RIP: Bane of My Existence

My heart is seriously, seriously broken.

In class yesterday, it splintered in two when a girl said to me, "Oh yeah! You didn't hear?? Dr. ____ (aka. Bane of My Existence) up and quit."

It had been rumored for a while that he was going to switch over to a management position at the school and deprive us all of his bad-ass teaching abilities. But at least with that, I still might've chanced to see his white buzz of hair making its way through the hallways, hear the occasional caustic comment busting from his mouth, or catch him doing a bad imitation from the Johnny Carson show with his "Hiiii-Ohhhhh"s.

But now: gone.

And I didn't even get to see him one last time.

Don't get me wrong: I 100% understand why he quit. In fact, it wouldn't've seemed in character for him to have done anything but. And I appreciate that about him. He *knows* the school is falling into a bullshit crap vortex. He *knew* and was undoubtedly *disgusted* with the fact that we'd been given an instructor last semester that NEVER ACTUALLY TAUGHT US A GODDAMN THING and yet who is teaching again this semester. And he wanted nothing to do with that.

But still. I'm gonna miss my feelings of hatred nose-diving into smittenness every 5 minutes. I'm gonna miss driving past him on the way into class and having him cock his arm out the window at me, in a kind of "Power to the People" motion. I'm gonna miss him Sybil-ing from crazy comedian to serious lover of anatomy in less than 5 seconds. I'm gonna miss his absolute, raw love of anatomy and physiology, and his extremely bad-ass ability to explain something excruciatingly complex with absolute clarity and simplicity. And I'm gonna miss his plain old dumb-fucking sense of humor.

In fact, yesterday, while I was sitting in pathophysiology and our instructor was going over different severities of diseases, what immediately popped into my head when she asked "What's an acute disease?" was "It's a disease that ain't too bad too look at" followed by maniacal mental laughter that could've been none other than that of Bane of My Existence. It was precisely the kind of dumb-ass joke that he would crack in class and that I would find myself trying to stifle my grin over. And for a second, I felt like I was channeling.

I don't say this lightly: In the 8 (as of January 2008) post-high school years I've spent in school, he seriously has probably been the most brilliant and skilled instructor I've had. And I say that with absolute sincerity.

It's just a bloody fucking shame. That's what it is.

So RIP: Bane of My Existence.

May you find a job at a better school that will appreciate and put to better use your mad mad awesome brilliant teaching skills. It'd be a shame and a waste if you did anything but.