Feeling old

I think I’ve come full circle! Today one of my friends from grad school, who has since finished (lucky her!), emailed to say that she’s gotten a job as a professor at UT-Arlington. She wants me to come serve as a guest speaker to her undergrad advertising/IMC class. Crazy, because just five years ago, I was sitting in one of those classes! Of course I said yes… I figure her students will be a lot easier to talk to than the last student group I spoke to.

I also found out today that my childhood best friend’s dad is going to join one of the boards I serve on. This is the same guy who used to drive us around town, let us have slumber parties at their house, and had all the neighborhood kids over for dances in his garage. And now, we’ll be serving side-by-side together. I’m not sure if it makes me feel old, or like a 12-year-old. But either way, it will be fun!

A load off my shoulders

Working on my masters is kind of a beating. Yes, it makes me smarter. And yes, I actually like it at times. I enjoy being in class if I have a good professor who’s passionate about her topic, and good classmates who are nice and offer different perspectives than mine. The last two semesters I have lucked out and really bonded with the other people in my classes. Heck, I just had a reunion with the gals from last semester. That part is fun.

But when it comes time to do the homework, I’m so bored by it. I’ll admit, though, I think it has stretched me. I remember my first paper four semesters ago, I was terrified to turn it in. Ironic, since I write constantly for my job. But it’s different when it’s graded.

Which explains why I feel such relief tonight. Ten minutes ago I emailed my research paper over to my professor, a full 24 hours before the deadline! Woo hoo! I feel like going for a run or something to celebrate. Except that it’s almost 10:00, and since it’s daylight savings time, it’s more like 11:00, and I have to get up in the morning and teach Sunday School. And then put in a patio. So I think running this late might be a bad idea. But I’m still really excited to be finished. At least, until the next assignment.

Isn’t this how life goes?

I was getting my hair done tonight after work, and ran into a guy from high school that I haven’t seen in nine years. Now, I’ll never admit to not being a true blonde (I am!) but I was getting some highlights, and when I first noticed him my head was full of foil. Not exactly my best look. Then, they washed it out, and put on the deep conditioning treatment. Which is a bunch of gloop all over my hair, and then they wrap my head in plastic (kind of like a see-through shower cap, only dorkier) and I sit under a large dryer for 30 minutes. And let me tell you, I look H-O-T with a plastic bag full of gloop on my head.

Well, high school friend finally noticed me (even though I was trying hard not to be noticed) and came over to say hello. It was great to see him, I think we went to Elementary School together (again, it’s been awhile, I forget) and we got to catch up on mutual friends, what we’ve done with the past nine years of our lives, etc. It was fun to catch up, but my vain side couldn’t help but think about how ridiculous I must have looked. Whenever I see an old friend from high school, I always think, “That person looks so great!” or “That person has really let himself go.” So you can imagine my horror at the thought of him going back to our mutual friends and saying “I saw Bethe… and she looked… well, kind of strange. Maybe she looks better with hair.”

Oh well.

Just can’t be a slacker

I’m working on my masters degree, which means once a week I sit in class the whole evening learning something that I hope makes me smarter. I have always taken school very seriously, making straight A’s in high school and college, always doing my homework, always reading the assignment. Yes, I was THAT girl in the front row. I just can’t help it… it’s not my personality to not do my best. Besides, I’m paying $2700 of my own money per class, so that’s extra incentive to try hard.

So this week I was feeling extra lazy and decided to put all my homework off until the last possible minute. I crammed about 3 hours of studying into 1 hour last night, doing just enough to make sure the assignment due was ready to be turned in. I decided not to bother reading the chapter, because, frankly, I wasn’t in the mood. Yes, I decided to watch tv instead of do my homework. I’m such a rebel.

So it was a great shock when I arrived at school 15 minutes before class started, and decided to flip open the book to find out what I was supposed to have read about. Turns out, I had already read it! I forgot that last week I had to get my oil changed, and I brought my text book along to kill time while I waited. So, even though I really tried my best to be a slacker, it just didn’t work.

Whew. Maybe I’ll try again next week.

I survived

I survived those junior high kiddos yesterday. Career day went fine, although I have come to the conclusion that my job is only interesting to somebody in college or older. Before that, I don’t think these kids really have a grasp on what my job really entails or why it’s so much fun. All those kids took away from yesterday is that I get a bunch of free tickets to sporting events, and I get to watch surgeries whenever I want. I always think they’ll enjoy the idea of designing advertising, but their little eyes just glaze over.

But I brought gifts, so they loved me anyway. One girl told me afterward that she wanted to be just like me when she grew up. Ahh, what a smart girl (just kidding).

My news interview with Kristi Nelson also went great. Our story is going to run next Tuesday or Wednesday… I’ll let you know when. I think we did a great job, and the reporter said she would definitely call me again for future health care stories. Let’s hope she does.

Today I have to tackle all of that homework I put off all week. But if I finish it all today, I’m going to reward myself by going shopping for some new furniture! It’s my absolute favorite thing to shop for, and I have been needing an extra arm chair for my living room, so today just might be the big day! I’m hosting a party next week for my Sunday School class and could use the extra seating. Plus, I’m just sort of in the mood to buy something big. It’s either this, or I’ll need to book a trip to Europe or something. And surprisingly enough, the chair would be much less expensive.

Angry post

Today was a long day, filled with nothing overtly bad, but it was tiring (plus I didn’t sleep well) and weird things happened that required a lot of energy to fix. I had school after work, and was happy that I got finished an hour early (yipee!). I celebrated to myself as I walked back to my car, only to find…

A PARKING TICKET!

This is my fourth semester of grad school (yeah, I know, I’ll be here forever). I was told when I first started that grad students who only park on campus at night don’t need parking permits. I actually checked with someone. So imagine my surprise that in my fourth semester, my fourth class (so approximately my 54th time to park on campus) I came back to a parking ticket! For $75! It’s ridiculous!

Plus, I sort of ran one of those red lights with the cameras on Friday night, so I’m waiting for another $75 ticket in the mail. I’m a good driver, I promise. Very responsible. And under normal circumstances, I think very highly of police officers (one of my very favorite people is a cop!). But tonight, after my long, hard day, when I was already cranky and hungry and a bit hormonal, I must say that I really don’t like police officer #15. Whoever he is, I wish he would have shown me and Snowflake (my car) a little extra grace. Because we needed it tonight.

I’m going to bed early, to cuddle up with my TIME Magazine and forget about that stupid ticket. Tomorrow will be a better day.

What I really want is…

It’s 9:00 p.m. and I have been doing homework since I walked in the door after work. I’m tired of reading about media convergence and the diffusion of innovations theory… what I really want to do is tear open my new US Weekly magazine and read all about my favorite celebrities, enjoy the pictures, and experience some mindless entertainment. If I could do that while soaking in a bubble bath, that would even be better.

But, I’m almost done with my paper/critique of this riveting journal article, so I might as well hunker down and finish it. If I do, it means I can play all weekend and not worry about stinky old homework.

Maybe I can sneak in a few pages of US tonight as I huddle under my electric blanket and hide from the cold wind that’s howling at my window.

Junior High

Today I spoke to a class of 8th graders about the importance of going to college. The basic message was, if you go to college, you will never have any problems and you’ll be fabulously rich, and if you don’t go to college, then you’ll be homeless and miserable. And never have any dates. I threw that part in for good measure. And then I ended up on some tangent about how important it is to be an independent woman who doesn’t need a man to build a house. I have probably screwed those poor kids up!

I didn’t mention that I know some fantastic people who didn’t go to college, and some people with advanced degrees who don’t have a penny to their name. I didn’t want to confuse them. But I did tell them how fun college can be, and how they’ll never regret it if they go. Maybe they got something out of it. Or maybe they were just relieved that their history quiz was postponed for a day because of my visit.