiology that we shoddily learn in lecture (thanks to our 'professor')", they should make that clear on day 1.

And by the way, when a 'professor of science' spends 10 minutes in lecture trying to persuade the class that during depolarization, sodium enters the cell via the sodium-potassium pump, you know that you won't be learning anything of substance in that class...

It would be nice if the TAs let us know what they are expecting to see when they grade lab reports on day 1, not on week 8 - after they have graded a handful of your lab report already. This injustice is only serving to make me irritated and angry. When I am irritated or angry, I tend to become very competitive, agressive, and slightly unhinged on academics. So I vow to go batshit crazy on the next lab report I turn in. If my TA wants in-depth use of physiology to answer each question on the post-lab, I'm going to let her have physiology.

I repeat, I'm going to be slightly unhinged and maniacal on my next lab report. Beware.