Frustration.

 original

I went to pre-registration for imminent Honors graduates today (because sometimes BYU likes to give me free food and make me feel like they care about having me around; OH HO HO, aren't I funny) and came out in consternation.
Along with Infection and Immunity and Second-Year Arabic, I want to take some combination of Egyptian History, Dostoyevsky, Biblical Hebrew, Ancient Manuscripts, and Magazine Writing in the fall, but I have to take Organic Chemistry, Mission Prep, and History of Creativity. Aaauuuugggghhhhhh.

Can I design my own major? Please?
I'll call it "Pathophysiology, Creative Writing, Ancient Near Eastern History, and Semitic Language." Added bonus: This major also fulfills all premedical requirements.

I scrunched my eyes shut to reality and actually registered for Egyptian History and Ancient Manuscripts--just to spite myself, I think. I mean, with my workload next fall, I obviously can't take both (or, probably, either one). BUT I REALLY WANT TO, OKAY?

I also don't know whether I can be a TA again next year. I love my job, but TAing for the MMBio department is so low-paying (400-level course or not) that I can barely support myself as it is. So job searching in the fall becomes an issue in addition to my courseload and hinges on the fact that I have designed (and procured) a job-friendly schedule.

I am currently annoyed by:

• The fact that my university essentially requires me to minor in religion (12-15 required credit hours), which throws off my course planning ALL THE TIME
• Don't think for one second that religion classes are easy As, either. You wait until you're asked (out of the blue) how many verses are in Helaman 12 or how many years, on average, are spanned per chapter. Frustration builds all too quickly as you spend the time you need to study for the classes that will get you into grad school looking up every footnote in John 9, "just in case," and then realizing that you must reproduce the only one you skimmed on your exam, word for word.
• Impossibly huge, stressful, and impersonal premed classes (physics, chemistry, biology)
• Required general education classes in topics I already know backwards, forwards, sideways, upside down, asleep, and impaired
• The idiocy of science lab classes in general; I have experienced four so far, and in all honesty I can say that not one was worthwhile in the least

Who knows what my schedule's going to look like next year. I've spent way too many hours stressing about it. And the fact that my Cairo study abroad is taking place Fall 2011 instead of Spring/Summer of the same year (thx, Arabic program administrators) consistently throws everything off. At this rate, I won't graduate until 2013 (or later, if I keep taking what I want to take instead of what I need to take)--no exaggeration.