theladyrose (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
theladyrose) wrote2007-10-12 01:37 am
theladyrose) wrote2007-10-12 01:37 am
Entry tags:
circle in a spiral, a wheel within a wheel
This line of Michael Giacchino's (albeit paraphrased) has stuck in my mind ever since the Academy composers talk from last week: "Melancholy doesn't have to be a depressing thing; what affects us most about it is how almost perversely beautiful it can be." I guess it sums up my mindset as of late.
My neighbor's plea hearing is tomorrow, and I know at least one of the DA's to whom I wrote actually read my letter because she had the courtesy to respond. I may be a secular humanist, but I think I might actually be praying tonight (early this morning?). For the more spiritual ones out there, I think his family would really appreciate any prayers and good thoughts you could send his way.
It's been a very...un-boring past few weeks. Midterm season (a rather vaguely named stretch of three weeks wherein coursework deadlines compete to pile up at the same time), research and that class I TA, CIRCLE (Critical Issues in Race, Class and Leadership Education, or how to brainwash students into becoming social activists!) have started up in earnest, and that's not even including all of the other commitments to which I gave myself with such unthinking liberality. Weirdly enough, CIRCLE might be the one thing that's keeping me on this edge of sanity; as cheesy as this is going to sound, it's unbelievable how much you learn from those you're supposedly teaching and how much you end up questioning and reshaping your own core beliefs in the process. And that's just from our first section on history and identity! Our discussion this past Wednesday went better than I could have anticipated - we've got a great group of participants and the most awesome faculty facilitator one could ever want. My co-TA and I have this hilarious April Dancer-Mark Slate partnership which means that we balance each other out perfectly (aka can call each other on being an idiot with no hard feelings), although I have this weird sisterly aversion to seeing him flirt with one of our freshman students *every* time I see them together. No one's being graded or even given course credit here, but it feels like a fundamental rule of the teacher/student relationship's being violated here.
I think I'm having issues receiving comments on my LJ posts. I know I've been slower with LJ than usual as of late, but I'm hoping by Wednesday next week I'll actually have time to catch up and do something fun...like sleep, or finally buy groceries (although the cost of a new black ink cartridge for my printer is more than 2 weeks worth of groceries...knowing how to mooch food is a life skill, I tell you), or redefine my personal conception of leadership. I think my definition of fun has become severely warped as of late; if it weren't for CIRCLE, I'd have no social life. And that's probably not something I should be telling the prospective students and parents who are visiting during Parents Weekend tomorrow during my Meet USC presentation. And I have office hours for the first time, but I'm hoping that no one will actually show up so I can get some work done before I meet up with my parents this weekend. Dad's going in for his six month post-stem cell treatment evaluation tomorrow (well, technically today). The old me would've been über angsty about what might happen, but I'm starting to reach the point where you have to conserve your energy if you're going to actually get everything done on time. There's too much that I care about that I don't have time to discuss here, but I've got too much going on to kick myself with pointless emotions.
My neighbor's plea hearing is tomorrow, and I know at least one of the DA's to whom I wrote actually read my letter because she had the courtesy to respond. I may be a secular humanist, but I think I might actually be praying tonight (early this morning?). For the more spiritual ones out there, I think his family would really appreciate any prayers and good thoughts you could send his way.
It's been a very...un-boring past few weeks. Midterm season (a rather vaguely named stretch of three weeks wherein coursework deadlines compete to pile up at the same time), research and that class I TA, CIRCLE (Critical Issues in Race, Class and Leadership Education, or how to brainwash students into becoming social activists!) have started up in earnest, and that's not even including all of the other commitments to which I gave myself with such unthinking liberality. Weirdly enough, CIRCLE might be the one thing that's keeping me on this edge of sanity; as cheesy as this is going to sound, it's unbelievable how much you learn from those you're supposedly teaching and how much you end up questioning and reshaping your own core beliefs in the process. And that's just from our first section on history and identity! Our discussion this past Wednesday went better than I could have anticipated - we've got a great group of participants and the most awesome faculty facilitator one could ever want. My co-TA and I have this hilarious April Dancer-Mark Slate partnership which means that we balance each other out perfectly (aka can call each other on being an idiot with no hard feelings), although I have this weird sisterly aversion to seeing him flirt with one of our freshman students *every* time I see them together. No one's being graded or even given course credit here, but it feels like a fundamental rule of the teacher/student relationship's being violated here.
I think I'm having issues receiving comments on my LJ posts. I know I've been slower with LJ than usual as of late, but I'm hoping by Wednesday next week I'll actually have time to catch up and do something fun...like sleep, or finally buy groceries (although the cost of a new black ink cartridge for my printer is more than 2 weeks worth of groceries...knowing how to mooch food is a life skill, I tell you), or redefine my personal conception of leadership. I think my definition of fun has become severely warped as of late; if it weren't for CIRCLE, I'd have no social life. And that's probably not something I should be telling the prospective students and parents who are visiting during Parents Weekend tomorrow during my Meet USC presentation. And I have office hours for the first time, but I'm hoping that no one will actually show up so I can get some work done before I meet up with my parents this weekend. Dad's going in for his six month post-stem cell treatment evaluation tomorrow (well, technically today). The old me would've been über angsty about what might happen, but I'm starting to reach the point where you have to conserve your energy if you're going to actually get everything done on time. There's too much that I care about that I don't have time to discuss here, but I've got too much going on to kick myself with pointless emotions.
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