2006 is almost over, and I've just realized that I haven't said anything here since August. My only excuse is that I have been busy (very very very very very busy).
Read on if you want to know the specifics. If not, have a good year. I'll post again next chance I get to take a breath.
For starters I am in my senior year in my ASL Interpreting program. Amazingly enough, the school seems to think that I have all kinds of time for completing all kinds of little requirements. Like filling out forms stating that I expect to graduate at the end of this year. And attending lunches with scholarship donors. And such like. Also, last semester I had 4 classes - 2 more than I like to have at once. Granted 2 were ungraded, but they still had homework and requirements and readings and all of that.
In interpreting, we had a new teacher. That's fine since I didn't want the teacher from last year anyway (she was a nightmare). But since Jimmy was just moving to the area at the beginning of the school year, he was a bit disorganized at the begning of the term. The sylabus made no sense at all (which was fine since we didn't follow it). It also meant that we spent a lot of time feeling a bit lost in the class. I struggled all the way through the class and sqeeked by with a B- (just barely enough to pass).
Educational Interpreting I auditted (which I don't think the teacher liked very much) so that I could skip the homework if I needed to. I only took this class because the internship advisor said that I couldn't have the kind of internship I wanted without it. This class required the most amount of books of any of my classes - but fortunately I was able to find the books in the library rather than buying them. That made things a bit cheeper. But then there were all the projects and things that she wanted us to do that created a scheduling nightmare. But then that's why I didn't get graded for this class.
The CORE class - Global Search for Justice was an unexpected joy. The CORE classes are classes that everyone at St. Kates has to take reguardless of major. So they tend to be rather tedious and boring. For this class though I got a teacher who thinks that education is already too expensive. So he didn't make us buy any books, just find specific articles in the library databases. That helped us both learn to use the Library databases for our major research project and save money since we didn't have to print out the articles - just read them and be able to discuss in class. Class discussions were actually a lot of fun and quite informative - we were focussing on Voices of Dissent, so all of our discussions were about protest movements from around the world.
The last class was for E-portfolio. In this class we learned how to make an electronic portfolio that we will be able to use as part of our job search when we graduate (it's also required for the Interpreting major). It was fun, but a lot of work that I didn't have time to do. I got it mostly set up, but it still needs work and content. But most of the content hasn't been produced yet, like photos of my internship, my senior project, a good picture of me. But now that I've done it, I think that it will be an asset when I go looking for interpreting jobs as it will include samples of my interpreting.
At work, they finally "finished" the remodeling project - that is the worker guys have gone away. There are still some issues - like the panic button that just got installed, but hasn't been hooked into the system yet. 2 weeks ago we FINALLY got the the blinds on the window installed. They also installed the magnetic door opener (so we don't have to use the very unsafe door wedges) but they have yet to give it any electricity or tied it into the fire alarm system. There are numerous other minor issues that we are still trying to get them to come back and finish. It's just frustrating.
Meanwhile the IT department is making changes as well. They have decided that we are no longer allowed to personalize our computers in anyway - that means that they are using the network to impose hospital wide backgrounds and screen savers. They changed the requirements for passwords a couple of weeks ago that made my password invalid - but I wasn't given a chance to change it so I had to call down and have them change it - over the phone at the front desk spelling and everything (so much for security). And now I am sitting in a class for the new database system that they say will go live in February. The class is mind numbingly boring. I feel like my brain is turning to mush. I think this is all pretty basic, but I'm listening to the troubles of the people around me and am boggling at how hard they are making all this. Really, if you want to make an appointment hit the "make appointment" button. If you want to make a recurring appointment click the "recurring appointment" button. It's not all that difficult folks really. Look at your screens and read them. Everything you need to know about what you are doing is right there in front of your nose. And if that isn't enough, there are ultra basic directions in the study book that comes with the class.
Life wise, Christmas was good. I got new boots and a closet full of black shirts suitable for interpreting in. Ken got a couple of kitchen gadgets and tools and toys. We spent the day with Brother's family (he has a new fiance with 2 children of her own - it's getting to be a big family). Now we are trying to decide what to do with ourselves on New Year's Eve.
Writing wise, I have have several stories bouncing around in my head, but haven't had much time to sit down and write them. I suspect that I won't find much time until after graduation (assuming I live that long). But I still have my membership in OWW so I can still pretend that I'm a writer. I will get back to writing - I will. I just have to finish this school thing first.
So that's my life in a nut shell for now. Hope all is well with you.
Posted by Becca at December 29, 2006 08:10 AM