helen-louise's journal

Am halfway through the huge stack of marking. 6 down, 7 to go. Discovered I really *do* need a rubber stamp which says "Carbon only has 4 bonds!!". I'm sick of writing that.

I also want to moan about having to mark exam papers that reek of cigarette smoke. Technically, if the kid is 18 it isn't any of my business what they choose to do with their bodies - but it's ewww.

Today I got to tell one of the kiddies that if she carries on doing the amount of work she's been doing, she'll get a D for her A-level rather than the B she needs for university. She has 5 written exams to sit for chemistry, and she's only done a handful of past papers for 1 of them. She seems to suffer from a total inability to THINK for herself. It bothers me that her parents are PAYING for her to not learn because she doesn't do her share of the work. Also, the lazy students tend to blame me when they get bad marks.

Stupid quote of the day: "Some herbicides have helped eradicate malaria (2-4-D) in some countries."

Also, I think I might have worked out what's going on with my digestive system, and it's rather interesting in a totally TMI sort of way.