Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Summer jobs and no lovin'

The summer job hunt has been particularly loathsome this year. Because I was unwilling to spend my usual month searching for a job I took the first job that offered, which happened to be grounds, as I believe I mentioned in my previous email. That has been ok, but very tiring! When my class ended on Wednesday (in which I got an A, to my great satisfaction) I realized I needed to find another part-time job or a new full-time job because I think working eight hour days on grounds would probably kill me :) So I began looking and after one day I once again took the first job offered, working in the dining hall of one of the campus dorms. However, this involved working Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday nights and after a few days of pondering on it I realized I just wasn't willing to do it and that I would rather wear myself out working grounds then give up my Saturday. So I called and told them so, however, I also told them (because I felt guilty) that I could still do it this week if they really needed me. Unfortunately, they did really need me. So I worked in the kitchen on Tuesday night. It was the worst job experience I'd ever had and by the end of the night I was thanking God that I'd already told them I couldn't do it. It's just as exhausting and hot as working out side only it's twice as stressful (because there has to be a constant supply of food) and twice as loud (because there's all the people and all the machines, and it's not just a low drone, it's constant commotion). And the people who did the training meeting started off by trying to flatter us (telling us we were the "cream of the crop" and had been carefully selected when anyone there knew that they were really hiring anyone who could walk and breathe on their own). I hate lying, even kind lying when it's done like that. And ended by telling us all the ways that we could get fired and have our lives made miserable. By the time I left I had a pounding pain in my head and a prayer of thanksgiving in my heart. I dread going back tomorrow and Saturday and the only reason I can do it is because I know that after that I never have to go back again.
Blessedly, I just got asked to be the research assistant to one of the professors in my department. So, at least for the next few weeks, I can still avoid working grounds full-time and be making at least twice as much money :)
As a final bit of news, it looks like I may actually get a thesis committee put together by the end of this week, which means that I might actually get a thesis written sometime this year, which means I might actually graduate by the end of the coming school year. Hallelujah!

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Summer semester continues

Nothing too exciting going on right now. As a follow-up from my last post, I managed to get "A"s in both of my classes last semester, for which I was extremely grateful. I am really enjoying my last class, which ends next Wednesday, both because it is my last class and because it's been a really interesting subject matter with lots of reading that I have really enjoyed. I especially liked reading The Mysteries of Udolpho and The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Northanger Abbey, if anyone's looking for summer reading (though I will admit that none of them are real "page-turners," there is something deeper that makes them good reads).
After my class ends I will look for full-time work to take up the remainder of summer. I'm not sure how much longer I can take working the grounds. It's nice to be outside but it is really exhausting work and the hotter it gets the more tired I get. I'm just not really built for manual labor and my right shoulder has also started to give me some trouble as a result of an old injury being irritated.
Other than that I don't have a lot to report. James is getting close to his year mark, which just makes me happy! My brother, Gary, will be getting home from his mission in November and my sister, Kerstin, will be home in February. I'm really excited to have Gary home in the near future; he's just such a good kid and I have missed him.