* * * * * * *

I am happy today.

good morning?

It's 7:30am on a Thursday. I have to be at school at 10 for the Sociology colloquium on teaching and our holiday potluck (to which I am not bringing any food). I went to bed at 11 though last night and woke up naturally an hour before my alarm was set to go off at 8 this morning.
I guess that means I'm not behind on my sleep.

I've been blogging about bullshit lately. I just realized that. I don't put anything real in here anymore - at least not as much as I used to. I was reading through my old entries ("hmm, what was I saying at this time last year?") when this thought first occurred to me. I'm not sure if I have anything real to say at the present time. I'm also not quite sure what I mean by "real."

I planned a soc 1st year student dinner tonight. So far, six people are coming. That's a damn good number for our class. Exciting.

Sometimes I wonder where I'll go after I graduate. Then I laugh and try to think about something else. So many possibilities... McDonalds, Burger King, Subway! Hmm, kidding (I hope). I want to move somewhere... somewhere WARM. I wonder if I'll actually have the quant skills to get a decent job with this degree. (BTW quant = quantitative, if ya missed that.) If I'm not going for my PhD, I'm going to need to know how to do stats... well... right now I don't know how to do stats at all (let alone well). This will be a fun ride.

Optimism is Fun!

El Fin

Today is the last day of classes for my first semester of graduate school.
This only occurred to me this morning when Steve said "this is going to be a bad last day of classes."
Then I thought... "Oh yeah, it's the last day."

I'm sitting in my office holding even more office hours. So far I've had six students show up (that's actually a high number, so I'm a little bit proud). The office is completely full of 101 kids - they're even sitting in the floor and out in the hallway. Yay students. Hmm.

I really don't feel like the semester is/should be over. It's warm outside (high of 42 today, I think). I don't have any finals or final papers, so I'm not getting any academic-type closure to my classes. I've kind of been drifting along for the past month. I lost my drive and focus. Yesterday, in my final Research Methods class (during the potluck) we had a long discussion about our next semester here and what we should be doing.
I need to get back on track over break... I'm going to have to scope out the UWRF library and start doing some research.
Last night after class, for the first time in a few months, I felt empowered and slightly ambitious. ("Yes, I *can* write a master's paper, and I *can* finish it within the next year and a half so I don't have to stay an extra semester, and I *can* study hard and not get distracted and waste away while lounging on the futon and watching movies.)

Right.

I called home last night and talked to my mother about Dad's latest MRI results. Things aren't looking good, but that's no surprise. I'm starting to dread going home. I need to be strong about this, but it's scary. I wonder if he'll make it to his Jan 25th birthday... that was what Jay made him promise - that he'd make it at least to his birthday - back in September when he was diagnosed. I'm not sure if brain cancer cares about promises.

I'm going to need some tea.

Office Hours, Office Horrors, Office Whores?

Holy office hours, Batman.

The Soc 101 final is this Friday at 10am. That means us TAs get to hold "extended office hours" all week. I've been sitting in my office since 12:30 and will be here until about 4:30, when I have to go to my own class. Tomorrow, I'll be here from 11am - 4pm. The office has been swamped today, with lots of 101 students reviewing the three previous tests.
Hooray.
At least my Research Methods class is having a potluck today.
I volunteered to bring a "side dish" to this potluck. I figured it would be easy to think of something... and then yesterday I realized that today, the day of the potluck, I would be stuck at school from 10:30am until 4:30, when class begins, without a break to go get/make a side dish. Soooo last night I ventured out in the foggy mistiness that was the evening weather to go to Whole Foods and find a side dish.
After 15 minutes, I finally picked up two containers of pre-made Whole Foods stuffing... one with wild rice and cranberries, the other with sage. I couldn't find anything else that looked appetizing and would also sit for a day. These two containers were overpriced (it was Whole Foods, I should have known), so I decided to throw monetary caution to the wind and buy a nice bottle of champagne.
(The champagne is NOT for the potluck at school... it is for Laura at home.)

In other news, I'm starting to get into the Christmas spirit... if the Christmas spirit is a sudden excitement about lightly falling snow and the best gift ideas ever for almost everyone in my family. It all came to me yesterday as I was walking through puddles to Chin's Asia Fresh. I know exactly what to get everyone... except for my brother. He just had a wedding. He currently has everything he wants. Hmm.

I'm rambling...

I've done a completely HORRIBLE job of keeping in touch with the important people in my life these days. I may have developed some sort of phone phobia. Well, okay, I was sick all last week... so that's kind of an excuse... but not really. SO, if you're reading this and have tried to contact me in the past few weeks and haven't gotten a response back... I'm really sorry... and you're not the only one, okay? I've been very preoccupied lately...

That reminds me, I need to call my mother and see what the docs found out about my dad's MRI results.
The end. For now.

We have made FIRE

My cute old house doesn't retain heat so well.

Last night we lit up the fireplace for the first time. Then I slept on the futon instead of in my cold cold bedroom.


I am home today with a "flu like" virus. It is NOT the flu. I got a flu shot... this better not be the flu. I've been feeling achy and "under the weather" all week. Consequently, I have nothing else to report, since all I've been doing is laying on the futon and watching Arrested Development.

Snow Day!!!!

I woke up this morning and found an e-mail from the head of the Soc department. Then I went on the school webpage to find out if it was true...

Weather Bulletin

December 1 , 2006

Due to worsening conditions, all classes have been cancelled for Friday, Dec. 1, 2006.

Hilarious. This is the first day we get snow... and yeah, it's a LOT of snow... but seriously, when do universities cancel classes?
Then, I thought about it a bit. This campus, although it has changed a bit in recent years, is still a predominantly commuter campus, with most students having to travel at least a mile - and many coming from all over the suburbs and even Madison.

Also, there aren't very many classes held on Fridays (which was very strange to me when I first heard that... I guess it has something to do with the makeup of the campus).

Anyway, I don't have any classes on Fridays... but it's still pretty cool to be snowed in.