aksldfjshdoig;hosiahewiloga *flail*
I didn't realize how overcast it had gotten. I didn't notice how late it had gotten. I thought I still had enough time. What was the result? GIANT SWARMS OF TINY BUGS OH GODS THEY'RE EVERYWHERE WRRRRRY UGH I THINK I SWALLOWED ONE EEEEWWWWWWW *flaaaaaaaaiiiiil*
D:
I took a slightly modified route home, because the major street that I run along? Has a canal in the middle of it, *and* is lined by wooden fences for the second half of the route (the half that is depressingly bug-infested). I figured one or the other had to be the problem, so I came home by way of the neighborhood.
I really tried to control myself better in terms of not running frantically away while flapping my hands madly in front of my face. However .... I didn't. I just can't not FLEE FOR MY LIFE when I feel little tiny bugs impacting against my cheeks ;_;
Result: 3 miles, 36 minutes. Not all that bad, really, and I don't feel all that exhausted. More tired in my legs than in my lungs, and that's probably influenced by the seven hours I worked today before running.
---
I know I haven't been updating much about anything other than running and occasionally freaking out about school. The short version is: poem, presentation, poem, paper, poem, poem, portfolio, China-paper, Borders Borders Borders.
I don't remember if I raved about how awesome my poetry workshop professor is, Kay Murphy, but she's retiring after this semester. She's agreed to continue to direct theses occasionally at her discretion, and she really wants to work with me on mine, which is great because she has a huge background in mythology (though not as extensive as mine, which is somewhat heady to hear a professor and published poet admit). I'm very excited about this. She told me that she thinks I'm extremely talented, one of the most talented poets in the program right now, and that she's somewhat amused that I (being one of the most talented poets etc) am not really pushing to be published or make this my livelihood. It's very encouraging that she thinks so much of my work, as she is published, respected, and very good herself.
Set against this, though, is an unpleasant experience I had with my adviser. Grad students have to meet with our academic adviser in order to schedule our classes each semester, both to make sure we're staying on track with our courses/credits and to make sure the classes don't have too many people trying to schedule them. I told my adviser I wanted to take two specific courses but I wasn't sure what to do about the third one - and he said, "You don't want to take the workshop?" in a very surprised tone of voice. (Each semester, there is a workshop offered in each genre, and they are all 3 hour night classes. Short stories are Monday, nonfiction Tuesday, poetry on Wednesday.) I *don't* want to take the workshop next semester, because it's with the same professor I had last semester, the course description is exactly the same, it requires writing THREE PAPERS IN A DAMN POETRY WORKSHOP, and we only do three poems a night. In three hours. It's so frustrating. So, I don't want to do that again. But I also didn't want to just tell my adviser, who is also the head of the program, that I was bored to tears in this teacher's workshop and didn't feel like it helped me particularly. Instead, I just told him that the three-hour night class is awfully draining and I wanted to take a semester off from it. He got very defensive, telling me that the classes are like that every semester and the program couldn't exist if the classes weren't scheduled that way (this is true, because a lot of people in the program have real jobs during the day), and that no one else had any problem with it. And I told him I wasn't saying to change the program or anything, just that it was tough on me and I wanted a semester without it. He responded, "Well, you're a grad student, you're in graduate school for this, I would think you'd want to be writing and improving your craft since that's what you're here for." Basically I felt like he was calling me a lazy, bad grad student or insinuating that I didn't want to do the work I'm in school for, just because I don't want to take exactly the same workshop again and spend all my time writing papers and reading other people's poetry. That's not what I'm in school for.
So that was really upsetting to me, and it was also the first day of my least favorite week of the month, so basically I told him to put me in the workshop, left his office, and burst into tears outside. It sucked. And then I was cramping and miserable and didn't make it to my poetry workshop this past Wednesday, so I haven't gotten to talk to Kay about it yet. I'm still kinda hoping she'll have a magic solution to this, like a way to do an independent study with her that will meet one of my requirements.
Next weekend, I'll be in Shreveport watching Rachel star in her college's spring play. Teresa and I will be working on costumes for Mecha-Con: I'll be River Tam, she'll be Kaylee, and we might also be doing a couple of FFXIII costumes. Very exciting. John Belk will also be in town, as Paul is getting married, so I'll get to see him for the first time in several years. This is also exciting.
Turns out, I have to drive to Houston... twice. The only way to get a Chinese visa appears to be taking the paperwork to the Chinese consulate/embassy, IN PERSON, and then going back to pick it up in person four or so days later. They won't do it through mail, fax, or email, and this is extremely frustrating to me. At least I can get this taken care of, though.
D:
I took a slightly modified route home, because the major street that I run along? Has a canal in the middle of it, *and* is lined by wooden fences for the second half of the route (the half that is depressingly bug-infested). I figured one or the other had to be the problem, so I came home by way of the neighborhood.
I really tried to control myself better in terms of not running frantically away while flapping my hands madly in front of my face. However .... I didn't. I just can't not FLEE FOR MY LIFE when I feel little tiny bugs impacting against my cheeks ;_;
Result: 3 miles, 36 minutes. Not all that bad, really, and I don't feel all that exhausted. More tired in my legs than in my lungs, and that's probably influenced by the seven hours I worked today before running.
---
I know I haven't been updating much about anything other than running and occasionally freaking out about school. The short version is: poem, presentation, poem, paper, poem, poem, portfolio, China-paper, Borders Borders Borders.
I don't remember if I raved about how awesome my poetry workshop professor is, Kay Murphy, but she's retiring after this semester. She's agreed to continue to direct theses occasionally at her discretion, and she really wants to work with me on mine, which is great because she has a huge background in mythology (though not as extensive as mine, which is somewhat heady to hear a professor and published poet admit). I'm very excited about this. She told me that she thinks I'm extremely talented, one of the most talented poets in the program right now, and that she's somewhat amused that I (being one of the most talented poets etc) am not really pushing to be published or make this my livelihood. It's very encouraging that she thinks so much of my work, as she is published, respected, and very good herself.
Set against this, though, is an unpleasant experience I had with my adviser. Grad students have to meet with our academic adviser in order to schedule our classes each semester, both to make sure we're staying on track with our courses/credits and to make sure the classes don't have too many people trying to schedule them. I told my adviser I wanted to take two specific courses but I wasn't sure what to do about the third one - and he said, "You don't want to take the workshop?" in a very surprised tone of voice. (Each semester, there is a workshop offered in each genre, and they are all 3 hour night classes. Short stories are Monday, nonfiction Tuesday, poetry on Wednesday.) I *don't* want to take the workshop next semester, because it's with the same professor I had last semester, the course description is exactly the same, it requires writing THREE PAPERS IN A DAMN POETRY WORKSHOP, and we only do three poems a night. In three hours. It's so frustrating. So, I don't want to do that again. But I also didn't want to just tell my adviser, who is also the head of the program, that I was bored to tears in this teacher's workshop and didn't feel like it helped me particularly. Instead, I just told him that the three-hour night class is awfully draining and I wanted to take a semester off from it. He got very defensive, telling me that the classes are like that every semester and the program couldn't exist if the classes weren't scheduled that way (this is true, because a lot of people in the program have real jobs during the day), and that no one else had any problem with it. And I told him I wasn't saying to change the program or anything, just that it was tough on me and I wanted a semester without it. He responded, "Well, you're a grad student, you're in graduate school for this, I would think you'd want to be writing and improving your craft since that's what you're here for." Basically I felt like he was calling me a lazy, bad grad student or insinuating that I didn't want to do the work I'm in school for, just because I don't want to take exactly the same workshop again and spend all my time writing papers and reading other people's poetry. That's not what I'm in school for.
So that was really upsetting to me, and it was also the first day of my least favorite week of the month, so basically I told him to put me in the workshop, left his office, and burst into tears outside. It sucked. And then I was cramping and miserable and didn't make it to my poetry workshop this past Wednesday, so I haven't gotten to talk to Kay about it yet. I'm still kinda hoping she'll have a magic solution to this, like a way to do an independent study with her that will meet one of my requirements.
Next weekend, I'll be in Shreveport watching Rachel star in her college's spring play. Teresa and I will be working on costumes for Mecha-Con: I'll be River Tam, she'll be Kaylee, and we might also be doing a couple of FFXIII costumes. Very exciting. John Belk will also be in town, as Paul is getting married, so I'll get to see him for the first time in several years. This is also exciting.
Turns out, I have to drive to Houston... twice. The only way to get a Chinese visa appears to be taking the paperwork to the Chinese consulate/embassy, IN PERSON, and then going back to pick it up in person four or so days later. They won't do it through mail, fax, or email, and this is extremely frustrating to me. At least I can get this taken care of, though.