Monday, when I was at school, I had lunch with my good friend H. During the course of our conversation, she mentioned that she had taken the course I�ll be teaching this spring but that she�d dropped it because she missed the final. �What?� I said? She said she�d copied down the scheduled final time into her calendar wrong and realized that she�d missed it as she was preparing to head over to take it. Needless to say, the professor did not believe her and was prepared to fail her. Fortunately for H., her advisor did believe her and got her out of the class way, WAY after the usual drop deadline.

I listened to this tale agog. I mean, this is the stuff of nightmares, but no one ever really does it, do they? Apparently they do. And I have to say, this story has strangely disturbed me for the last couple of days. It seems all too easy -- there but for the grace of God...

I think perhaps the reason it has kept eating at me is that I have just discovered that there are adjunct openings in my area of expertise at the community college in my county, which happens to be in the next town over and is about the only institution of higher learning that is remotely convenient to my current place of residence. The problem (aside for the fact that adjuncting pays squat)? They seem to want someone to teach this spring, which for them, I believe, starts in a week or two. Egad!!! Perhaps I am nuts. In any case, I�m not falling all over myself to get organized and get my dossier in. I think what I really want is for them to have my resume on file and hire me for next year. But I�ll take what I can get. A job is sounding ever more appealing.

There is a problem with the adjunct pay, though. If the schedule doesn�t work out right, it could actually cost me more in child care than I would get paid. And yet I need the credentials. Okay, why do I want a job again?

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