In which i set goals

Being in a weird mood right now, with no work to do and no willingness to keep slogging through "This Side of Paradise" (ENOUGH about being disaffected at Princeton!), I think its time that I record, if at least for myself, a few things about 2009 which I am truly excited or terrified for. Likely, 2009 is a big year for me. Lets break it down

Resolutions
New Years Resolutions and I do well. Remember that time my resolution was to give up meat? 18 months later, I ate meat regularly again. Fancy that! So this year, I have two.

1) Train for and run a 10K
Having realized that I was in the best shape of my life in Junior year of high school when I trained for a 5k, coupled with some things below, it seems like both a lofty and attainable goal. I forgot that I love to run, so this is a good opportunity for me to recapture that part of my life. Also, because it lets me shower in the middle of the day. WHICH I LOVE.

2)Read More
When asked for recommendations when I worked at Barnes and Noble that either a) I was illiterate or b) I don't read-- I'm a student leader. As such, I worked at a bookstore for 4 years and remain terribly poorly read. I was inches away from being one of those "Yo, I read the Da Vinci Code" types-- people who just DON'T read as a matter of course. I still default to that, most of the time, so I have to make a concerted effort to include reading in my life. I think the goal will be to look like one of those smart people on the T who have their noses buried in a book.

Things About Which I Am Excited

1) The Obama Administration.
Despite the vehement objection of the blogger-mother of my best friend, I honestly think that, if not even sweeping reform of failed policies and bad management, we're headed toward a direction where I can say that the government is doing something that doesn't make me say "yeah, about that... we picked a dude based on curb appeal." With my apologies to John Kerry: Bush is a bigger hunk.

2) Disney
K and I officially booked the trip: We're going to Disney in March. For me, this is a big step for a variety of reasons. I am extremely wary of making big plans this far out in a relationship that is, relatively, rather new. Not that this is a sign of doubt, but rather pragmatism. So this allows me to let go a little, as well as saying "you know what, Michael? Spend some money. Have some fun". K does this to me, and I am grateful for it: He makes me reconsider fun and makes me have fun. Too easily to I become all business, and what purposes does that serve?

3)Master's Degree and Job
In December, God willing (and the waters don't rise), I will receive my M.Ed in the Administration of Higher Education. Similarly, in May, I will hopefully be moving into a residence hall in the greater Boston area as an honest to God Residence Director. Like, you know, the job I've been waiting my whole life for. Is that depressing, that my goal in life is to basically be an RA? That administration, room conflicts, ice breakers, and diversity programming excite me? Yes. Even still... I've been working towards this for so long, and it will be nice to see it come to fruition.

Fruition. Great word. Perfect word for what's happening this year.

Closing Up Shop and Fever Dreams

No... not the blog.

In the past week, I finished up the last of my academic work for the semester and closed up the residence hall. The master's degree is currently 1/3 in my hand, provided I did the following:

-passed the multiple choice Legal Aspects final, wherein one of the potential answers was "burn down a sex offender's house". This was not the answer I chose. I think that maybe I did alright on that one.

-did acceptably (read: D or better) on my Organization and Administration final. The final was a 20 page take home exam, worth 40% of the grade. I don't think that you really get grades lower than a B on anything in this program, and the paper was pretty solid for something written while having fever dreams. I'm wagering on a 93.

While all this was happening, I was pretty sure my body was planning on closing up shop. I started coming down with a cold while out Christmas shopping with K., and only deteriorated from there. That night, I had an intense fever: the kind that leaves you shivering and sweating, and then begins inserting images from your dark unconscious into your half away fever shaking mind. Actually, it was more of a narrative. A ridiculous narrative, detailed below.

Basically, around 3pm, I decided that there was a fever in my body because Dick Cheney was using me as a vessel to hold the Constitution, but it was really more like a dark constitution bomb of some sort. I'm not sure on the details, as this was likely a fever dream. So, the reason I was feeling so terrible is because I was a vessel for this god knows what bent on destroying the inauguration. That was his evil plan, after all. Along the way, I met with Janet Neapolitano and Mary McDonald (the President from Battlestar Gallactica), who told me that, in this position, I was the most important person in the Universe... and I believed her. I seriously believed her. Tammi Duckworth agreed with me, because she was in my dream. Yes, the 2006 Democratic candidate for Congress in the 6th district of Illinois. Any plan to get up and get water was of dire consequence. There was a desert in my mind and my mouth, and decisions about getting a cold compress involved the consult of my makeshift cabinet of sometimes fictional advisers. At some point, I decided that I had to soldier through it, and defeat the sickness myself as part of my civic duty.

Yes, these are my fever dreams. The National Security Counsel, Battlestar Gallactica, and CNN's former sweethearts. There's a lot going on in my noggin.

So that lasted for a week, but I'm doing much better now. I've only got a little bit of the death rattle of a cough left, and after one night of profuse sweating (and a dream about Mr. Consorte from highschool), the fever broke. So now I'm milking what little bit I can to get off from the worse duties at work (read: there's nothing to do there anyway. Hello Perez).

Basically, this post only exists because I wanted to write about my fever dream experience. Its right up there with the time that I drunkenly e-mailed Hillary Clinton.


(as an aside, I would like to offer this counterpoint to my personality: my fever dreams involve political deception and high rolling figures... sort of... but my current musical obsessions are Miley Cyrus and Paramore. Yep...)

Good Days

I've two thoughts here: one is a post about a great day I recently had, and the other is a thought about what a good day IS. I wonder about if its characteristic of the way that I write that I might try to dissect what makes a good day in my narrative of a good day-- its a thought that I leave here, because I have no interest in trying to answer that question.

I'm on duty right now with three other RAs. Seeing as this is one of the weekend days before finals, we're doing double duty to do as much damage control as possible in our building. Charitably, its been quiet, and we've just been able to do this fun march of a duty round through the building, chatting about films, what we've been up to, and other stuff that 20 somethings talk about.

It was this conversation among us that got me thinking about what makes a good day for me--or at least, why my good day might sound a little bizarre.

This has been a good night. I've hung out with residents, did some arts and crafts, and watched my favorite documentary, Blue Vinyl. I'm listening to Monserrat Caballe, about to re-read Spook: Science Tackles The Afterlife. Try mentioning to someone that you're about to watch your favorite documentary (try telling them that you had to watch it for your Gender and Environment class too), and the responses are going to be all over the board. The quiet night, spent on these kinds of pursuits, has become too few and far between for me, and perhaps especially so in general. Imagine the dialogue we might be having if we did this instead of American Idol!

If you only click on one link above, click on Caballe, listen, and thank me later.

Part two of this post is about Wednesday, which I'll keep brief: I was offered and accepted a job at Emerson College for my practicum course. I'm set for next semester with a paid internship! How exciting! Then, K. and I had decided to become official! So, I am currently and officially off the market (as opposed to before, when I was just off the market because I was seeing K.)

So, I have here a really good day and a really good night. How lucky have I been so far?! :-)

What I Learned In School Today...

I wont lie. I didn't come to grad school for grad school. Is that ridiculous?

I applied to Suffolk on the strength of a colleagues recommendation about the assistantship programs. She had been an assistant in student activities, and worked with residential life in some capacity as well, and her recommendation about the working programs was stellar. To wit, I do not remember her talking about the academic program at all. That wasn't my interest at the time, though. My interest was getting on campus, keeping my position on the Regional Board, and getting the preparation to take on serious roles in Student Affairs.

To date, I feel like the most important things I've learned here HAVE been through the assistantship and work experiences I've taken within the University. I've had incredible instructors in my supervisors and peers. The things I'm learning from my direct supervisor, my co-adviser and others in the program is unparalleled. Its a phenomenal education in the ins and outs of residential operation. Granted, no class is going to teach you how to host a successful judicial meeting. There were professional workshops, of course. No class is going to make you adept at dealing with student or parent concerns. It seems, no class is going to attack the practicalities of the vocation. Which I should understand and expect.

What I HAVE learned from the higher ed program is that, to date, it has not been what I expected. The learning has been cursory. Study of theorists has so far been reduced to "You should know about Chickering at some point, but we're not going to talk about him here." I've learned that professors are mostly effective when they are teaching to their interests. Of course, this is understandable. Whose interest is "Organization and Administration"? I doubt there are any readers who can stand up and say 'This is something fascinating'. That should not, however, limit the effectiveness of an educator. It is arguably an important topic (I say arguably, of course, because I'm not yet convinced of its value), and should be addressed as such.

Somehow, this relates back to the readings I've been doing about Service Learning programs. In these programs, students take their theoretical classroom knowledge and apply it to programs that do good in the community. It is practical application, which is meant to enrich the educational experience.

It is the practical application that is most enriching here. Part of me feels like I am going to learn so much more in my job than I will in class. Perhaps I'll be exposed to new ideas, but more likely I will be learning from the office and then applying back when we cover topics in class. In this way, ideas are being learned before the classroom, and merely articulated through their classroom presentation. Part of me wonders, then, am I paying for the job education with the side benefit of a masters degree, or am I getting ripped off with a masters program that has great side benefits that will stack my resume?

These are heavy charges to lay during the first month of classes, so perhaps some of it is just the waiting game. The sense I get, though, is that I'd better just hunker down and get what I can from work.