scenes from my day

• My least favorite student (the one who is barely understandable -- I think due to a mixture of second-language difficulty and learning disability) asked me about the course I'm teaching next fall (registration starts soon). Why is it that there is at least a 50% chance that my irritating students come back for more?
  
• An older student (60ish) cried in my office because she thinks she's too old to get a Masters degree when she graduates but wishes she had done this 40 years ago. She used my last Kleenex and apologized. I tried to get her to stay and talk but she was too embarrassed. (The younger ones who cry usually aren't embarrassed at all about it.)
  
• A senior colleague in a panic requested my help "because you're good at this sort of thing." That always means something with computers. Yes, I explained, once you've saved your document to a removable disc, even after you take the disc out of the drive, the folder & file will still appear on your computer until you've refreshed the view. (add that to the Too Stupid Even To Use a ***ing Mac files)
• Email from a student I barely remember wanting a rec letter for med school. Why do they think a letter from an English teacher will do them any good?
  
• Saw three of my students in the hallway after class still talking about the book. Now that's a good feeling.