  AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH, finally ! Finals are over, I've encoded my grades and am now looking forward to a right and proper Christmas vacation. (And, seriously, I need one! ) I have to admit, though, that being the one encoding the grades as opposed to being the one who gets graded is still more than a trifle surreal to me. I mean, it's only been about six or so years since I graduated from college so I still know what it's like: the tension prior to a technical defense, palms sweating from sheer nervousness, one's belly doing quadruple somersaults while one's heart is pounding like a bass drum played for a rapid-fire rock number.
Anyway, nobody failed in my class - for this term; I am not sure how many are going to survive the next term. It's going to be a more technical course next term as they'll be writing ad copy, mostly product taglines and infomercial scripts. It's the course where we finally winnow the chaff from the wheat. One of the kids really proved that he was more chaff than wheat when he whinged about the defense, asking me for an exemption because he didn't think he could hack the rigors of the defense.
All because he was handicapped - FAUGH ! I had classmates in college who were either blind or stone deaf or had survived a bout of crippling polio - and they didn't whinge out on their academic responsibilities! Some people are just plain lazy , really. They make excuses to drag their butts out of things while others slave away to get things done. It is a most inexcusable deed that definitely merits hatred from the people around you. 
