Liquorice, anyone?

Third day into the first week of term. The stupid Banner System used by our Registry has been in operation for years now. Complaints about its inefficiency has been non-stop. Modifications to the system has been modest. For me, with a class of 130 and another of 110 students, Banner is certainly not making life easier for me, as it is supposedly designed to.

I could ask my TA to do the tedious tasks of printing out class lists, matching three different codes to the same tutorial sessions and matching those sessions to actual time slots etc. But the IT department said it shall take three days for authorization to be granted to the TA to access the information.

Good Lord!

Meanwhile, my flagging interest in fiction reading has not improved. Just finished Fingersmith - a several hundred pages long multiple book award nominee and winner. I quite liked it for the first couple of hundred pages but then it just sort of, er, got boring. Once I've sussed out the plot (does not take a genius to do that, believe me), there really isn't much going on for me. Despite the lesbian action buried somewhere between page 334 and 367.

I picked up Blink at the airport, and again it is a complete waste of time. One idea, elaborated into 288 pages? A nerdy book written for the masses who want to think themselves clever, written by a nerd. Bit like that other one, Freakonomics. I'm not going to link it here cos I'm sure you've heard of it. Again, one idea, 3,000 examples, a bestseller.

You see, my worry is, I can't seem to find new books that I enjoy reading. And that is sad. The thought frightens me. I must try harder.