“What did you just say?” he asked, between chortles.
“What do you mean?”
“Just now, when you were singing. What did you think they were saying?”
“I don’t know. It sounded like ‘don’t go out tonight, there’s bound to be a fight. There’s a bathroom on the right.’ Why? What did you hear?”
Between snorts and guffaws, he asked me if I thought what I was singing made any sense.
“Well, no, but then a lot of the songs don’t make sense. What’s so funny?!”
He started singing the chorus. “Don't go around tonight. Well, it's bound to take your life, there's a bad moon on the rise.”
Forever after, whenever I heard the song, I joined in at the chorus, singing my version. (Turns out, there were thousands of us who thought the singers were giving directions to the head.) It has remained one of my favorite examples of miscommunications.
Today, five weeks into my new career as a college student, I received notices, via email from the state and snail-mail from the college, that one of my grants is being rescinded, because I am enrolled in a program that does not meet the requirements for getting a grant from PHEAA. This means I have lost funding for this semester and next. It means I owe the college nearly a thousand dollars more, if I plan to stay enrolled through the end of this semester, and another thousand for the spring semester. This will be on top of the Stafford loan I made to pay the shortfall from the Pell and the PHEAA grants, to cover the tuition balance and the cost of books.
I am flabbergasted. When I applied for admission to HACC in May, I told my advisors what courses I intended to take. When I went to the financial aid office, I repeated my plans, and asked for help with obtaining grants, if any were available for the courses I intended to take. When I applied for grants through FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) and PHEAA (Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency), I clearly stated which college I wanted to attend and the program I intended to enter.
Was I singing the wrong lyrics again, or were all these other people hearing/reading the wrong words? I don’t understand how the grant from PHEAA could have been made in the first place, since the program (which I spelled out for them in all my applications) was not eligible.
This is not the blog I wanted to write tonight. I planned to write about my first month at college, how it has turned out that I really like the accounting class (which I thought I’d hate) and that I’m having a blast in the computer class learning how all the software I have works. I love learning new things. I like the challenge to my brain and the stimulation of being in a school setting again. I wanted to tell you all the fun stuff.
Tomorrow (Thursday) morning, I’ll visit the financial aid office and say “WTF?!”, or words to that effect, only more polite and socially acceptable words to that effect. (You don’t suppose PHEAA is in cahoots with OVR, do you?) Tonight, I’m too bummed out to do much of anything. I’m feeling queasy, from the disappointment, I’m sure.
Damned good thing there’s a bathroom on the right!
(Thursday afternoon follow-up: Nothing I could do about PHEAA; those funds are lost. However, I'm still enrolled because I was able to increase the student loan to make up the difference for this and the next semesters. If I change from the diploma program to the associate degree program, PHEAA funds would become available. Have to think about that some more, for it means a longer period of study [60 credit hours as opposed to 20 credits for the diploma], but an associate's degree might serve me better in the work place. Something to consider.)
(The guy on the left, full beard, looks a good bit like my first ex, John.)
11 comments:
Aw, what a mess, again! But at least you still have a sense of humour, you sure got a chuckle out of me. Hope it all works out for the best, it's great that you are enjoying your classes.
Good grief? Would it kill these people to employ competent admin assistants? Hope you kick ass and get it sorted out.
Curious. I just watched "American Werewolf in London" for the first time in ages, and you know that song is on the soundtrack.
Maybe you could hint to the aid people that you might just turn into a werewolf and your favorite victims are incompetent staff.
Sorry about your situation, but you might want to know you are not even remotely alone in not getting the lyrics to a song right. There's even a word been coined for it by Jon Caroll, a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle: Mondegreens. I read his column almost daily in the SF Chron online. Here's a link to his columns about them:
http://www.sfgate.com/joncarroll/mondegreens.shtml
Appeal. This should definitely not have happened.
"Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy" is a book full of misheard song lyrics.
the ccr memory was wonderful;
the other bureaucratic bs... unbelievable !
Good heavens, a sort of epiphany. Years ago when I drove to work from Clifton Heights to Bryn Mawr (now there's a social step up for you) I used to listen to pop on the car radio. I don't know why and I can only attribute it to fact that the balance of my mind was temporarily disturbed - I never really liked Philly. Nor did I like most of what I heard but one thing I was sure of: that word "Revival" sounded ominous, hinted at strenuous and sweaty interaction in some tin shack of a church, with embarrassing invitations to step up and make myself pure. No, CCR wasn't for me. However in honour of all things corvine (Hey, I thought that was what it meant!) and given you were attached, as it were, I thought I'd give it a go. I pressed the sideways-pointing arrowhead and lo - despite my strictures I had listened to CCR, without knowing who they were. That tune sort of percolated even if none of the words disentangled themselves and I had no idea it was called Bad Moon Rising. I mention this because it creates a bond: there was a period in US history when, simultaneously, you were absorbing this song enthusiastically and I was being confused by it. A tenuous bond, but a bond nevertheless.
I am equally baffled by the way you keep on getting reamed out (A US phrase I like, mainly because it never crossed the Atlantic) by the social services and their associated covens. I am also heart-slufted. Here's a Shakespeare quote:
Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.
The point is the quote is more often used sarcastically these days. And, yes, I think you're entitled. Biff on, as someone (ineffably English) said in a comment to another blog.
Hello, everyone: In light of my discovery (late in the evening after I posted this) that I am the sole cause of my lost grant, I feel like a fraud to receive your kind thoughts and good wishes.
A good lesson has been learned - perhaps more than one. I must pay closer attention to filling out forms, especially online, where, once submitted, it is nigh onto impossible to change things. I was in too big a hurry to file my application, and was - obviously - careless in doing so.
Marja-Leena - a few months ago, I might have taken the news rather poorly, but for some reason, I did laugh (sardonically, perhaps) when I read the letter from the college. Now, of course, I'm laughing at myself.
Steve: turns out it is my own ass that needs kicking. If we lived closer, I let you do the honors.
Fresca: I like that! Always thought wolf fangs would be cool to have. In this case, I'd have to bite my own arm off.
Should Fish More: I went to the website you provided. Wonderful examples of the funny things we mis-hear; enjoyed the site tremendously. Thank you.
Z: I thank you, more than I can say, for the suggestion I appeal, for I found that I am the source of my own pain this time. Humbling experience, and oh-so-necessary.
Harlequin: This time, I am the bureaucrat in charge of the mess, but I thank you for your kind remarks.
BB: I love that you were "in country" during the time I was entering my adulthood, and we can share some cultural references from that time - too cool.
Be baffled no more, at least as regards this misadventure, for I did my own reaming (had no idea I was so flexible!)
I appreciate Big Bill's words, which I, no doubt, will have reason to review again. Shakespeare's right; there are gems for personal growth to be found in adversities, most especially those we bring upon ourselves.
Hello, everyone: In light of my discovery (late in the evening after I posted this) that I am the sole cause of my lost grant, I feel like a fraud to receive your kind thoughts and good wishes.
A good lesson has been learned - perhaps more than one. I must pay closer attention to filling out forms, especially online, where, once submitted, it is nigh onto impossible to change things. I was in too big a hurry to file my application, and was - obviously - careless in doing so.
Marja-Leena - a few months ago, I might have taken the news rather poorly, but for some reason, I did laugh (sardonically, perhaps) when I read the letter from the college. Now, of course, I'm laughing at myself.
Steve: turns out it is my own ass that needs kicking. If we lived closer, I let you do the honors.
Fresca: I like that! Always thought wolf fangs would be cool to have. In this case, I'd have to bite my own arm off.
Should Fish More: I went to the website you provided. Wonderful examples of the funny things we mis-hear; enjoyed the site tremendously. Thank you.
Z: I thank you, more than I can say, for the suggestion I appeal, for I found that I am the source of my own pain this time. Humbling experience, and oh-so-necessary.
Harlequin: This time, I am the bureaucrat in charge of the mess, but I thank you for your kind remarks.
BB: I love that you were "in country" during the time I was entering my adulthood, and we can share some cultural references from that time - too cool.
Be baffled no more, at least as regards this misadventure, for I did my own reaming (had no idea I was so flexible!)
I appreciate Big Bill's words, which I, no doubt, will have reason to review again. Shakespeare's right; there are gems for personal growth to be found in adversities, most especially those we bring upon ourselves.
Hello, everyone: In light of my discovery (late in the evening after I posted this) that I am the sole cause of my lost grant, I feel like a fraud to receive your kind thoughts and good wishes.
A good lesson has been learned - perhaps more than one. I must pay closer attention to filling out forms, especially online, where, once submitted, it is nigh onto impossible to change things. I was in too big a hurry to file my application, and was - obviously - careless in doing so.
Marja-Leena - a few months ago, I might have taken the news rather poorly, but for some reason, I did laugh (sardonically, perhaps) when I read the letter from the college. Now, of course, I'm laughing at myself.
Steve: turns out it is my own ass that needs kicking. If we lived closer, I let you do the honors.
Fresca: I like that! Always thought wolf fangs would be cool to have. In this case, I'd have to bite my own arm off.
Should Fish More: I went to the website you provided. Wonderful examples of the funny things we mis-hear; enjoyed the site tremendously. Thank you.
Z: I thank you, more than I can say, for the suggestion I appeal, for I found that I am the source of my own pain this time. Humbling experience, and oh-so-necessary.
Harlequin: This time, I am the bureaucrat in charge of the mess, but I thank you for your kind remarks.
BB: I love that you were "in country" during the time I was entering my adulthood, and we can share some cultural references from that time - too cool.
Be baffled no more, at least as regards this misadventure, for I did my own reaming (had no idea I was so flexible!)
I appreciate Big Bill's words, which I, no doubt, will have reason to review again. Shakespeare's right; there are gems for personal growth to be found in adversities, most especially those we bring upon ourselves.
I'm glad you know how to write a grant at all... not knowing how cost me a great job at a wildlife rehabilitation center this past year :( But I did get a chuckle about your Creedence Clearwater Revival story... loved those guys!
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