While I was waiting for things to get busy again, I didn’t realize they would get this busy! As for free time, it doesn’t exist. I’m working 43 hours this week! Barnes and Noble has been very generous with my hours, and I just increased my hours in the library. But don’t worry, this won’t be happening often. I just put in my two weeks at Barnes and Noble….

Why? Good question. I love Barnes and Noble; I love working there. However, I just landed an internship with the Palm Beach Poetry Festival that will be taking up a lot of my time. At first, I thought I could do two jobs and the internship (not to mention school), but when Laura, my liaison, emailed me my duties yesterday, I realized that it just won’t be possible. And I refuse to give up the internship. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity that will give me the chance to work with two published poets, Gerald Stern and Anne Marie Macari. My friend Christina, who graduated last year, has done the same thing, and I know, as much work as it is, that it is so worth it. So I sacrificed Barnes and Noble, but I definitely gained a lot more. Plus, maybe since I don’t work there anymore, I can actually hang out and look at books (if I can find some free time). You just can’t browse the way you want to when you work somewhere.

In other news….I’m attending the National Collegiate Honors Council in San Antonio, Texas, October 21-26. I have been accepted to a Poetry Masters Class, where I will get to work on my poetry with a few other students. I’m excited about that, too. The conference will also host many (many!) little workshops about how to improve honors programs. The President and Vice President of the Honors Colloquium, as well as Dr. Villa, will be attending with me. I keep hearing that San Antonio is beautiful, so I can’t wait to see it.

So I will try not to leave such huge gaps between blogs again, but you can see why it happened! Besides, I’ll have plenty to blog about!

I am so excited to have something to do. I started working in the library today, covering people while they are at lunch. There are so many changes! Everything has been moved and changed around. There are more study areas than there were last year. The movies are now in the middle of the library on the right side instead of in the back on both sides. The reference books and children’s books have both been moved, the latter upstairs. Archives is now in the old children’s section. Music now has it’s own desk where the reference desk used to be. All of the reference librarians are now behind the circulation desk. The circulation desk also no longer schedules study rooms, so there’s technically a little less work for us to do. There’s a lot to get used to, now that I’m back. I’m sure I (and many returning students) will have plenty of questions as they get accustomed to the changes.  Here are some of the people to talk to: Charles Kuhn-the big boss, Vesko-the circulation desk manager, Susan-a jack-of-all-trades?? (I ask her for help with everything), Leecy-a reference librarian, Sally-cataloguer, and Tsukasa-the music librarian. These are the people I’ve worked with most since I used to work in the mornings. There are others always ready to answer any questions, including the student workers. So if you need help, now you know where to go!

P.S., I’m also working at Barnes and Noble again, and I can’t wait to get back there!

Wow I had a crazy afternoon! I went to Lynn today to make sure that everything is in order so I can start the semester off without a hitch.

First, I went to the Parking Office to get a decal for my car. The person in charge was at lunch.

So I decided to go to SAS to find out why I had a hold on my account that was keeping me from checking in. I almost had a heart attack when the lady I was talking to told me that I still owed a ridiculous amount of money. It turns out that she had forgotten to add my awards to the equation. We got everything worked out and the hold was taken off of my account.

Next, I went to ask the work study dept. how much money I had available for work study so that I could get my hours. They sent me back to SAS because they were missing paperwork. SAS told me the amount and talked to the work study dept., so that was cleared up.

My next trip was to the library to let Vesko know how much I could work. He was at lunch.

So, I walked back across campus to the nurse’s office. I had blisters and needed two band aids. She generously gave me four.

Then I headed to the parking office, and the guy was back from lunch, so I was able to get a red sticker for my car, which means I can park almost anywhere on campus! I walked to my car, and stuck it on my windshield.

Then, I walked to the College of Arts and Sciences in Frieburger. I talked to Sally, the secretary, and she gave me some tape to put over my band aids, which refused to stay on my heels. I needed to talk to Dr. Morgan, my advisor, about adding another class, because I was one short. He had left for the day. Fortunately, Dr. Goldstein was there, and she set me up for my new class. I’m taking Creative Writing Poetry, British Literature I, Abnormal Psychology, Scientific Literacy, and Computer Applications.

I decided to walk back to my car (where I rememembered that I had another pair of shoes!) and drove around to the parking lot behind the library, because I still needed to talk to Vesko about scheduling my hours.  However, he had a different award amount than what SAS had told me.

So I had to walk back over to SAS and find out why the amounts were different (Vesko’s sheet was done by semester instead of year, so it was less).

Then I walked back to the library and decided with Vesko what hours I could work with my schedule. We decided every Monday and Wednesday from 8:30-9:30 and 2-6. That will still give me time to work my other job at Barnes and Noble….

…Which was my next stop. I had to let my supervisor there know my availability so she could start scheduling me as soon as possible.

That ended a very productive day. I went back to my friend’s apartment and just relaxed for the remainder of it. I wanted to go to the Marketing Department and see Ashlea, Jason, and Debbie, 3 of my fellow bloggers, but I thought it should wait for a day when I was not so worn out. I might go over there on Monday to catch up with them.

For a year and a half and the past two summers, I’ve been working at Kumon Learning Center, one of the most rewarding jobs I’ve ever had. The program helps students learn math and reading from Levels A to O (I think). Each letter represents a higher level. Many students complete the entire program. When I first started, this Kumon was pretty young, only about two years old, so it hadn’t had time to gain many students. Over the years, though, it has grown so much! Once upon a time, there were three of us working there, and there was so little work that we could sit around and read (a fact that I took full advantage of, of course). Now, there are seven of us and my boss’s husband is expanding the building because we’re running out of space (it’s a small building).

My job is to grade worksheets that the students do daily and to help them when they need it. I used to just mostly help reading students, but since I’m only back for the summer, I go where I’m needed. Unfortunately, I’ve been needed at the math tables most of the summer. As a very devoted English major, math is not my best subject. In fact, I’ve been rejoicing that I took my last math class ever second semester of freshman year. Fortunately, most of the students are doing pretty easy math: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and reducing fractions. However, it is there that my expertise ends. When the students start adding/subtracting fractions, I generally have to pass them along to someone else to help them. A few of the students have advanced to algebra, which I can usually help with. One student has advanced so far, though, that he’s at a level I never sufficiently learned. Have I mentioned that he’s going into 6th grade? He’s doing math that I didn’t start learning until 9th grade! It’s hard to believe that such a young kid has reached a level that a college student can’t help him with. 

Despite my difficulty with some parts of the job, it has been amazing. It has reinforced my lifelong ambition to teach (I’m limiting myself to English, though!). I know it will be great for my resume that I already have teaching experience, but it also taught me so much. It helps me with patience, impartiality, and coming up with innovative ways to teach a student a difficult concept. The benefits I’ve recieved from this job are innumerable. My advice to college students, or even high school students: find a job that will provide you with valuable skills in the career you plan to follow. Not only will you already have the skills necessary for the job, but it will also assist you in acquiring the job by improving your resume. I know mine has!

Have I mentioned that I really need a job? I applied at a daycare center called Pokachoag Acres (I may have spelled it wrong; it’s a difficult word). I would make about $8.50 an hour and watch kids all day, which sounds like a good deal to me. I’m just waiting for my cori report to come back so that I can start. Unfortunately, it’s not really a full time position. I would be like a substitute, coming in when someone goes on vacation or calls in sick. So in the meantime, I went back to my old boss at Kumon Learning Center to see if I could get my old job. She gave me one for two weeks, because someone is on vacation. I don’t know if she has room for me after that. Besides, it’s only open for about 4 hours 3 days a week, and that’s not really not enough time to keep me occupied. I applied to a restaurant for a waitressing job out of desperation. The owner knows my grandparents pretty well, so I was hoping that would help me get the job. No luck so far. I suppose that’s alright because I’m really not the most graceful person in the world. I just thought the tips would be good. Luckily, I will be getting a paycheck sometime next week because of working at Kumon, but I really need to start working regularly. I’m not used to being lazy!

The end of the semester is here again…and busy as ever! It doesn’t seem like there is enough time in these last two weeks to do everything that needs to be done. The last week before finals, I have 3 papers and a presentation due-only one of which I’ve started. I expect to be functioning on very little sleep…

Plus, my boss scheduled me four days a week at Barnes and Noble. My entire Tuesdays and Thursdays are devoted to class and work-class at 11 (waking up earlier if I decide I need to do homework in the morning) and work until 11.

In the midst of it all, my bike got a flat tire-as if I needed more stress. I don’t really have time to go and get it fixed. Fortunately, I’ve been able to get rides so far, but I may be reduced to walking. On the bright side, I only have 5 work days left!

On Thursday morning, Brittany B. interviewed me for her TV Production class (not sure if that’s really the class, though). I was on camera. Wow. I’m not very comfortable with cameras (as my fellow blogger Ashlea can attest to since I actually helped her with a filming project just a few days earlier), so being in the spotlight, in front of the cameras, with her entire class watching was a little worse than awful for me. I got through it though! She interviewed me about my blogging, asking what I write about, if people recognize me, how my friends have reacted, and lots of other questions.

I managed to find time to register for fall classes-that was fun. On Mondays and Wednesdays, I’m done with class at 12:15! On Fridays, I’m done by 11. I am kind of in love with my schedule. I am also taking one of the new dialogue classes that is a part of the restructuring of the curriculum. If you haven’t heard about it, check out the Knight Writer, where you can learn a little more.

Also, we had our last poetry coffeehouse of the year. Quest, our literary arts journal, was published and offered to students. I took 6 copies. It seems like a lot, but one of my poems was published in it, and all of my family wants copies. It was Christina’s last night as President of the Poetry Club. Next year, I’m up. She gave me all of the information I needed to run the coffeehouses smoothly. I’m looking forward to it; I’ve never been in a leadership position before.

The same night, Brittany B., Alyssa, Kaileigh and I went to the play-The Boys Next Door. It was AMAZING, like Morgan said. Everyone did a great job. They put a lot of work into it; they even built an entire set (which I watched them take apart Saturday morning during brunch)! If anyone didn’t get to see it, you missed out. My favorite phrase since the play is, “Oh boy! Donuts!”

So, that’s an update on the past week or so. It’s been busy! Hopefully, the next two weeks will fly by so I can go home! I can’t wait…

So I was having a conversation with my co-worker, Erika, this morning and I revealed to her something I only recently discovered myself: I can do push ups. Real ones, not girly ones. I usually only do girly ones, but I always see Kaileigh doing push ups, so I thought I would try it myself and I did it! I was quite proud of myself; so was Kaileigh (or so she claims). I’ve even worked myself up to doing three at a time…..yes, I am that weak. So I told Erika (because I had to brag) and she didn’t believe me. She said, “Do one.” So I did. Three of them. Right behind the circulation desk. How’s that for a morning’s work?

Have I mentioned that I work in the Lynn Library? I can’t remember, but I do. Someone came into the library this morning and told me that one of the cigarette receptacles we have out front was billowing smoke! I looked out the doors and could see a cloud of smoke covering the entrance to the library. I told Susan, one of my bosses, and she called maintenance, who came over and extinguished whatever fire was trying to start. I feel sorry for anyone who had to walk through that cloud before it was put out, though, because I’m sure they smelled like cigarette smoke. It was certainly an odd way to start the morning.

The one drawback of having to ride a bike to work is that I’m at the mercy of the elements. If it’s blistering hot, I’m going to get really sweaty. If it’s raining, I’m going to get wet. I noticed last night while I was at work that it was raining. I wasn’t thrilled. But then I changed my mind-wouldn’t it be fun to ride my bike in the rain (maybe not safe-but fun)? I decided it would. Still, though, I couldn’t help staring out the windows and being torn. When I went outside to leave, the rain had stopped. I was simultaneously disappointed and happy.

But then…….when I got to Butts Road, it was raining! Not gently, either. So I got soaked on the way home and I couldn’t have been more ecstatic about it. Can you imagine what the people in their cars were thinking driving by some crazy girl on her bike in the rain mouthing the lyrics to the songs on her ipod? I can’t. When I got back to campus, I didn’t want to shower. I wanted to revel in my soaked state. There was, however, the threat of getting sick, so good sense won over and I took a hot shower.

But the incident kind of made me think that we’ve been socialized to dislike rain. I know when I was young I used to play in it all the time. But what does everyone do when it rains? They run for shelter. When you’re at school at recess and it rains, you have to go inside. Now, I understand that in the event of a thunderstorm it’s not safe, but rain itself isn’t harmful. I think over the years, it’s become sort of socially unacceptable to play in the rain. If you’re the only person not running to take cover under some building, people think you’re crazy. Even my friends sometimes think I’m crazy for wanting to play in it (though Aly did it with me once last year). For me, it’s kind of liberating playing in the rain. It brings back the inner child (even though, honestly, my inner child never grew up anyway). But I think people should play in the rain more often-give it a chance-because it’s more fun than trying to escape it.

Oh, I forgot. If you’ve been reading, you’ll know that the brakes on my bike have been broken. Well, Matt, the guy who brought me home (he has a truck, so he was able to put my bike in the back of it), fixed them!! I was so happy; I feel so much safer riding now. Plus, I didn’t have to ride it all the way to Walmart to get it done! He even said he’s going to bring a wrench so that he can tighten them for me so that hopefully, it won’t happen again. So yay, I’m happy about that.