June 16, 2004

  • feeling thankful.


    after weeks of feeling lost, things seem to be falling into place for me.  thank you, Lord, for teaching me to be patient and humble during this time.


    i began applying before
    i graduated.
    i was rejected from 2 program assistant
    (aka secretarial)
    positions at my school.      i
     didn't even get interviews.     


    i decided to ask kimberly (the english/honors program assistant) if she needed help over the summer and she told me i could cover for her when she went on vacation.  i originally signed on to be a regular shift tour guide (which meant 2 tours a day for an hour and awkward scheduling around that). 


    i emailed my english professors asking if they needed a research assistant.  dr. fung approaches me before the year ends.  dr. seeley approaches me on graduation day.  the following week, dr. hill calls me because dr. seeley recommended me to her when dr. hill asked around the department about someone who could tutor the basketball players and kimberly also told her i would be good for the job.  i wasn't supposed to hear about it for a couple weeks, except dr. hill sped the process up to a couple hours because the papers were due the next week (which became the next next week).  when i met with dr. fung last week, she told me that dr. hill needed help researching stuff, too, and now dr. hill will be calling me this week about it.  she is also trying to get me hired as a tutor for longer than just the summer.


    because of my other work and me going out of town for a couple of weeks out of the summer, sarah decided to just give the regular shifts to someone who has a more open schedule, so now i am just on the special tours roster.  i'm happy because i don't really want to give tours on a regular basis.


    i had submitted an AmeriCorps application to a program that has sites in the Bay Area.  i was too swamped with work and projects and school to finish the separate application packet and when i emailed her a month later, she said that they only had positions in watsonville left.  a few days after that, i received an email from the SF site coordinator, to whom i had sent an email asking if their was anything special i should do to work in SF, saying he had some openings.  i finished the application, took care of what i needed to take care of, faxed the stuff to him yesterday and mailed the other copy to baltimore to speed up the process, and i have a lunch interview with him on thursday.  this program starts on september 1st, which is just in time because after the summer ends, i can no longer work as a student worker--which means i can no longer be a research assistant or work as a student assistant in the english office.


    the possibilities for what i'm going to do in the next three or four years are really open, and that's scary because i've been feeling like i have no direction right now.  i know that i should appreciate the fact that i have options, instead of panicking because i don't have a set schedule of classes and work and extracurricular activities. 


    i know that i want to teach; i'm still not sure what grade.  at least i have--hopefully--AmeriCorps to help me figure that out and to give me a lil' cash and experience.  i think i eventually want to teach at the junior college or university level.  i know that i will get an MFA after louie gets his degree; right now, i'm not ready to decide whether i should stay in the area or go out of state, nor am i ready to talk about what it would mean for our relationship if i were to go to massachussetts or alaska or texas or where ever i end up for graduate school.  so i'm a little thankful that he has changed majors and transferring schools, if only for the fact that it buys me--maybe even us--a little more time.