chimps, i tell you.

it's the second week of the quarter and my fees aren't paid. my account shows that i owe the university almost three thousand dollars. this is not true--the department very generously offered me a package that includes full support, which will show up eventually . . . i guess. in the meantime, i have to say, the university isn't really doing a bang up job of getting it together. i get that there's a lot of us and that i'm not more important than the other (apparently, truckloads of other) grad students waiting for their packages to come through, but as chris pointed out as i vented today, how does the beginning of an academic term sneak up on you this bad when it's what you do? i don't like administrative details, either, but i'm not an administrator. i am someone who moved across country on a handshake and the promise of funding. how are their hordes of us whose money is stuck in beaurocratic goulash after the start of classes? why have i made nine phone calls about this--plus countless emails and two campus visits? why did it make me cry on the bus the other day?

i have movers to pay. books to buy. a conference to attend. i had to get a car. i have prescriptions that need refilling and a husband who needs dependent insurance, and neither of us is covered until my freaking fees are paid. what i've been hearing for a month now is that the money is in some kind of mythical pipeline. i'm about ready for them to tell me it's been so delayed because elves got into the system.

those of you who have routinely dealt with big public research universities, i salute you. it's enough to make me want to punch someone in the groin.