FREEDOM

Free at last! The last task of the semester has been completed, and Fall 07 is officially over for me. Now I'm free to read, bake, knit, bead, and otherwise entertain myself for about 3 weeks. Oh, and my napping lessons from Callie.... can't forget those.

Almost Done and Ready for the Next Adventure

A little over 24 hours from now, my semester will be finished. All that will be left is finding out final grades.

I'll be working some extra hours at the Education Library. It sounds like some textbook straightening is being held in store for me. This is a photo of what it SHOULD look like (after I had spent about 3-4 hours working steadily). If you imagine these textbooks pulled out and put back in anywhere, or lying on their sides, or just generally in disarray, you'll know what I'll be up to next week.
I'll have a week to relax and then I'll be starting a new semester and new adventure. I applied for, and was awarded, a Graduate Assistantship in the Faculty Council Office. If you think back to your high school days and your high school student councils, the Faculty Council is similar, but on a much, much larger scale. I'll be helping to maintain and update listservs and the webpage, keeping track of committees and committee minutes, and generally helping the office run smoothly. The thing that makes this the best Christmas present I've gotten in a long, long time is that the position comes with health insurance, tuition remission, and a stipend, all things any graduate student could use!

I'll be continuing to work part-time in the education library. My Adaptive Technology job would also like me back, but I'm not sure I can fit that in, so that remains to be seen. It's a long, long way from the beginning of the semester, when I came back not knowing if I would be able to financially make it through the semester. Thankfully, my problems are now an embarrassment of riches.

Campus Pictures

This is part of the Student Union building.
This is outside the student union building, of the little stream and the stone bridge.
This is the HPER (health, human performance stuff like coaching, PE, etc) building.
This is Woodburn, one of the prettier buildings. It looks very collegiate to me.
This is a wooded area behind the Lilly Library. I often walk on this upper path, looking down at this scene, as I go to the Education Library.

Since it's finally decided to be wintery here, I thought I'd better hurry up and share some photos of what fall was like. We did have snow on the ground Friday morning. I got to walk in it going to class. It was almost gone by the time I got done with class, but that's the way things tend to work here. Fall was very late in getting here, but we finally got some nice color to the trees. I've got more pictures of the library and education library that I'll post in a few days.

I'm studying for a final at the end of the week, but I'm sure I'll need a break in there somewhere. I did take a break today and decorate (a bit) for the holidays. It's not a lot, but enough to make it seem a little more festive. I'm thinking about splurging on a rosemary plant shaped like a Christmas tree next Friday, when I get paid. If I could keep it alive, it would smell great and I could use it for cooking. Since I will most likely be here for Christmas, it could be a good thing.

Winding Down

We're in the final countdown for the semester. Tomorrow's the last day of classes. Next week is finals week. I have one. Thursday. 7:15-9:15pm. By my calculations, the last final I took was in 1998ish. I'm out of practice, just a bit.

My plan once my final is over is to work, work, work (back to two jobs), read, bead, knit, and sleep. Studying is hard work, as you can plainly see. Fortunately, Callie has promised to teach me the finer points of napping, just as soon as all of my work is finished...

The Apartment

Okay, I've been promising pictures of the apartment and campus. Bonnie loaned me her camera, so I was able to take some photos of my day to day life. I'll start with some pictures of the apartment this time. This is from outside. The small part that juts out is home sweet home. It's been converted from a garage, as you may have figured out from the side painted brown.


This is the living room/bedroom, as seen from the front doorway. The bookshelf in the background separates the kitchen from the rest of the room.
This is the living room/bedroom again, looking back toward the front door. (Callie says hi!)
This is the small kitchen, with no counter space at all. The microwave and coffee maker perch on top a dresser. Next to the stove is the door that leads down into the bathroom. The dresser is on the wall on the other side of the door.
Cooking in the kitchen involves some planning, and often perching things on the stove and sink area. This is the preparation for making a salad for Thanksgiving. Someday, I will have counters, in that far distant mythical future when I have a real job, or something like that. The bookshelf often doubles as an area for a cooling rack. These are the pumpkin rolls I made from Thanksgiving, perching up there.

It's small, but close to campus and downtown. The public library is only 3 blocks away. The main campus library (where classes are) is only a 15 minute walk, and the Education Library is 20-25. What it lacks in grandeur, it makes up for in convenience. Besides, it's darned easy to clean, so there's something to be said for smallness.

Thanks

If the only prayer you said in your life was "thank you," that would suffice. --Meister Eckhart
And so I say thank you, for -

• my cat sleeping next to me, touching my thigh with all four of her paws
• the sunlight burnishing the few leaves left on the trees
• meeting people with views so very different from mine, so I can continue to expand my knowledge and my curiosity about how other people choose to live their lives. We're all trying to live and survive in the world, but we choose to do that in so many ways; it's pretty amazing when I think about it, and infinitely awe-inspiring.
• having the basics - shelter, food, clothing
• having the chance to make my life more interesting, and hopefully more comfortable in the future by pursuing a degree (even if the comfortable part is only an ideal at the moment)
• my family of birth and my family of choice (because who are your friends but the community you choose to gather around you to function like a family?)
• my health (a little battered, with the still healing shoulder/ankle, but basically intact)
• my citizenship in a country that allows me to question, protest, praise, and support its policies and ideals
• my creativity and my skill with writing
• my intelligence
• my sense of humor
  
  There are so many more things, both large and small, that I'm thankful for, everyday, so many things that it's hard to even begin to list them. I am just happy to be here, in this country, on this planet, breathing in and out, and trying to learn and grow as much as I can in whatever time I have. Life is good, very, very good.

Flatlands For Now

I don't think it's a surprise to anyone that I've been struggling with finances. Along with this, I've been re-evaluating what I want to do, and what I can afford to do. In my quest to consider all options, I checked into the school media program at the University of Montana. I did this right before the application deadline for spring semester, and not knowing what I wanted for sure, scrambled (with much help, and you know who you are) to get my application materials in for consideration.

I've been pondering my life while I've been waiting to hear from Montana. In the same week, I finally got my official acceptance letter from U of M (classifying me as an out-of-state student, by the way) and was offered a scholarship for 6 hours of summer courses here at IU. Dilemmas, dilemmas... I now had to make some sort of decision about my life by November 7th (the scholarship acceptance deadline). This really led to some major, full scale, life pondering.

This was a difficult decision to make, but I've decided to stick it out here at IU. The program is accredited through ALA, which makes a world of difference in getting jobs. It has a good reputation (also making a difference in getting jobs). After my classes this summer, I will have 9 hours left (approximately 3 classes). I'm applying for scholarships for fall, but my hope is that I can find a job in a library, and finish the last classes through internship, independent study, and/or distance classes which won't require me to actually be at IU.

While coming back to Montana was very appealing, the school media program is not accredited by ALA (or its school library affilate organization), making it harder to find jobs. I would have had to certify to teach in a subject area, which would have meant more time in school. Although I could/would have appealed the residency decision, I think sticking it out here is the best thing for me to do. The whole point of this degree is to get a graduate degree that lends itself to employment (unlike the other 2 - third time's a charm, you know). For those of you who collaborated in my application process (and you know who you are), thank you so much. While I ended up not choosing that path, the process did help me clarify what I want, and did push me to pursue more options here that have paid off.

My plan is still to work in a library and to work with children and/or children's literature. While I vowed not to work in an academic library, I've enjoyed working in the education library, especially when it comes to helping people find kid's books. So, I could probably handle working in an academic library if it was education-related, with a children's book collection. So, for now, you know where to find me, at Lat: 39.14, Lon: -86.62, and the uneventful elevation of 866 feet.