Gearing up for a New Semester

So I'm gearing up to go back to school. I honestly wasn't sure I would ever say that again, but I suppose I will be for the next two years at least. Class doesn't start for me until August 31st, but orientation begins tomorrow. I already bought my books, just in time to max out my credit card (more on that later I'm sure). I bought most online and in all it's cost me under $150, so, not too bad in my opinion.

I'm taking three classes this semester, and I don't know whether I like or hate the fact that each only meets once a week at night. I have class, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights, from 6:30-9:30. Two of the classes are required courses as a GA, and honestly don't sound all that lively, though I'm sure they'll be quite helpful. My third class is "Shakespeare in Film." I originally wanted to take a creative writing class, but found out that it would be poetry, so I promptly dropped that one. I decided the Shakespeare would probably be the most interesting, and most likely count as a "British or American Literature" course, of which I have to take at least 3. I was almost tempted to switch again when I saw that two of the four books for a "Beowulf" class were books that I have on my list of books to read someday.

My orientation is five days long. I'm not happy about the length of the training, but I'm hoping that I'll finish orientation with a much better idea of what I'll be doing in my class, what my objectives are for the class, and how I can set up a lesson plan schedule. Not going to lie, until about a week ago I wasn't really nervous at all. And then, in an online group for Orientation and English GTAs, people posted up suggestions like "make sure to have 3-5 backup lesson plans for the semester in case one of your lessons fall apart," and other such things suggesting that I should already have lesson plans for each class of the semester.

I think I was blowing it out of proportion a bit... I hope. After a lot of interaction and instruction early on in the process, I really haven't heard anything besides orientation dates since June. I only have one of the books for the class, though it seems like I'll be able to pick up the other tomorrow. As it is though, I have no idea what I'm supposed to be teaching from the other book, or even what it covers.

All I know right now is that the class will cover about 9 sections of the book I have, along with a 3-5 page essay, an interview of some sort conducted and transcribed by the student, and an oral presentation of some sort.

Anyway, sorry to bore you with all that nonsense. Now, back to that whole credit card fiasco. Apparently I've maxed out my credit card, since I haven't recieved my most recent statement yet, and I've since bought $300 worth of baseball tickets. While I'm getting paid back for the tickets, as well as the rent, apparently I've reached my limit and my card is useless until I make a payment. Sweet... It's even cooler because apparently this happened last month when I paid the electric bill. However, they didn't bother telling me my card was denied, and so I have a past due electric bill. Fuckin' sweet. I paid that with my debit card, but now I don't have enough in my checking to pay my credit card balance until a transfer from my savings clears... which will take at least until Monday...

Yeah, today was an awesome day for finding out all this fiasco. I'm sorry this post has been a bit whiney-emo-kidish... But I promise to stop the complaining here.

In other news, Dylan got back into town this past Sunday and has been making his presence felt in his own unique way: by alternatively being an ass and being a whiny bitch. Ahh... I missed him.

As far as being a hopeless English dork goes, I think I've earned stripes in this category. My reading picked up a good bit once I graduated, and has picked up even more in the last couple months. Right now I am reading Thoureau's masterwork, Walden, and at the same time, also reading Wicked, The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. Walden is amazingly relevant, even 164 years later, and a good read for anyone who feels lost in "living responsibly in the real world" or other such nonsense (aka: Jim, you would like this book to some degree or another). I've found lines in the first two sections of Walden that were lifted almost verbatim in all sorts of more contemporary works, including Fight Club, The Four Hour Work Week, and in lyrics of Lupe Fiasco songs.

Wicked on the other hand, is an interesting, if a bit long-winded, look at the back-story of the classic story of Dorothy's visit to the land of Oz.

Unfortunately, it will probably come to pass that my reading will be forced to slow significantly as I return to school. I'm not reading a single piece of fiction for any of my classes as far as I know (which makes that Beowulf class all the more intriguing). I do hope to finish one more book before classes start, though I don't know that I'll have the time.

That book has actually (from what I have read) given me some ideas of things to address in my class. It's called The Dumbest Generation, and it talks about how our generation has become almost entirely alliterate and world-ignorant to a frightening degree. Hopefully I'll be able to get to that next week, because I think it would be a useful reference for my class.

Well, I should probably get to bed, since I have to get up fairly early in the morning to drive to Radford.

All the best to you and yours,

-TES