Finished a presentation

There will be some serious ranting going on here, and anyone a doing a Masters should read this.

I just did my presentation for Communication Revolution course. This group project was rather strange, because I was the only one in the group that did anything. I e-mailed my group on a monday, 8 days before the presentation was supposed to be. I asked them to submit some material I could use for OUR presentation. I have been a part of 3 other presentations by this group.

The first one was almost average, but it was only supposed to be 10 minutes, and it was closer to 20. I did my work on time, came prepared for the group meeting and everything. I was sadly the only one who did. And their idea of a group project was to sit for 3 hours and stare, and give me the blank gaze of non understanding. I was even trying to talk to those people and they drifted away, without replying or contibuting anything. I felt like I was back in pre school, where I used to teach. Kindergarden. If you are telling an autistic 4 year old who has no sense of cause and effect, not to do something, because he might get hurt. Well it was the same look og not understanding and "not giving a rats arse" about what they where doing. The group meeting was spent trying to do a powerpoint slideshow for a presentation nobody had researched, except me. It simply doesn't work. In the end, about half of the material in the presentation was my contribution to the group.

The second presentation was worse. I was an hour late because my electircity went nuts, and I had to call an electrician and could not make it to the meeting on time. Well after an hour, when I got there, they had not done anything. Not a single word had been spoken. Then they decided that this was enough and went their seprate ways. I emailed the group leader for that presentation my work, and after it had been in her mailbox for 5 days, she didn't use it. The presentation was total bullshit, about journalistic ethics and something like that. It didnt answer the question, it didnt even get close to the topic. I just sat there baffled, and looked ebit pissed off and more surprised because my material was devistatingly good arguments for out topic. The discussion was like a bad horror movie, mildly amusing, and a total waiste of time. People go to a horror movie and suddently figure out that it is so bad, it is actually funny. Then I managed to look Allison our teacher in the eye and demand to speak. I said about 4 sentences and managed to destroy the other group arguments wiht that. Then I asked the group leader, an african girl who never has the same hairdo from week to week, why she didnt use my material. The answer was simple, I didnt get it soon enought, I only checked my email an hour ago. She was expecting me to send it the same day I did sent it. Moron.

The third presentation was ok, specially since it was 90% mine. After a meeting, where both the Chinise girls showed up, and the hairdo african girl also, just before she simply stood up and said, I gots to go. And off she went, and I just sat and stared. The Chinise girls didnt know anything about the subject, and I had not read anything for this, but I knew lots about it from my studies here and my old degree, history. They sat and tryed the powerpoint trick again. Until I started to write an outline, a list of arguments to answer our seminar question for that presentation. The stopped and asked what I was doing, and I handed them the papar that I had been about a minute to write. That was the basis for the presentation. Then I typed up some material home and sent the group leader, a Chinise girl who shows up to meetings, and seems to at least to try sometimes. And finally, the presentation was mostly mine. Just before the lecture started the week before the seminar, I asked the other two african girls, who are both older than me, why they didnt show up to the meeting, but where just hanging around the library, because I saw them there just after the meeting ended. They said....get this.. "There were other people there to do the work". shit fucking hell....to quote Penn Jillette. I was so surprised, because I thought that freeriders like this only existed among undergraduate students who think more about drinking than studying. Is it fair that I do all the work for them? And the funny thing is that back in Africa, they have jobs, both as PR managers for the government and the other one for an NGO that works wiht the government. A PR person who misses meetings and is unable to do anything. No wonder the state of some nations there is bad. Call me prejudice, but I am pissed off just thinking about this. I am an easy going guy, I tend to think that this kind of attitude is the handycap of the person who has it, but it is frustrating at this level to have people getting away with freeriding, and having no ambition to a good job, leave that, to do anything. Expecting others to work for them. Takes the piss. Quoting Penn Jillette again... shit fucking hell. Bullshit.

Then the fourth presentation where I was the group leader. I did my presentation, and I even had a bet with Freyja, my girlfriend...she said that I would get one reply, and I said no reply, and I won. The class was funny, only the Chinise girl who sometimes does try showed up, and said she was sorry, she thought it was the next Tuesday after. But she still showed up for the seminar :) And Allison teacher said that she really appreciated me doing this by myself. I even got a nice ovation from the class after the presentation. And I defended my case against the opposing group alone also. Just like I did last time, where I defended our groups position alone, and even Allison joined the other group to be against me. After that class my ego was high, I did well then.