Semester in Review

I can't believe it's been over four months since I posted on here. Sorry gang. I hope some of you will see that I've updated and start reading again, as I will try to start posting more frequently.

Well, my first semester as a Ph.D. student is almost over. I only have to finish grading these papers, these terrifying papers that just won't grade themselves, no matter how much I plead with them. I also have to put the finishing touches on an essay that's due Wednesday and that I've had done since last Thursday. And then just sit two exams on Wednesday and grade those finals. So the end is in sight. I thought this would be a good time to review the semester, both good and bad.

The Good
1. I got a dog. A fluffy white dog with floppy ears.

2. I made a lot of great friends. I haven't made so many close friends in such a short period of time since my freshman year at Shepherd.

3. My fiction workshop with Toni went really well. I got a great story out of it, one of the best stories I've ever written, I think. I really like Toni, and think she will be wonderful to work with over the next five years, and I feel good about the fact that she will most likely be my adviser.

4. My Critical Theory and Pedagogy course also went remarkably well. I learned a lot about teaching and it made me reflect on my own teaching methods, which I think is going a long way toward making me a better teacher. Dr. Brooks is also a great professor, and I hope to have classes with him in the future.

5. The classes I taught both went well, and I'm impressed with the caliber of students at OSU compared to the students I've had at the other three schools where I taught.

6. I passed my German exam with reading knowledge. Now I just have to pass the French exam sometime in the next few years, after I relearn French.

7. I became an Assistant Editor of Cimarron Review, our national literary journal.

8. I got a job as the Assistant Director of the Writing Center, starting in January. I'm pumped about this new job, and it fulfills some of my teaching obligations, so I won't have as many papers to grade in the future.


The Bad
1. I lost my girlfriend. A relationship I knew would never go anywhere and had really started a holding pattern. But still. Did it have to end with such animosity?

2. I learned that one of the amazing friends I thought I'd made was really a parasite. And a douche. Which I guess makes him a paradouche.


Overall, I'd say it was a good first semester. Even though Erika and Sleazy ruined a few weeks of it, the good far outweighs the bad. I'm looking forward to next semester. I'll be taking another fiction workshop, this time with Jon Billman, who is an amazing writer and a very nice guy, and Intro to Graduate Studies, which, from what I've heard, sounds like the hardest class we have to take here and one that, no matter how hard you work, you get no higher than a B. I'll be working in the Writing Center part time doing administrative work and then I'll be teaching one course of English 1213, our equivalent of 102, which is research based. Oh yeah, and I have to take my First Year Exam, which determines whether or not I get fully admitted into the program, in February.

Overall, I'm happy with my program, and I feel like this is where I should be at this point in my life. So what could I possibly complain about? Except this mountain of papers that still aren't grading themselves.