Wednesday, February 29, 2012

real life is for march




It’s 10:40pm on Leap Day as I write this, and I’m trying to tenaciously cling to the last few hours of February that I can. Did any of you happen to catch last week’s 30 Rock about Leap Day? I hope so, because it was a) hysterical, and b) weirdly inspiring. The premise was that Leap Day is a holiday in which real life rules are magically suspended, an attitude expressed best by Liz’s boyfriend: “It’s Leap Day! Real life is for March!” Ain’t that the truth, James Marsden, not because Leap Day is so magical, but because March will be the realest of real. What’s that saying people have about March? “In like a lion, out like a b***”? Yeah... it’s going to be like that.

Before I explain why March will be so busy, I should note that a lot has happened over the past two months in terms of work and school (remember my resolution to blog 10 times a month? Yeah... still working on that one). To sum up:
  • In January I was offered a position as a research assistant with one of the professors in my department. The offer was for fifteen hours a week, which is kind of a lot, actually, but I still wanted to be able to keep my other two jobs. Consequently, I now work 15 hours a week for Alex, three hours a week at the Writing Center, and four hours a week for Kid Power. It’s a lot, but I value all three positions for different reasons and I’m grateful I was able to keep my foot in the door. Doors.  
  • Also, my research position has given me an office! I share it with four other people, but that’s okay... that’s just how the GW English Department rolls. Almost nobody else ever uses it, which is good, since I’m in there all the time.
  • I’m starting to hear back from graduate schools! I apologize for being a little cagey about this, but without knowing who reads this blog I don’t want to reveal too much. Suffice it to say that I’ve received one offer of admission and I’m wait-listed to TWO other schools, and all three options are really exciting. I only have one school left to hear from (unless you count the schools at which I am wait-listed, which I guess you probably should). I’ll keep you posted.  
  • I’m taking two classes, an English class called “Screening Shakespeare” and an Art History class about medieval manuscripts, and I like them both.
  • Over the past weekend I spent a LOT of time putting together a grammar workshop for my writing center coworkers, which I presented this week. It is, if I say so myself, kind of awesome, and you can find it here.

So that’s what’s been happening. Here’s what’s going to happen in March:
  • Spring Break is in a little over a week! Woot! Of course, that sounds relaxing until I consider the rest of the list.
  • In mid-March I’ll be flying with a bunch of other GW folks to the International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts in Orlando. It will be four full days of hanging out in conference rooms listening to interesting people talk about interesting things (and some pool time, obviously).
  • The very next week I’ll be flying again to the school at which I’ve been accepted to tour the campus and see what they have to say.
  • I’ll be working with two writing center folks to do another presentation, this time on disciplinary conventions. This will be as boring as it sounds, probably.
  • Most importantly, I'll be trying to prepare for all my looming deadlines, such as my master's portfolio (April 1st); my final papers (May something something); two presentation (due to a scheduling glitch, both on April 11th); and the graduate school decision (April 15th). Yowza. 
Anyway, that’s what’s new with me. Fare thee well, February. March, bring it on.  

And I'll work on that blogging thing... I promise. 

3 comments:

  1. I checked out your presentation.
    You used "shit" and strippers: PG-13 material.
    I liked it.

    *Note -- I'm still not sure if I used that colon correctly in the above sentence. I will go reread.

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  2. Clearly, I need you to expound on "Screening Shakespeare."

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  3. We miss you both, wish you could come for dinner!

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