Pipped at the Post
23/02/2005 11:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
izmeinaYessss. Well Izzie was intending to explain why she turns up to her graduation but stays out on the sidelines instead of flouncing around with a mortarboard and black gown with pink stripes. Oh of course - they are officially "Azalea" Izzie thinks that Green is far more fitting for graduating goblins. Pink should be especially reserved for students of sociology and psychology oh and of course MANAGEMENT!
Way back in December we got the graduation notices from the university saying that we could register online until 7 January. So Iz finally remembers to register on New Year's Day only to be told that online registration is not possible without a credit card. Buggers. So nothing to it but to turn up at the office in person and fill in their stupid forms. Soon the reason for the card became apparent. Scheming cunning goblins that they are. Even though the actual ceremonies were not being held until after the second week of February, they wanted students to pay the costume hire fees upfront.
But Izzie had just paid a rather fat and nasty water bill and did not have 85 silver sickles to spare - aside from the fact of thinking one should be able to BUY the outfits at such a ridiculous price rather than merely hire them for a few hours. Izzie said that she simply did not have the money. He says - oh we are not total ogres. You don't have to pay it today but the longer you leave it, the less chance there is of getting a place. Iz thinks - well pay day is not until 20 Jan so there's not a hope in hell so then decided to go for the mailing out option.
Later the Iz realized she was not thinking straight. Of course there will always be places for the graduates - it's the guests that are the issue. And Izzie did not intend to have any, there was no problem. But what was done was done.
Iz could have asked the ma and pa to lend the loot to pay these greedy goblins but was not quite sure if she really felt it was justified to pay such a sum in order to appear on stage for less than a minute. And Izzie certainly would not be getting any photos of herself looking all uppity and academic.
It's so so funny. All these folks coming from Indonesia, Malaysia and Mainland China to be with their little monsters - a most expensive investment too it was for many of them. And there's Izzie's ma and pa living less than ten minutes away (by car) and not being there.
It is true that Ma and Pa Dursley place very very little value on education and regard bookish learning and academic pursuits of all sorts with the utmost suspicion. Oh how often did the ma threaten to burn one of Izzie's favorite books of all time - "Godel, Escher, Bach" saying that it was corrupting the ickle Izzie's fragile little mind. (Oh -yesss. How true. )
But the main reason for their non attendence last night was most likely the fact that Izzie simply did not tell them about it at all!
Ever since receiving the Owl invitation to membership of the exclusive Order of the Green Spiral in late 2000 (Also known as the Vice-Chancellor's list) and inviting the ma and pa to the presentation ceremony, Iz has been rather secretive about her Goblin activities. See, it was a rather boring evening with lots of soporific speeches like some sort of mutual admiration society. Even Izzie was bored witless. Even the munchies were a non-event which would not have been an issue if they hadn't made a big deal about wanting to know about numbers of guests 'for catering purposes' making it sound like a big buffet dinner rather than some skimpy cocktail party nibblies. Poor Vernon and Petunia were expecting a big feast and had not eaten very much at all prior to this event.
The Iz sort of felt awful anyway for having invited them and wasted their evening at such a pathetic event but they too made sure the Izzie did not forget the suffering they had endured on her account. So the Iz resolved from that day on never to involve them in any further Goblin rituals or celebrations - even the one back in November 2002 where the Izzie's group won first prize in an "Entrepreneur's Challenge" contest where the first prize was a rather fat sack of five thousand gold galleons. Certainly not to be sneezed at. There was four of us in the group so we each took home $$1,250
Well, back to the pomp and ceremony. Way back in 2000, Iz had lurked about to watch the Goblin graduations so knew exactly what was involved. Nothing more exciting that walking across the stage, shaking hands with the Vice Chancellor and receiving the preciousss parchment while having one minute of fame while one's name was mentioned. Distinctions or Membership of the VC list was also added if relevant. So, Iz decided way back five years ago that she would be up there grabbing both of these accolades.
But only the names of those walking across the stage were actually mentioned so Izzie was left wondering concerning her acquisition of one of these titles. Goblin wannabee that she is, the Izzie was keeping count. Of a total of 550 graduates, 44 had distinctions. 18 of these were also members of that list and there was another four on the list who did not receive distinctions.
Did go to the Graduations office after the event, simply dying with curiosity. The lady said she couuld check if we gave her our student number. Since in the normal course of events, anything over a 70 is classified as distinction and over 80 is high distinction, Iz assumed the same criteria would apply to over all grades. Turns out the Izzie did not make it. Apparently the criteria for awarding distinctions is a course average of 75% plus and being in the top 10% of all students - which ever of those numbers was the lower. So if you get over 75% you are not necessarily guaranteed a place and if you get less than 75, you got a snowball in hell's chance of snatching one.
Iz will never know if she would have got in if the goal post had been 70 like she had thought and not 75. Was a bit peeved while at the same time recognizing that the possibility of having a LIFE and maintaining such a high GPA would have been rather low indeed. Izzie does not think that she would have been prepared to make the sacrifice if she had known that the goal post was five percentage points higher than she had thought.
But whatever the outcome, we still have that very pretty green spiral badge and an uber cool green hat (both of which we wore last night) which is much prettier than any mortarboard.
Way back in December we got the graduation notices from the university saying that we could register online until 7 January. So Iz finally remembers to register on New Year's Day only to be told that online registration is not possible without a credit card. Buggers. So nothing to it but to turn up at the office in person and fill in their stupid forms. Soon the reason for the card became apparent. Scheming cunning goblins that they are. Even though the actual ceremonies were not being held until after the second week of February, they wanted students to pay the costume hire fees upfront.
But Izzie had just paid a rather fat and nasty water bill and did not have 85 silver sickles to spare - aside from the fact of thinking one should be able to BUY the outfits at such a ridiculous price rather than merely hire them for a few hours. Izzie said that she simply did not have the money. He says - oh we are not total ogres. You don't have to pay it today but the longer you leave it, the less chance there is of getting a place. Iz thinks - well pay day is not until 20 Jan so there's not a hope in hell so then decided to go for the mailing out option.
Later the Iz realized she was not thinking straight. Of course there will always be places for the graduates - it's the guests that are the issue. And Izzie did not intend to have any, there was no problem. But what was done was done.
Iz could have asked the ma and pa to lend the loot to pay these greedy goblins but was not quite sure if she really felt it was justified to pay such a sum in order to appear on stage for less than a minute. And Izzie certainly would not be getting any photos of herself looking all uppity and academic.
It's so so funny. All these folks coming from Indonesia, Malaysia and Mainland China to be with their little monsters - a most expensive investment too it was for many of them. And there's Izzie's ma and pa living less than ten minutes away (by car) and not being there.
It is true that Ma and Pa Dursley place very very little value on education and regard bookish learning and academic pursuits of all sorts with the utmost suspicion. Oh how often did the ma threaten to burn one of Izzie's favorite books of all time - "Godel, Escher, Bach" saying that it was corrupting the ickle Izzie's fragile little mind. (Oh -yesss. How true. )
But the main reason for their non attendence last night was most likely the fact that Izzie simply did not tell them about it at all!
Ever since receiving the Owl invitation to membership of the exclusive Order of the Green Spiral in late 2000 (Also known as the Vice-Chancellor's list) and inviting the ma and pa to the presentation ceremony, Iz has been rather secretive about her Goblin activities. See, it was a rather boring evening with lots of soporific speeches like some sort of mutual admiration society. Even Izzie was bored witless. Even the munchies were a non-event which would not have been an issue if they hadn't made a big deal about wanting to know about numbers of guests 'for catering purposes' making it sound like a big buffet dinner rather than some skimpy cocktail party nibblies. Poor Vernon and Petunia were expecting a big feast and had not eaten very much at all prior to this event.
The Iz sort of felt awful anyway for having invited them and wasted their evening at such a pathetic event but they too made sure the Izzie did not forget the suffering they had endured on her account. So the Iz resolved from that day on never to involve them in any further Goblin rituals or celebrations - even the one back in November 2002 where the Izzie's group won first prize in an "Entrepreneur's Challenge" contest where the first prize was a rather fat sack of five thousand gold galleons. Certainly not to be sneezed at. There was four of us in the group so we each took home $$1,250
Well, back to the pomp and ceremony. Way back in 2000, Iz had lurked about to watch the Goblin graduations so knew exactly what was involved. Nothing more exciting that walking across the stage, shaking hands with the Vice Chancellor and receiving the preciousss parchment while having one minute of fame while one's name was mentioned. Distinctions or Membership of the VC list was also added if relevant. So, Iz decided way back five years ago that she would be up there grabbing both of these accolades.
But only the names of those walking across the stage were actually mentioned so Izzie was left wondering concerning her acquisition of one of these titles. Goblin wannabee that she is, the Izzie was keeping count. Of a total of 550 graduates, 44 had distinctions. 18 of these were also members of that list and there was another four on the list who did not receive distinctions.
Did go to the Graduations office after the event, simply dying with curiosity. The lady said she couuld check if we gave her our student number. Since in the normal course of events, anything over a 70 is classified as distinction and over 80 is high distinction, Iz assumed the same criteria would apply to over all grades. Turns out the Izzie did not make it. Apparently the criteria for awarding distinctions is a course average of 75% plus and being in the top 10% of all students - which ever of those numbers was the lower. So if you get over 75% you are not necessarily guaranteed a place and if you get less than 75, you got a snowball in hell's chance of snatching one.
Iz will never know if she would have got in if the goal post had been 70 like she had thought and not 75. Was a bit peeved while at the same time recognizing that the possibility of having a LIFE and maintaining such a high GPA would have been rather low indeed. Izzie does not think that she would have been prepared to make the sacrifice if she had known that the goal post was five percentage points higher than she had thought.
But whatever the outcome, we still have that very pretty green spiral badge and an uber cool green hat (both of which we wore last night) which is much prettier than any mortarboard.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-02-23 05:29 pm (UTC)Knocking on Goblins' Doors
And that is not a bad thing at all.