Almost 2009.

So much has been going on lately that I haven't had much time to write in here. I'll just give a quick rundown of what's been up:

• Took the GRE, did well enough to be eligible for an Honors Fellowship at Ole Miss. $1,000 a semester for Master's students - awesome!
• Have an interview with the Atlanta History Center in December for the internship. Crossing fingers I can work in the archival program.
• Biked 12 miles on the Silver Comet Trail up near Rockmart with BT this past Sunday. Froze to death & couldn't walk for a couple of hours afterwards, but it felt great.
• Read Twilight just to see what it was all about and by page 250, found myself thoroughly underwhelmed. I still want to see the movie simply because I find Robert Pattison beautiful.
• Money is tight, as the economy is affecting my place of employment, resulting in hours being cut, on top of a somewhat disappointing annual raise. Applied at a couple bookstores for a part-time seasonal position, so we will see how that plays out.
• I am full-blown, head over heels in love with one of the best men I have ever met. This is what an adult relationship should be. Giving and taking equally, all with respect and love and caring. Finally. Thank you.
  

Even though it is still eight months away, I'm getting really excited for grad school. According to the graduate catalog, a sampling of courses I could take in one semester would be Great American Writers: Cormac McCarthy, Readings in US History: Civil War to Present, and a basic Studies in Southern Literature course. To some, this is torture, but to me...paradise. On top of just getting back to school, I can't wait to move to Oxford. While I will miss Atlanta a whole helluva lot, I think a new environment will be exciting & a nice change of scenery. Plus, nice apartments rent for a fraction of the cost of living in the Atl.

After doing some research, I think I am going to qualify for more financial aid than I thought. According to the Ole Miss grad school website, "Graduate students who receive a minimum of $1800 per semester as either an assistantship or fellowship are eligible for a partial tuition scholarship (75 percent of tuition for the minimum, ¼ time stipend, increasing to a 100 percent tuition scholarship for a ½ time stipend)." I don't intend on working outside of being on campus my first year there, so if I can do a 1/2 time assistantship, I can get a 100% tuition scholarship AND a somewhat generous stipend, significantly reducing how much I would need to take out in loans. I would absolutely love it if I was lucky enough to not put myself into thousands of dollars.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving! I will be in Panama City with my family from Tuesday through Friday, relaxing and enjoying somewhat warmer weather (even if the tattoos will all have to be hidden).

Countdown to grad school...

I just registered for the GRE! It was my goal to take it by the end of this month, but that isn't happening. I procrastinated, as usual, and the only available October dates were sometime next week. So, I registered for a November 13th appointment at 1:00 at a GSU testing facility, leaving me exactly a month to study. I've been working through The Princeton Review's Cracking the GRE workbook all morning. So far, my verbal skills are fine, which is really no surprise. I mean, I have a degree in English; I would be pretty upset if they weren't fine. Now, my math skills are a different story. They definitely need some fine tuning. The format of the analytical writing questions seems a little tricky, so I'll have to practice those a lot as well. At least I'll have a full month to study and work through all the practice tests. It's my goal to go to the Decatur library in the afternoon for a couple of hours three times a week until test time.

On a whim last week, just to say what was out there for future post-grad jobs, I googled "Atlanta History Center, employment" and discovered they were accepting applications for interns this upcoming spring and summer. I'm going to send my application in and hope the internship I want (manuscripts assistant) is available. The description states it would expose me to "processing collections of unique, one-of-a-kind documents relating to history, including...business records, photographs, architectural collections, maps, diaries, private papers, etc..."How awesome would that be?! That is definitely the kind of thing I want to do when I get out of grad school. It's a little late in the game for me to be doing an internship, and I would still be working full-time at The Wag; it would only be for 10 weeks though, and I think I could handle that. Also, in thinking of the absolute worst case scenario, if I weren't to get into grad school for the fall, it would be great to add the AHC to my resume. The head of their internship program already gave me the A-OK to apply even though I've already graduated, so hopefully I will be given the same consideration as undergrad/grad students. The deadline is November 1st, so hopefully I'll hear back from them sometime before Christmas.

I've got one of my letters of recommendation in line already; I'm going to use Dr.Wood aka the man who got me into Southern literature. The son of a friend of my grandparents went to Ole Miss and apparently has donated a lot of money there; for a school like that (ie: lotsa good old boys as rich alumni), I think using him as my second letter will be a great asset. After the GRE, my application & statement of purpose will be the only things to assemble and turn in before the February 15th deadline. It's my mission to have everything postmarked by February 1st. It seems far away, but I know the next three months are probably going to fly by; I just want everything to go as easy and stress-free as possible. I can't believe this is really happening. Registering for the GRE just made it feel so real.

I would really appreciate it if the temperature could drop about ten degrees...

Rebels '09.

It's funny - ever since I graduated, all I can think about is going back to school next fall. Even though I've still got a year before I plan on going, I still want to be as prepared as possible. Next week my mom and grandma and I are going to visit Oxford and tour Ole Miss (and Rowan Oak!!), and I am so freakin' excited. At first, I was really nervous about choosing the school as my grad school just because it's so far away from everything I know (6 hrs from the ATL); however, it is my only option if I want my MBA in Southern Studies, and I actually think Oxford would be a nice change of scenery. It only has a population of 20,000 (35,000 when school is in session)...a big step down from Atlanta's 5.3 million. The cost of living is pretty low, but the town still has some nice restaurants and bars with live music (Proud Larry's, anyone?), plus a lake nearby and this seemingly awesome bookstore called Square Books. I think I'll be okay there...as long as I get some visits from Atlanta folks, maybe for some tailgating at football games?

The MBA program is really small, and the Center for the Study of Southern Culture seems like it's going to offer a lot of hands on experience and will let me work closely with faculty that might be really helpful in landing a job later on down the road. Plus, they offer courses in documentary fieldwork and photography which I think may be a direction I try and follow once I'm there. Working on a documentary about Southern culture or about Southern writers would pretty much be my dream job.

I am really nervous about getting in though. It is the only grad school I will apply to, more than likely. I graduated magna cum laude from Georgia State so I know my GPA isn't an issue; I'm just not sure how that will really stack up against other people. Plus, I have to take the GRE still, and I'm not totally confident in how I will do - I hate standardized testing (especially analogies), and I haven't had any sort of math class since I was 18. I know can get two good letters of recommendation, and the 500-word statement of purpose won't be a problem. It's just that damn GRE - seriously scares the living daylights out of me.

I'm pretty nervous about what my finances will be like down there. Luckily, Ole Miss's tuition isn't too costly in comparison to other grad schools; if I go full time, out of state tuition in fees will be $5,000 a semester. Once I can claim residency, it will be split in half to about $2,500. Today at work I looked at a bunch of scholarships & grants that I want to apply for, and I'm going to try to get an assistantship so I can get a tuition waiver and maybe a living stipend. I probably will still take out of a loan because if possible, I'd like to be a TA and go to school full-time and avoid working and doing something like waiting tables. I need to check out some financial aid books from the library and fill out FAFSA when its that time. I'm going to try and start saving some money for when I do move, but honestly, it's hard to save money when you hardly make enough to live in the first place...

In non-school related news, as trashy as it is, I Love Money is an amazing show as pure entertainment. Oh, VH1 - always keepin' it classy. Mr. Boston might be the most awkward individual alive. Bless his heart.

Also, big ups to the Braves for winning the record-setting 17 inning game at Turner Field last night! We can always rely on Mark Teixeira to do something amazing and manage to adjust himself more than anyone else on the field while doing it.

Last weekend I went & looked at a basement apartment in a house owned by an Emory grad student in her mid-20s. I really liked the house, and she seemed really nice. It has a private entrance and a fenced in backyard; it's 1200 square feet (twice the size of my apt now), most of which is in the bedroom. I probably will end up buying some room dividers and making one half the bedroom and one half an "office" with my desk and such. It is a hideous salmon color with wood paneling that I definitely am going to paint a more neutral color. The bathroom is bigger than what I have now, and the living room is small but doable. The kitchen is a half kitchen with only a fridge, sink, and very little counter space. However, I am not exactly known for my culinary skills (that'd be Josh's job), so I don't need a big kitchen although if I did, I can use the one upstairs There is no washer/dryer hookup downstairs, but I have full access to the one upstairs. The rent is $75 cheaper than what I pay now, and my utilities would be split three-ways with the other tenants upstairs. I'm definitely going to go with it - this marks the fourth year in a row that I have made a move.

I leave you with one of my favorite pictures of Drake ever. This was on his first birthday last week with his new chicken toy.

School's out forever.

As I sit on my couch with Drake snoring, fire blazing, and glass of juice (yes, juice) sitting on the side table, writing my reflective essay for my English exit portfolio, I realize one thing: I will miss writing papers. Going back and looking at 10 page papers on Chaucer and Faulkner and Crane actually made me nostalgic. Why? I'm not quite sure, honestly, but in about two months, gone are the days of procrastinating and then cranking out critical paragraph after critical paragraph. Amazingly enough, I am actually going to miss it. I'm sure I will kick myself for saying this when I am in grad school, but for now I'm truly a little sad.

Come tomorrow night at 5:15, I will have no school for something like ten or eleven days. That is seriously amazing. I can't believe it's already the semester midpoint. The last Spring Break of my undergraduate years is here, and the agenda for next week looks something like this:

Sunday: Depart from Atlanta at 6:25 am & arrive in Cancun at 10:15am
Monday: All day tour of Chichen Itza
Tuesday: Relaxing on the beach & going to Senor Frogs at night
Wednesday: Swimming with dolphins (!!!!)
Thursday: Half day tour of Tulum & going to CoCo Bongo at night
Friday: Depart from Cancun at 11:15am & arrive back in Atlanta at 5:40pm

Cannot wait!