I realize that it is now Wednesday. But I am going to tell you about my Monday. Tuesday was much like Monday, except there was a crazy ass thunderstorm that rolled into town and, I was rescued from death by watery electrocution by one of the UA basketball players... but that's a different story... anyway...
Monday!
I got up at 5:30AM, managed to make coffee & climb back into bed with my first hot cup of amazing and my class reading without opening my eyes once. I don't do mornings.
One hour and 3 cups later, I have one article read and I'm almost feeling human. Almost.
I plodded into the shower. I sloshed out of the shower. I guess I was awake at this point.
I packed my work bag, my school bag, my gym bag and I scrambled out the door to get to work by 7:45... I didn't make it, but I was still there before 8:00. Success.
I had a full day of work including the New Resident Orientation complete with cutesy info-folders to be put together & passed out.
Freedom at 4:45!
Well, sort of. Freedom to go to another library and work on my homework for the next 2 hours. I think I had 3 minutes of feeling super cool because I was a kick-ass grad student in the restricted section with a huge pile of dusty reference books and I looked so freaking smart... and then I had 1 hour and 57 minutes of reeeeeading those friggin books. It seems so much cooler on tv when there is background music and looks of deep concentration and then WHAMOO the studious student is done and naturally the smartest person in the world.
It doesn't really work like that in real life... Why doesn't it work like that in real life??
Next I plodded across campus and attempted to find my car. Called my sister-in-law back to discuss life while I tried to find car. Finally found car. Dropped my bags in the car and left the car again. Sad car.
Then I went for a run. Thank you Modest Mouse for singing to me about death while I ran. Seriously, it's inspiring in that whole 'make the most of things before you die' kinda of way. Finished run. Very sweaty. Found car again. Good car! Right where I left you. Tried to get into car without dripping too much sweat all over the place. Drove the good car home.
Got home. Dumped all bags on the couch and went to the kitchen. Pulled out a beer. Dumped the beer into a bowl with flour and sugar. Very sad. Mixed it up and plopped it in the oven. Set timer. Started hang-board work out. Fell off hang-board repeatedly. Thanked god that I don't have downstairs neighbors. Smelled the AMAZING bread. Went to the kitchen, opened oven, grabbed bread... [!#$!*%$)*&#$*].... released bread, grabbed oven mitt, grabbed bread again, dropped bread on counter, got ice.... turned off oven...
Resumed work out with abs.
9:00PM - Finished workout finally!
Plodded into the shower. Sloshed out of the shower. I was not awake at this point.
Made dinner. I'm not really sure what it was. I think maybe burritos and pop-tarts? Texted my love at some point. Set my alarm for 5:30AM again. Read another article for school.
Lights out at midnight.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Cheap Workout, Rich Community
I have a membership to a very nice gym. It has an extensive cardio deck, weight room, indoor track, basketball courts, racquetball rooms, group fitness classes, saunas, massages, and even a flipping water park attached to it. It is a nice gym.
And being a nice gym, it attracts nice people. Trim young girls, spray painted in fake tan with their over-sized sorority t-shirts and pearls. Muscle bound men sweating all over the free weights while leering and offering you unsolicited advice on good form. Bored looking student workers who think the that track you are trying to run on is a great place to stand while they monitor the basketball courts below. Yeap. A whole lotta nice people.
Despite the wonderful appeal of my expensive gym, I decided to work out at home tonight. My cheap (AKA free) workout includes running on the stairs outside of my apartment for 15 minutes followed by a floor workout of push ups, sit ups, dips, pull ups, and yoga. After changing into my combo of Target brand and hand-me-down gym clothes, I stepped outside into the 90-something degree heat and started my stair run.
Cue Rocky theme song.
Running stairs gets your heart rate up fast. Running stairs in 90+ degree heat gets you sweaty faster. So after a couple of minute, I'm sure I looked kinda scary. Still, I went down the stairs and came up the stairs. Again, down the stairs and up the stairs.
Then, going down the stairs again, I got to the bottom and turned to come back up when I saw one of the neighborhood children, a 4 or 5 year old Hispanic girl, sitting on the side of the top step. She was drinking a coke and smiling at me. I continued up the stairs and smiled back. I waited for a minute, but she seemed content to sit and watch me so I went back to my stair running.
Down the stairs, and back up the stairs. Down the stairs, and looking back up - my new friend was then sitting halfway down the steps, still to the side so I could get by and still grinning at me. I grinned too and kept running up. Turning I ran back down and back up again while she watched me.
This time, when I got to the top and turned she was standing at the bottom of the steps, her grin even wider. I was nearly laughing at this point, but I kept up my routine. Down the stairs, and back up.
After a couple more laps, I turned at the top of the stairs and noticed that my friend had left. She was running across the courtyard to play on the playground with her sister and friends. I also realized that my 15 minutes were up and I could stop running. It felt like no time had gone by at all. I'll take my cheap workout over my fancy gym any day.
And being a nice gym, it attracts nice people. Trim young girls, spray painted in fake tan with their over-sized sorority t-shirts and pearls. Muscle bound men sweating all over the free weights while leering and offering you unsolicited advice on good form. Bored looking student workers who think the that track you are trying to run on is a great place to stand while they monitor the basketball courts below. Yeap. A whole lotta nice people.
Despite the wonderful appeal of my expensive gym, I decided to work out at home tonight. My cheap (AKA free) workout includes running on the stairs outside of my apartment for 15 minutes followed by a floor workout of push ups, sit ups, dips, pull ups, and yoga. After changing into my combo of Target brand and hand-me-down gym clothes, I stepped outside into the 90-something degree heat and started my stair run.
Cue Rocky theme song.
Running stairs gets your heart rate up fast. Running stairs in 90+ degree heat gets you sweaty faster. So after a couple of minute, I'm sure I looked kinda scary. Still, I went down the stairs and came up the stairs. Again, down the stairs and up the stairs.
Then, going down the stairs again, I got to the bottom and turned to come back up when I saw one of the neighborhood children, a 4 or 5 year old Hispanic girl, sitting on the side of the top step. She was drinking a coke and smiling at me. I continued up the stairs and smiled back. I waited for a minute, but she seemed content to sit and watch me so I went back to my stair running.
Down the stairs, and back up the stairs. Down the stairs, and looking back up - my new friend was then sitting halfway down the steps, still to the side so I could get by and still grinning at me. I grinned too and kept running up. Turning I ran back down and back up again while she watched me.
This time, when I got to the top and turned she was standing at the bottom of the steps, her grin even wider. I was nearly laughing at this point, but I kept up my routine. Down the stairs, and back up.
After a couple more laps, I turned at the top of the stairs and noticed that my friend had left. She was running across the courtyard to play on the playground with her sister and friends. I also realized that my 15 minutes were up and I could stop running. It felt like no time had gone by at all. I'll take my cheap workout over my fancy gym any day.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
You might be anemic if...
1. you can't remember the last time you ate red meat
2. you have permanent mystery bruises
3. you sit down at 7:30PM to plan your evening and wake up the next day at 6:30AM...
Yeah. What a total waste of an evening. Thank goodness for iron supplements!
2. you have permanent mystery bruises
3. you sit down at 7:30PM to plan your evening and wake up the next day at 6:30AM...
Yeah. What a total waste of an evening. Thank goodness for iron supplements!
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Moving Time and Life Changes
This past weekend, I found myself once more reflecting on moving time and life changes. I had decided to go to Michael's Craft Store to buy a frame for a friend's birthday present. I had a coupon, Michael's had a good sale, and given the odd shaped frame I needed, it made sense to go there. However, I had not been back to Michael's since the day I quit and walked out on the job... Perhaps I should tell the back story here...
When Derek and I first moved to Tuscaloosa, I had a very hard time finding work. Tuscaloosa is very much a small town, with a small economy and no one really had much need for an anthropology major with work experience in insurance. So after a few months of stressful unemployment, I jumped at the chance to work at any job and Michael's popped up. However, it was even worse than being unemployed - despite my education and experience I was making minimum wage, I was working nights so I never got to see my new husband, I was physically harassed by one of the male employees, I was locked in the trash compactor by my BOSS as a joke, I was given the wrong schedule on a weekly basis, I was lied to by my boss repeatedly and the list goes on. I knew that I deserved to be treated better (hell, just about all of the employees there deserved to be treated better!) and also I knew that I was capable of more. It got to the point where I woke myself up crying in the middle of the night because I was so miserable. When I couldn't take it anymore, I did something I have never done before in my life - I quit without notice (right before Thanksgiving too!).
You may be able to see why I've never been back there and pretty much hoped to never go there again!
But things change and Saturday morning found me driving my old work route to Michael's, with the same song that had been playing the day I quit keeping me company on the radio. It was so strange to go through the same motions knowing that my situation had changed so dramatically - that I had changed, in less than a year. Where before I was desperate, lonely, and admittedly feeling lost in the world, this time I was feeling content and unafraid (eh, mostly).
So when I walked into the store and ran into Ms. Paula - one of the few coworkers I could have called a friend there - a smile blossomed from inside of me. I was happy that I had come. She remembered me. She wanted to know what I was doing, was I happy, was life good? And I could positively reply to all of those questions. When she told me to come back again soon to visit, I could promise her that I would and know that it wouldn't be so hard to come back next time.
Time moves on, and life changes.
When Derek and I first moved to Tuscaloosa, I had a very hard time finding work. Tuscaloosa is very much a small town, with a small economy and no one really had much need for an anthropology major with work experience in insurance. So after a few months of stressful unemployment, I jumped at the chance to work at any job and Michael's popped up. However, it was even worse than being unemployed - despite my education and experience I was making minimum wage, I was working nights so I never got to see my new husband, I was physically harassed by one of the male employees, I was locked in the trash compactor by my BOSS as a joke, I was given the wrong schedule on a weekly basis, I was lied to by my boss repeatedly and the list goes on. I knew that I deserved to be treated better (hell, just about all of the employees there deserved to be treated better!) and also I knew that I was capable of more. It got to the point where I woke myself up crying in the middle of the night because I was so miserable. When I couldn't take it anymore, I did something I have never done before in my life - I quit without notice (right before Thanksgiving too!).
You may be able to see why I've never been back there and pretty much hoped to never go there again!
But things change and Saturday morning found me driving my old work route to Michael's, with the same song that had been playing the day I quit keeping me company on the radio. It was so strange to go through the same motions knowing that my situation had changed so dramatically - that I had changed, in less than a year. Where before I was desperate, lonely, and admittedly feeling lost in the world, this time I was feeling content and unafraid (eh, mostly).
So when I walked into the store and ran into Ms. Paula - one of the few coworkers I could have called a friend there - a smile blossomed from inside of me. I was happy that I had come. She remembered me. She wanted to know what I was doing, was I happy, was life good? And I could positively reply to all of those questions. When she told me to come back again soon to visit, I could promise her that I would and know that it wouldn't be so hard to come back next time.
Time moves on, and life changes.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Summer School 2010 - Day One
I am in love with my professor.
Seriously. I sat through class last night with a dopey grin on my face and stars in my eyes, practically drooling over her pure amazingness as she went over our assignments for the semester. That's right - she. She went on and on about her high expectations of us which included quality written work, research papers, publication, doctorates, and more. She even expects us to learn not just from her but from each other. We will tread through the vast jungle of library land with her as our guide, but she will not be holding our hands. We will work and struggle, but we will also triumph as we attain new wisdom and a greater sense of professionalism for ourselves. We will walk away from this class better prepared to be the most fantastic librarians we can possibly be.
Yes, I am in love with my professor. Our first assignment: a scavenger hunt across all of library land. Let the hunt for knowledge begin!
(Yeah, yeah, I know. Just wait until I'm burning the midnight oil desperately trying to squeeze out an extra X number of pages for my research paper and I'll be cursing her name. I know already. Let me enjoy this blissful moment of idealistic hero worship. Sheesh...)
Seriously. I sat through class last night with a dopey grin on my face and stars in my eyes, practically drooling over her pure amazingness as she went over our assignments for the semester. That's right - she. She went on and on about her high expectations of us which included quality written work, research papers, publication, doctorates, and more. She even expects us to learn not just from her but from each other. We will tread through the vast jungle of library land with her as our guide, but she will not be holding our hands. We will work and struggle, but we will also triumph as we attain new wisdom and a greater sense of professionalism for ourselves. We will walk away from this class better prepared to be the most fantastic librarians we can possibly be.
Yes, I am in love with my professor. Our first assignment: a scavenger hunt across all of library land. Let the hunt for knowledge begin!
(Yeah, yeah, I know. Just wait until I'm burning the midnight oil desperately trying to squeeze out an extra X number of pages for my research paper and I'll be cursing her name. I know already. Let me enjoy this blissful moment of idealistic hero worship. Sheesh...)
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Summer School 2010
Tonight is my first night of class for the summer term. I will be taking LS501 Intro Library Info Study with Deborah Grimes from 6:00PM to 9:15PM every Monday and Wednesday until August 4th.There are only 5 students enrolled which will be a pleasant contrast from my class last semester that had 27 students. I really have a hard time comprehending how a graduate program can justify overloading a course like that, but I'm not in charge of a graduate level program. I know a couple of the other students in my class already, and I'm pretty excited to see them again tonight.
My second summer class LS531 Academic Libraries won't start until July, but when it does I will be in class Monday through Thursday from 6:00 to either 9:15 or 10:15 every night, plus working my normal schedule Monday through Friday from 8:00AM to 4:45PM. July will be a very busy month! I'm glad I will have June to ease back into the school + work schedule. The class free month of May has spoiled me.
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