Eight Months Later

Since I haven't posted in quite awhile, I figured it was time (really past time) to post what's been going on.

Here they are in backwards order (most current to least current). . .

Since I posted last:

1. I graduated!! Last Saturday I finally got my master's degree in English. It's only taken me four and a half years to get through all of the requirements while working full time, but I finally finished.

2. I went to East for vacation to see P's family. While there I got to play with my amazing nieces and nephews, meet a really sweet dog named Dixie, play games with my awesome in-laws, and just generally have a good time (and eat way too much amazing food).

Here's a pic of one of my favorite restaurants out there. This location used to be a supermarket. They've sectioned parts of it off to have different eating areas but you can still totally tell, which makes me laugh and love to go there. The food's awesome too.

3. I attended a mini-institute sponsered by Folger Shakespeare Library. It was such an amazing experience. We received information on pedagogy, scholarship, and drama. It was really terrifying to act in front of people and hilarious since in a two-day period I went from being Bottom to the Nurse to Juliet. I also got to touch books from the 17th century without any gloves. So COOL!

4. I finished my seventh year of teaching. No picture for this one. Just disbelief. I can't believe that I've taught for seven years. I don't feel as much as an expert as I think I should. I learn something every day and I love my job. With the current climate in this country, however, I have to say that I often get discouraged. I didn't go in to teaching for money or recognition, but some understanding about what I do would be nice. I will tell you it's worth it, but it means a lot of late nights planning and grading papers (not summers off with a 7-3 job during the school year).

5. I wrote my first lengthy piece of fiction. It was bad, but I got it down on paper. I took a class on the novella and since it was a hybrid M.A./M.F.A. course the final project was a creative writing piece. It was scary and I found that I had a totally different writing process, but it felt amazing (and terrifying) to write a story that others would read. P laughs at me because one of my goals in life is to write, particulary at least one novel that isn't brilliant, but isn't bad. (He rephrases this and says that my goal is to write a mediocre novel.)

6. I turned 29. Enough said.

So, that takes me back to February. I have some former posts that I started from back then, but never finished, but my new goal is to post every two weeks.

I start back at work next week (with kids coming the week after that), so I'll be back to my crazy busy life, but I'm really grateful to have had about three weeks off this summer and a chance to finish up graduate work. I start teaching composition next year, so I have a new prep, but I hope to be a lot more of a balanced person in the future. Wish me luck!