i'm apparently an IT genius.
today started out poorly. well, it was really carryover from last night.
it's just...trying to communicate with austin has been really frustrating. the vast majority of it is not either of our faults, it's just that our schedules are really incongruent. but since it's such a difficult thing to coordinate a phone call, when austin doesn't answer or return one of my calls it really frustrates me. i keep using the word "frustrate" but that's exactly what it is. so anyway, i was trying to buy my plane tickets to visit atlanta for both austin's birthday weekend (less than three weeks away!) and thanksgiving, and he didn't return my call. then i was trying to IM him this morning and he had obviously just signed on and left the room or something. so i was getting really frustrated and i sent him a sort of nasty text message and then he called and i got upset. it's resolved, and i got the tickets, but things are just going to be awkward for the next day or two which is even more frustrating.
things did pick up from there, though. so i've been trying to find a job in one of the campus libraries. yesterday i applied at the math library, and i've honestly been getting really excited about it and i hope it works out. the thing is, when you work in a larger academic library you sort of have to specialize in a subject area. but even though my BA is in a social science, that seems to be an area that just has a glut of people trying to get through the door. see also: humanities. and honestly...i'm sort of interested in everything, which is not always a positive, but in this case i think it will serve me well. because i'm not not interested in math. so i think that if i got a job there, and took classes that focused on services in math/science/tech, that would be a good career track for me. and in terms of pursuing a subject area master's in one of those fields, i could do cognitive science which i'm definitely more than a little interested in. but yeah, i went in with my application and talked to the supervisor for awhile and i think she liked me. she said she'd let me know by the end of the week, but i'm going to go talk to her again tomorrow (more on that in a second).
so anyway, today i got a call about interviewing for a position in the stacks at the main library. the guy was pretty straightforward about it being alot of grunt work, but i'm going to interview anyway (tomorrow morning). i'm just going to be upfront about the fact that i've applied to a couple of other places and that i'll need until the end of the week to decide. i mean...i don't want to turn this down on a gamble, but i really would rather work in a position where i could work on more interesting projects and directly interact with my supervisors who could write me good recommendations. i've also applied to a position at CMU which would be amazing, but i think competition is very tight for that one so i don't want to turn anything else down in anticipation of that. so yes...i'm holding out for the math library until the end of the week, or the engineering library which is apparently hiring now as well. nothing is set yet, but at least it feels like i'm sort of picking a direction? and things seem at least a bit promising? there's also a cataloging position available which sounds interesting, but it's off-campus so i'm not sure it could work out logistically.
then this afternoon i had my IT class. we have to take one required technology course for the program, but what with digital materials being such a growing area in the field, i was planning on taking at least one more anyway. so i don't consider myself someone who is especially tech-savvy, so i had signed up for the regular intro-level IT course. and um...it was really basic. i mean, i'm sure that things will be covered in the course that i don't know, or don't know as in-depth as i could, but those things are definitely going to come in around the last third of the semester. and i know myself, i know that i'm much better at pushing myself in a difficult class than at staying interested in a class that is too simple. so i'm switching to a digital libraries class, which the same instructor so he said it would be fine for me to switch into it. my advisor said she isn't sure if it will fill the requirement, but i was planning on taking it later anyway as an elective, so even if i have to take another IT class in the spring it will be fine. (btw if i do have to take another it will be "information architecture" god help me, but i think it won't be so bad after taking the digital libraries class). seriously this class...first of all, it's not even held in a computer lab. it's a LECTURE about COMPUTERS. and there was a lot of like "what are blogs and rss feeds?" shit.
ALSO I WAS THE ONLY PERSON IN THE CLASS WHO KNEW WHAT A TERABYTE WAS, or at least the only person confidant enough in said knowledge to raise my hand. i should note that in my monday night class, i was the only person to know what TMZ stands for, but i'm slightly less amazed at that fact, ha.
so anyway, i will now have two classes on mondays (3-6, 6-9) and two on thursdays (12-3, 3-6). i'm hoping this will help my prospects at the math library, because she is looking for someone for mondays, tuesdays, and wednesdays until six, so now i could work two of those days uninterrupted. (she said i could bring homework, so it won't be an issue to work two full days). also this gives me an excuse to go talk to her again and just make myself visible and show that i'm really interested in the position.
after all of this, i had dinner and hung out with this guy todd that i met last week when i went out dancing by myself. it was really fun...it was great to hang out with someone that has a lot of the same interests as me, on a casual basis and not like, "oh i'd probably get along with this person but it's kind of hard to tell because we're drunk and there's loud music playing at this bar."
so anyway, today ended well at least. and i just sent austin a conciliatory email which will hopefully speed the patching up. i mean even though it was a bit of a fight, i think it made it a little clearer to him that i'm lonely and missing conversations and that it does bother me when we don't talk for a while, because i really miss talking to him.
it's just...trying to communicate with austin has been really frustrating. the vast majority of it is not either of our faults, it's just that our schedules are really incongruent. but since it's such a difficult thing to coordinate a phone call, when austin doesn't answer or return one of my calls it really frustrates me. i keep using the word "frustrate" but that's exactly what it is. so anyway, i was trying to buy my plane tickets to visit atlanta for both austin's birthday weekend (less than three weeks away!) and thanksgiving, and he didn't return my call. then i was trying to IM him this morning and he had obviously just signed on and left the room or something. so i was getting really frustrated and i sent him a sort of nasty text message and then he called and i got upset. it's resolved, and i got the tickets, but things are just going to be awkward for the next day or two which is even more frustrating.
things did pick up from there, though. so i've been trying to find a job in one of the campus libraries. yesterday i applied at the math library, and i've honestly been getting really excited about it and i hope it works out. the thing is, when you work in a larger academic library you sort of have to specialize in a subject area. but even though my BA is in a social science, that seems to be an area that just has a glut of people trying to get through the door. see also: humanities. and honestly...i'm sort of interested in everything, which is not always a positive, but in this case i think it will serve me well. because i'm not not interested in math. so i think that if i got a job there, and took classes that focused on services in math/science/tech, that would be a good career track for me. and in terms of pursuing a subject area master's in one of those fields, i could do cognitive science which i'm definitely more than a little interested in. but yeah, i went in with my application and talked to the supervisor for awhile and i think she liked me. she said she'd let me know by the end of the week, but i'm going to go talk to her again tomorrow (more on that in a second).
so anyway, today i got a call about interviewing for a position in the stacks at the main library. the guy was pretty straightforward about it being alot of grunt work, but i'm going to interview anyway (tomorrow morning). i'm just going to be upfront about the fact that i've applied to a couple of other places and that i'll need until the end of the week to decide. i mean...i don't want to turn this down on a gamble, but i really would rather work in a position where i could work on more interesting projects and directly interact with my supervisors who could write me good recommendations. i've also applied to a position at CMU which would be amazing, but i think competition is very tight for that one so i don't want to turn anything else down in anticipation of that. so yes...i'm holding out for the math library until the end of the week, or the engineering library which is apparently hiring now as well. nothing is set yet, but at least it feels like i'm sort of picking a direction? and things seem at least a bit promising? there's also a cataloging position available which sounds interesting, but it's off-campus so i'm not sure it could work out logistically.
then this afternoon i had my IT class. we have to take one required technology course for the program, but what with digital materials being such a growing area in the field, i was planning on taking at least one more anyway. so i don't consider myself someone who is especially tech-savvy, so i had signed up for the regular intro-level IT course. and um...it was really basic. i mean, i'm sure that things will be covered in the course that i don't know, or don't know as in-depth as i could, but those things are definitely going to come in around the last third of the semester. and i know myself, i know that i'm much better at pushing myself in a difficult class than at staying interested in a class that is too simple. so i'm switching to a digital libraries class, which the same instructor so he said it would be fine for me to switch into it. my advisor said she isn't sure if it will fill the requirement, but i was planning on taking it later anyway as an elective, so even if i have to take another IT class in the spring it will be fine. (btw if i do have to take another it will be "information architecture" god help me, but i think it won't be so bad after taking the digital libraries class). seriously this class...first of all, it's not even held in a computer lab. it's a LECTURE about COMPUTERS. and there was a lot of like "what are blogs and rss feeds?" shit.
ALSO I WAS THE ONLY PERSON IN THE CLASS WHO KNEW WHAT A TERABYTE WAS, or at least the only person confidant enough in said knowledge to raise my hand. i should note that in my monday night class, i was the only person to know what TMZ stands for, but i'm slightly less amazed at that fact, ha.
so anyway, i will now have two classes on mondays (3-6, 6-9) and two on thursdays (12-3, 3-6). i'm hoping this will help my prospects at the math library, because she is looking for someone for mondays, tuesdays, and wednesdays until six, so now i could work two of those days uninterrupted. (she said i could bring homework, so it won't be an issue to work two full days). also this gives me an excuse to go talk to her again and just make myself visible and show that i'm really interested in the position.
after all of this, i had dinner and hung out with this guy todd that i met last week when i went out dancing by myself. it was really fun...it was great to hang out with someone that has a lot of the same interests as me, on a casual basis and not like, "oh i'd probably get along with this person but it's kind of hard to tell because we're drunk and there's loud music playing at this bar."
so anyway, today ended well at least. and i just sent austin a conciliatory email which will hopefully speed the patching up. i mean even though it was a bit of a fight, i think it made it a little clearer to him that i'm lonely and missing conversations and that it does bother me when we don't talk for a while, because i really miss talking to him.