Phenomenal woman, that's me

I’m home until Christmas, which means I lack awesome things to do.  Since about…September, lacking awesome things to do (or really any things so do) has cause me severe anxiety, so to keep myself preoccupied (and because it’s important to keep a record of my youth, etc. etc.) I figured I would keep you all in the loop about my life from October to December.  And make the usual promise to update more frequently, of course.

October, November, and December have been hard months for me this year, but included a lot of positives studded in the mire.  The course load I took this semester was absolutely ridiculous considering the amount of work that I did during the week.  Not to mention there were classes that simply had an unreasonable amount of work attached to them.  But I feel like I learned a lot this semester and I had some really excellent professors that I hadn’t had previously.  In particular, I took a class on Magical Realism this semester that was amazing, and I’m so glad I did.  It really re-opened my eyes to the beauty of this kind of literature, especially Borges.  Love that man.

My thesis—oh, my thesis.  This doesn’t seem to be going so well.  I didn’t have much time to dedicate to it last semester (this upcoming semester will be different, I swear!).  Further, the three panelists chairing my defense all seem to think they are also my advisors for the project, and that is simply not working.  I go visit all three of them, and they all want me to go in different directions on the project.  Stop yelling at me! I’m hoping this resolves itself (:

So, um, the big news?  I GOT INTO TEACH FOR AMERICA.  I was so thrilled and gratified when I found out (one of you know, you were there).  I really needed the positive energy at that point of this three-month swing as well, so it was really good.  I’ll be teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language in Newark, NJ.  This is huge.  It was one of my highly preferred regions, and I am so lucky as to have gotten a subject that I know very well and would love to teach.  And I get to be doing something that I love, they’ve somehow managed in this society to make teaching prestigious, AND I’m making a difference.  Wow.

Law school is on hold until I figure this TFA thing out. The options are many.  I could keep teaching in the same place past my 2 years.  I could teach at a private school or a charter school or a school in the ‘burbs.  I could teach and get my Master’s/PhD at the same time.  I could go to law school: international law, education law.  The world is my oyster (:

So despite many fights, sleepless nights, nightmares, deadlines, sacrifices, hopelessness, I have very nearly arrived at the other end of 2010.  A reflection post on that later, but for now I’ll just say that it’s really good to be home.  Tensions mount at times, but my family loves me and I love them.  There is no heartbreak involved in family (maybe disappointment, but never heartbreak).  I am really proud of my Christmas presents for family this year and I’m going to be seeing some old friends while I’m here as well (read: Kim).  Life could always get better (they call that my “drive”) but it’s pretty good right now regardless (and that’s my “optimism”).  A reflection on this whole year and the one to come is in the works, but that’s been my three months.

Thanks for reading (:

—H

Good evening all :)

It’s early Saturday morning and I accidentally slept like ten hours the night previous so, of course, I’m feeling a little reflexive.  I have a copy of Mansfield Park that deserves some English major love, but I thought I would update this here web log first.

October is very nearly over (Happy Halloween, by the way).  My September and October have left me very pensive.  And busy.  I think that the final interview for TFA went well, all things considered.  I find out next Tuesday evening about that.  I’m sort of dreading it to be honest.  I feel that my interview went well, but everyone always does.

Speaking of things that I did well on, that I did not do well on, my LSAT scores came back a 161, which is the score I was dreading with all my heart and soul.  That’s okay though.  I thought I would be more upset about this than I am.  I am feeling rather a sense of opportunity—this gives me a chance to get to know a whole bunch of other schools and really decide which is right for me.  I will be less distracted by labels.  And considering my excellent undergraduate career, I think that I still have a very good chance at a lot of very good schools.

Other than that, not too much to report.  The production that I stage managed went off without a hitch, and we followed it up with a nice party at my house.  My first house party :3

I will keep you up with anything new and/or exciting but don’t be surprised if I disappear for a while again, as I’m still trying to convince my life to hold itself together, and that takes so much more energy than I could have ever imagined.

Soon.

—Heike