Stress.

The bureaucratic boondoggle is not much closer to being resolved and I can't get a hold of people I need to talk to to finish up. Kind of have a time frame, too, for getting stuff done.

It's actually turning up a lot of old, unpleasant memories of past dealings with the same folks*. That in and of itself is tough, because I'm not the best glued-together person in the world, emotionally speaking.

***


*(See, Be, it's *not* you doesn't help much, either.)

Exams finished; made it through more or less unscathed. Felt myself seizing at about 11/2 hours in, so made a point of getting up and stretching some.

Got all my papers back for the year, as well. Grades were much better than what I thought I'd merited. One paper in particular made me happy and went to talk about it in more depth with the professor during office hours. Offered some other observations on the subject at hand, some other points in time to look at in the continuum, a book to check out. I think I have a nice little something to keep me out of trouble over the summer (at least).

Now to crash. The tension's left the body and I feel like a wet noodle. (Good night.)

Flowering Trees



Fiddleheads



Bird Family Values



Oh, and lots of fretting over school and exams. That's what's going on in my little world right now.

I can't wait until next week when, for better or for worse, the school stuff will be done for the Summer, anyway.

Professor's still not back yet. Hopefully soon. Not that I mind the guy pinch hitting for her right now or anything; it's just that I like her better.

Alright, back to the salt mines (or, more to the point, the coal mines and textile factories of early 19th century Britain).

Was glad to see our professor back again today, even if her arm was in a sling. Had every reason to be out last week, as apparently, she was in an accident and separated her shoulder. Hasn't been fixed yet; hopefully that won't be too complicated or traumatic.

Got to class early today, prepared and everything for a change. However, the prof didn't make it in. I'm hoping that everything's okay.

Metternich, Bismark, Frederick William.

Garibaldi, Victor-Emmanuel, Cavour.

Second Republic, Second Empire, Third Empire.

Schlesweig-Holstein, Piedmont, Crimea, Sedan.

Oy - if only I'd have been born 1000 years ago. I'd have had much less history to learn.

Busy Day.

I'd arranged for some part-time temporary work at a local school. Turns out that they want me full-time for at least this week. Though I like them well enough, I'm not keen on working anywhere full time right now*.

As my grades were so surprisingly stellar**, I decided to treat myself to the sequel to the Western Civilization course I took last semester. Enjoyed it immensely and, well, I'm a sucker for a good potboiler. Since this all but depletes the History offerings at the school, I'm thinking maybe of an Economics course as well. We'll see.

Anyway, the registration has to be accomplished before work. Work's all day after that and it promises to be hectic. Need to fit in haggling with Commonwealth effing Care and my alma mater. Also need to get a couple doctor appointments arranged.

It'll all get done. I'll be fine. Just am a little cranky at leaving the house right now.

***

*No, I'm not independently wealthy. My ability to take time off, take classes and get my life straightened out comes from the fact that, while everyone else around me seemed to be buying Priuses, iPhones, flat-screen TVs and adjustable-rate mortgages, I was paying off my credit card and student loans, searching for a cheaper place to live and saving money. It took time, and, unfortunately, a job that I didn't much care for that paid well. But, well, life's sometimes about delayed gratification. Am not into job-hopping, as I was never raised to believe in that elusive to the point of being almost non-existent "perfect fit" in the work world. How could there ever be with my background?

**An A- for one class: Not bad, considering I got a pretty awful grade on one assignment when the whole thing with my brother went down> Must have aced the exam. Will ask the professor if I can see it. I had this really odd feeling I'd never experienced before that I did incredibly well. The other class, the one I was worried about, was a straight A. Maybe good grades shouldn't come as such a surprise for me, as it seems that whenever I actually do the work, I end up with almost perfect scores. Funny how that works.

Kind of like that dream where I get sick and miss all my finals.

So, got to school (it's on the way to work) and found the place dark, the doors locked.

On the doors, someone had hastily taped up signs stating that the college was closed due to inclement weather.

Got to work (another local university that DIDN'T take the copout because it's the end of the semester, meaning exams need to be taken, grades need to be posted. Heck, this morning, someone even defended their doctoral thesis here.) and saw this posted on my school's website:

Friday December 19, 2008

Due to inclement weather conditions, Bunker Hill Community College's Charlestown, Chelsea and satellite campuses are closed today, Friday, December 19th.

Friday exams are canceled. Final grades will be computed by your instructor based on work completed thus far. Check this site again tomorrow for Saturday, December 20th news. Also, please tune to your local television or radio stations for further advisories.

So, I emailed my paper in. Also cc:d the professor, for what it's worth. Thought of using my open for business school email address, but decided against.

Boy, am I tired.

On the Wire.

So, will she get the writing done that she needs to, or not?

She has to reconcile FDR as a Politician with his ability as a Public Policy maker.



We'll see.

Very little talk till the end of the month. I have too much outside work to do.

Yes, and today's history lecture was on the dawn of the 14th century. Namely, the Black Death.

Wednesday is going to prove to be just as cheery, as the focus will be on the Hundred Years War.

(American History: I'm between two depressions. Love Teddy Roosevelt, though I can tell that Hofstadter couldn't stand him and really tried to push the notion that he suffered from Little Wiener syndrome. Not too nuts about FDR.)

Nose to the Grindstone Time.

One more paper done. Have two more that I want to finish before Thanksgiving and two more that I want done by the following weekend. Wish me luck.

Given that I'd worked across the street from an abattoir for not quite a decade, I really don't have much problem with chicken slaying, ritual or otherwise. Am seriously thinking of wearing my Christmas tee shirt to class in response.

Am still trying to decide whether I have a cold or allergies. Maybe it was a cold, after all. The glands on my neck are swollen, I'm tired all the time as well. Concentration's tough; it feels as though my head's stuffed with packing peanuts.

Am almost finished with my Gilded Age paper; talked my way through it with my Dad. Dad's a pretty major history buff and helped clarify things, point out stuff I left out, etc.

It's not writer's block that is getting to me. Rather, the fact that I always end up with twice what I need information and word-wise to complete the assignment. Cutting always feels bad, but what else can one do?

Gosh, I enjoy this.

Have been a bit under the weather lately - twisted my back. Will get better when the weather dries up. Also, a couple very interesting assignment topics:

American History - on the notion of Social Darwinism and how industrialists subscribed to that. Also, how it helped in molding what we consider the "American Dream" for immigrants, Americans in the lower classes.

Western Civilization - a 'special assignment.' We had to either do a book report, do a critique of a couple assigned films, go to a classical music concert and describe that, or go to an art museum and describe a few works we saw there. I chose the last option, and not just because I was at the Louvre last week, either. Had for a while been tossing around the idea for a little presentation outlining Hellenistic influence on art in Persia



Three Persian goddesses (Inanna?), ca. 300 bce - 300 ce. Click to see everyone in the picture; Blogger's cutting things off again.

as well as in more modern (Renaissance and beyond) works.



Three Graces, Jean-Jacques Pradier, 1831

This could easily have been done based on both Harvard's and the MFA's holdings, but, well, since I had some good pictures from France, I figured what the heck.

Had another assignment due on Tuesday for Western Civilization - got it handed in, but wasn't very pleased about it (and said so). This was regarding elements of Roman Civilization that disappeared and were preserved in the Germanic kingdoms that filled the power vacuum after the collapse of the Western sector of the old empire. Not too difficult, but my brain kind of froze up with the family stupidity going on and I began fixating on the similarities/differences between Burgundian Law and Hammurabi's Code (namely social stratification and the idea of fixing a monetary value on people).



Was more than a little dazzled by this. Given its significance, (Hammurabi's Code being one of the bases of Western Law and all), was surprised to see the hall where it's displayed nearly empty.

I hate it when my brain goes AWOL on me like that.

"Prayer was my practice, sacrificing my law,
The day of worship of the gods the joy of my heart,
The day of devotion to the goddess more to me than riches;
What, however, seems good to oneself, to a god is displeasing,
What is spurned by oneself finds favor with a god;
Who is there that can grasp the will of the gods in heaven?
The plan of a god is full of mystery - who can understand it?
How can mortals learn the way of a god?"

An excerpt from a psalm that I need to make a few guesses about for my first Western Civilization class paper. (Where is the quote from?, What time period?, History of that culture, Most important contribution of said culture.)

All of this must be based on what we've read in class so far. No outside sources.

Interesting bit of forensic work, no? I'm really enjoying the class.

(By the way, you can google it if you want, but don't send any links back to me. I want to keep the magic of the mystery, work things out myself, enjoy the challenge.)

Spent yesterday here.

Was long, tedious, hard. Got 95% of what I needed, though, so am happy.

My class starts next Wednesday. Wish me luck.

(The other class has already started, as it's a self-directed study one. Have already begun the readings.)

Why am I doing this? Well: never took History in college. Haven't taken a college course in nearly 10 years. Really need to get back into the swing of things writing-wise. I took these classes last semester, but ended up dropping due to the hell my life turned into, too. It's personal now.

What's with all these classes?

Enrolled myself at Bunker Hill to take some writing-intensive courses, as it's been a dog's life since I'd done anything serious in that area. I mean, blogging's nice and everything. However, it's not very heavy stuff compared to what I had to produce back when I was a student.

Since I'm thinking that I'd like to go back to school, figured it might be nice to pick something I thought I'd enjoy in order to get the feet wet again (finished undergrad 15 years ago. Took my last literature courses like 10 years ago). Since literature/fine-arts were my specialties in the other life, didn't really want to take anything in those areas. Decided instead to focus on stuff I'd always wanted to take in school but never had the occasion to try, namely History or Economics.

Started with the External Study Department's American History I. Am currently enrolled in American History II and Western Civilization I (drive by version - we're covering some ridiculous amount of time - Biblical times to the Renaissance). Am so pleased with how supportive the administration and the instructors are. Am also impressed both with how interesting the materials are and how challenging the work is. In all, am amazed at what I'm getting for relatively little money in the scheme of things. Tuition's amazingly cheap compared other schools in the area, UMass Boston included.

If I'm around in the Fall (and that's a big IF. I'll go on about that later as stuff becomes less vague and I get over my fear of jinxing things), I'd like to take the second part of the Western Civilization course. We'll see.