Too Much Work For Not Enough Meat

Holy jumped-up-Jesus-on-a-pogo-stick! Whoever says, "I wanna be a college professor when I grow up," is clearly delusional. Goodgawdamighty.

Maybe the fact that I have attained the exalted status of adjunct faculty is the problem, but I doubt it. Just setting up the lecture notes and relevant Keynote (sort of like Power Point, but waythefuck better) presentations is chewing up an inordinate amount of time. One must review the text, decide what's relevant, and turn it into something half-assed interesting for a roomful of people who would much rather be abed than listening to a (gasp!) middle-aged woman prattle on about topics they can barely pronounce, much less really give half a fat fuck about at 8 in the morning.

These conceerns don't even take into consideration that in addition to the lectures, I have to write and score the homework and exams, assist with structuring the "major project" and grade it. Oh, and although I have no office, therefore no "office hours," I still have to be available on some level to answer questions, give official ass-kickings, et cetera. Given the amount of work and the time frame involved, it is seriously not worth the money, which is really a trivial amount, even without considering the amount of work involved. Good thing money's not the reason I'm doing it.

The idealist in me hopes that I can touch someone and inspire them to seek a deeper understanding of a field about which I am passionate. However, given the uncivilized hour of the class meeting and the diversity of my students, of which only one has sort-of expressed a desire to study psychology, I am highly skeptical of such an event actually coming to pass.

Anybody got a really cheap dog & pony sideshow act you can rent me until early May? Dancing midget Jell-o wrestlers? Firefighter magicians? Nekkid cowboy trapeze artists with bandanas & Reddi-Whip? At this point I'd consider just about anything.