March 21: Another Carol Dip, Don't Be Grieved, Ambiguity

My daughter is ill this morning.  She went to bed complaining of a sore throat and woke up vomiting.  She'll be going to the doctor, and she will also be getting her dance pictures taken.  I spend too much money on those damn costumes to miss getting portraits.  Hopefully, she'll feel better later on in the day.

I don't have a whole lot in the way of wisdom this morning. Some of my faithful disciples would say I never have a lot in the way of wisdom, and I'm OK with that statement.  I figure I've done my job if I make my readers laugh, shake their heads, or say to themselves, "What a dumbass."

Therefore, I will use my fall back tactic for my blog: a Carol dip.  I'm sure most of you are already aware of the rules.  I ask a question, flip through my copy of A Christmas Carol, and put my finger randomly on a page.  Where my finger lands is the answer to my question.  (I suddenly feel like Bob Barker on The Price Is Right explaining Plinko.)

All right, here goes. This is my question:

Will I eventually be hired full-time at the university as a tenured professor?
And my answer is...

She hurried out to meet him; and little Bob in his comforter--he had need of it, poor fellow--came in.  His tea was ready for him on the hob, and they all tried who should help him to it most.  Then the two young Cratchits got upon his knees and laid, each child a little cheek, against his face, as if they said, "Don't mind it, father.  Don't be grieved!"

Yeesh.  Bob Cratchit grieving over the death of Tiny Tim in Stave Four.  The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.

Well, first, it's an appropriate chapter from which to receive an answer about the future.  Second, it seems like a pretty grim answer.  Will I be hired full-time at the university as a tenured professor?  Don't mind it.  Don't be grieved.  Basically, I think I'm being told not to mourn, that I stand about as much a chance of landing a full-time professorship as Stephen King does of winning the Nobel Prize in Literature.  Not very uplifting.

On the other hand, I could interpret the answer another way.  Perhaps the answer means that I shouldn't mind/fret over it.  The full-time, tenure track job will come to me.  All I have to do is be patient.  There's something to be said for this interpretation.  I mean, yes, Bob Cratchit is grieving.  However, at the end of the scene, Bob says, "I am very happy!...I am very happy!"  That means that happiness is coming my way in this area of my life, right?  Right?

I'm not sure which of these interpretations is the more legitimate.  I'd like to believe the latter, but it just may be the former.  I'm not a big fan of ambiguity.  Well, this is my blog and my post, so I'm going to embrace the more affirmative answer.

Yay!  I'm going to be a full-time professor!  I think I'll make a cake for myself tonight to celebrate.  Thank you, Charles Dickens!  Thank you, Bob Cratchit!

Saint Marty says, "God bless us, every one!"

The evolution of Saint Marty