Finally, fall is here. I'm really happy actually that summer is over. Summer has never been my favorite season. I much prefer cooler temperatures, more layers of clothes, coats with pockets in them. Turtlenecks and gloves. Hot chocolate. Holidays.
It's been a difficult summer for me. I don't expect the fall to be any easier, but at least I enjoy the new season and the approach of the Christmas season. This has been my most challenging semester yet, with classwork as well as relationships, and the nearer Christmas draws, the sooner I know it will be over. I will be mighty relieved when this semester ends, assuming my GPA is in the same condition it was in when it started.
I'm doing well in all three classes. My Strategic Conflict Management class will be my last theory class of my masters program, and I enjoy Glen's classes. His assignments are tough, no question. But I have taken a class with Glen before and at least I know I can do the work to his satisfaction. I expect this one will be just as challenging as his Strat Com Research class was last semester, and that's daunting knowledge, but I am also equipped with the knowledge that I aced that course last time.
My Strategic Communications Practicum class is also shaping up to be a real challenge. My route through the class will be very different from that of my four lovely classmates, but I have made it over one of the major hurdles: designing the home page of the 2008 Centennial site. Suzette did a good job impressing on me how crucial this design needed to be, how it had to not only represent the finest journalism school in the world, but it had to shine as an example of the quality and excellence the school can produce. In short, the design had to be the best of the best, and I took that to be an extraordinary responsibility. I wanted my professors, including Suzette, to know I'd created this design and I wanted them to be proud of it. Suzette's response was just what I'd been shooting for: she was
exuberant.. She proudly unveiled it for the other students in class this past Thursday and told them I had "
nailed it." I couldn't have asked for a more encouraging response than that. Now my task turns to making some revisions, designing the interior page templates and producing the initial HTML code for Warren to begin production with. But the first big step, getting a design concept done that Suzette was happy with, is now behind me.
My third class is shaping up to be the hardest of the three .. and it is the one I'm getting the least course credit for. My Thesis Seminar class is designed to get us off and running on our theses and projects .. and this is the part where the rubber meets the road as far as getting our committee members to join up, getting a firm handle on the theory and making the commitment to the study chosen. My committee is complete as of today, and I'm very happy with them. Today Michael Porter agreed, enthusiastically, to join up as my fourth, non-j-school member (he's Communications). He said he was really excited to be a part of it because it looked like we were going to have fun doing it. That's exactly the kind of guy I want on my committee. Hopefully I will be able to get these guys' initial prospectus meeting out of the way so they can concentrate on their more conventional students' needs. But what's stymieing on this now is the theory. My Thesis Seminar prof is very exacting on what she's looking for, and we are to write a 1250-word paper detailing the theories we are investigating, including sources. We have a lit review due in two weeks as well. I know what I'm investigating, I know how I'm going to do it, I feel like I'm ready to start .. but to have to describe, in academic terms, the
theories I'm looking into has been like trying to give vocabulary to the taste of a hot dog. I feel a little closer to my material now than before, but I still have a lot of reading to do and this paper is due Tuesday. I know I'll be able to do it and do a good job, but I also know it's not going to be easy and will dominate my weekend, much like the 2008 designs dominated last weekend.
Then there's
Illumination magazine to work on, and the
Research Division site, and all the various minor responsibilities I'm in charge of at work. I'm also finishing up work for a client of mine, whose logo project is finally nearing its denouement after three months of development. I'm trying to take care of myself--eating when I have no appetite, trying to get enough sleep, and remembering to pay my bills on time (whoops). My money situation is good and my credit card debt will be zeroed out again in about a week from now.
Tomorrow, partly as a birthday present to myself and partly because I need to, I'm going to drive down to the Lake outlet mall and shop at the Nautica store there, for a new light jacket and two new pairs of work pants. I'm also going to see if I can find something for my mom's birthday, which is a week from tomorrow, while I'm down there. Next week my new iPod nano should arrive; I got the email from Apple that it's shipped. I'm pretty excited about that too. And tonight I bought a new (cheap) DVD player to replace the one that isn't working anymore. So I'm definitely letting myself medicate my distinct lack of a social life with happy gadgets and much needed clothes as a form of retail therapy, without taking on "bad debt". And this month marks the one-year anniversary of my Roth IRA, which has been seeing steady $200 deposits from each paycheck since its creation.
I'm very ready for the temperatures to drop. It can't happen soon enough. I'm hoping maybe this winter we'll get a good hard freeze early on to wipe out the bugs. Maybe we'll even get some snow to speak of this time too. But that's getting ahead of myself. For now I'm going to just be glad it's finally fall.
