Old Soul, Young Heart

Yesterday I was in Joliet for the first ILACADA (Illinois Academic Advising Association) conference. I have to be honest when I say that I am usually unimpressed with conferences. I think they are important for networking and kind of "recharging one's batteries," but generally the sessions sound good to me but then don't deliver what I was expecting and wanting. This conference was different, though! The first session was about passion, something that I feel is lacking for me sometimes in my job. We were asked to grab someone nearby to us and talk about our three biggest personal passions and our three biggest professional passions. I dislike these sorts of activities because I'm horrible at coming up with things right off the top of my head. After 30 seconds of contemplation, the personal passions I came up with were my family, traveling, and animals. (I honestly don't have much that I am passionate about, which is kinda sad. I like a lot of things, but don...

Opening a conversation on the telephone by saying, "Hello, my name is... and I have a Bachelor's degree and a Master's degree," does not make me more susceptible to putting you into a class that you do not have the prerequisites for. Nor does saying that you've taken "some of the hardest classes on the planet." Do all colleges/universities get students telling them these types of things? I doubt it. For some reason people seem to think that community colleges have no standards or something.

I just had a very satisfying moment on the job and it really had nothing to do with actually helping a student. I was randomly sitting at the front desk while Kay was away and I happened to answer a phone call from a student who was in my Creative Writing class here at Heartland in Spring 2004. She's returning again as a student here and had a question about her transcripts from other colleges. When we were in that class together, man, she thought she was the shit. She was going to school at Columbia and was going to transfer to UIC and you could just tell that she thought Heartland students were worthless (even though... uhh... she was taking a class here). Creative Writing is the only course she took here and her grades were horrible from both UIC and Columbia during multiple semesters. And now she's returning to finish her Associate's... 8 years later. It was just a moment for me that made me have all the more pride in being an alum of this institution. People often ...

I kind of feel like students should submit some kind of personal statement of accountability before they're granted financial aid. There are so many students that come in here and withdraw from or fail their classes and the government has paid for it all. I understand sometimes there are extenuating circumstances, but I just saw this student who I would like to call a "Bad Attitude Bobby" who has to get a loan for school because the government wouldn't give him a grant. I am happy about it because he will probably withdraw from his classes anyway or just fail them. This is so frustrating to me because right after that I saw a student who just wants to take a course to get certified as a CNA so that she can get a (low-paying) nursing assistant job. Financial aid doesn't cover our CNA course. It's so sad because now she can't do this course and, subsequently, get a job because the government is paying for Bad Attitude Bobby instead. Grr...

So the situation with the parent has been, I guess, about 75% resolved. Cecilia did some investigating and it sounds like the whole thing was pretty much pointless (the student doesn't even need the class?!). I'm annoyed and frustrated because the mother took a completely different angle with Cecilia, which probably makes me look worse. Cecilia reassured me that I did fine and that I shouldn't worry about it. I still feel awful; that mother said some very hurtful things that will probably stick with me for awhile. I still feel like crying about the whole thing. I hate feeling incompetent, but the thing that's worse is that I'm worried that Cecilia doesn't think I'm a good advisor. She doesn't know me well enough to know that I care, that I listen, and that I'm patient and understanding. All she knows is what she hears from other people and, unfortunately, this parent probably had a lot of bad things to say about me, which really just came from a pl...

Today, this first day of September, is the start of the newest 30 Days of Lists. I guess you have to pay to view the blog and know what each day's list is? I'm clearly not doing that (my $6 could be spent more wisely), so I searched the 'net until I found someone's blog that is participating. So I'm following that person now and I'll be able to know what each day's list is. So scandalous. With that being said... Today's List (Day 1): Goals for This Month 1. Get into better shape / start exercising again (I could stand to lose about 5-8 pounds and now that I'm on a normal schedule at work, I'll be able to work out in the Student Fitness Center most nights.) 2. Hopefully find a place to move into with Philip 3. Live every day without wishing for the future (I feel like I spend too much of my life thinking about how things will hopefully be someday, i.e. when I'm on a vacation, when I move in with Phil, when we can start our life ...

Student: "How do I know which teacher to pick?" Me: "... ... Well, if you know of the teacher and know that they're good, you pick them. If not, you just choose one and meet them when class starts."

Today's List (Day 7): Blog Goals Hmm... I'm not sure if I have any blog goals. I sometimes say that I'm going to write in it more or make it more interesting (part of the reason I'm doing this list thing), but really I blog just because it's fun for me and I know there are a few people who like to read up on what I'm doing. Other than that, I just do whatever. -------------------- Today is my golden birthday. The day started off as it should, with a thunderstorm at midnight. Philip and I sat on the porch and watched it roll in! I had lots of nice "happy birthday"s at work and the student workers made me cute little Disney-inspired and crayon-colored birthday signs for my office. Philip and I went to dinner at Fiesta and then just hung out at home. It was nice. I can't believe that I'm 27. I never thought that I would get old, but it's happening... slowly, it's happening. I had a hard time when I turned 25, but I was tol...

Today's List (Day 4): Today's Playlist Well, I don't/can't really listen to music while I'm at work, but if I did it would be my Dario Marianelli Pandora station, which essentially plays songs from movie scores and I love love love it! (I'm on break right now, so I decided to start playing it and so far I've heard songs from The Hours and Edward Scissorhands . The best!) Other than that, tonight while I'm driving to Philip's, I'll be listening to the dubstep mix that he made for me. -------------------- I've had to laugh the past few days because I've had a few students that think they are the bomb diggity, as it were. The one yesterday had aspirations to go to an Ivy League university, which is great, but he was very condescending to me and I'm not sure why. Because I work at a community college? Well, sorry to break it to ya, buddy, but you're going to be attending one... for now, anyway! The student today place...

Last week was my last week at ISU and my first week back at Heartland. I had been doing half days at each place. It was fine, but it made for long days, since I was at Heartland until 7:00 pm. I am glad to be done at ISU, but also a little sad to leave. I have enjoyed my graduate assistantship--getting to know the students who use the office and my colleagues there, as well as doing the logistical work, coming up with new ideas, and learning more about disabilities... all of it... has been fun. I'll miss that office, but it's time to move on. :) On Tuesday the department had a little going away get-together for me with Einstein's bagels and cream cheese; they all know it's my fav. They gave me a gift, as well, which was a professional portfolio with my name engraved on it--perfect for job interviews and whatnot. It was very nice, especially since I wasn't expecting anything. So starting this week, I'll be at Heartland full-time. I feel sort of nervous abou...

I recently read this book for class and it got me thinking a lot about myself. Ironically. Because the book is all about how those of us in this generation were raised to think we're super special and unique and, therefore, have really high self-esteem and can border on being narcissistic at times. It also talked about how we have very high expectations for our lives (in terms of making money, having a movie-like relationship, and generally feeling fulfilled in every realm of life), but don't necessarily put the work into meeting those expectations because we don't feel like we have to (because we're super special and unique). We then become depressed when life doesn't meet our expectations. It was just really good and gave me a lot to think about. So the semester is completely over for me now and I am oh-so-happy about that. I got As in all three classes, which also makes me happy. Work is over for a solid two weeks, but I think I'm going to go into He...