First Day
14 Days Until I'm 21.
It's not much of a countdown; I highly, highly doubt I'll be doing a 21-run at all. If I do, it would be for the ability to do the actual purchase of alcohol. Someone else could do the drinking (not that I'd have money to do the purchasing anyhow).
I went to quite a few "Career Discovery" panels this week. There was one about applying to grad school that was helpful in figuring out the actual application process, if not figuring out whether I should or shouldn't go on for my Master's. Then there was the What to do with a Lit Major session, which was kinda helpful in an, "Oh, these people actually exist and aren't street-bums," kind of way. Then the MFA panel was more geared toward those from the actual School of Art, rather than to, say, Creative Writers, so it kind of wasn't appropriate for me. I'd have to say the one today, Careers in Writing and Editing, was the best for me. It was...kind of nice knowing there were some practical applications for an English major, and that if I do go into freelancing I can still make a decent (albeit hard) living. But one of the most helpful pieces of advice I got was about whether or not people need a Master's or not:
Get a Master's in something you want to master.
I don't know who said it, but for some reason whenever the question of Grad school came up it was always "should I go for a Master's in English/Creative Writing?" It never even occurred to me to think of Mastering in something else, or that I even could. I just thought of a Master's degree as an extension of my Bachelor's. Plus, I don't think not one of the panelists in that session had a Master's, and some of them were at least in their 30's. So...maybe I don't need to invest $20-30,000 more into my education before I get into doing what I want to do. It's kinda strange for me to think.
The CiW&E session really motivated me into thinking about internships and freelance-writing. I'm thinking of looking into finding something that pays me to write small articles or blogs now. I suppose it dawned on me before that I could get paid to do that, but it never really made it through that I could enjoy doing that, or that they could be legit. I may think about starting a blog for my "professional" writing. I'm not sure what exactly I could write about, since my life revolves so much around fandom and what little snitches of my RL experiences are actually interesting, but I suppose I could just go randomly around the U-district and "interview" people for the sake of it. Maybe even do some restaurant reviews, if I could remember to focus on useful stuff while I eat.
You know a student's got graduation requirements to fulfill when the next quarter's course schedule is just put up and not a few hours later they've got their schedule planned. No ifs, no ands, no buts. *sigh* At least I know what I can look forward to in March-June. And...I actually kinda like my schedule. Sure, I'll be starting at 9:30AM M-Thursday rather than 10:30, but on Fridays I can sleep in until my class starts at 12:30, which will be Korean. And that 12:30 class is the only class I'll have on Fridays (barring any little minor 1-3 credit classes I take, or heaven forbid if I overload on credits this quarter).
The joys of taking an English class, I suppose. For some reason the English teachers at UW don't really like Friday classes, so they either do M-Thursday classes, or they do alternating days like Monday&Wednesday or Tues&Thurs classes. I'm (hopefully! though I'm not really that concerned, having junior standing) taking a Chaucer course. My heart kinda ached at the sight of the textbook's price (it was from the previous class offering, but I'm assuming it'll be the same required texts), but seeing as how I managed to avoid classes that had really pricey textbooks in my 3 years, I think it's safe to say it was inevitable. Still, I'm going to see what UBookstore's price is, then check B&N's price. I'm suspecting B&N's price will be cheaper, even with the UBookstore's refund.
Along with Chaucer and finishing 2nd year (and probably my last year of) Korean, I'm going to take an astronomy class, called The Planets. I've always been a little more interested in the planets than the universe in general, though of course that was always in the context of mythology/fantasy, not scientific. I wonder, though, if they'll be including Pluto as a "planet" in the course.....they'd better...*shakes fist at the international scientific community*
I'm breathing a little easier about fulfilling my requirements to graduate. I decided not to pursue third year Korean, even if my mother will give me unending grief over it, which opened up my senior year A LOT. So much, it's ridiculous. With the Creative Writing major it's a little bit tight, and if I'm not accepted into the CW program in Rome it'll be even tighter, but it's still doable. If I did get into the Rome program and if I am an English Lit major, my schedule would be so free I could actually take some classes for fun! o.O Kind of a strange concept, really........
I need to make it a point to go into the English advising office and be like, "I have no idea what to do with my future! HELP!!" They might be able to help me with my specific brand of confusion, hopefully, even if I have to go in for several sessions. Maybe even an internship where I can figure out what I want to "specialize" in. That's probably what I worry about most: specializing. Every panel member in all the sessions had found their "specialization." It even seemed like they knew what they wanted to specialize in when they were still undergrads, before graduating. How the hell do people do that anyway????? Seriously, was there some sort of elementary school special class (like when they were teaching about "the birds and the bees") that I missed? "Now, here's how to figure out what you want to do after high school and college, even if it's work in the nonprofit sector of political and activist campaigning." ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!?????!!!??????
Another piece of advice I got from the CiW&E session was to volunteer at writing conferences. I'd thought about volunteering at Sakuracon, but it never occurred to me that there'd be writing conferences. I'm excited about that prospect, actually. I really, really want to do that, so much so that it's kinda surprising and frightening how excited I am. Frightening because usually I only get this excited over something that occurs in Fandom (like Rose coming back to Doctor Who....^_______^), and then it frightens me because the thought produced such a reaction in me.
Blegh. That was a lot of career-oriented rambling.
In the What to do w/Lit Major there was a novelist on the panel who engaged me in a little bit of conversation concerning Lolita (I was reading it). I didn't even know who he was until he was introduced, and then the person running the panel made the assumption that everyone knew who he was and had read his book and knew that his book was made into a movie, that sort of thing. David Guterson? Ring any bells for anyone? Well, when I found out he was a novelist I definitely became more interested, and now I'm thinking I'll probably make Snow Falling on Cedars part of my 50 Books. If I like his writing, I may try his other books, too. Met ("met" meaning "saw him on the panel") someone named David Quinn, who was apparently part of television programs, but also met Ryan White (and I cringe as I write this, because it's in rather bad taste that I'm so drawn into that fact solely because Ryan White is such a recognizable name). There's another book I'm kinda interested in at least borrowing, called "The Anti 9-5 Guide" which was written by another panelist (in the CiW&E session), which kinda covers how to survive the way I'm probably going to wind up having to.
There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written. --Oscar Wilde
It's not much of a countdown; I highly, highly doubt I'll be doing a 21-run at all. If I do, it would be for the ability to do the actual purchase of alcohol. Someone else could do the drinking (not that I'd have money to do the purchasing anyhow).
I went to quite a few "Career Discovery" panels this week. There was one about applying to grad school that was helpful in figuring out the actual application process, if not figuring out whether I should or shouldn't go on for my Master's. Then there was the What to do with a Lit Major session, which was kinda helpful in an, "Oh, these people actually exist and aren't street-bums," kind of way. Then the MFA panel was more geared toward those from the actual School of Art, rather than to, say, Creative Writers, so it kind of wasn't appropriate for me. I'd have to say the one today, Careers in Writing and Editing, was the best for me. It was...kind of nice knowing there were some practical applications for an English major, and that if I do go into freelancing I can still make a decent (albeit hard) living. But one of the most helpful pieces of advice I got was about whether or not people need a Master's or not:
Get a Master's in something you want to master.
I don't know who said it, but for some reason whenever the question of Grad school came up it was always "should I go for a Master's in English/Creative Writing?" It never even occurred to me to think of Mastering in something else, or that I even could. I just thought of a Master's degree as an extension of my Bachelor's. Plus, I don't think not one of the panelists in that session had a Master's, and some of them were at least in their 30's. So...maybe I don't need to invest $20-30,000 more into my education before I get into doing what I want to do. It's kinda strange for me to think.
The CiW&E session really motivated me into thinking about internships and freelance-writing. I'm thinking of looking into finding something that pays me to write small articles or blogs now. I suppose it dawned on me before that I could get paid to do that, but it never really made it through that I could enjoy doing that, or that they could be legit. I may think about starting a blog for my "professional" writing. I'm not sure what exactly I could write about, since my life revolves so much around fandom and what little snitches of my RL experiences are actually interesting, but I suppose I could just go randomly around the U-district and "interview" people for the sake of it. Maybe even do some restaurant reviews, if I could remember to focus on useful stuff while I eat.
You know a student's got graduation requirements to fulfill when the next quarter's course schedule is just put up and not a few hours later they've got their schedule planned. No ifs, no ands, no buts. *sigh* At least I know what I can look forward to in March-June. And...I actually kinda like my schedule. Sure, I'll be starting at 9:30AM M-Thursday rather than 10:30, but on Fridays I can sleep in until my class starts at 12:30, which will be Korean. And that 12:30 class is the only class I'll have on Fridays (barring any little minor 1-3 credit classes I take, or heaven forbid if I overload on credits this quarter).
The joys of taking an English class, I suppose. For some reason the English teachers at UW don't really like Friday classes, so they either do M-Thursday classes, or they do alternating days like Monday&Wednesday or Tues&Thurs classes. I'm (hopefully! though I'm not really that concerned, having junior standing) taking a Chaucer course. My heart kinda ached at the sight of the textbook's price (it was from the previous class offering, but I'm assuming it'll be the same required texts), but seeing as how I managed to avoid classes that had really pricey textbooks in my 3 years, I think it's safe to say it was inevitable. Still, I'm going to see what UBookstore's price is, then check B&N's price. I'm suspecting B&N's price will be cheaper, even with the UBookstore's refund.
Along with Chaucer and finishing 2nd year (and probably my last year of) Korean, I'm going to take an astronomy class, called The Planets. I've always been a little more interested in the planets than the universe in general, though of course that was always in the context of mythology/fantasy, not scientific. I wonder, though, if they'll be including Pluto as a "planet" in the course.....they'd better...*shakes fist at the international scientific community*
I'm breathing a little easier about fulfilling my requirements to graduate. I decided not to pursue third year Korean, even if my mother will give me unending grief over it, which opened up my senior year A LOT. So much, it's ridiculous. With the Creative Writing major it's a little bit tight, and if I'm not accepted into the CW program in Rome it'll be even tighter, but it's still doable. If I did get into the Rome program and if I am an English Lit major, my schedule would be so free I could actually take some classes for fun! o.O Kind of a strange concept, really........
I need to make it a point to go into the English advising office and be like, "I have no idea what to do with my future! HELP!!" They might be able to help me with my specific brand of confusion, hopefully, even if I have to go in for several sessions. Maybe even an internship where I can figure out what I want to "specialize" in. That's probably what I worry about most: specializing. Every panel member in all the sessions had found their "specialization." It even seemed like they knew what they wanted to specialize in when they were still undergrads, before graduating. How the hell do people do that anyway????? Seriously, was there some sort of elementary school special class (like when they were teaching about "the birds and the bees") that I missed? "Now, here's how to figure out what you want to do after high school and college, even if it's work in the nonprofit sector of political and activist campaigning." ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!?????!!!??????
Another piece of advice I got from the CiW&E session was to volunteer at writing conferences. I'd thought about volunteering at Sakuracon, but it never occurred to me that there'd be writing conferences. I'm excited about that prospect, actually. I really, really want to do that, so much so that it's kinda surprising and frightening how excited I am. Frightening because usually I only get this excited over something that occurs in Fandom (like Rose coming back to Doctor Who....^_______^), and then it frightens me because the thought produced such a reaction in me.
Blegh. That was a lot of career-oriented rambling.
In the What to do w/Lit Major there was a novelist on the panel who engaged me in a little bit of conversation concerning Lolita (I was reading it). I didn't even know who he was until he was introduced, and then the person running the panel made the assumption that everyone knew who he was and had read his book and knew that his book was made into a movie, that sort of thing. David Guterson? Ring any bells for anyone? Well, when I found out he was a novelist I definitely became more interested, and now I'm thinking I'll probably make Snow Falling on Cedars part of my 50 Books. If I like his writing, I may try his other books, too. Met ("met" meaning "saw him on the panel") someone named David Quinn, who was apparently part of television programs, but also met Ryan White (and I cringe as I write this, because it's in rather bad taste that I'm so drawn into that fact solely because Ryan White is such a recognizable name). There's another book I'm kinda interested in at least borrowing, called "The Anti 9-5 Guide" which was written by another panelist (in the CiW&E session), which kinda covers how to survive the way I'm probably going to wind up having to.
There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written. --Oscar Wilde