Current Mood: Angry

I’ve mentioned I’m back in school. I figure I may as well continue my education, it can only make me a better person. But along the way I’ve encountered some things that seriously concern me. I posted about the Spanish teacher who can’t teach and makes a student more confused than ever. That was a really difficult strange semester.

The one constant thing I’ve run across as an online student, or distance learning student if you prefer, is the people who blatantly steal essays/posts/stories/you-name-it off the internet and post it as their own. This is called plagiarism and it is not only immoral, but it’s illegal. You can be sued because of this, you can be suspended and if it’s bad enough you can be expelled. This means you could lose all you’ve invested in going  back to school AND you’d carry the label of ‘Thief’.

The real eye-opening thing about this is that most of these people 1) Swear they didn’t know it was wrong in any shape form or fashion. 2) Are completely OK doing this, even if they know it’s wrong. 3) Do not expect to be called out about it or punished. It’s a you-mind-your-business-I’ll-mind-mine sort of mentality. 4) The kind of people who are doing this: they’re not all kids right out of high school. Every age group and profession seems to be OK with stealing. There’s a woman who is at least 55 years old, who is an assistant teacher in an elementary school near here, who is in one of my classes, who regularly copys and pastes work she finds on the internet, as her own. Yes this woman is teaching YOUR children. She is helping mold and shape your child. God help the kid, eh?

Most instructors mention plagiarism and that it will be punished if caught. BUT you rarely see anything come of it. Week after week, blatant theft shows up and other students routinely comment with posts such as: “Great Post”, “You did a great job with this subject” yadda yadda yadda…I have often wondered how the thieves felt when they read these compliments, knowing full well they didn’t do the work and in fact stole it.

I guess I’m the dumbass here though. Those thieves will graduate just the same as I will…heck maybe even with better grades. So just what is that degree worth anyway? Doesn’t look like too much anymore.

Current Mood: Pissed Off

I am fit to be tied. I am pissed off. I am so pissed off I could slap an idiot into next week.

This morning I was heading back to my house when I got behind a green Jeep Cherokee (license plate number VNA 59**, if you’re terribly curious). It was a bright sunny morning, cold and crisp. The Jeep was doing the speed limit and I wasn’t right on its tail so I didn’t think about passing it. But I was paying attention to it. It started to swerve a bit, here and there. Not like the driver was drunk, more the driver was distracted or doing something. Dangerous nonetheless.

So I backed off a little bit. There was a bit of traffic coming in the opposite direction and you never know whats causing a vehicle to swerve like that. So anyway the oncoming traffic clears and the Jeep stops swerving so much. Out of the blue a cigarette box (Marlboro lights box) comes flying out of the drivers window. Hrm. I’m right behind this vehicle and a car just passed us both. The driver of the Jeep rolled down the window and tossed that trash out without a care that at least 2 cars watched him do it!

But that isn’t all….it wouldn’t be though, would it? I’m driving along, still shocked (as I always am when I witness this kind of thing) that anyone would do that in front of witnesses. The driver rolls down the driver side window again and tosses out a black Styrofoam plate, like the ones you get from Zaxbys. Tossed it right out, brazen as the day is long.

Now I normally have my nice camera with me, but this morning I didn’t. I don’t think I could have gotten actual shots of his tossing the trash even if I had it, because both events were so unexpected. Still I had my camera phone and got a shot of the offending vehicle. Course I got the tag numbers too.

Heres the asshat (feel free to point and laugh OR if you know them toss some trash in their yard if you’re so inclined):

Current Mood: Skywalker-ish

Hey there 2010 You good looking thing, you!

Or so I hope anyway. 2009 has been a doozy;  for many reasons. Let me ramble on about a few of them here. Why not, right? Alright so just off the top of my head is the loss of Patrick Swayze, who like Randy Pausch had pancreatic cancer. FYI if you’ve not seen ‘The Last Lecture’ you should watch it here; it’s long but never boring and will certainly make you think about your own life. As for Mr. Swayze, well he was just plain awesome. Nuff said.

I’m not much on celebrities or the loss of them to be honest. It’s sad when anyone passes away, no matter the balance of your bank account. I’m sure later on I’ll remember something or someone I should have mentioned but that’s how my brain works; it has a bit of lag to it!

So back to 2009… I lost a childhood friend this year. Known him about all my life; our families lived beside each other and we grew up together, went to school together, played together in the canal when we were small.  Cancer. Again in my life. Just about had enough of that stuff too. The next week we lost my father-in-law. Not cancer this time. Loss is loss though, I guess the hows and whys are irrelevant in the end.

In the weeks following the loss of these two people in my life, I experienced some eye-opening things. I saw a sadness that would break your heart; a mother suffering with cancer herself bury a much loved son, thinking of everyone except herself.  Some folks must be born with a courage that is superhuman, to endure the most unthinkable things. I also saw a different kind of grief. One born of the sudden loss of someone close. The shock and not knowing what to do with yourself.  As a bit of time went by I saw greed and entitlement afflict a few people. I have to say I was shocked and saddened. It goes to show that you never really know someone until the shit hits the fan. And when there is money involved some people show their true colors (even if it’s not their money!). Pathetic is the best way to describe those people. I have to say I think I’ve permanently lost interest in these folks. These aren’t the kind of people I want in my life. Not a big loss for me considering what I know now, though.

Still it’s been a year I’m ready to part with. Onward! Forward! And all that jazz…..