Jan 4th, 1995
Dressed in a pair of green slacks with shortened legs, red cardigan
and egg-yolk-stained tee-shirt; sporting a scraggly beard and armed
only with a pipe, I stepped onto the University Campus.
Immediately upon mumbling some incomprehensible gibberish, I was greeted on with respect and awe by my fellow academia
Applying for tenure was simple. The questions were very direct:
They: Do you know what you're doing? Me: This is Belgium, right? They: You have a masters in English? Me: I have a Red Volvo! They: And you're applying for a position in the department of Physics? Me: I think sometimes, therefore I am illogical!
I was appointed immediately and released to an unsuspecting student population.
Jan 5th 1995
Today was my first as a lecturer. I prepared concientiously by
drinking heavily, watching lots of television and going to bed
very late the preceding night
Turning up at my lecture the prescribed 1 minute late, I spoke of Yeats and the passion of his poetry.
The first year Physics students were left speechless.
Jan 6th 1995
I did not go to work today, due to my thinking it was Saturday.
Jan 7th 1995
I did not go to work today, due to my thinking it was a Wednesday
Jan 8th 1995
I went to work today and was distressed at the lack of attendance.
Jan 9th 1995
Being conscientious in the maintenance of my diary, I take a well
deserved holiday knowing that in three more days I will be eligible
for a six month sebattical.
Jan 12th 1995
My lecture this morning was a landmark effort. I launched into the
explanation of the right-hand-rule, then, remembering that I was an
academic, subverted myself into discussing of the right-hand-rule of
hitch-hiking, the dangers of hitchhiking, the dangers of hitching in
South America, my Holiday in South America, the woman I met in South
America, the place she worked at, their physics department, then to
finish off, what their physics department said about the right-hand-
rule.
I think I was well received
Jan 13th 1995
A minor peice of confusion here in that I brought my Telephone book
instead of my lecture notes.
I improvised the basic electrical safety section of the course with the aid of two paper clips, a student and a handy power point.
I feel sure the class now appreciates the dangers of electricity.
Attendance dropped by one.
Jan 14th
Being a friday, I decide to excite my first year pupils with an
experiment in wave theory. I walked into the lab, waved, and
left.
I'm sure my students appreciated the humourous content
Jan 17th
Having now mastered when weekends occur, I turned up to receive
confirmation of my sebattical, taking it, on full pay, immediately
Jul 17th
Back from sebattical I realise that I did not make arrangements
for a stand-in lecturer.
In an attempt to catch up for the lost time, I set the students some homework, pages 1-375, read and do all exercises.
Jul 18th
Attendance was exceptionally low today with only one student in
class. When I asked him how his homework was going as his
entire coursework depended on it. He screamed and left.
I marked him absent and informed the grants department that no-one was attending my courses.
Jul 21st
My students are all back having received the letter informing
them that grants are only paid to attending students.
Scholarship students, with a far harsher attendance policy, are openly weeping.
Jul 24th
I am now eligible for three months extra-curricular sebattical,
which I decide to take immediately, warning my students that
the exam will be held the day I return, covering all aspects
of the course, including the last minute addition of the
Encyclopedia Brittanica to the Book List. I expect all students
to have a copy.
Oct 24th.
Exam day.
Having no preparation time, I use last years exam and substitute
different values for the equation.
I randomly appoint a student from another class to work out the answers and mark the exams.
Oct 27th
I receive the results of the exam which indicate that 89% of the
class passed the exam. Lauded as an academic genius, I am
awarded 6 months further paid sebbatical to study the effects
of alcohol on the mind. Starting the third day of term next
year.
I think I'm on a winner here.