God didn't give me patience...

By age 27 you'd think that I would have come to grips with this fact. Any patience I do have has been painstakingly cultivated throughout much of my adult life. Much like my struggle to lose weight, the pursuit of patience has been arduous. I'm excellent at testing other's patience, however. My mother has often told the story of my first night at home as an infant. I screamed. The. Whole. Night. (Now that I am getting to a mothering age, I pray fervently that there won't be a repeat performance by my future child.)I also mastered testing my little brother's patience, so much so that he resorted to violence. Looking back, I can't blame him. When colleagues, or students for that matter, push me to my limit, I would be lying if I said I hadn't considered a good right hook. I've left a trail of friends and boyfriends who I'm sure could attest to my ability to drive them insane. But this post isn't about them. Let's focus on MY inability to have patience.

Because I've already been reprimanded (however rightly so), about a passive aggressive status update, I thought a blog (that certain people don't even know exists) would be a better venue to vent. So, here are the top 10 things that tested my patience this week. (In my defense--I kept my mouth SHUT. I'm learning to suck it up and be patient. I'm trying to give people the benefit of the doubt, but it doesn't mean I can't be irked, miffed, frustrated, or just plain D-O-N-E.)

10. People who have taught a class already and still don't know the curriculum.

9. Teachers of lower classmen who try to make MLA citation easy. MLA will NEVER be easy for sophomores. Make them work. It won't kill them. I promise. Also, by making MLA "easy" (read: letting them do whatever they want), you make my job that much harder when I get your little geniuses in two years.

8. Offering advice when asked, only to have said advice not followed. If you're not going to do what I say, then don't ask. I have a certain numbers of breath in this life, and I rather NOT waste them on you if you are going to disregard what I've said. After all, I have plenty of students who do that everyday.

7. Individuals who do not know the names of people in their department after nearly a year.

6. Answering questions when the answers to said questions are WRITTEN ON THE FRIGGIN' handout.

5. Answering questions when the answers to said questions are WRITTEN ON THE FRIGGIN' handout AND I just answered the same FRIGGIN' question for the fool before you!

4. Persons who use my classroom before me leaving their stuff ALL. OVER. MY DESK!

3. Individuals following suit when others are proceeding incorrectly DESPITE being informed of how to do it the RIGHT WAY.

2. Asking me a question in front of a student, me answering said question correctly (after all, I teach research and MLA citation/format ALL YEAR LONG), and the inquirer informing the student to do it a different way. (Please see #8 & increase frustration by 100%)

1.Now this is a tie--I'm not sure if I was more irritated that my class was interrupted SIX TIMES during the first 15 minutes of class due to a lack of planning and organization OR that I was locked out of my computer, delaying my instruction time by ten minutes.

The above list is evidence that God wants me to be patient and love people that I don't like. I'm trying. I'm REALLY trying, but some days (weeks, months, years) it's not easy. God give me the strength. I really WANT to be Your light, but please remember, You didn't give me patience. I have to work on it.