Monday, January 21, 2008

alas she speaks after a long silence

blah.
well obviously I survived Dead Week. and Exam Week. Grades weren't ones for the charts but I'm at peace with them. Winter Break was fun and eventful. Went to VA to visit Mom's parents and then unexpectedly to NY because Eva was in a snowboarding accident but you'd know about that if you read my mom's blog. Sam and I came home on New Year's day, drove in a blinding blizzard the whole way and I went to work for the rest of break. I nanny for a family of 8 in my neighborhood whenever I'm home on break. It's crazy, hectic, and sometimes I want to lie on the floor in the fetal position, but the pay is the best, the schedule is very flexible and I love those kids. I've been working for them for about two years and I keep saying next summer I'll get a steady 9-5er for the work experience but I really can't beat what I've got. Last summer for instance, I was able to go on vacation like 6 times and I reaaaally don't want to give up the fabulous Carolus summer trips.

Tangent aside, it's the start of week 3 for the new semester and I just might lose my mind. I scaled back on the credit hours but I picked up a job and even though I'm only working ~15 hrs a week, it's pretty hectic. I work in the main office of my residence hall. I answer phones, sell stamps, rent out movies, spare keys, make copies and shred stuff. I was thrown into work with a very very inadequate training session and an associate who thinks she's boss of the universe that likes to point out everything I do wrong. We have to fill out cash reports at the beginning and the end of every shift because they rotate cash drawers in the registers and those were the bane of my existence for the first few days. I kept messing up little details (because I had no idea what I was doing) and formerly mentioned boss of the universe (hereafter referred to as B.O.U.) admonished me with a shocked look on her face as though my omission of decimal points in reporting there were $35 in ones would cause our esteemed university to crumble to the dust. I have to stifle the wierd urge to curtsy whenever B.O.U. speaks.

I take it all with a grain of salt, however because B.O.U. is not actually my boss. She is the full time admin. assistant I take over for on Tuesdays. She did not hire me and she does not sign my paychecks and while I respect her opinion, I am not intimidated by her constant criticism. I recognize that my training was inadequate but I am a fast learner and I'm doing the best I can.

In other news, my classes are all interesting, even my Intro to Foreign Relations class that's taught by a fossil at 7:30 a.m. three days of the week. I have that class with Catherine so we force each other to get up in the morning and exchange pen jabs during lecture if we see the other falling asleep. Have I mentioned that I love my roommate? She brings me food when I have to work through a meal time at the office. Another class I'm taking, Intro to Oceanography, is with Lauren, who goes to my meeting and that's been really great.

My oddest class is shaping up to be my Ancient Classics on Film class, taught by a professor I had a year ago. This is one of the quirkiest professors I have yet to meet. Class is never boring. We read the Odyssey the first week of class and were supposed to watch the film version but according to him, "it's lame so we're going to watch Ong Bok instead". Ong Bok is a martial arts movie that has absolutely NOTHING to do with Homer's classic. We were still studying the Odyssey last week and what did we watch this time? A French Brigette Bardot film from the 50s. While it keeps things interesting, I am having the hardest time drawing parallels in my discussion essay. The most interesting class is A History of the Modern Middle East, where we discuss at length the cultural and political background of Middle Eastern countries and how it has shaped the region of today.

Anyway, this is longer than I intended it to be but it's been awhile since my last post. It is early but I'm going to bed because I'm sick for the second time in two weeks and tomorrow is going to be a really busy day. I'm pretty sure I will have lost my voice entirely by tomorrow which will make answering the phones at work rather difficult:
[in a hoarse whisper] "Good afternoon, Windsor Main Office."
"Why are you whispering??"
"Because sign language is harder over the phone?"
Oh well, I'll just siphon down copious amounts of chamomile and honey before my shift.

Good night.

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