Friday thoughts

• i hate, hate, hate having to deal with financial aid offices! I ended up having to use the rest of my Americorps award to pay for summer courses. why did it take over a month for the office to finish everything and release the funds?! smh...
• i'm not looking forward to it, but i'm going to go ahead and take the qualitative methods class instead of doing an independent study. it turns out the same professor teaches it in the fall, and well, i'd rather take it now w/ the rest of my cohort, and have it done in a month as opposed to dragging it out over a long semester. the class starts Monday and meets for 5 hours twice a week. yeah, i know... i don't know how i'm going to manage being in class for so long, but i'll have to find a way.
• this whole LeBron thing is making me sick! the man went where he had a better chance of winning! he gave 7 years to a franchise and now it's time to move on! anyone who's left one job for a better opportunity should understand that.
  
• this being w/o health insurance is for the birds. in the past, when i was without insurance, i didn't have to go to the doctor. well, this time around i have a few visits and paying out of pocket is not the business. thankfully on September 1, I'll be insured again.
• so, i interviewed for a position about 3 weeks ago... uhm, why hasn't the hiring department made a decision yet? after the interview, i wasn't sure i really wanted to do the work, but still, what's the deal?
• in my last summer class, we had to do a group paper. i usually hate to do group work, but this time it went well. also, the professor loved the topic and we're going to use the paper to apply to be a part of AERA, which is a pretty big deal and a great thing to do as a grad student to get your foot in the door. the only thing i didn't like is that one of the group members seemed so hesitant to just take charge of something. he wanted to talk through every little thing. it irked me to no end. he just sent an e-mail asking if we were going to meet to write the abstract... dude, it's just 500 words! AND our professor told us exactly how to write it! i don't see why he doesn't just write it, send it to us, and we'll give some feedback! i'm not sure if he's uncertain of himself or if he wants to do as little work as possible. whatever it is, it irks me to no end!
• i don't know why i'm so nervous about quitting my job, but i am. i guess it's because i've never quit a job after working there for about a month. i'm supposed to stay until the end of August but the very thought of that makes me sick to my stomach. yesterday one of the tasks i was given was to type up the notes one of my managers took at a meeting. it took me about 5 minutes to type them up, but still... i'm better than this. anyone can do that. at my exit interview, i'm going to suggest they open that job up to college students because grad students should not be typing up notes, putting documents into folders, labeling folders, etc. the kind of work i'm doing is best designed for people with little work experience.
• i've volunteered to help with training the San Antonio TFA corps. this is their 1st year in San Antonio, so i'm looking forward to it. i got an e-mail from the guy coordinating it and he said i'd most likely be helping corps members unpack standards (make sense of what their students are expected to know). see, THAT's the type of work i like doing. something that involves working with people and using the skills i learned in the classroom. the training is for a week, and would require me to go to San Antonio, which is an hour and a half away. like i said, it's not paid, but i'm happy to do that for free than to do the work for which i am paid.
• since i won't be working in August, i need to plan out things to do that month. i'd really like to use that time to do extensive research on soap making, wrap up my 2nd summer course, and start preparing for the fall semester and going back to work. the first week of August will be spent doing the TFA thing, so i should have a nice mix of work and relaxing.

well, it's time for me to get ready for work... so, until next time...

never gets old...

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life's updates...

• work is still... not fun. my manager responded to the e-mail i sent (see the last post for a break down of that situation) and i wasn't that satisfied with the response, to be honest. she didn't acknowledge her error and basically said that editing can be frustrating. :-/ last week i went to the presentation that the one pagers i wrote were needed for and there were 5 people in attendance. she made it seem like a big deal and it was anything but... that's not to say that work shouldn't be quality, no matter the number or audience, but... in the greater scheme of things, i'm not convinced they made much of an impact. outside of that, i'm still doing basic stuff that an administrative assistant could do. i really want to quit, but i have to stay a little while longer to make the money i need to make for next month. at least it's only part time...
• the day after i told JE about the situation, he asked me had i considered opening my own tutoring business because i was a "boss type" who didn't like being told what to do. all i could do was laugh. in a way, he's correct, i don't like being told what to do in a setting that doesn't seem valuable to me. but, you know, it's funny that he would say that because one thing on my vision board is to start my own enterprise. i'm thinking that the soap making thing is viable and i'll enjoy doing it. i've been educating myself, praying about the situation and considering what routes to take because i can go past soap making to lotion making, and other toiletries.
  
• speaking of part time jobs, i got the job back that i was doing during the regular school year. so, i have a job beginning September 1. i really wanted a full time job, but i'd rather have something than nothing, esp. in this economy.
  
• i decided to attend my high school reunion. well, not the whole thing. we have the option to pay-per-event and i decided to attend the picnic on Saturday. it was the cheapest of the events and won't require me to do anything as far as finding a cocktail dress, etc. so, i'll be going to Tulsa at the end of the month.
• this little foray into the straight hair world has been fun, but i'm ready to go back to the curly hair. some people loved the straight look, but i can't base my decisions on what other people like. and well, straight hair is not really the look i prefer. at least not on a regular basis.
• my first summer session class will be complete as of Thursday! yay! i can't believe it's over already. i'm trying to arrange an independent study for the second summer session, but if that doesn't work out, i'll be in the dreaded qualitative methods class. i'm praying the former comes through.
• i was looking through my storage closet for my diplomas from Spelman and UCSB, and ran across the boxes of teaching materials i still have. i have so much stuff that i could start teaching a classroom full of students tomorrow. looking at all of that brought tears to my eyes. i guess i got emotional because for me, teaching isn't a closed chapter of my life. it's still something i want to go back to, but now is not the time. oh, and i didn't find either diploma. :-(
  
• still not tatted up... :-( i had to take care of car issues and i'm still a little wary of having my ankle/lower leg area forever marked, no matter the meaning. so, i'm thinking of moving it up to the thigh area. my only concern about that is that area can be seen as sexual... so, idk... i'm still going to do it, but i want to feel at total peace about it.
• the 4th has been low-key. i went to church, joined that church, and came home to the meal JE cooked. he wants to go see the fireworks show. i don't really feel like it since i don't like crowds, but i'll go because he likes those types of events.
  

until next time...