Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho

I've decided to blog about my job(s). For the last few months, I've been thinking, "I'll just wait until my jobs are a little more settled or permanent," but it seems that that may never happen.

I am currently interviewing (and may be interviewing for the rest of my life) for a museum job that focuses on increasing the involvement of faculty and students in museum life. Since I spent a significant portion of my last year in Oregon convincing anyone who would listen that they should care about art history, I think I can rechannel those efforts. Plus, any position within museum administration and outreach that also includes working with professors on designing curriculum sound pretty great to me (and will look pretty great on a future resume). It makes me sing I Hope I Get it  from "A Chorus Line" will gusto. Alas, the position (which I will probably get news of today...right?) is only part time at first...

...so, I'm also working for my almamater with a giant class that used to be called "Creative Arts", but I suppose that was too specific, so its just called "1330" now. This massive, gargantuan, swollen class of 1,200 students was assigned to one instructor, who was expected to lecture, grade, and respond to student emails. What? With so many students taking this class, though, it makes for great meme fodder:

Anyway, I got a teaching position to help mostly with logistical aspects of the class. It's great because 1) I can do it from home with minimal trips to Logan 2) I have to take a few trips to Logan, which means I get to see all my cool cats who are still up there 3) I get to stay engaged in the University (with a capitol "U" so it holds all the romantic sides of education--like elbow patches and phrases like "I concur" or "I find this statement problematic"). It's been going well so far, although I find it a bit ridiculous that students continually message the entire class with questions like "I can't figure out how to use my i-clicker." Really? Because you just sent that message to me, your instructor, and ONE THOUSAND, ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-FIVE other people. Alas, the position is only part time...

...so, I'm also waiting tables 3-4 nights a week. I love to wait tables--especially when I'm working for a small restaurant that occasionally has a cash flow problem. Sometimes, people come in with two groupons and become angry when told that they can't use two at once, so they pull two tables close together and proceed to shout at one another for two hours--what a laugh. It's so fun to see just how much Parmesan cheese the average person can eat. I also totally love wearing a cute long-sleeve white shirt and a black tie, to be sure to separate myself from the regal customers. Perhaps my favorite part of the job, is leaving the house right when Michael gets off work.

I've been working on my sarcastic blogging tone. Okay, okay, I'm not that upset about waiting tables, although I do hope its temporary. I'm excited though because all these endeavors, coupled with Michael's completely steady "real" job mean that Michael and I were able to send a chunk of change to pay down our student loans and are sending another one in a few days. I can't wait to come on this blog and announce that we're out of debt. I actually need to work on talking about debt less, but I blame Michael's family for introducing me to Dave Ramsey (who is pretty obnoxious, but oh-so-right about almost everything). I'm now an extreme budgeter. Michael and I did a small-scale victory dance when we made a payment last month. That's the nice thing about being a lonely grad student, I suppose, as long as you can keep living like a grad student for a few years and start working consistently then student loans can shove off. I find it helpful to get violent when talking about loans, which is why our victory dance included shouting "take that annnnnd that," while Michael did chopping motions and made "shiyahhhh" noises. I suppose the other good thing about being a lonely grad student, is it doesn't take much to entertain you forever after.