Back to school

Remember when I mentioned that Monday would be Parent Liberation Day? It was not.

Instead, it was the day of waking up early to feed S before getting Adi to the bus stop and then sticking around for a parent-child event that turned out to be a school assembly where parents were welcome to sit in the hallway outside and crane their necks for a view of their precious child being marched on stage with his/her class to get an official welcome from the principal.

To be fair, the other parents found it very moving. 

Then I had to head back to get S from Viggie's work, where she'd been acquainting everyone with her views on how the world is a dark, miserable place full of nothing but suffering. I interrupted her message of despair to bring her with to pick up D (early pickup), making it just in time for D to sprawl herself on the dirty pavement and refuse to move as other parents pranced by with their happy offspring (D couldn't decide what she wanted more - to not stay in preschool, or to not go home with me. It's a tough life.).

I forget the rest of the day. 

Today I had a full two hours of quiet in the morning. Unfortunately, I had to use 45 minutes of it dealing with my own upcoming school year, at Open University. 

Open University is great. The problem is, the administrative system was designed by a team with the collective IQ of a turnip. A turnip whose mother quietly despairs of it ever amounting to anything in life.

For instance, I want to update my credit card information in order to pay them.

"You can't," explained the helpful Open U hotline worker.

"I can't?"

"No, I can't change it by phone."

"But I can't do it online, either."

"Right."

"So where can I do it?"

"Well, if you had a personal code, you could leave a voicemail message with the Registration Center.Then someone would call you back, and you could tell them by phone."

"I don't have a personal code."

"I could send you one by mail. It would get there in a couple weeks."
"I need to register today."

"Yes, I know."

"So is there anything I can do for today?"

"I could send you a personal code."

"But it won't get here on time."

"Right."

"So what could I do for today?"

"Do you have a personal code?"

This went on for a while, with a secondary loop developing in which I noted that if I were a new student I could just enter a new credit card number in the online registration forms, and she helpfully pointed out that I am not, in fact, a new student. In the end, it turns out she may not be able to send me a personal code after all, because I haven't updated my address, and I can't update it without a personal code. She did, however, give me the fax number for the Registration Center. Apparently they'll read your fax even if you don't have a code.

In the meantime, I'm leaving the payment on my old card and hoping they charge me in the 72 hours before it expires. As for the change of address, I plan to sneak into our old building every couple of days to check for textbooks. It can't possibly be harder than trying to deal with the helpline again.

But I persevere, because other than the system, and the helpline, and the textbooks, and several of the courses, and some of the teachers, Open U really is great. And it's the only school where I can attend class while being used as a human trampoline, which is a matter of great importance.

And really, my time learning there has changed my outlook on life. Now when I'm standing in the park tomorrow with S screaming and D sitting on the pavement saying "DON'T WANT!" instead of getting irritated I can remain calm, happy in the knowledge that whatever else happens, at least I don't have to deal with Open U for another four months.