First of all, since I waited until the last minute to do this ...
New in the .journal: .org.6: Turning a new page. I talk about my academic career and my upcoming plans for my post-student life and go over my feelings and worries regarding them. I'd wanted to talk more about changes in my personal life, but I don't think I can write about all of those in thirty minutes. Maybe I'll write another entry about those soon.
Update on the BFP: I need to make some revisions to it, but I can turn those in next week and still graduate on time. If I can get the book I need tomorrow, I'll probably be able to finish the revisions over the weekend. I'd hoped the paper would pass on the first attempt, but at least now I know that I stand a good chance of getting it passed here.
I've pretty much got all of my job-related documentation in order here, and a few colleges I'll be applying to just as soon as I get word about the BFP later this week. As a backup I uploaded my résumé to the big job hunting Websites in case the teaching thing doesn't work out for me. I really should e-mail my writer friends (Ariel, Bonnie) here for their advice on getting writing-related jobs here soon.
I've been kind of tempted to start applying for jobs before I get word back on the BFP, but I have the feeling that if I do that it'll come back to bite me in the ass post haste. I didn't have good feelings about either of my earlier tests, but I passed those; I've got a good feeling about the paper, and that makes me wonder if I'm getting ready for the biggest punch in the gut of my academic career.
Needless to say, I'm nervous as hell about the paper and getting a job and all of that. I'll have more to say about that later when I update the .journal, but for now your well-wishes, prayers, whatever floats your boat would be greatly appreciated.
Turkey Fact Number 12: Turkeys are filled with enough L-Tryptophan to knock you on your sorry Thanksgiving ass.
Not that I've had turkey for the past fifteen years, mind you, but my memories of that L-Tryptophan feeling are pretty close to how I've been feeling since I got the BFP turned in. I'm not sick, but I think I pushed myself so hard to get the tests and that paper taken care of that my body's doing everything it can to make me regret that now.
Oh, and I have started getting ready to apply for jobs. Assuming the BFP passes. *cry*
Holy crap. I'm still not even at a point where I can enjoy some time off here; I'm still recovering from the final push to get the BFP done. I don't think I'm actually going to be able to appreciate my time off here until tomorrow at the earliest. Cripes.
Of course, this is not the end of the road by any means. Assuming the BFP passes, and assuming that the paperwork snafu I mentioned earlier gets resolved and I do graduate, I still need to do things like update my CV, revise my Statement of Teaching Philosophy, and apply for jobs. That can wait a couple of days, though. I think I'm entitled to some me-time here.
To that end, yesterday I picked up the new Xbox version of DDR, as well as the Sega Genesis compilation that just came out for the PS2. Seriously, with Phantasy Star 2, 3, and 4, plus Sword of Vemilion, all for twenty bucks, you'd be crazy not to pick it up.
Now, of course, I get to hide out here while World War III rages on around me. I can't say that I care too much about the outcome of the game, but I do hope that the number of resultant deaths and injuries from post-game partying/fighting/rioting is as low as possible.
I'm taking a break from BFP-writing right now to watch Countdown, and by "watch" I mean having it on the television behind me while I do a gazillion things online while I'm still on break.
To the person who left the long comment about my worries about the BFP: I'm going to address most of your post-BFP concerns when I write my six-year anniversary column, but as far as my anxieties over this paper go, they're coming from a number of different areas. First of all, the fact that this paper is now the sole thing standing between me and my MA degree (barring that paperwork snafu not getting resolved here) makes it hard not to feel pressure, especially since I won't have student loans to rely on if I fail and need to go back in a later semester to finish the paper up. Secondly, while I already dealt with the toughest grader in the English programme with the MA exam (and I'm still not sure how I passed it), my advisor for this paper is pretty far up there on the toughness scale, and even after taking multiple classes with this advisor I still don't know exactly what she looks for in papers.
I suppose the main thing that's bothering me, though, is that in this paper I'm dealing with the connection between my classroom practices and my political beliefs, and how they relate to right-wing criticism of higher education. I've written about these topics in previous papers, and I've even touched on some of those issues on maloneysbaloney.org (which I really need to update here soon), but this is going to be my first time writing about these things at such length in an academic setting. This puts even more importance on getting this paper just right for me, because not only will my performance on this paper determine whether or not I get my degree, but to a large extent I feel like I'm writing the most professional-level defence of my teaching practices and beliefs ever. If I don't do as well on this paper as I believe I should -- and if you've read me for any length of time you know I'm usually my harshest critic -- then it's going to make me wonder whether or not I should teach for a living, or even if I deserve to teach for a living.
Sigh. Anyway, I have a feeling that this is going to be a long night, but I've got four sugar free Red Bulls in the fridge and somafm.com's Drone Zone ready to turn back on once Countdown is over. Let's rock.
Japanese translation exam: PASSED
As I've mentioned before, Northwest Ohio tends to be Ground Zero for all the Ohio State-Michigan sports rivalries, and normally the weekend of the football game is hard enough as it is. Seriously, if you think the rivlary is big where you are, you have no clue how heated it gets around these parts.
This coming weekend ... let's just say that everyone here is making plans to stay in the house all day Friday and Saturday. In all seriousness, between tensions, anger, and of course all the people who can't seem to "enjoy" an event like this without getting massively drunk, I just don't think that being out this weekend is going to be a very smart idea.
A question for those of you who follow college sports more than I do (which is probably most of you): I keep hearing that other teams are still considered to be "in the hunt" for a bid at the BCS title game. However, given that the third through fifth ranked teams all lost this past week, and there simply aren't any unbeaten teams that would come close to cracking the top five in any polls, is there not every chance that Ohio State and Michigan will meet again in January for the title game? A quick look at ncaasports.com says that the title game will be between the teams ranked #1 and #2 by the BCS formula, and doesn't say anything about the teams needing to be from separate conferences or anything like that.
Happy sixth anniversary to the .org.
I'm too busy with the BFP to say much of anything right now, but at least the phone call I got about my student loans turned out to be a telemarketer trying to sell me some loan consolidation service. Normally my sister sniffs out the telemarketers pretty well, but this one got through for some reason. (I should have known, since the call was to the house and I only give out my cell phone number anymore.)
Now that the BFP is due in a week, the whole freaking universe seems to be doing everything in its power to screw me over. According to a voicemail I got from UT yesterday, I may very well pass the Japanese exam and the BFP and still not be able to graduate this semester because of a paperwork snafu. On top of that, someone called the house about my student loans today, even though I'm not scheduled to start paying them back until June.
I don't want to seem like I'm ignoring these problems, because I'm not and I don't want to, but at the same time I got a later start on the paper than I would have liked, and the last thing I need to be doing right now is devoting large amounts of time to things other than my paper. I may very well leave the house today just to go find some corner of Toledo to escape to where I can work on my paper in peace. (Thankfully I still have stuff to read for it.)
Oh, and the .org turns 6 on Saturday, but I'll have to save my anniversary column for after I get the BFP out of the way.
Looks like a good night here in Ohio. I voted for the Green Party candidates for statewide office, although the Democratic candidates won in each instance. Right now it's looking like the Libertarian candidates will get third place in all the races, but the margin will be small. Considering how poorly David Cobb did here in 2004, I'm taking this as a good sign for the future of the Green Party in Ohio.
State and local ballot initiatives are looking good as well, as we'll be raising Ohio's minimum wage, maintaining funding for our zoo and parks and schools, and not undercutting local anti-smoking ordinances.
I did end up picking up Final Fantasy XII (and the Collector's Edition at that) last week when it came out, although I only actually started playing it earlier today because I was busy with the BFP.
First of all, the opening scenes are rendered incredibly well, and of course I'm tickled pink that they brought the Anthem back, although, as with FF IV Advance, I'm not too pleased that I have to race through the loading menus so that I don't hang around for the start of the main melody of the Anthem, which, as usual, reduces me to tears every time I hear it.
I'm going to reserve judgment on the story until I've had a chance to play more of the game, but I am not a fan of the new battle system. I've never actually played an MMORPG, but I have the feeling that FF12's battle system is similar to them, and I just don't like it. I would much, much rather have an old-fashioned "enemies on one side, your party on the other" system, as it makes things a lot easier to figure out. As it is I was starting to grow weary of Active Time Battle in the later Final Fantasy titles for PlayStation, and was glad FF10 switched it around some.
I don't know. I picked up a copy of Dragon Quest VIII while I was out as well, and I get the feeling I'd have more fun playing that than FF12. Yet another reason why I feel so OLD these days, because I'm sure the younger generations get bored by the RPGs I like to play. OLD.
Old work area
Yeah, having my bed double as my computer chair was never a good idea, and more often than not led to me laying down while I was trying to get work done. Believe me, given the space and layout of this room, I didn't have much of a choice after the fire. Now that I've got my new setup here, though, I'm feeling a lot better physically, and I notice myself doing a lot less vicarious Web surfing than before.
The only problem is that I've still got a bookcase I'm trying to find room for (the small black one), but I'm sure I can deal with that later.
I'm moving stuff around in here to get my new computer desk and setup operating soon.
If this works, I'll have photos to show you tomorrow or sometime soon.
If this doesn't work ... I don't want to think about how I could screw this up.