Thank God You're Here

I am not even kidding; someone said this to me today.

As you may (or may not) know, I am currently pursuing "The Good Life" - that is, undergraduate linguistics at the University of Otago. Good times? Well, not really.

After taking a second-year paper during summer school here, I made a rash decision to follow it up with a third-year paper this semester. Hmm. Said paper is called"Second Language Acquisition" - and since I never go to class, I don't really know what the course content is supposed to be. What I do know is, 30% of my total grade is based on GROUP WORK.

GROUP WORK?!?! I know. Seems unimaginable. For me, that is, the original lone wolf. But since I remained blissfully unaware of the "alternative assessment" for those not wishing to immerse themselves in the company of others until it was too late, I was exposed to the trials (and tribulations) of group work. Urgh.

Anyway, owing to an exaggerated chain of events that I can't be bothered explaining, I ended up in my lecturer's office this afternoon, listening to the tail end of a very one-sided telephone conversation with someone I assume is some sort of mentee. Offspring, perhaps. Honestly, if you met this lecturer, you too would entertain the idea that she treats her offspring as hangers-on, disruptions to her pursuit of the greater cause - teaching languages (especially Armenian, judging by the number of Armenian posters gracing the walls of her office). After several what we linguists refer to as "turns" - attempts, for want of a better word - my lecturer finally said bade farewell to her caller, hung up the telephone with an almighty sigh, turned to me and said

"Thank god you're here."

I felt a little bit proud. No-one has ever said that to me with such emotion. In fact, upon further pondering, I don't think anyone's EVER said that to me.

The word pondering has reminded me, though, of a conversation I once had with an old friend. Most of it is blogspot-inappropriate, so I'll just post my favourite line:

"*ponders* that would be good. but would also possibly be quite bad."