09/28/2007: "[At work] The more you work, the more fulfilling it is.. maybe."

Hey, how's it going?

Why, I'm fine.. thanks for asking!

Anyway, I'm at work again. Been a long week, especially Thursday (2 tests, 1 1.5pg Japanese essay on a 'traditional craft'). Fortunately, I'm only here until 2, then going running out to the mall with some friends/students from work. Don't really need anything in specific, though I am looking to buy a new jacket for winter (I only have one decent one right now, should probably have at least two so I can switch it up and not wear the same one every single day). The sad thing is that when I prepare for winter and talk about "the bitter cold", I really mean something like 50°F. Seriously, that's COLD. And don't get me started on the 38-40°F low at night. That makes a Jason cry (tears that FREEZE, might I add). The irony is that this isn't even really all that cold, but since I've lived in a desert a good portion of my life (one that has highs of 110° in the summer), those temperatures are life-threatening, as far as I'm concerned. You should see me when it's colder, though, as I curl up in front of any heater/fireplace/warmth-giving-object with 2 sweaters and a blanket.

But that's a really long-winded aside for "kinda wanting a new jacket".

Aside from that.. not much else going on. My coworker is still in a coma, so it's been over a month now. I see his mother everytime I'm at work, and it's still tough to see the pain that she has to carry. But I can only imagine it must be infinitely tougher on her part. I do my best to keep her office (academic affairs) when she's out, writing up paperwork and sending it out to all the teachers, collecting, filing and interpreting the information, updating the student lists.. stuff like that. Now, what I don't look forward to is the coming placement week. In the fall semester, it takes place during the same time that the normal students are taking finals, so we have to book both computer labs and it gets viciously hectic. We're also running short-staffed (or at least have some bad schedules), so hours are hard to fill. I do my best to schedule everyone not only fairly, but to fill out the needs of the school.. alas, this means that any empty blocks are filled by me, since I have the loosest schedule (classes only 2 days a week).

What does this mean? During placement week, I'll be coming in at 0730 every day during that week, even on class days so I can help out for a few hours. Tues, Wed, and Thurs, I'll be on campus from 0730-1700/1800. Fortunately, I have a few weeks before this happens.. but I'm not looking forward to that. I'm telling you, though.. I better get something totally awesome when I leave. A t-shirt's not gonna cut it...

The insane amount of work aside, I'm doing all right. Barely have time to fit everything I need to do in a day in, but... not much I can do about it. At the very least, I think I'm gaining alot of great experience here (how many other jobs have you working closely with university professors and doctors as administrators?), and I find it fulfilling. You get out of your job what you put in, and I'd say it's coming along okay. Even to a certain extent, it's made me rethink my view on not becoming a teacher (I still would rather not, but we'll see). The one strange thing is that in only 3-4 months, I've now become the senior 'lab monitor' (my brilliant job title). All the people who've been here longer have left, and I've worked double the hours than the other people who've come at the same time. People leave me notes now. While this is good.. it does mean added responsibility. I don't necessarily mind taking charge though, I guess. If it's a choice between leading or following, I'm going to lead, hands down.

I credit this to my distrust of others. I just can't trust them to lead properly...

Anyway, I should get onto my data gathering, sifting through some papers from each teacher and turning it into meaningful data (namely, how many students we can anticipate next semester so we can schedule the classes properly).

I'll write sometime later!


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