The Great Paper-Zillah and A Good Guy Flick!

So…yesterday was the first day that I’ve really had to actually work, while I’m at work. I had a student waiting for me when I arrived. As soon as I was finished helping him, another student came in. It was good to be busy. I felt sorry (and frustrated) for this one student who arrived a little bit later. She had never used a computer ever, so I spent most of the time showing her how to just turn on the computer, put in her thumb drive, and use the word processor. It’s hard to believe that there are people who don’t know how to use certain technology, while I feel it is as natural as breathing. Even though I felt bad for her and wanted to help, I must admit, my fuse was getting short.


Later in the afternoon I received a couple of papers by email. These are a little harder to work with, because I really can’t fix anything on them. I’m only allowed to point out big, reoccurring errors, like run-on’s and fragments. The first paper took me just under an hour to review. It wasn’t a bad paper, but I found the job to be somewhat strenuous. That was nothing. The second paper was like Paper-Zillah! I wanted so badly to just go through and rewrite the entire thing, but alas! That goes completely against my job, and my morals. I did the best I could with it, but it took me over an hour, and I was getting really discouraged by the end. I felt so bad sending that paper back with a million and one comments written all over it, but it was the best I could do. I have a new respect for English teachers who actually have to grade that stuff. I also have a renewed disappointment in school systems that send their graduates to college with less than a basic knowledge of the English language.

Alright, that’s my rant for today. I’m at work again, and there isn’t a student in sight, not for English, and not even for math. I took advantage of the time to do a little writing. Even though this is completely off topic, I’ve got this strange desire to do a “guy date” and just grab a friend and go see as many loud, blow-up-everything, superhero movies as I possibly can before they’re out of theatres. I sort of miss doing that with the guys I used to date, or hang out with. It’s a lot of fun, and I’ve discovered that I like those movies just as much as I do my favorite chick flicks. So…popcorn anyone?

While I'm Waiting...

I’ve been an English tutor for about three years now at the local college. It is the perfect job for me. I love tutoring, and feel so blessed to have been offered this position while I was a college student. Because of tutoring, I know that I want to be a teacher someday after I finish the necessary education. Even though I’ve been tutoring for so long, yesterday was actually my first day as a full time tutor for the summer semester. I thought it would be pretty much the same as tutoring during the normal spring and fall semesters, but much to my surprise, things have been quite different.


For one thing, my boss is no longer here. She is retired now, and I feel like the college has lost one of their greatest assets. A more kind, generous, godly, and helpful woman never walked the face of the earth. Her office is all cleaned out and empty now. I was told that I could use her office this summer to check online papers, but I think I will use a different computer instead. I would feel too much like a trespasser.

I called her the other day and I asked her some questions that I had about the job. She told me that I could always as the woman who was temporary taking her place, because, as she reminded me, she was no longer my boss. That’s a hard concept for me to grasp. She’s the best boss that an employee could ask for. No matter who ends up taking her place next semester, no one can be as wonderful as my previous boss.

Another change is that it is so empty and quiet! I am the only English tutor this summer, and my fellow coworker is the only math tutor. It’s just us, he and I. In the two days that we’ve been here, only one student, an English student, has come in for help. I am assured by the librarians that there will soon be plenty of students to tutor, so I have no doubt that very shortly, my days will be filled with subject/verb agreement, comma placement, and third person verses first person narrative.

Until then, the librarians seem to be ruling the roost. We are very lucky to have extremely qualified, helpful, and caring librarians who will go out of their way to help a student find a suitable book or source, but as of these two days, they’ve been checking in on my fellow tutor and I, frowning on us when we go to lunch together, and making off-handed comments about how we are running the center. Of course, the lunch thing makes sense. I don’t think we will be taking the same lunch hour any more, but for today, and yesterday, when the library is empty, I don’t think it’s going hurt. In the past, the librarians ruled the library, not the support center. I suppose that they are just trying to help out now that the boss is no longer here.

Another change is that my favorite teacher came to visit me today for a few minutes to ask me how the job is going. In all of the past semesters, I have always gone to pay him visits in his office between classes and work hours. This is the first time he’s ever just come over to pay me a visit. I am always so excited to see him. He’s not only my teacher, but he’s also my friend and greatest mentor. I told him once that he’s changed my life, and he asked me to tell him someday how he did that…and someday I will, but I don’t know where I would start. He’s stood up for me and stood behind me, when no one else would, he believes in me more than I believe in myself, and he is always ready to lend a hand when I need help. Even when I was at a different college and I was having an issue that caused me to panic, he was able to talk me down like no one else could, and helped me to find a sensible way out of the situation. Even his wife has been a reliable and helpful friend to me, lending an ear to all of the drama in my life, and being there for me in pretty much the same way as her husband has for so many years now. I don’t know what I would do without them, and I honestly wish that I could just sit down and write out every single thing that they have done for me, but that would take more time than even I have right now as I sit here in the lonely library, wondering if students will ever come.

With this being said, it’s been a pretty decent day. I even got a visit from my two best friends! We had a little girl chat, gossiped, shared a package of Starburst, and took a group trip to the bathroom. Even in the mundane regularity of life, every day seems to hold some new surprise, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow….and to the paycheck…