As posted on a listserv for a group of GenX-age friends from Mensa:
Monday, May 23, 2005
I had a "fun" experience coming home [with Alex from our thirteen-day vacation in Arizona] on Saturday. We didn't arrive in Jax from Phoenix until 10-something at night (since I hadn't originally been planning to make that trip with my son along), and when we got to the parking lot, my car had a flat - the fourth one in the same place since the beginning of the year. By the time I called someone and had him put the spare on it, it was midnight, and then I had to drive 80 miles to Gainesville at <55 mph, stopping a couple of times to let the tire cool down (OK, and to go to the bathroom, which I'd been holding since before Kansas City, and to get gas, and to take a nap because I was so tired that I was dreaming while awake - I only wish that I'd dreamed up the deer that stood stock-still while we passed within arm's-length of it, though). I rolled into town just after 2 a.m. and got my unwelcome introduction to the local party scene. It took me half an hour to traverse the coupla dozen blocks to our house. Then I moved two muddy (from the airport parking lot) fifty-pound suitcases, one forty-pound sleeping child, and half a dozen other bags up a flight of stairs to our new apartment, where I just managed to squeeze everything inside the door (since our place is still full of boxes right now). Yesterday it was 98 degrees in the shade, so I opted to stay in and scrounge around my cupboards for a day's worth of food and take care of four weeks worth of snail mail (which I had gotten at 3 a.m. the night before) instead of attempting to venture out in my ghetto sled with the flat tire sitting on the passenger seat (because I'd needed the trunk for suitcases the night before) and no A/C (taking it in for THAT tomorrow before attempting a six-hour drive down the coast). OK, so it's not THAT ghetto, but this f***in' humidity IS startin' to rust out the body too, and the stubborn chunks of tree sap all over it from our last place sure don't look good either.
Today I spent more money that I don't have for some really cute clothes that were a great deal (<$30 for four T-shirts) while chillin' at the mall while Sears was fixing my tire again. Turns out the chrome on the wheel is chipping off (which is apparently what caused the last flat too) and causing air to leak. Uhh, what did I call that car again? My GOD, it's only eight years old!
Sheeew, my dad bought that car my last year of high school. Man, I'm gettin' old.
I did get to the chiropractor and the bank and the cable company and the grocery store too this afternoon, which means that I'm really hot from all that time in the car, but my neck hurts less, and I'm earning more interest, and I have food and CABLE INTERNET now! :)
As posted on the listserv for the Mensa Generation X Special Interest Group:
Sunday, May 1, 2005
Jonny, Daphne, and Davonna, along with one of her nieces and one of her niece's friends, were there on time. Dennis and I, along with my son, were late, thanks to perennial Michigan construction. Steph and Candi, along with her son, were VERY late, but we did get to see them before we left and then throughout the rest of the weekend. And believe me, we saw a LOT of them. ;)
The RG started with hotel guests drinking free drinks in the hotel restaurant and then a hotel-catered pizza dinner upstairs.
The turnout to the Meet 'n' Greet was incredible. I estimate that we had a few dozen Xers in and out of the room during the evening. A lot left to play in the Euchre tourney or to attend the Paranormal talk or check out other events at the RG, but everyone came back to drink and listen to music and talk, and our room was the last one still running - until 3:30 in the morning, in fact - at which time we stopped our rousing game of men v. women Catch Phrase (very cool; thanks for bringing it, Steph; I want to get one myself now too) - to clean up for the proctors at 9 a.m. and go to bed.
The fundraiser went fabulously, btw. We netted $119 profit for the GenX Tiki Party at the AG, and in a total stroke of luck - well- deserved, if I may say so, though - George Blombach [founder and leader of the GenX SIG] won!
Saturday I didn't make it to breakfast, and I was too busy prepping for the Lingerie Show to get much lunch, but I did take the time to captain a team for Mensa Bowl - Dennis, Daphne, and Davonna were also on team "XclaMation Points" (Davonna's inspired idea) - and even though we only almost won our first match, we definitely had fun. I also managed to play some Apples to Apples and hit the bar for the Happy Hour again. Tequila, this time, and lots of it. That kept me going for several hours. ;)
The Lingerie Show was almost entirely GenX: the organizers were GenX, most of the participants were GenX, all of the bouncers (Maria, John L., and Dennis) were GenX, and much of the audience was GenX. It was such a blast doing it that, as usual, the participants may have had even more fun than the audience members. Suffice it to say that a lot of us got to know each other better. I'll leave further details to the others. I don't kiss and tell. ;)
I finally had the time and the motivation to eat the moment the show was over and put away two chili dogs and an apple while playing dominoes and Rummikub in the Games room. I understand that a VERY rowdy not-too-private party was taking place in room 306 at the same time, however, and I strongly suggest that y'all push for pictures of THAT.
As has always been my experience with Mensa - and I have been fortunate indeed - everyone was so appreciative of my contributions to the events this weekend (to my face anyway). That makes it all worthwhile for me. But I miss my friends already....
Jessica, home and recovering
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Sometime before Christmas I realized that I'd been coughing for at least a month, since it had started before my parents came to Florida for Thanksgiving. When I got back to Gainesville after New Year's I scheduled a doctor's appointment, and there I learned that I have had walking pneumonia for who knows how long. Five days of pills and my energy level was astounding (relative to what it had been for the previous month or two). I still experience total and utter exhaustion from time to time, but the improved health combined with the significantly reduced teaching load that I'm carrying this term is making me feel infinitely more productive, academically, professionally, and personally.
Meanwhile, I am readying for Alex's surgery on Friday. He is getting his adenoids removed and tubes put in his ears to eliminate the buzzing, or, in his words, the "bumblebee" that he's been hearing in his right ear for a few months. When I took him to an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist in December, we were unable to get him to understand enough instructions to perform a hearing test, but they noticed that his eardrums weren't moving as much as they should have been and determined that he must have excess fluid behind them, which could also cause the buzzing. He's had a few stubborn ear infections in his life, and he apparently appears to be "an allergic child" from the dark circles under his eyes, so the doctor felt that these would be the best steps to take to get that fluid draining so that his language skills don't lag from reduced hearing capacity. I had the same surgeries performed on me as a child, and they are very commonplace, so I am trying not to worry, as is the wont of mothers concerning their children (especially their first - and in my case only - child). I will try to post another update afterward.
Thursday, December 16, 2004
My Annual Holiday Letter 2004
Dear family and friends,
Another year is quickly coming to a close. It's been a big one for me: Living in my parents' house again, moving out-of-state (and across-country - arguably to another country) for the first time in my life, starting graduate school....
I'm very happy with my situation at present, despite the fact that my apartment complex is slated for destruction in less than six months and the fact that working under the politics of Freshman English has nearly killed me this term. I am expecting to be able to move into the University of Florida's Graduate Housing in the spring - my tenth move in seven years, for the record - and I have completely designed my own syllabus for the course that I'm teaching next term, right down to the choice of textbook, handbook, and online turn-in service that I'm going to use. My department is very good about allowing - even encouraging - a great deal of autonomy, in terms of both what you teach and what you study. The people are for the most part wonderful, and the emphasis on professionalization (i.e. setting yourself up to actually get a job when you're done) is exceptional. Of course, the pay could be better.
Next term I'm taking two graduate seminars again, this time both in American Literature: one on antebellum lit, with a focus on race issues; and the other on the limitations of Modernism. Since I tested out of the language requirement this term - I chose Spanish, btw, not that I think that it would have mattered had I chosen French instead - after that, I'll be halfway done with my coursework for my Master's. (It's amazing how very little it does take to get one of these things; as they say around here, anyone can get a degree in English; it's getting a job afterward that takes effort.)
I haven't travelled much this year - nothing besides what was necessary to facilitate my move here and my son's continuing relationship with his father - so I have seen very little of my extended family since my grandma and one of my aunts on my mom's side came to my graduation last December, although I did finally make it down to Daytona just this past weekend to meet with some of my dad's side for dinner.
Outside of school, my major involvement for the year has been Mensa, to which I earned admission by way of a couple of intelligence tests in October of last year. (You can do it too! Go here: http://www.us.mensa.org/join_mensa/overview.php3) My membership became effective at the end of March, since which time I have participated in a couple of listservs; attended events in both Michigan and Florida, including one Regional Gathering in the Detroit area in May; been nominated to and accepted a position as a CultureQuest Panelist, writing questions for an annual nationwide cultural literacy test that will take place in April; been nominated to and accepted a position as Newsletter Editor for the Gainesville-Area Mensa; started trying to organize a Generation X event for next year's Detroit-area Regional Gathering; and made a lot of friends. I'm also planning to attend the Annual Gathering of American Mensa in New Orleans next summer, and perhaps a couple of the Regional Gatherings in Florida next year as well. Needless to say, I'm enjoying myself. :)
Alex, as usual, has handled all of the changes in his life quite well. He loves all of the child care arrangements that I've used for him to enable me to get my work done this term - there have been a total of three, two centers and one a home - as well as the climate that has allowed him to play outside every day. (It's finally starting to get cold, btw - and also for the record, my work is actually not yet done. You should all know by now that it never is with me.)
I posted descriptions and pictures from Alex's Halloween and birthday celebrations to his website (http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/a/alexin2001/). His day care center's Christmas Program was this morning. His group sang "Feliz Navidad" - he mostly just sucked on his fingers during that - and then the whole group sang "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" and, twice, "Jingle Bells," the second time for the local news, which apparently broadcast it at 5:30 this evening while we were stuck in traffic. Then all of the children and their parents got to partake of "candy" and "candy bread" that the children had helped to prepare for us yesterday. It was my first such experience - not my last, of course - and it was just lovely. I'll post a picture of that too if they come out once I get them developed.
Alex has already gotten a few of his Christmas presents this year. The big one from me was a toy Craftsman tool bench, given early so as to not have to transport it, as we'll be in Michigan for the holidays again this year. If you'll be in town, drop me a line, either via e-mail or at my parents' house (810-694-0243), and we'll definitely get together.
Love and blessings,
Jessica
Monday, November 15, 2004
The big news in my life of late is, not surprisingly, again related to my computer and my apartment. Just one month after getting it repaired, my fourteen-month-old motherboard and power source exploded, and I sprung for a brand-new emachine, with a three-year all-inclusive warrantly this time. I refuse to jinx myself by saying anything about how it's going up to this point, however.
I run no risk of jinxing myself by saying that I'm very happy with my apartment, though - especially since I got a brand-new floor in the kitchen and the bathroom (mind you, not without a fight) - since I just learned last week that it's to be demolished next summer, so I get to move again. For the tenth time in seven years, in fact. Fortunately I'm still on the waiting list for UF Graduate Housing and expecting an offer in the spring.
Tuesday, September 7, 2004 [Updated 9/10/04]
We ventured outside for the first time after Frances today. We are still under a Flood Watch here - and appropriately so, as parts of Gainesville are flooded beyond the point of being accessible [including part of Old Archer Road, off of which we live, and part of Museum Road on campus, which has become a part of Lake Alice, reportedly home to alligators] - and there are a lot of trees and some power lines down. Some people are without electricity (and hence without water), and the stores are mostly out of ice (and many other things, like snack foods and candles and milk). Alex and I, again, were more fortunate, though. Our lights flickered all weekend, but we did not ever actually lose power. Our parking lot is still slightly flooded, but not so much so that we could not get to our car. It smelled pretty strong inside from all of the water that had been leaking inside of it, and I had to move a tree branch from behind it in order to back out of the lot. [I was only getting two clear stations on the radio.] It has been cloudy almost all day today, which is unfortunate, as we really need that hot Florida sun to dry up all of the water (and to lift our spirits). Some of the stores, like school, are still closed. The others are full of tired, battered-looking people. I managed to find some lowfat chocolate milk and some expensive organic skim white milk next to the soy milk and Lactaid on the shelf and quietly placed a couple of quarts in our cart. It's all we'll get until Thursday, and there will likely be quite a demand for it by then. There's a gasoline shortage around here too.
The bigger store parking lots are home to rows and rows of emergency vehicles, such as tree chippers and utility repair trucks. Some of them have already been dispatched, one behind the other, like some kind of funeral train. Sodden debris from the damaged foliage coats every surface of the city. Two people have died. Yet it is still not over yet: More rain is coming today, and Ivan is coming as well. A hurricane has not actually hit Gainesville in fifty years, but clearly we felt it just the same [especially since Alex's day care center was closed for a whole week].
Fortunately, Hurricane Charley bypassed Gainesville by a comfortable distance. Apparently we were inundated with rain, but Alex and I were asleep and elevated above the ground at the time, so we did not notice. (It was a lucky Friday the 13th for us, albeit an unlucky one for others.) The storm drains are effective and the sun's heat dries the surface quickly. Unfortunately, it seems that my car has storm drain aspirations of its own, as it has a (twice-repaired) internal leak that has turned the floor before the front passenger seat into a duck pond. It's on my list....
To answer your questions, a list of seven lucky ways in which my move is going (updated 9/18/04):
1. MY APARTMENT #1. My lease began at noon on Monday, August 2. We arrived at around 3:00 in the afternoon. It was ninety-four degrees outside, but my parents waited in the car while Alex and I went into the leasing office to pay my first month's rent and get my keys. I told one of the employees there my purpose, and he responded by asking me my apartment number and then making a telephone call to find out if it was ready yet. Uh oh.
He got off the phone and said that the apartment was ready, but the paint was still drying, so I could not go in until 5:00, and they would credit me for one day's rent. OK, I have errands to run, we'll be back in two hours. But first let's just take a walk around the apartment complex so that I can show my son the sights. There're the lizards and the mailboxes and the laundry room and the swimming pool and the pond with the bridge and the fountain - and there's our building - and that's our apartment - with the woman inside painting your bedroom window frame! Yep, they were STILL painting it, and the carpet had not been shampooed yet either. It turns out that there is only twelve hours' time between tenants at this apartment complex, and since twenty-one units (out of two hundred forty) had been vacated within a three-day period, the maintenance crew was a little short on time. When we returned at five, the carpet was soaking wet and the walls were tacky. (Actually some of the walls, i.e. inside the closets, were more than tacky, as I quickly discovered when I left my butt-print in one of them. Never much liked those shorts anyway.) I cranked up the air and the fans (one of which was ridiculously wobbly, so I had to turn it right back down) to help dry it all out, but we had forgotten to bring sheets and blankets for the air mattresses, so we wrapped ourselves in rags and raincoats and, mostly awake, shivered our way through the first night in my new apartment.
2. DAY CARE #1. A form giving proof of a recent physical is required to be on record to attend any kind of "school" in Florida. Simple enough, I thought, so I took Alex for a check-up on our last day in Michigan. The doctor didn't have any forms, though, so he told me to get one and fax it to him later. As it turns out, though, the particular form that is required is available only from Florida doctors' offices and the Health Department, neither of whom was willing to give me a blank one to send to my doctor. However, the Health Department said that, if I could get the doctor to fax them the medical records from the appointment, they could fill out the form based on that information. So I called the doctor's office. The clerk said that HIPAA prohibits sending medical information by fax, but she could mail it to me, provided that I faxed her a release form first (and she wouldn't even let me hand-write a release; she said that it had to be done using a HIPAA-approved form). I decided that I should have her mail it directly to the Health Department since it would be faster that way, so I called the people who'd agreed to fill out the form for me to obtain their address. Now they said that they didn't handle that form, though, and gave me a different number to call, at which time I learned that out-of-state physicals cannot be used to meet the requirement. Panic! Alex's Medicaid was expiring in three days! I started calling doctors, looking for someone who was both accepting new patients and accepted Medicaid, although it didn't take me long to discover that no one in Florida was going to be a Michigan Medicaid provider, and I had just mailed my application for Florida Medicaid for Alex two days earlier. I became resigned to my fate: Pay $30 for another doctor's appointment a week after the first one in order to send my child to day care. At least I can still try to bill Michigan Medicaid for it, or, failing that, demand that my ex pay his share.
3. DRIVER'S LICENSE. Because I will be employed in the State of Florida, I have 30 days to get a Florida driver's license and registration for my car. However, since my car is not actually my car but my dad's, he had to change the registration, and that, according to our information, after I changed my license. The first day that we drove the 100 blocks to the driver's license office, I realized right after pulling into the parking lot that I had forgotten my proof of residency, not to mention that there had to be fifty people in the waiting room alone. We went back first thing the next morning, and I was first in line ... to discover that I needed my Social Security card and birth certificate just to commence the whole process. Home and back, grumbling all the way. All that I had was a copy of my birth certificate and persistence, but apparently that wasn't good enough. May we speak with your supervisor, please? Please, sir, I have to get this license so that we can go transfer the registration. Oh, you don't need to transfer your license to do that. Say again?
The title transfer and registration were quite painless, excepting the two hundred dollar charge, of course. So now I have a Florida plate and a Michigan license and three weeks to change it. It was gratifying to have finally gotten something done though.
[I did finally get my Florida driver's license, by appointment Thursday afternoon the next week, although there was another snag on that, my third visit, as well: I remembered to bring my passport, but I couldn't find my Michigan driver's license! (It turned up in Alex's diaper bag several days later.)]
4. THE TRUCK. As if it wasn't bad enough that the first trailer delivered to us had sprung a leak after most of my stuff was loaded onto it and had to be unloaded and re-loaded into a different trailer, it became clear soon after my arrival in Florida that the delivery was going to be late. Very late. Maybe even so late that I wasn't going to have anyone to help me unload it or any time in which to do it myself since my parents would have already left and my teaching orientation would have already begun. It was due that day but still in Ohio when I called. I begged, I pleaded, I played the single parent card. The woman said that she was "hot-listing" me, which would give my shipment priority at each station. She also promised that the company would reimburse me in proportion to the ultimate lateness of the delivery of the shipment. It left Ohio that afternoon, only to become stranded outside of Atlanta. On Thursday I talked to a woman at the Ocala (local) station, who said that if it arrived Friday morning they would get it to me that day, so I called the national office in St. Louis again to get the trailer moving again. It left Georgia at midnight Thursday night, but on Friday the manager of the Ocala station said that he wouldn't be able to get the shipment to me until Monday anyway. Not acceptable! Dad got on the phone. We talked to Ocala; we talked to St. Louis; we were getting nowhere. We were starting to think desperate thoughts - hiring another moving company to get my stuff from Ocala was the most persistent one - when I got off the phone with St. Louis to a message from the manager at Ocala: He was going to try to get me my shipment that day. And, lo and behold, he did. Two of my dad's brothers came up from Daytona Beach, helped unload it for a couple of hours, and shared our first meal on my new kitchen table, and the whole thing was done in less than a day. I still have to call St. Louis again about the reimbursement though, and my new neighbors are pretty unhappy that there's been a 28-foot trailer in our parking lot all weekend. Oh well.
[I got $150 back on my credit card as compensation, so in the end the whole move only cost me $881. :)]
5. DAY CARE #2. As if it wasn't bad enough that I misunderstood the course scheduling system at the University of Florida and signed up for an evening class for which I needed to acquire extra day care, once I got down here I discovered that the annual teachers' in-service at the day care center that we already had was going to take place on the last two days of my own mandatory teaching orientation, so I was going to need to get back-up care for those days as well. I would have panicked again if I had had any of that reaction left. Instead, I just made the requisite phone calls, made the requisite visit to a place that was tolerable and available to take care of both of my day care deficiencies (and might even save me from having to make two trips back and forth from campus every week), and one more problem was solved - for now. If I register for an evening class next term, though, I'll have to do this all over again, because this provider is due to have a baby in February....
6. MY APARTMENT #2. While lying on one of the air mattresses (which had by then developed its own leak to such an extent that my rear was on the floor within fifteen minutes of lying down) in the pitch-black darkness in what was to become my bedroom Tuesday night, I felt something crawling on me several times - my hand, my foot, my arm, my leg - but each time that I brushed it off and jumped up to turn on the light, nothing could be found. Finally, beginning to worry that I was insane, I started tearing apart everything in the room (which at that point wasn't much anyway) until, after flipping the air mattress, I saw a gigantic cockroach scurrying across the room. I went running for my dad, asleep in the living room. Then I grabbed one of my shoes so that he could smash 'n' flush it. No more sleeping for me that night.
It had actually been the second roach that we'd seen - there was an upside-down dead one on my kitchen floor when I first entered my apartment - but it was the first live one, and it was definitely one of my worst nightmares come true. I called in a maintenance request for an exterminator the next day - there's a wasps' nest on the balcony too - but [it was a month before we actually got a visit from one]. So after my mom had a close encounter of her own in the kitchen Saturday morning, it was time for action. On some "expert" recommendations (from one of those uncles again), I bought thirty dollars worth of anti-cockroach arsenal, and my dad strategically placed it all over the house. (The exact locations are confidential, of course.) So far so good....
[I did have another encounter with a live roach three weeks later, again in my bedroom, but, as I had psyched myself up for that moment, this time I was ready and eager to attack with my can of Raid. I sent the critter scurrying into the wall as fast as he could. Hopefully he'll take a few of his compatriots with him to the other side. (This encounter was followed by at least a couple more, each one less intimidating than the one before it. Once again I have surprised myself at my own capacity for growth. I am responding to the circumstances of my situation and gradually overcoming my fear of bugs.)]
7. MY COMPUTER. I first set it up on a cooler and a cardboard box, since that was all we had at that point. Everything was attached and ready to go, so I hit the button, and, whirr it started right up, but the monitor didn't seem to be coming along for the ride, stubbornly claiming that it was getting "no signal" no matter how much I tried to relationship-counsel my electronic devices on their communication skills. So my dad went to find a new monitor, on the hope that all that was amiss was that my computer needed a new mate, and got a lucky piece of free advice from an employee at the store to remove all of the cards, replace them, and then try the counseling session again before the first date with the new monitor. Another marriage saved, woo hoo!
Unfortunately, things are still moving very slowly due to my dial-up connection, which may drive me to the point of insanity that the cockroaches failed to achieve. We'll see how long that lasts, especially if I have to grade a lot of papers online.
Plus, since my dad set up my desk for me Saturday night, I assembled my computer Sunday morning, only to discover the same problem, without the therapist experienced in computer-card removal to help me. Fortunately my guardian angel was back on duty, though, as I managed to get things rolling again merely by fiddling with a few things and strategically losing a nut (a metal nut, not a tree nut) somewhere in the case. Oops. If I disappear, you know that it rolled into the wrong place and I've been blown into the stratosphere. You know how volatile relationships can be. ;)
[Found the nut! Also found a strange inexplicable beeping sound coming from somewhere within though... (Two weeks later my computer had a heart attack. Whether it was induced by some undiagnosed physical condition or just by fallout from its recent emotional trauma, I do not know. Eight hours of manual diagnostic tests and then four days without a computer later, my hard drive was formatted and a new operating system installed. It's like I'm suddenly married to a stranger....)]
A brief journal from my cross-country drive:
July 31, 2004; 9:30 a.m.
We left Michigan on Saturday, July 31, 2004. It was a beautiful, mild day, with a blue sky and a light fog still clinging to the road at the bottom of the hill - rare weather for Michigan, especially that summer, which had been remarkably cool and rainy. I felt calm and confident as I looked around the old neighborhood one more time. It was the beginning of the rest of my life.
Toledo
Dayton
Cincinnati
Lexington
6:30 p.m.
Ohio was beastly, of course, but Kentucky was warm and green. It had been more than six years since my first and last visit to Horse Country, but I still got that nostalgic feeling that can only come from years of Derby admiration. It is interesting what it does and does not take to make a place feel like home.
August 1, 2004; 11:45 a.m.
Our last view of Kentucky was of endless vine-covered trees, rolling hills, roads blasted through flinty rock. Then north Tennessee was a land of rows of mountains, receding into progressively more blue rows of mountains, and a softly-clouded light blue sky. Our ears were popping, but our hearts were at peace for having learned that there are still places like this in this country.
Knoxville
Chattanooga
Atlanta
6:00 p.m.
Except for Ohio and southern Michigan, the whole country is really beautiful. The whimsical names of so many places on exit signs struck my fancy; I wish I'd written them down.
The trees in Georgia look like so many stately Southern belles, draped in kudzu-leaved finery. My first glimpse of Atlanta - a gold-tipped skyscraper - took my breath away. The expressway expanded to twelve lanes, and while it wasn't made of gold, apparently a lot of the teeth around there are, as is the Olympic flame. [Just before the skyscraper, we saw an ad on a van for "Gold Teeth for Less," and I couldn't resist the joke. You want another one? Even without Edwards on his ticket, I think that Kerry would've been popular in the South, despite Bush's negative portrayal of his "waffles," because there's some kind of Waffle House at just about every exit off the expressway down here. :)] Perhaps they can afford it, though, since the gas is so cheap - everywhere south of Michigan and north of Florida, of course.
Macon
August 2, 2004; 9:30 a.m.
I can feel the excitement rising in my chest like the mercury in the thermometer....
Valdosta
Gainesville
July 30, 2004; 5:07 p.m.
Subject: Quick update/new contact info
Dear friends and family,
It's finally here! The beginning of the rest of my life! The culmination of all of my work and all of my patience at the bank, at school, and in the courthouse over the last better than three years: I'm going to graduate school! :) :)
I'll be taking two courses in the fall, Writing Theories & Practices (about teaching writing composition) and Neo-Soul or Post-Black? Contemporary Black Cultural Studies. I'll also be teaching two sections of first-year composition; Spring Term I'll only have to teach one course. I'll try to post a how-it's-going to my website (below) sometime soon.
I'm really happy with the apartment that I found for me and Alex. It's a second-story two-bedroom with a balcony and lots of closet space, and the apartment complex has laundry facilities, a pool, and a little pond with a fountain. It's right near the hospital and just a short bus ride from campus....
Love and blessings to you all,
~ Jessica ~
May 18, 2004; 9:15 p.m.
Subject: New life/e-mail address :)
Dear family and friends,
For those of you who don't already know, this past March, I was accepted into the Master's program in the English Department of the University of Florida at Gainesville (http://www.ufl.edu). They have also offered me a teaching assistantship, complete with tuition waiver and stipend, and I have graciously (and gratefully) accepted. I plan to pursue the American Studies track for my program of study. It will include a thesis and some more study of French for my Master's degree, which I expect to earn in two years, and then a dissertation for my Ph.D., which will take an additional four years. (I'm really boundlessly excited about all of that, by the way.) I will be moving in July, so I will provide you all with my new address and telephone number at that time.
In the meantime, I have been working essentially full-time as a grade school substitute teacher in and around my home town here in Grand Blanc, Michigan. The insights that this occupation has provided me into human psychology and American culture are probably invaluable, if hard-won. I am certainly looking forward to the freedom of a brief summer (although it will be darkened by the shadow of the storm-cloud that is potty-training) and the hectic excitement of a new home and a new school in just a couple of months. The cross-country move will be endlessly stressful, however, especially with a 2-1/2-year-old in tow, but even more so since I cannot make any housing arrangements down there until July (the month in which I plan to move, if you recall) since I'm hoping to get into UF's Family Housing like I did at UM. Yikes.
Finally, my court case has finally been resolved, for a year anyway. The closure that I have finally been able to get by ending that chapter of my life has been gratifying, to say the least. Now I am free to look toward the future again. :)
~Love and blessings,
Jessica
December 21, 2003; 7:05 a.m.
Subject: My Annual Holiday Letter
Dear family and friends,
Mostly good news from my little household this year. :)
The big one is my graduation from the University of Michigan last Sunday. I wasn't expecting to be done this early, both because I was planning to pursue a minor/second concentration in math for awhile and because I thought that I would still need seven credits after this term. However, a lethal combination of uninteresting subject matter and a boring instructor ended my mathematical aspirations, and a chance conversation with a classmate in a French course that I later dropped took care of the rest: She reminded me that getting a B or better in a third-year language course after placing out of the four-term language requirement on the test taken during orientation entitles UM students to eight retroactive credits. I had taken a third-year Spanish course in the summer of 1999, so all that I had to do was fill out a form for the extra credits, change my course selections slightly to fulfill all of my degree requirements, and I was done.
When I got my Guide to Commencement shortly thereafter, I read about how to apply to be the Commencement Student Speaker and determined that I wanted to try. In the end, my prospective speech was fairly non-traditional - a lot more serious and general than the average commencement speech - so I really had no idea that I might be selected, but I was! I'm sorry that I didn't let you all know in advance so that you could check me out on TV or the live webcast, but the whole program still runs on the UM public TV channels in Ann Arbor and Flint all the time, and of course I got it on tape too. It was a fantastic experience, and when it came right down to it, I was not at all nervous, just really well-prepared and excited, and I completely enjoyed myself while I was standing up there speaking in front of thousands of people. It seems that my high school classmates knew me better than myself when they voted me "Most Likely to Hold Political Office" during our senior year, five-and-a-half long years ago.
Unfortunately, a degree in English Language and Literature is not the most marketable thing to have right now, so I'm still looking for work. Therefore, because I am required to move out of the University of Michigan's Family Housing by the end of the month now that I'm no longer a student, and Ann Arbor tends to be an expensive place to live in terms of rent and day care expenses, even with a job, I'm selling most of my furniture (Anyone want a nice desk?), and my son and I are moving in with my parents for the time being. My chiropractor was nice enough to offer me a temporary position in his office here in the meantime, so I've been doing all sorts of secretarial work and medical records-keeping and insurance claims and such, which is at least enjoyable just because it IS new and different and temporary and earning me a couple hundred dollars in time for the holidays. Come January, I'll be substitute teaching for the Grand Blanc Schools, but so will more than a hundred others, so I'll be lucky to get one day a week. Therefore, I'm planning to apply to some other districts in Genesee County as well and to a relevant part-time position that my parents saw in the newspaper. (I've actually applied to more than half a dozen other jobs as well, but obviously I didn't get any of them.) If none of that works out, I could always try to get back into the financial industry where I got most of my work experience in the first place. I am applying to several English Ph.D. programs for the fall as well, since what I really want to be is a college professor. I have discovered a passion for both writing and research this year. (I sound like my old self again, don't I?)
My son Alex, who turned 2 last month, is not actually doing quite so well right now, from my perspective. The "terrible twos," which had actually begun to raise their ugly head about six months ahead of time, as is normal for children, escalated dramatically literally right after Alex's birthday. His negativity is at an all-time high, and he's really just a little teenager without good language skills. Meanwhile, he apparently tends to keep to himself at day care and to need a lot of reassurance from Mommy the rest of the time. His behavior may have been exacerbated, however, by the fact that his father stopped seeing him about five weeks ago; that I finally got him weaned at the beginning of this month; that our furniture has started disappearing, piece by piece (Alex is really into routine); and/or that he started coming down with whatever's going around at the beginning of last week. (Thankfully I had more foresight than most people this year and got me and Alex both immunized against the flu viruses early. I myself have not gotten sick at all yet - knock on wood.) We were in court again this week, however, so Alex will be spending one overnight every other weekend with his father again, starting right after Christmas, which I believe has to be taken as good news for all involved. Let's hope that relations between my family and his continue to improve in the months and years ahead.
For those of you who live in the Grand Blanc area, then, I hope to get to visit with you in the coming months. For those of you in the Ann Arbor area, don't worry: I'll be coming back to Ann Arbor to visit sometimes too, and if I'm lucky I'll be back there for more school in the fall. For all of you, but especially those who are more distant physically, please let me know how you're doing this holiday season. May your beds be warm, your food plentiful and good, and your souls fulfilled. :)
�Love and blessings -
Jessica
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