I'm Halfway There

So, as of May 14, I'm officially halfway done with my college education. I can't believe it: two years from now I'll be looking for my first out-of-college job, presumably as an English teacher in grades 4-8. All I can say is wow. Two years down, two years to go.

This past semester was... er, eventful. Still, despite the shitty roommates, I felt like I had a good semester all in all. I got the opportunity to really start to understand the English language and all of its complexities. It never ceases to amaze me just how much you can learn about something you've been using your entire life. It's like learning some new technique of walking! Oh wait, I did that with marching band already. ;) Anyway, I really think I've got a better grasp of English grammar than I did at the beginning of the semester, which is, naturally, the intent of such a class. I walked away from that class able to diagram most any sentence and identify any and all of the parts of speech in a sentence. All I have to say is that native speakers do some screwy stuff with the language when we speak.

What else, what else? Oh, yes: I start work next Wednesday. I've decided to take back my job from last summer at the kennel, seeing as how the other place I used to work at is now closed. Sad day! The good news is that my boss said, when I went into work on a random day at the end of Spring Break, that he had fixed the air conditioner in the back. Maybe now the kennel work won't be quite so oppressive!! Of course, there's always cleaning up messes left by dogs, but since I had to clean that grody bathtub that my roommate refused to clean, I think some dog messes won't be quite so bad. I'm still gonna have to grin and bear it when it comes to giving out medication to the dogs, as that involves large globs of wet dog food in the palm of my hand and burying pills within. It's McGross, for sure. The good thing is that this year, I'll be starting with days on reception within my second week of being at work! Yay!! I love the thrill of the reception desk: the constant calls and the computer... oh, it's lovely. I'm a little worried that I've kinda forgotten the system, but I'm hoping that a brief review of the policies and procedures packet will serve to adequately refresh me.

This job will kinda be sucking up my summer, I'm afraid. It's kinda looking like I'll be working 4-5 days a week. At 9-10 hour days, it's looking like I may have a 40-50 hour week. At least I know that the money's going to be real good. I got bumped up to $9.25 an hour, which is INSANE for a summer job. This summer's going to be real good for racking up a generous savings account, which will be helpful for when my job is no longer quite as lucrative as this one, i.e. when I'm teaching. So, if nobody sees me quite as much this summer, this is why.

Oh well! At least I have a really good weekend ahead of me. Memorial Day weekend is looking like it's going to be splendiforous. There's supposed to be a Civil War re-enactment happening in the historical district of town on Saturday and Sunday, which I'm pretty excited about. All of the people involved are real enthusiasts, and they're supposed to know their stuff. It's so exciting to be around people who are just as nerdy about history as I am, although I will admit that my expertise doesn't lie in the actual battles and whatnot of the Civil War. Really, I'm more of a "culture of the time" type of person. What can I say? Gone with the Wind really intrigued me!

Then Sunday or Monday the family is going to go and do Renaissance festival. I'm so excited!! I've been sewing furiously for the past week, putting all the finishing touches on my dress. I'm just hoping and praying for good weather, especially for it to be not so hot. The fact that the dress is primarily home decorator weight fabric (aka HEAVY), I'm going to be wilting by mid-morning if the weather doesn't cooperate. That would be sad after all the work that's gone into this thing! Oh well: guess there's only one thing to do, and that's to wait and see. Surely things will all work out! :)

Well, that's about it, really. Hopefully I'll update again soon with some sort of crazy work story! :)

~Rachel