15-Hour Days, Part II

Day 2, same schedule. Except no middle job. This is getting old already. I guess I only have to this until the 12th of May. I can do it, right?

The future. A scary thought, no?

I think I will be scoring for Pearson again, up here in the Twin Cities. I start my PCA gig on Thursday, and I take on the role of the other gravedigger in Shakespeare's Hamlet tomorrow. I really am going crazy, aren't I?

I have signed on to work three jobs starting next week. I'm going to go insane! It will be good for me. The discipline of having to be somewhere and do something again. When am I going to work out though? This leaves the EARLY MORNINGS only, and I hate exercising in the EARLY MORNINGS. Now that it's getting nice out, I might just go ahead and cancel my YWCA membership. Then again, it's only $20 a month. (I get the scholarship rate.) If I'm not using it though, how much further can that $20 a month go? Only time will tell. I'll give myself another week to decide.

Can you tell that I'm trying to be more financially responsible? I've always considered myself financially responsible. I do write down every purchase I make big or small, and a have only a little credit card debt to pay off. I worked my way through undergrad and let my scholarship pay my tuition, so I don't have any student loan debt to pay either. Somehow I'm getting the feeling though that I can let myself get real behind if I let it slide any more. I'm starting to STRESS!!!

I'm trying to figure out my next year's plan of action as well. It's looking like either become a full-time nanny here in the Twin Cities or move back home to Atlanta. I don't want to move back home. The financial security is nice (and alluring), yes, but the more I think about living under parental smotherage, the more I want to smother myself.

Maybe I'll take a teaching position somewhere. Like this school. I can do it! Maybe not. I'm so indecisive lately, and that scares me too. Every time I go apply to graduate school I want to smother myself as well. I get to the "Statement of Purpose" section on programs such as the University of Minnesota's Special Education Learning Disabilities program and I absolutely FREEZE. That's probably some kind of sign that says I should be applying to grad school right yet, right? Probably.

I've looked at all kinds of grad programs as well. Non-profit management, education, creative writing, public health, public service, even NURSING (my first major in college!) I can't justify the cost of going back to school just yet. I keep telling myself I just need to get more life experience. More years in the work force! Only time will tell. However, my education awards will expire soon enough! I'm so indecisive. Enough about my indecisiveness though.

This weekend was spent at the fifth grade Math Masters competition with some of my favorite Nellie Stone students, and researching some Life After AmeriCorps opportunities. Things will work out. I have faith. They will!

This is fun!!!

This is what happens when...

One graduates college with a degree in Early Childhood Education and finally decides that it is beyond her to actually take on a classroom. I've been a classroom assistant for almost a year now, and I've finally come to the conclusion that like Elphaba in Wicked, "I Don't Want It, I Can't Want It...ANYMORE!" I am off to DEFY GRAVITY, and the expectations that I have for myself and the expectations people have for me! I couldn't ask for more. I have a free Saturday night and I'm listening to A Prairie Home Companion after chaperoning for the 5th Grade Math Tournament at North High School.

It's a good life.

Sure it is.

I'm on my way.

Garrison Keillor is broadcasting live from New York this evening, and I secretly (ok, maybe not so secretly) wish I were there! My offer for a place to stay in the Big Apple still stands for September, but I don't think I'm going to make it until least December of 2008 or the new year. (Sorry Danielle.) I'll explain later.

I hope everyone reading this is having a super weekend!

My new thing

Thanks to my mom, I discovered the website www.bookjobs.com, which is all about the publishing industry. It's a really interesting site, and I've learned so much in just a day of exploring. I think this might just be a world that I would like to explore further. Maybe this is where I belong! Books, writing, editing, proofreading! All of those things are right up my alley! So my new goal is to find a job a week and apply with a kick-ass cover letter and my resume complete with my writing samples and see what happens. It seems though, like one needs experience to even try to enter this field, which scares me. I'm trying not to freak out, because it's just a possibility, but it's an exciting one.

I'm so indecisive about my future lately!

I found out also that my background check cleared so I am good to go for my new PCA gig.

I'm excited for this!!!

I realize how much of a girl this makes me, of course, and while I'm a little ashamed of it, I also don't give a rat's behind. SATC rules! (It doesn't rock though, because I'm trying to drop rock from my vocabulary. I use it way too often.)

Let's see, I suppose it is update time!

This morning I hauled my rear end out of bed before 7am (on a Saturday no less) to make it to work a few shifts at the 19th Annual National Service Learning Conference hosted by the National Youth Leadership Conference at the Minneapolis Convention Center. I was a workshop hosts for two very similar workshops that talked about the importance of service learning and how to defend it to suspicious and unwilling administrators. I was the girl in the back with a bright yellow shirt that forced evaluations on people. I don't even like filling out evaluations myself, but whatever. It did leave me somewhat inspired to keep going with service learning and possibly pursue a career as a service-learning facilitator in a school or museum. I didn't make it to the key note address either, but I've seen Desmond Tutu speak and know his general message.

In other news, I'm going to be in Atlanta May 8-13 for the brother's graduation and Mother's Day, and possibly make it up to a camp friend's graduation party as well! Hermz that's you, if you are reading this!

We took the kiddos to Augsburg College yesterday, (it was endearing to see 10-year-olds roam a college campus with big eyes!) and this week start the beginning of a three week testing stretch that will probably continue well into May and last throughout the year. I hate testing. I secured the PCA gig and haven't started yet because I can't find my passport as a means of proof for the payroll dept. What a pain in the butt! I will find it later when I decide to clean my room, hopefully!

In other news, I really want to pursue a career in writing, and I'm working on compiling my writing resume as a separate document to my regular resume. If anyone reading this has any tips for that, I would appreciate them. I've never done this before and I'm taking tips from the web, but I don't know how accurate they are. We'll see how it goes.

I think that is all the update I have for now. I might be going to a roller derby for the first time tonight. Should be interesting, as I've never done anything like this before either. I'll keep you posted, of course!

So, I think I've found a part time job

For now, at least. I had an interview with J, over at Farenheight 360 in St. Paul, and I have an interview with a client for a PCA (personal care assistant) tomorrow. In retrospect, I feel like this is what I'm supposed to be doing, instead of barking up restaurant's trees and not having them call back. I've always worked with children, and I have a pretty good head on my shoulders, so I don't think this will be too hard. Plus, I just think I'm darn good at what I do. It pays pretty well too, with good flexible hours I can work around my AmeriCorps school schedule until I'm done in July. Then I can pick up more hours once that is done. It seems that they work with a lot of students too, so if I do decide to go back to school, they would be flexible with those hours as well. I'll definitely keep my faithful readers posted. But it seems that I will be taking care of still MORE children. Good experience. Good experience.

Speaking of good experience, starting tomorrow I'm up to RED LAKE, Minnesota to do some service work with their AmeriCorps team, which basically means we get to meet with the chief of the tribe there and pretend to be disaster victims for their disaster relief training. I'm sure it will mean some other things too, and I will be happy to report them as well once I get back. I'm looking forward to getting out of the Twin Cities for awhile and away from my house mates and babies that live there.