Learning Life's Lessons

Although I've been a student there for over three years now, I haven't mastered using the services on the U of M campus. First of all, there's parking. Or lack thereof. Dollar-an-hour lots are as good as it gets, but on the West Bank (or at least I think it's West -- I get them mixed up -- again, over three years) $2.50 an hour is standard rate. That wouldn't be so outrageous if I could complete anything in less than an hour.

Next, there's the library, which isn't so bad really. Unless copying is involved. There's this system where you can put money on your U Card and save five cents per copy. I've done it before and felt confident going into it today. I had $20 in my wallet. Five for parking (ugh) and fifteen for copies (ugh, ugh). So, I put my twenty into the machine thinking that I could get change back to pay for parking. Not the case. All $20 was added to the card. I wanted to keep a positive outlook, but when will I use $23.85 on my copy card? And I had to find an ATM (with a $1.50 service charge) to get cash for parking. Ugh.

Like Oprah, I assume that everything happens so that a lesson can be learned from it. But after spending $26.50 during one trip to campus and finding that the periodicals carried volumes 1, 2, 4, and 5 of the English Journal when all I wanted was volume 3, I wasn't sure what there was to learn.

But never doubt Oprah, for on my way back from the cash machine I was drawn to a light glowing from around the corner. A Coke machine. And on that Coke machine, a slot for the U Card. And I, with $16.20 left to spare, figured out what my lesson was for the day: The U Card works on vending machines and Diet Coke makes everything better.