singularityooc | ...herp derp

This may seem sudden but in light of circumstances that have been building for a while, I feel that I must leave Sing. Lain, Carolina, Arthur (who hasn't intro'd yet) and Hanna are going home. Psi and Chi can stay with Maine if Chelsey prefers. NPC Lev will be taken over by another mod at the team's discretion.

Er.

I promised myself I'd never do one of those backpedaling drop posts, but you can definitely thank Vic for smacking me a good one and having me change my mind. I'll be staying around, though my role on the moderation team may change.

As some know, I am a full-time grad student in addition to holding several jobs. The combined stress was taking its toll on my ability to stay involved with the game, but I am working now with my fellow mods to arrange a better solution. I never wanted to leave anyone holding the bag and I definitely have some big plans for the game itself. If I can continue to be involved creatively I would be honored if you all would still have me.

So, my biggest apologies to the playerbase at large. I know this break in composure isn't, er, very flattering, but thank you everyone for being sympathetic and helping to ensure Sing stays on track. ;3;

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh god haha. I AM the person taking four classes (well, three and a research group) and working three jobs. But I definitely don't get much time to socialize, if that helps.

I'm admittedly so not engaged in the discussions on teaching methodology. It's not even possible for me to TA till next semester at the earliest, and now that I'm not entirely certain I WANT to pursue a PhD, it's a whole ton of ¯\(°_o)/¯. WHAT IS THIS $50K USELESS DEGREE.

ohgod you poor thing I am going bonkers enough with three [/pets]

To be fair, this girl also sleeps only three hours a night and I am pretty sure she does meth or something. This is the only explanation I can come up with.

Yeah it's like... I don't care. Also, five paragraph essays are the easiest way to make freshmen hate you, and I don't know why we teach them, and hgndcnh gah.

I can't even TA till next year, and at my school they don't even give you that much for it (other than y'know, regular pay + teaching cred). I may only take it if it actually pays more than my job at IT, which it might not. Also, IT job = I can do homework or sit on the computer while working.

/SITS WITH IN DEBT FOREVER GOING WHY DID WE DO THIS...

Five paragraph essays? At the college level? Oh come on.

Hngh god I got to admit sounds like you're getting a much rawer deal on the TAships. /SITS TOGETHER IN THE DEBT CORNER, PASSES OUT THE IF-I-THOUGHT-IT-WOULD-BE-LIKE-THIS-I'D-HAVE-GONE-TO-NURSING-SCHOOL HATS

Yeah. Yeah.

Basically, the thought is: incoming freshmen can't write! They are idiots. So, we are FIRST going to teach them... THREE paragraph essays [/insert Seseme Street Count voice here]

THEN! we will teach them... FIVE paragraph essays! [/insert count voice]

AND then they will... NOT WRITE LIKE IDIOTS

Only no now they just don't want to write at all, they hate you forever and they've learned jack shit :|

My journal entries for this class consist of "This is stupid. This is stupid and we shouldn't be teaching this."

I have a feeling I'm giong to fail yes.

Yeah. I initially thought they'd comp our tuition or something, but... no. I haven't even been able to get a straight answer on how we get paid at all, other than "a teaching salary" which is like... what. Is it going to be more than I get as an IT desk monkey?

Wow, just. Wow. Somewhere your school's pedagogy took a detour into Fail Land and hasn't come back. I'm sorry. Do they expect ANY students to come back for an advanced degree, with that sort of practice?

Here's hoping your professor actually agrees it's a load of shit, deep down. You might be surprised.

I would invite you out to my university where they at least cover your tuition up to a certain number of credits, but why in god's name would you want to go to this school otherwise. FFFFF, it'll bite them in the ass when they don't get TAs above the level of said desk monkeys.

that icon. so appropriate.

I hope so but I somehow doubt it. she is WAY too perky about the whole process :(

They also prooobably don't offer MFAs in Nonfiction, unless you are for some reason going to the LA branch of Emerson College anyway.

which would be hilarious

My school is actually surprisingly good, especially because there's a pretty heavy focus on Actually Getting Published. I get junk in my inbox every week from my department about HEY HEY SO AND SO NEEDS SUBMISSIONS *shove*

It's just. You have to pay an arm and a leg and several internal organs to go here, and they do not help you out at all.

I DIDN'T HAVE IT UPLOADED BEFORE AND THANKS TO THIS CONVO I WENT AND DID HAHA

God, I'm sorry. I'm lucky that my professors this semester have a degree of ambivalence to their subjects. Except for the staunch narrativist who is so optimistic I feel really bad mentioning ludology.

And oh lord, if you can imagine that swapped with cinema you have a good idea what USC is like. "YEAH WE HAVE A CAREER AND INDUSTRY RELATIONS OFFICE. AND HERE ARE THE CONSTANT EMAILS LOOKING FOR INTERNS AND SET PEOPLE. Oh wait you're critical studies what do you do again."

We have a Coffee Bean on our ground floor and buildings named after Lucas and Spielberg. That's the kind of film school it is. I want to go back to the squat little place where I did my undergrad. It didn't look like much and it was harder to get caffeine on an overnight editing session but god damn at least no one was peddling a Hollywood dream on me for private school prices.

Mine are all hardcore passionate. My damn workshop professor actually wonders why we don't all write for four hours a day, every day, and is constantly asking is if we have a regular writing session time yet

and I almost want to scream WELL I DO IT'S JUST 90% ROLEPLAY NOW FUCK OFF 8| NOT ALL OF US CAN JUST CONTEMPLATE THE UNIVERSE ALL THE TIME

because then I'd be told that maybe I am not cut out for a writing career sob

I miss my undergrad too, but that's more a function of it 'being in Maryland, not Massachusetts' and 'a nice small school where I knew everybody'

YEAH I just set it out there on my first day of grad school that a) I basically live online, all you see IRL is just my hologram, and b) I find everything I do pretty much worthwhile, including this. Once I mentioned I ran a game (didn't give the name, ffff) that was inspired by Ray Kurzweil, I think everyone got a sense of what my area of expertise was and where not to fuck with me.

:C BUT THEN I HAVE PEOPLE IN MY COHORT WHO ARE LIKE if it's not a fancy latte and a Salon podcast and The New Yorker it's not academics. I just console myself with the reality that they're a dying breed and what they study will soon be covered under the history department.

This semester has been enough to indicate I probably don't want to be a professional academic, but I won't tolerate a single damn person telling me I'm not qualified as a theorist. I'm the only one in my cohort working as a critic professionally, tyvm.

I went to a public university for undergrad, so it wasn't as though I was at a small school, but the film program was so tiny and intimate and above all, emphasized practice, not ten dollar words to describe everyday ideas. But the larger scale of the film program here and how marginal crit studies is certainly hasn't helped with alienation, hurrrgh. Every week I contemplate dropping out and just being a professional critic, but try getting a decently paying position in that when they can get an 18-year-old to do it for a free game a couple times a month.

I need to read Kurzwiel god damn it. I am a Bad Transhumanist for not having done so yet. He's... next on my list, though my current thesis is about the American fandom experience... but at some point in my writing I really, really, REALLY want to do a long piece (or series) about transhumanism as a legit expression of human nature, especially since like... the ideals it represents goes back as far as the Chinese.

But i'm so terrified that neither of these things are going to be taken seriously. to do a proper nonfiction book on the fan convention as an american institution I would need money and - [/babbles]

(PS part of the reason I joined this game was that I was like TRANSHUMANIST PHILOSOPHY!? /SLAMS INTO)

And god, yes. I had wanted to be a teacher, but now I'm just like oh fuck it all. idk.

ahem

this is the same reason I ended up not going into lit / theater criticism orz. It's still something I may want to do but there's moar monies in nonfiction writing / publishing industry. And the latter thing is a dying breed too...

/babbles

...herp derp

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