(no subject)

College tonight went so well for the first hour or so. I was breezing through Powerpoint exercises, getting them all right - then I embarked on my fourth or fifth exercise of the night. The exercise called for me to include the slide number in the bottom right corner of the page. So I put the slide-number icon there on the master slide - but on each of the individual slides, no number appeared. I tried everything but my bastard PC - or disk, one or the other - retained its deep aversion to putting slide numbers on.

I told Joan, and she, a little snappily I thought, just said "There are people further back than you. I want to deal with them."

Niki was doing the same exercise, and her bloody slide numbers were showing fine. She said she'd just left the icon where it was, in its initial starting position at bottom right. So I tried deleting the whole shebang and starting fresh, leaving the icon where it was. No use - still no fucking slide numbers.

When Joan went to the office I went over and told Di of my plight. I thought she'd be a willing listener, as she'd been having a good bitch - to me! - about Joan's foibles earlier. But, even when I said this could fail me the entire unit, and thus lose me my Diploma - she was about as sympathetic as Pol Pot.

I had to admit defeat and write the slide numbers in in biro. Joan knew all about the problem and hadn't helped me, so she can't mark me down.

But I can't write the numbers in in biro in the exam. Three missing slide numbers equals three fails, and you're only allowed two fails in any unit. If this bloody glitch hasn't removed itself from my PC - or disk, wherever the fuck it is - by next week, when Niki and I do our mock exam, this could cost me my Diploma. Of course, having passed three units, I've already got my Certificate, but they won't let me on the ECDL course with only a Certificate.

I was so radged off, and burning from having to hold it all in, that I asked Niki and Liz if I could walk out with them at the end. They agreed. At five to nine Joan was no longer seeing anyone else, so I again told her of my plight with the slide numbers. Her reply in full?

"I don't know."

I had to wait a while for Niki and Liz, as Liz was still working right up to the stroke of nine then she wanted to explain all about something she'd done to Joan. I had jumping ants in my pants by the time we finally set off across the Quad. Niki was, at least, sympathetic, though she remains convinced that the glitch will have miraculously vanished by next week. Liz cited some way her computer had been playing up tonight. We agreed that the first thing to check next week is whether it's the PC or the disk that's to blame. If it's the PC I can move to another one, but if it's the disk - then I've got a gut feeling that Joan would refuse to give me a replacement disk (I've got a strong sense that she simply doesn't like me, though Niki doubts this) and so I'd be fucked.

Walked home in a foul mood. Just come off the phone to Katherine. She said it was a shame we can't take the disks home with us, as Mike is a bit of a computer wiz and could have had a look at it - she made the tongue-in-cheek suggestion that if I still had problems next week I should call them and Mike would come down to the college!

Hopefully armed with a two-by-four to use on Joan, say I.