Dinosaur Bones

That's what I feel I'm digging up by posting here again. Thought it would be nice to give some actual updates since I don't really post status updates on facebook anymore.

I'm working full time as a secretary for NSU's Communication, Art, & Theatre department. I was lucky to get the job only two months after graduating, but it's definitely not something I want to be doing forever. It has great benefits and I love the faculty I work with, but most of the time this job is overwhelming and I get frustrated with everything I have to do in such a short amount of time.

I'm still working on opening my own art store though. I've heard rumors of someone else opening one, but have seen nothing yet. I'd love to be able to open for next fall. I keep dreaming about it, but I'm finding it hard to be motivated enough to finish the business plan. I think I'm just going to have to set some serious goals about working on this if I want it done. Hopefully, if I post it somewhere where I see it everyday, I'll actually work on it.

At the same time, I'm still debating graduate school. I would love to have a Master's for Photography, but finding the right school and getting the funding are my concerns. If I could take some online courses while working with my store, that would be amazing. I doubt that I could find something that awesome, though.

I guess I'll see what the future brings.

Busy!

I know I was going to blog every day, which I actually did for a while, at least on another blog. I don't blog every day, but I at least blog frequently. I need to blog here more often though so people actually know what's going on in my life other than lame facebook status updates.

I'll keep it short for now.

Went to visit my family in Kentucky for my niece's high school graduation. My niece, Susie, just graduated last week. Man, do I feel old.

Kentucky is amazing, especially Lexington. I think I'd like to live there one day. Not literally one day, but you know what I mean. There's so much to do there and you can still live in a country setting and still be within like 15 minutes of this giant city.

It was so much fun visiting with family, especially since I don't see them very often. It's funny, because my niece, Jenny, acts just the same as when I last her (not maturity level, but personality), when she was about 12. lol.

Bought some new clothes and did cool things. I kind of miss it already, except their super cold house... :[

Back home now, but already packing for Tahlequah this next week. I've got AOII work week this week and my friend's wedding on Friday! Man oh man alive! Pretty excited! Not exactly looking forward to the 10 hour drive to Louisiana though... :/

Fun times ahead though! :D


~Me


P.S. I've also decided what I really want for life, well, besides family. I'd really like to teach for a while, but I really want to open up my own gallery/studio, maybe one with my sister if we could both every agree on a city to live in. lol

Career Uncertainties

So phone blog was a success, so here I am again. Phone blog is a fail unless I only send a little over a page of phone text. It ended up just breaking up every page into it's own individual post. Lame.

I've been reading a book called "What Color is Your Parachute" by Richard Bolles. My sister was recommended the book by an old professor and in turn, my sister recommended it to me after a discussion we had about careers. The book is a guide for job/career hunting ,and needless to say my sister and I have our uncertainties about our future.

I'm only about a third of the way into the book right now, but it's really interesting. He talks about being more specific in your job hunt. Like if you want to be a secretary, decide if you want to be a secretary for a law firm, or a day care center, etc. He walks you through every step so you can discover what you want to do and how to get there.

This book has helped me analyze what I really want to do. I'm still pretty uncertain, but I have a better idea of my ideal job(s). It's definitely better than just shrugging when asked what I plan to do when I graduate.

I've realized that I really enjoy writing, and ideally, I'd absolutely love to be a web writer for an art site of some sort. I'm trying to blog every day now so I can get more experience. I wish I had something more specific to write about that hasn't already been done, though.

I'm still interested in running my own craft/art shop. I love crafts and if I really had more free time on my hands that's what I'd probably be doing.

I'd still kind of like to be a photographer or design professor, though. It's not exactly at the top of my career choices, but it would make me feel more comfortable about the photography degree I'm working on. It would still require more school, unfortunately...

I've even given thought to fashion photography, but still not certain if I want to go that route. At least these last two options would make me feel that my degree was worth something.

I know I didn't talk about the book much and even if I'm not done I still highly recommend this book to anyone who's concerned about their career.

I'll keep you all updated on the book and how my career planning goes. <3>

Ugh. Sometimes I really hate mobile phones especially with the limited internet capabilities they have. I guess I should be lucky to even have what I do have when it comes to internet for phone. Well, just seeing how this mobile update works and if it will work well enough for the future.

Renewal

I wanted to update earlier this week, but I just kept putting it off. Figured I'd take advantage of the bit of free time I have right now.

I've edited this post. I was originally going to rant a bit about stupid things that happened this week and how I want to punch a certain set of specific girls. But after today I don't feel like complaining. I'd like to move on. Ignore the anger and frustration, focus on the good.

I'm really excited for this semester. So far, I think my Heavenly Father is really looking out for me. Last semester was Hell. I feel that this semester isn't going to be as stressful in my work load.

Classes didn't start on Monday as scheduled, but got my first syllabus that day for Web Site Design and Management, my online class. I was a bit worried when I first enrolled since I pretty much bombed the online class I took this past summer. I was so excited when I realized it would be more in depth information from the Web Design class I already took. There was even more of a burden lifted when I discovered I had the entire semester to work on the projects for class and not having to turn in weekly assignments.

Printmaking is going to be lots of fun, very, VERY expensive, but lots of fun. Frustrated because I went to buy supplies and they're out of 4"x6" linoblocks and I need to have my first proof done by Tuesday's class. I don't drive either. Not that I'd be able to get to Muskogee to buy one even if I could drive since I have a weekend class starting this afternoon at 4:30.

Walking for fitness will be extremely easy. Just show up to class and walk. Whoo.

Computer Science might be the class with some of the biggest problems, mostly because it's so boring. Ugh.

Then there's Typography. SO EXCITED! I love Mr. Cotton, I won't lie. Not at all in the romantic sense, but clearly in the platonic student - mentor relationship. Last semester was his first semester here, right out of graduate school from Louisiana. He's the Graphics professor we truly needed for our department. I love his drive and passion for all his students to do their best. I love that he keeps telling us how we should be able to get the best jobs right out of school and that's what he's preparing us for. I know I will probably struggle to a degree in this class, but it's all for the best. I'm so excited to see what I'll produce for this class. I'm really wanting to go to the conference in Texas at the end of March.

Just got out of one of my weekend classes, Understanding Suicide. I know, completely unrelated to my major or minor, but definitely an interest of mine, understanding and preventing it, not suicide itself. Oh gee. I might go into more detail about this in another post, but it was a real eye opening experience. Some of the things people had experienced in that class... I know this sounds cliche, but it was deep. I feel more aware of things going on around me and that I have a new appreciation for life. Sounds odd saying that seeing as it was just a two day class. We also watched Seven Pounds. If you haven't seen it, I recommend watching it. I just really appreciate that class. I've been wanting to volunteer for Hope Line or something similar, and this class has given me a little more drive to do so.

I'm just so excited about this semester.
About all the things I'm doing for myself and to improve things in my life and prepare myself for the future.
About all the things I want to do for others.

Just Thinking

This has been on my mind today and just my quick blurb on gay marriage.

I'm Latter Day Saint(LDS)/Mormon and I think gay marriage should be legal. Religiously, no, I don't believe that gay marriage is right. I also believe in free agency and the power to choose how we live our own lives, so in turn, I believe that we shouldn't have a say in how someone else lives their life, especially when it comes to love. Who am I to take away their right to choose? And how does their gay marriage even affect my life? It doesn't. Letting someone else live their life as a LGBT and/or married is not going to make me more likely to become lesbian or bisexual or make any wrong choices, unless they themselves are already making poor choices (e.g. illegal drugs). My boss/advisor/Assistant Director of Housing is openly lesbian and this hasn't negatively affected how I live my life. If anything, working for her has made me more open minded about things like this.

Unfortunately, this won't be how many people think, nor will they ever open their mind to this thought.

Articles that Drive Me Nuts

So, I know I'm not the best journalist and never will be, but I have taken a course over it, read a lot of newspaper articles, and learned what's good and bad writing. I feel bad for this, but I feel inclined to rip peoples articles apart when I know they're horribly written.

I learned about the blog that the Basic Writing for the Media class is doing this semester a few weeks ago, but just started reading recently. I know not to expect that everyone's going to be a writing genius or master the skill after this one course, but I still expect students to attend class and actually learn. It's almost the end of the semester and students are still writing articles like they would have if it were the first week of the semester.

Students are misinformed and use assumptions as sources for their articles. I still find spelling mistakes throughout the piece and the horrible continual usage of "she said"/"he said".

For example: http://basicwritng2010.blogspot.com/2010/10/wilson-renovation-equals-reopening.html

The title alone annoys me enough. There is not a single paragraph in this entire article that does not use the word "said". When someone has a continuous thought, there's no need to separate it into three different paragraphs. The overall flow of the article is so choppy and I find it hard to follow. I'm annoyed at the sources she chose to use as well. You are told in the course to use at least four source and I only found three in hers. I was especially frustrated with the fact that she used a Resident Assistant as main information about Housing's plans. Employed as a Resident Assistant this previous year, I have learned that as an RA, you don't always know everything about Housing and their plans for campus. The author of this article should have found someone else higher up to use as a source for some of this information, maybe Tammie Willis who is Assistant Director of Residential Life and Education or maybe even Randy Shelton, interim Director of Housing.

I even read another article that stated an event was a yearly event, even though I know this is the first year they've done the event. They were basically copying an extremely similar event that my fraternity has been hosting yearly for at least 5 years now.

So, maybe I'm just rude, but things like this really drive me nuts.
There are still some other articles that have been well written and are highly interesting, so you should still take a look at the blog.