"What's next?"
I should be finishing (read: starting) addressing Christmas stroke New Year cards, but all I really want to do is sit on my couch watching The West Wing. I'm back in Valpo now, updated résumé on my hard drive (and backed up in at least three different file formats/locations), ready to attack the job market as soon as the holiday crush subsides. There are a handful of potential teaching positions in the Chicagoland area, but my parents suggested that I go back to the university to see if there are any openings there first. Not a bad idea, especially because 1) I networked my ass off in grad school, and 2) it's a five minute drive from the apartment. We'll see.
As excited as I am to begin the next stage in my life at a new job, I think I'm just as excited to be getting some free time back. Academics kept me constantly busy; when I wasn't in class I was thinking about class, or writing papers, or reviewing, or spending nights at the library. I'm looking forward to the time when I'll have (hopefully) a regular 9-to-5, with evenings open to write again. I've got two solid ideas (cliché alert!) for novels and it would really chuff me if I could get them outlined/started this year.
Also, do you know that if you buy Christmas crackers in Indiana, they charge you a $0.30 "public safety" fee? Is the government afraid little kids will eat the paper hats or something? (Before you ask, yes, I know that Christmas crackers have a little bit of powder in them which produces the bang, but my little brother used to eat the strips of paper that came with cap guns. I can't imagine Christmas crackers being any more dangerous than that.)
What are everyone's plans for New Year's Eve?
As excited as I am to begin the next stage in my life at a new job, I think I'm just as excited to be getting some free time back. Academics kept me constantly busy; when I wasn't in class I was thinking about class, or writing papers, or reviewing, or spending nights at the library. I'm looking forward to the time when I'll have (hopefully) a regular 9-to-5, with evenings open to write again. I've got two solid ideas (cliché alert!) for novels and it would really chuff me if I could get them outlined/started this year.
Also, do you know that if you buy Christmas crackers in Indiana, they charge you a $0.30 "public safety" fee? Is the government afraid little kids will eat the paper hats or something? (Before you ask, yes, I know that Christmas crackers have a little bit of powder in them which produces the bang, but my little brother used to eat the strips of paper that came with cap guns. I can't imagine Christmas crackers being any more dangerous than that.)
What are everyone's plans for New Year's Eve?