Work and School
Ahh... the holidays are over, for the most part anyway.
Things here have been kinda crazy. The end of the semester did not (as I had hoped) mean that my life slowed down at all. In fact, I've managed to be even busier lately. But it's been a good kind of busy for the most part.
I love my new job. Other than switching the subject to music (other than art) it's pretty much perfect for me. Although, if I can't work at a music library yet, art is the second best fit. I get to stay on top of all the current exhibits and artists going on all over the world. My boss is super nice (and I think she likes me more now that she knows that I actually know a little something about art... a very little something, but still, every little bit helps). And she's really interested in helping me learn as much as possible about the WHOLE library and art museum world as possible while I'm there (as opposed to confining me to my assigned tasks). So it's been a lot of fun. Commuting has managed to live up to my expectations... I spend a LARGE amount of time getting to and from work (an embarrassing amount, so I wont reveal the exact time here). The morning commute isn't too bad, I usually leave early enough to miss the traffic on the toll roads. Then I have a cup of coffee at starbucks in tysons before getting on the metro. The evening commute isnt as fun though... probably because I'm more anxious to get home. But it's all worth the experience and references I'll come away with from this job.
My class schedule for next semester got completely upturned in a single day. I found out that one class I wanted to take (and finally got approved for) changed times, and one of my other classes that I was REALLY looking forward to... the teacher retired (quite suddenly... which seems to be happening a lot these days). So I've had to do a lot of rearranging, but I think I've finally decided on my course load for the spring: Mon- Music Research (which is a class for graduate level musicians, but they let me in since I have an interest in working in music libraries), Thurs- Bibliographic Control (I'm really not sure what that's going to be like, but it has somehting to do with cataloging and more technical processing stuff which I kinda like), and then I'm going to take my first ever online course that has something to do with Leadership issues in information management. We'll see how that goes. I'm most excited about the music class (duh), but I'm also a little nervous because I'm expecting that we'll have to write some ginormous paper, which I haven't done in a very very very long time. I've already tried to think of topics, but so far, nothing has really stuck out.
In related news, I finally got all my grades from this semester, yay! I dont usually brag about grades, or really mention them to others, but I did really well, and after all the hard work, I have to share it... I got 2 A's and an A+! Wahoo, I didnt even know they gave A+'s in grad school, not that it has an effect on my gpa (unfortunately). But at this point I'm half way through my program with a 4.0... hopefully I can keep that up.
So come mid-January I'm going to have to learn to juggle work and school in a way I've never done before. I just hope I can maintain the level of excellence to both that I've established for myself. But it is a little different because I now view each of them as equally important for my future career. I mean, I need my degree to get a job, but I should be able to get a good job because of the experience I'll have. We'll see how balanced I'm able to keep things. I keep trying to remind myself that it's not about getting an A, or about being perfect, it's just about doing my best and learning as much as possible.
Things here have been kinda crazy. The end of the semester did not (as I had hoped) mean that my life slowed down at all. In fact, I've managed to be even busier lately. But it's been a good kind of busy for the most part.
I love my new job. Other than switching the subject to music (other than art) it's pretty much perfect for me. Although, if I can't work at a music library yet, art is the second best fit. I get to stay on top of all the current exhibits and artists going on all over the world. My boss is super nice (and I think she likes me more now that she knows that I actually know a little something about art... a very little something, but still, every little bit helps). And she's really interested in helping me learn as much as possible about the WHOLE library and art museum world as possible while I'm there (as opposed to confining me to my assigned tasks). So it's been a lot of fun. Commuting has managed to live up to my expectations... I spend a LARGE amount of time getting to and from work (an embarrassing amount, so I wont reveal the exact time here). The morning commute isn't too bad, I usually leave early enough to miss the traffic on the toll roads. Then I have a cup of coffee at starbucks in tysons before getting on the metro. The evening commute isnt as fun though... probably because I'm more anxious to get home. But it's all worth the experience and references I'll come away with from this job.
My class schedule for next semester got completely upturned in a single day. I found out that one class I wanted to take (and finally got approved for) changed times, and one of my other classes that I was REALLY looking forward to... the teacher retired (quite suddenly... which seems to be happening a lot these days). So I've had to do a lot of rearranging, but I think I've finally decided on my course load for the spring: Mon- Music Research (which is a class for graduate level musicians, but they let me in since I have an interest in working in music libraries), Thurs- Bibliographic Control (I'm really not sure what that's going to be like, but it has somehting to do with cataloging and more technical processing stuff which I kinda like), and then I'm going to take my first ever online course that has something to do with Leadership issues in information management. We'll see how that goes. I'm most excited about the music class (duh), but I'm also a little nervous because I'm expecting that we'll have to write some ginormous paper, which I haven't done in a very very very long time. I've already tried to think of topics, but so far, nothing has really stuck out.
In related news, I finally got all my grades from this semester, yay! I dont usually brag about grades, or really mention them to others, but I did really well, and after all the hard work, I have to share it... I got 2 A's and an A+! Wahoo, I didnt even know they gave A+'s in grad school, not that it has an effect on my gpa (unfortunately). But at this point I'm half way through my program with a 4.0... hopefully I can keep that up.
So come mid-January I'm going to have to learn to juggle work and school in a way I've never done before. I just hope I can maintain the level of excellence to both that I've established for myself. But it is a little different because I now view each of them as equally important for my future career. I mean, I need my degree to get a job, but I should be able to get a good job because of the experience I'll have. We'll see how balanced I'm able to keep things. I keep trying to remind myself that it's not about getting an A, or about being perfect, it's just about doing my best and learning as much as possible.
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