School Work School Work
So thanks to last night's snow and ice performance, I didnt end up going to work today like I should have. And even though the government had a 2 hour delay with liberal leave, and my boss did tell me that if I couldnt make it in, to call her and let her know... I still feel kinda guilty for not going in. I mean, I tried to get to work. I got up this morning, took a shower, put on my work clothes and went outside to scrape the ice off my car, but i didnt make it very far before I realized that it would probably be very stupid for me to try to venture in to DC. So I reluctantly stayed home.
Since I spent the day at home as opposed to work, I tried to make the most of it. I used the extra time to catch up on homework, readings, and vacuuming... and now I even have a little bit of time to actually post an entry in my blog. Which I realize has been neglected, but I just dont really feel much like being on my computer when I dont have to. But anyway... I'm here now, with some (somewhat) random things to comment on... here I go:
Well I guess I can start with a brief catch-up of life. I started classes. they are going well so far. Of course it's early in the semester, which means that nothing of any kind of substance has been due so far, but that will all be changing soon. Apparently I signed up for "paper heavy" classes this semester. Which kinda sucks, I prefer tests over papers any day. But I've made it pretty far into grad school without having to turn in a significant (as in over 5 pages) paper yet, which I knew had to come to an end at some point.
So far I'm enjoying my Music Research class the most, but I guess that's to be expected. This week we had to present our topics for "the" paper for the class. With a little guidance from the teacher I'm going to be writing about the Paris premier of Stravinsky's ballet Rite of Spring, which caused a riot. This topic has been widely covered so coming up with a new angle was tough, but I'm going to be looking at how the Paris premier compared with other world class city premiers, as well as looking into the reception of other ballets performed in Paris that year/season to see if perhaps the Paris audience had some sort of bias (which would put the cause of the riot less on the ballet itself and more on the culture of Paris at the time). So hopefully there's something to that... otherwise I'm going to be doing A LOT of research with no results. But I'm excited because I really will have to do some substantial research (especially with primary sources) that I think will help improve my reference skills. Unfortunately, I'm sure the fact that I dont speak a word of French may present a few problems along the way... anyone out there enjoy translating French text??
The one thing I will say about taking the music class... I was kinda afraid that by taking the class I would realize what a huge mistake I made by abandoning music for library science. I mean, afterall, music is my first love. And library school has about zero to do with that. But I have to say, that during the first class (where we were all introducing ourselves), I really felt confident in the fact that I had made the right decision. If for no other reason than the fact that I think I'm employable now. I mean my whole reason for going to grad school was always about trying to get a career in a field I was interested in, and I just could never come up with the "perfect" field that went along with a masters in musicology. Whereas there are plenty of careers that interest me (and that I can see myself doing long term) in the MLS track.
That's school in a nutshell... The other major time consumer in my life right now is work...
Which is going well. My boss retired a few weeks ago, so until they hire a replacement (which wont be for a while, if at all while I'm still there) I'm taking care of her responsibilities. At first I was pretty much freaked out, it's a little overwhelming, considering the fact that this is my first library job and i have no art or art history background. And considering the fact that this job was supposed to be a chance for me to work closely with and learn from an experienced librarian, I wasn't really sure how I'd manage once things changed. But so far things have been fine. I feel pretty confident in what I'm doing, and everyone in my department is willing to help whenever I have a question. Recently the head of the department (who is now my direct boss) asked me to start training on the reference desk, as well as learning how the other parts of the department work, so that I can be more well rounded. Again I was kinda freaked out (mostly by the reference desk... since, as I mentioned before, I dont really have an art history background, and therefore dont really know the "standard" art reference resources), but since the training started I found that I kinda liked it. And as long as I know basic reference, all I have to do is learn titles and locations of the specific art books and I think I'll be ok. Anyway, I basically have to get over my reservations because I really want to accomplish three things with this job: one- learn as much as I can about libraries, two- gain skills, and three- have good, relevant experience to put on my future resume. So that's work.
Those are the big things going on. Other things are less interesting. Our washing machine flooded part of the basement last week, matt and I had to changed a tire on his car right before the superbowl (which was interesting, but we worked well as a team... attempting to figure out how to change a tire), heroes is turning out to be better than 24 this season (especially now that the old Dr Who is a character), I nearly gave up on General Hospital, but then it got good again (and by the way... one of the ESPN sportscaster guys made a cameo on the show because he's been a big fan of it his whole life... so I guess soap operas arent just for girly-girls afterall).
And... I guess thats enough for now.
Since I spent the day at home as opposed to work, I tried to make the most of it. I used the extra time to catch up on homework, readings, and vacuuming... and now I even have a little bit of time to actually post an entry in my blog. Which I realize has been neglected, but I just dont really feel much like being on my computer when I dont have to. But anyway... I'm here now, with some (somewhat) random things to comment on... here I go:
Well I guess I can start with a brief catch-up of life. I started classes. they are going well so far. Of course it's early in the semester, which means that nothing of any kind of substance has been due so far, but that will all be changing soon. Apparently I signed up for "paper heavy" classes this semester. Which kinda sucks, I prefer tests over papers any day. But I've made it pretty far into grad school without having to turn in a significant (as in over 5 pages) paper yet, which I knew had to come to an end at some point.
So far I'm enjoying my Music Research class the most, but I guess that's to be expected. This week we had to present our topics for "the" paper for the class. With a little guidance from the teacher I'm going to be writing about the Paris premier of Stravinsky's ballet Rite of Spring, which caused a riot. This topic has been widely covered so coming up with a new angle was tough, but I'm going to be looking at how the Paris premier compared with other world class city premiers, as well as looking into the reception of other ballets performed in Paris that year/season to see if perhaps the Paris audience had some sort of bias (which would put the cause of the riot less on the ballet itself and more on the culture of Paris at the time). So hopefully there's something to that... otherwise I'm going to be doing A LOT of research with no results. But I'm excited because I really will have to do some substantial research (especially with primary sources) that I think will help improve my reference skills. Unfortunately, I'm sure the fact that I dont speak a word of French may present a few problems along the way... anyone out there enjoy translating French text??
The one thing I will say about taking the music class... I was kinda afraid that by taking the class I would realize what a huge mistake I made by abandoning music for library science. I mean, afterall, music is my first love. And library school has about zero to do with that. But I have to say, that during the first class (where we were all introducing ourselves), I really felt confident in the fact that I had made the right decision. If for no other reason than the fact that I think I'm employable now. I mean my whole reason for going to grad school was always about trying to get a career in a field I was interested in, and I just could never come up with the "perfect" field that went along with a masters in musicology. Whereas there are plenty of careers that interest me (and that I can see myself doing long term) in the MLS track.
That's school in a nutshell... The other major time consumer in my life right now is work...
Which is going well. My boss retired a few weeks ago, so until they hire a replacement (which wont be for a while, if at all while I'm still there) I'm taking care of her responsibilities. At first I was pretty much freaked out, it's a little overwhelming, considering the fact that this is my first library job and i have no art or art history background. And considering the fact that this job was supposed to be a chance for me to work closely with and learn from an experienced librarian, I wasn't really sure how I'd manage once things changed. But so far things have been fine. I feel pretty confident in what I'm doing, and everyone in my department is willing to help whenever I have a question. Recently the head of the department (who is now my direct boss) asked me to start training on the reference desk, as well as learning how the other parts of the department work, so that I can be more well rounded. Again I was kinda freaked out (mostly by the reference desk... since, as I mentioned before, I dont really have an art history background, and therefore dont really know the "standard" art reference resources), but since the training started I found that I kinda liked it. And as long as I know basic reference, all I have to do is learn titles and locations of the specific art books and I think I'll be ok. Anyway, I basically have to get over my reservations because I really want to accomplish three things with this job: one- learn as much as I can about libraries, two- gain skills, and three- have good, relevant experience to put on my future resume. So that's work.
Those are the big things going on. Other things are less interesting. Our washing machine flooded part of the basement last week, matt and I had to changed a tire on his car right before the superbowl (which was interesting, but we worked well as a team... attempting to figure out how to change a tire), heroes is turning out to be better than 24 this season (especially now that the old Dr Who is a character), I nearly gave up on General Hospital, but then it got good again (and by the way... one of the ESPN sportscaster guys made a cameo on the show because he's been a big fan of it his whole life... so I guess soap operas arent just for girly-girls afterall).
And... I guess thats enough for now.
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