Busy semester looms
I had a grad school meet-and-greet Wednesday after work. It was one of those things where the professors wanted to welcome all new students and let them get to know the "broken in" ones, but only about four new people showed. But it was good. My profs from last semester were glad to see me. One is married to one of my best friends, Paulette, so he'd randomly come up while I was talking to people and go, "Aren't you Jerrica Ryan, the new Features Editor for the Log Cabin Democrat?" and I'd reply, "Well, yes I am, thanks!" It was funny. He and I are very much like brother and sister. He also kept referring to how he might sleep with one of the grad students that evening (Paulette, obviously). That was fun.
One new prof, who wrote his dissertation on Judy Blume (which I think is a stroke of pure genius) was trying to talk me into pursuing a joint MFA/Ph.D. in Children's Literature. "You'll be so marketable!" he kept saying. So I'm looking into it. I have to retake the GRE this year because my scores have expired. I took a practice test this morning and got a 610 on my Verbal, which is the only score I care about. So as long as I score that high or better, I'm good on the GRE.
But Comps will be Nov. 3 and 4 and that date is looming. Terrifying. I hope I can pass the two-day test, but there's so much on it that I keep freaking myself out. It's basically a ton of selections from Medieval to Present. We're forming a study session on Monday at 6 so maybe it'll go okay.
I also need to work on my writing sample for MFA programs. I think I'm stronger, writing-wise, than I was five years ago. Just in case, a local writer is reading one sample (you have to have two stories) and is giving me feedback. He may hate it, so who knows how this will work. It can't hurt, anyway.
Also, at work Thursday I got to go to the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition project in Bigelow. It was hot and muddy, but I got to see Ty Pennington and snuck in with another reporter to areas we weren't supposed to walk in. That was fun. Lois Lane I am not, but I'm working on it. It is taking me a little while to get used to all my duties at the paper and I am probably not doing as good a job as I should be ... but I'm still only a month in, and I may be blowing my bad parts out of proportion.
And more letters have arrived.
One new prof, who wrote his dissertation on Judy Blume (which I think is a stroke of pure genius) was trying to talk me into pursuing a joint MFA/Ph.D. in Children's Literature. "You'll be so marketable!" he kept saying. So I'm looking into it. I have to retake the GRE this year because my scores have expired. I took a practice test this morning and got a 610 on my Verbal, which is the only score I care about. So as long as I score that high or better, I'm good on the GRE.
But Comps will be Nov. 3 and 4 and that date is looming. Terrifying. I hope I can pass the two-day test, but there's so much on it that I keep freaking myself out. It's basically a ton of selections from Medieval to Present. We're forming a study session on Monday at 6 so maybe it'll go okay.
I also need to work on my writing sample for MFA programs. I think I'm stronger, writing-wise, than I was five years ago. Just in case, a local writer is reading one sample (you have to have two stories) and is giving me feedback. He may hate it, so who knows how this will work. It can't hurt, anyway.
Also, at work Thursday I got to go to the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition project in Bigelow. It was hot and muddy, but I got to see Ty Pennington and snuck in with another reporter to areas we weren't supposed to walk in. That was fun. Lois Lane I am not, but I'm working on it. It is taking me a little while to get used to all my duties at the paper and I am probably not doing as good a job as I should be ... but I'm still only a month in, and I may be blowing my bad parts out of proportion.
And more letters have arrived.