Chair Assembly

Today, with the help of my boss, I turned

into...

Because my office is actually a former student workroom and still has a student worker in it half the day, there wasn't a real desk or chair here. The plan was for me to order new ones once I got here, but the desk has been working out so far - it's the chair that had been a real pain in the rear (PUN!). So I hopped online and did some searching and found this one, leather, high-backed, and relatively cheap since it was on sale. It came in the mail yesterday and this morning we put it together.

In the grand scheme of things it's not that big a deal, but I'm still pretty proud. Just a word to the wise to anyone who may be putting a chair together soon: don't wear a skirt, because it makes the kneeling and sitting and squatting a little awkward.

3 conversations I fully expect to have in the next few months

Me: Ugh. *comment about how transitioning to middle management is hard*
Briana: TOLD YOU SO

Me: Ugh. *comment about the weather*
Marci: TOLD YOU SO

Me: Ugh. *comment about politics*
Sara: TOLD YOU SO

My Afternoon and Evening

My afternoon consisted of going to the annual awards ceremony and see a number of totally amazing students win awards for the awesomeness that they've achieved in their one, two, three, or four years here. I nominated a few of my own students, and one of them won, which was very exciting and made me feel a bit like a proud mama.

My evening consisted of inviting the students from my Alternative Break trip over for dinner, and hanging out with them, playing some Mafia, and eating creme brulee.


(I made sixteen of them to commemorate the occasion. And to make sure I didn't run out.)

And they pay me to do this?

Sometimes, my life is pretty amazing.

Love what you do

Once again I dragged my feet to a late night meeting, very tired after a loooooong day of selecting RAs and then showing off my building to eager freshmen.

And once again, I got so wrapped up in the conversations that happened that I lost complete track of time, and left the meeting rejuvenated and excited about my students, my job, and my chosen career.

One of these days I'm going to remember that this always happens before I start griping about having a 10pm meeting on a day when I'm ready to crash around 9. But until then, I'll just continue to be pleasantly surprised when it does.

Laughter

Marci and AJ have spent the past 20 minutes video chatting each other - from the same room. I don't think I've laughed this hard in a long, long time. Jen is torn between laughing, and watching along with a bit of confusion.

Quote of the night:
Marci - Why have we never roomed together before?
AJ - Um, because we all have our own apartments.

I am so thankful for my coworkers, who I can also count among my friends.

Job Search (and do I even need one?)

I hate writing cover letters.

No, like, I REALLY hate it.

Though it's a bit early for me to be making firm decisions on what I'm doing next year, I'm kind of taking a shot at something that I don't think I have much of a chance of getting, and it requires a cover letter. I can usually do relatively well with the 'meat' of the letter - why they should hire me. But the intro and closing paragraphs are a STRUGGLE.

Now assuming this opportunity doesn't pan out, I don't really know what I'm doing next year. Part of me doesn't think I'm quite ready to give up being a Resident Director - I really love my job, my students, my staff, and the school I work at. I'm relatively sure that my last year at this school will be my last year as an RD, and probably my last year in a live-in position, and I don't know if I'm quite ready to give that up yet. Even as I go through the year I tuck little notes away to myself "for next year" - that I should do this or that or tweak certain things. And I'm really loving this year and what I'm able to do now that I'm 3 years into the job. I'm loving the theme community I run, and I feel like I'm really starting to get a hang of my building board.

But at the same time, I don't want to stay, but then be completely over this job by October of next year, and then be an ineffective supervisor or halfhearted coworker. I don't think that would happen, but I don't really know for sure. At this school, most RDs don't stay in the position for four years - last year we had someone stay for a fourth year and he left in December, to a new position across the country. From talking to my cohort it looks like a lot of them are planning on staying a fourth year, partly because of the economy and partly because they just love the jobs. I think I'm the only one that's seriously considering leaving the school. But I don't know if I'm ready to give up being an RD.

And now I'm repeating myself.

Part of me would definitely like to move back to Texas to be closer to family. And have a house. A REAL HOUSE! Or at least an apartment with more than one room, as Will and I are getting tired of tripping all over each other. Maybe a full-sized fridge, and a washing machine? And satellite TV for Will! Wouldn't that be nice? Is it completely pathetic the sorts of things that I get excited about?

But I love my job, and my students and my staff and the university. I don't know if I'm ready to give up being an RD!

In January is when they ask for our letters of intent for work, so I really need to decide by then. So I have another couple of months to do some soul searching. Oh, and talk about it with Will, since he's kind of an important part to this decision making as well. Hopefully by then I'll have a better idea of what's best, not only for Will and me, but also for my career and the next steps and growing up or whatever all that being a responsible adult jazz is all about. And hopefully by then, I'll have a better idea of whether or not I'm ready to give up being an RD.

Overheard at the campus convenience store today:

five guys, huddled in a corner, right by the plastic cups
guy 1: Is this enough?
guy 2: Dude, you totally need more than one pack to play beer pong
guy 3: Sh*t! There's the RD!
guy 2: Just buy the one, let's go before she hears us.

(she heard them)

They live in my building, but I don't know faces to names yet, so I couldn't track them down. Let my RAs know, though.

Summer Vacation!

So unlike the other post-grad jobs that I've had, my current position is a 10 1/2 month position, which means that I have the summer off. When I found that out I was kind of mixed - I liked it because, who doesn't like 6 weeks off, and I was a little concerned because I felt like I'd be totally unproductive during the summer. However, the 'liking it' part totally won out, so I didn't pursue the summer positions that were available (and though I did pursue a summer position in other departments, none ended up being available) so for the second year in a row, I'm starting my summer break! I know that it's very possible it'll be my last one because who knows where I'll be a year from now, so I'm going to take advantage of it!

To celebrate the end of the contract, the 8 of the Resident Directors that were in town went to The Melting Pot where we had half-price cheese and chocolate fondue (yay happy hour!) and a drink or two. It was lots of fun, and a good way for us to send off Patrick, one of the RDs that is going to be working on Semester at Sea in the fall, to the envy of most of us.

So now it's summertime! However, I'm still going to make an effort to be productive. I have this whole FitWell thing for work, which I'll hopefully keep up with, and a couple of my coworkers and I have been talking about volunteering at the Bread and Roses Cafe in Venice. I also have vacation plans for Southeast Asia with Will, and Austin to visit family. And there's work stuff I need to do, such as cleaning my office and working on revamping the lesson plan for the theme community I run.

So... here goes nothing!