ihatehegemony's Journal

Hello All
Happy New Year. Hope the holidays are treating you well. We got settled in SA, yeah have even gamed once with some of the Austinites :-). Which was great, hadnt seen two of them in ages and missed them. Will get together again in early Jan, so yeah moving means more gaming, happy dance!!!!!Plus we plan on making a few jaunts up to Austin in the not so far off future as well.
This weekend another set of Austinites (the Jordan clan) will be meeting us for a fun trip to the SA zoo. Needed to do this the kiddo has been asking to go to SeaWorld every other day...yikes. But in all reality we need to start exploring the city..its mainly been moving, settling in and working.
Im still enjoying my job. Its interesting. They have added quantitative girl onto my job description so I get to make survey & crunch some data for my dept as well as my case studies. Which sad to say makes me a wee bit happy. I like quant it can be meticulous & exploratory to me.. yes I know geek!
The down side of these last two weeks is that my g-ma passed away two days after we moved here. She & I were very close, I spent every summer of my childhood at her house. But I knew something was going to happen since she insistently called me out of the blue 3 days before and we talked for about an hour. But she had a good life, 93 is pretty good. I miss her though.
well hope all is well ....tonight we are virtually rockbanding it with the huntsville part of our family, enjoy.

Balanced, Secure, and Realistic.

-2 Impressionist, -4 Islamic, -4 Ukiyo-e, -10 Cubist, -3 Abstract and -4 Renaissance!

Impressionism is a movement in French painting, sometimes called optical realism because of its almost scientific interest in the actual visual experience and effect of light and movement on appearance of objects. Impressionist paintings are balanced, use colored shadows, use pure color, broken brushstrokes, thick paint, and scenes from everyday life or nature.

People that like Impressionist paintings may not alway be what is deemed socially acceptable. They tend to move on their own path without always worrying that it may be offensive to others. They value friendships but because they also value honesty tend to have a few really good friends. They do not, however, like people that are rude and do not appreciate the ideas of others. They are secure enough in themselves that they can listen to the ideas of other people without it affecting their own final decisions. The world for them is not black and white but more in shades of grey and muted colors. They like things to be aestically pleasing, not stark and sharp. There are many ways to view things, and the impresssionist personality views the world from many different aspects. They enjoy life and try to keep a realistic viewpoint of things, but are not very open to new experiences. If they are content in their live they will be more than likely pleased to keep things just the way they are.

Well crap I got some good news/bad news in the mail today and not certain how to feel about it. Good news I got accepted into the Texas A&M Phd program.Bad news, they currently dont have any funding for me. Can't afford A&Ms tuition without financial aid, do not want to take out any damned loans, plus i gots to have a job (grumble being a stinkin non-traditional student with a family & grown up obligations making education harder). But have some people to talk to to try and shake down some funding and a job... so right now pleased that i can maybe get my doctorate, but nervous about being able to pull it off financially..
oh well thats life right?

Ugh sorry havent posted in awhile life has been on super busy.
started work (not officially buts started work in january). was doing interviews gathering data, working on a natural gas survey etc etc. well come two weeks my job position hadnt posted... gee go figure the paperwork got lost in the cogs of beuracracy. so long story short... red tap red tap, emergency one time pay forms (twice)red tape and i finally officially started my job on this monday.. after i started workin on jan 15th....weber is so damn right about the iron cage grrrrr.
my whole family got that nasty flu for a whole week... blech.
my son has finally moved up to medium difficulty on rock band... im so proud.
so besides that last week was a flurry of stuffing surveys in envelopes (ouch papercuts galore)since we got them in a week late from print press... we will start the second round of them after spring break. been doing more interviews, actually creating two surveys all on my very own this week.. which is just cool!
next week going to a cool workshop where we are meeting on soft drilling and environmentally sensitive landscapes. then back to water survey work.. i love my job :-)

http://www.storyofstuff.com/
its basically a fun synopsis of the consumerism chain and how we got to the point that we are...
with fun animations

Have I mentioned that I love my job?
well i do, its fun.. im actually applying what i learned.working on surveys and getting to make the covers etc is fun. Right now conducting phone interviews about water conservation, the varied personalities and perspective by each district is fun and incredibly informative. my boss is great, i like my worker monkeys and they want me to make name tags for them that say worker monkey 1 and worker monkey 2.
met with our co-lead on the project at a&m and we are going to try and get me some research grants for when i start over there, that can just pack up & move with me.during our meeting we also found that both of us are enamored with any project that loois at sustainability. so cool, continuing to make contacts in that crazy world of natural resource management.
but in general just wanted to make a statement of contentment on my job.. whee!

Been a busy time. X-mas affairs went ok. Had a friend and his kids stay here for 10 days. Plus gaming etc etc. So this past weekend was the first down time in over a month, but it was fun anyways. a nice rest because this upcoming weekend is the venture to tc.
started teaching hunter how to meditate, with mixed results.
Got my diploma in the mail yesterday.. woohoo now its official.
Well headed into the office today for the first time in awhile. Get some stuff done on the grant job. HR still hasnt finished processing my paperwork. But got back to work anyways, been needing something constructive to do. Even though i'm not lined up for a paycheck yet the job perks are looking good. Will be getting out of the cubicle farm and getting my very own office (get my keys tomorrow), ordering a lap top this week so i can work from home as well as in the office. set up my first worker monkey's (student assistant) work schedule, we are going to try and get 2-4 more of them that i get to boss around.
so started getting counties together for our contacts to get us a random sample mailing list for the survey for the natural gas & oil project. boss wants me to take the lead on the water project. so got folders of reading material for each of the texas water districts. got to start outlining my questions for the interviews (stage 1). cool thing about the project is that its for texas water board on water conservation, so the report will help curtail and contribute to water conservation programs & policy... woohoo!! looks like things are going to be busy but definitely looking forward to the work.

I Am A: Neutral Good Human Wizard (4th Level)

Ability Scores:

Strength-9

Dexterity-11

Constitution-10

Intelligence-19

Wisdom-14

Charisma-13

Alignment:
Neutral Good A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. However, neutral good can be a dangerous alignment because because it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard's strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

meme~*25 Odd Things
25 ODD things about you! Learn 25 things about your friends, and let them learn 25 things about you!

1. Do you like blue cheese?
shrug.. its ok

2. Have you ever smoked heroin?
nope

3. Do you own a gun?
no, pacifist
4. Your favorite song?
apple pie by goon moon

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments?
not usually, but for other peoples dr appts yes

6. What do you think of hot dogs?
mostly yuck

7. Favorite Christmas song?
silver bells

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning?
coffee

9. Can you do push ups?
nope

10. Do you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior?
not since i was about 6

11. What's your favorite piece of jewelry?
silver bracelet i got form my husband

12. Favorite hobby?
reading/drawing

14. Do you have A.D.D.?
no

15. What one trait do you hate about yourself?
passivity

16. What is your middle name?
Marie

17. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment...
my head hurts, glad hunter made some friends, x-mas is stressful

18. What happened to 18?
same thing as the rest

19. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink.
coffee, wine, water

20. Current worry right now?
that the money from the grant gets in to start working on jan 15th & that my grandma gets out of the hospital ok

21. Current hate right now?
having nothing strictly constructive to do

22. Favorite place to be?
cuddled up with my son

23. How will you bring in the New Year?
friends playing rock band and drinking bourbon

24. Where would you like to go?
to kansas city to see my grandma

25. Name three people who will complete this?
shrug who ever else is bored currently

I graduate on Friday!!!!!!
Ok guess that would be a bigger deal if I wasnt going to be attempting to get into the Phd program at A & M in the fall. A&M is not my primary choice but ironically its the only university in the damned houston region that offers a Phd in Sociology.. pout.
So will be taking about 8 months off between and spend that time working (keep fingers crossed I get one of the jobs i recently applied for), and polishing some research doings.

usual ups and downs. wound up getting sorta manuevered out of teaching next semester(which made me sad, i really enjoy teaching) so i am on the great job hunt again. but on the same day i got informed no classes available for me next semester a odd coincidence happened. way back when i used to work at the library here as an assistant, my old boss retired in january and they had replaced her. however said replecement quit monday with no notice etc etc. so in the interest of biding my time and having employment while i work on my phd and keeping my son in a school district that he is flourishing in.. im applying for that job. its an ok job.. mainly data entry, report writing and dealing with the bibliographers.. but hey its a fulltime paycheck right and i know most of the people there and have worked with them before.
also i was very proud of my morning class today. we started the final chapter for the semester.. women as a minority group. they actually talked, laughed and had opinions. course that could have something to do with the fact that i had alot of extras to fill out the lecture including a string of women in ads display, some short clips etc to make my points. they really focused on the concept of socialization and gender roles. some of it amusing like the fear that if little boys play with dolls they will be gay but girls are accepted easily as tomboys till puberty catches up...of cours ei am in east texas so not too suprised by the general opinions here. since thesis is finished was able to make a really good lecture ( ahh professors you wind up having to be at least half the time entertainers)

sooo bloody tired. i hate my thesis.. my advisor told me it would come and to expect it. damn was he right, hate may be too weak a word. it has been oked by my dept, oked by my academic dean. but i am on the 5th or 6th go through with the ruler nazi facists, formatting. make sure all margins are correct, no punctuation that falls outside of the fromat parameters... etc etc etc. bad part you change one space, margin ,etc, it can completely shift around the whole 70 page document. so then is the painstaking issue of going through it again and again with a fine tooth comb.
but the formatter thinks this will be the last run through, so im on standby in the office with her tomorrow, to rush it over to the director of the library to ok (and tomorrow is the last date for that... of course)
but when that gets done will rush home, so that i can get stuff set up for the weekend gaming group to come in. ahh the wonderous relief of make believe adventuring, late nights, little sleep and alot of coffee.
on an odd note.. i love my son he is completely awesome. he got straight a's on his first report card, he has a girlfriend that he made the vice president of his club, he is adorable with two front missing teeth, he is still a momma's boy and has picked up a habit of stating "oh my gods" rather than the prosaic "oh my god" phrase

k defense done. hives starting to go away. Yeah it passed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
teh worrying nature i got from my dad was arguing with my optimism all morning. yeah i knwo if they were goign to fail me i would have been notified long before a public defense by my commitee (because they are all three great people) but my terror of o dear what if my stats are faulty or what if they ask soem kind of really obscure question that makes them rethink how well i handled the material kept popping in.
have some things to add (gotta run some additional statistics, that had originalkly been bumped out by my director)and rewrite the conclusions section, but have a week n 1/2 for those. been ordered to take a brain break this weekend. so i may start with pickling it with excessive amounts of wine tonight ;-)

defense for my thesis is today. blech, im so nervous my hands & arms have broken out in hives... eeeeekkkk.

today was kinda a yoyo day. kiddies had their second exam today. after the D average grades from the first one tried to help get the grades up by : creating a written review sheet, going over said review sheet class before the exam and double checking then triple checking the exam to make sure evrything was clear. results almost the same exact class average as the first one...
so that kinda bummed me out for a bit. cause my crappy self-esteem made me wonder if its because im a horrible teacher rather than its a freshman required course that most people dont find interesting.
but sent in a draft of the completed thesis (yes thats right i finally said completed)and my advisor went over it with me gave me a list of minor rewrites for sentences etc etc... but then told me that the damned thing is defendable and that i did a good job.... so very simply i have to say "WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" so fix those minor things tomorrow and then its gets turned into my committee on fri for a thesis defense next friday....needless to say im kinda bouncy now ;-)

im not entirely certain why im giddy. there is still about 2 1/2 weeks for me to finish up my first complete draft of the thesis. but i got the formatting change requests in today and fixed most of em. crunched my statistics again.(now just have to organize em and put em in a table). but my advisor & i finished with the lit review section. YEAH!!! so i feel like i'm in the down hill side of this monstrosity. so im actually going to make it and finally graduate in december.
need to get my abstract together for submission for next years SSSA confrence by next week. have a piece i have been working on for awhile over demographic dispersal and environmental racism in Texas City, thought that would be a good one to get some feedback on.
got some invites to a couple of interesting confrences in the mail. waiting on return from a book proposal which i have been asked to write a couple of chapters in.. on water resources legislation and historical framework in the south. particuarly looking at the controversey between new mexico, texas and mexico. start lecturing on the native americans section tomorrow in class, that and gender are my favorite two sections.
ok maybe its not a wonder im feeling giddy.. still alot of work & stress but there is alot of postive things happening too.

Wow.. Im in a very odd mood. Its close but actually making my deadline for the first draft to the library today on the thesis. Going to spend the morning with my advisor finishing the polish up part. then race off to thelibrary to get it turned in
. then have to go to the faculty brown bag seminar.. which is where we get together and someone in the dept does a presentation of research they are currently doing, the group as a whole critiques it and offers suggestions to clean it up before they usually present it at a conference. maybe catch some lunch with a co-worker frend i rarely have time to see :-(. also need to go and order stinking announcements and my masters hood for december.
tonight simple plan of cooking dinner, drinking bourbon and hanging out with a good friend of mine (working on garb for tomorrow). we are combining both of our wardrobes to see what we come up with. her current plan is to make us both into gypsy's..eeek.
taking hunter to ren fest for the first time tomorrow. he is very excited! he maybe a bit shocked though to see his mom & friends in costume though...
then sunday back to work gotta finish up lecture for next week. going to try and have everything prepped and get done early so i can show the class "gangs of new york" for our irish and other northern/westeren european section. the semester keeps whizzing by.
finally settled on a neat extra credit assignemnt for my class. going to have them write a short paper about their family ethnicity and ethnic experience in the US. it should be interesting to read, they usually hate that assignemnt until they do it. then they are forced to talk to their grandparenst etc etc and actually learn something about their backgrounds.

IF YOU'RE ON MY FRIENDS LIST, I want to know 28 things about you. I don't care if we've never talked, never liked each other, or if we already know everything about each other. I really don't. You are obviously on my friends list, so let me know with whom I'm friends!

1. Your Middle Name:
2. Age:
3. Single or Taken:
4. Favorite Movie:
5. Favorite Song or Album:
6. Favorite Band/Artist:
7. Dirty or Clean:
8. Tattoos and/or Piercings:
9. Do we know each other outside of LJ?
10. What's your philosophy on life?
11. Is the bottle half-full or half-empty?
12. Would you keep a secret from me if you thought it was in my best interest?
13. What is your favorite memory of us?
14. What is your favorite guilty pleasure?
15. Tell me one odd/interesting fact about you:
16. You can have three wishes (for yourself, so forget all the 'world peace etc' malarkey) - what are they?
17. Can we get together and make a cake?
18. Which country is your spiritual home?
19. What is your big weakness?
20. Do you think I'm a good person?
21. What was your best/favorite subject at school?
22. Describe your accent
23. If you could change anything about me, would you?
24. What do you wear to sleep?
25. Trousers or skirts?
26. Cigarettes or alcohol?
27. If I only had one day to live, what would we do together?
28. Will you repost this so i can fill it out for you?

1. Go to Career Cruising, www.careercruising.com
2. Put in Username: nycareers and Password: landmark.
3. Take their "Career Matchmaker" questions.
4. Post the top twenty results
5. Mark the careers you have seriously considered with an asterisk.

*1. Social Worker

2. Addictions Counselor

3. Clergy

4. Sport Psychology Consultant

*5. Psychologist

6. Rehabilitation Counselor

*7. Humanitarian Aid Worker

*8. Environmental Consultant

9. Mediator

10. Criminologist

11. Child and Youth Worker

12. Career Counselor

*13. Anthropologist

14. Adoption Counselor

15. Funeral Director

*16. Professor- funny thats what im currently doing :-)

17. Planner

18. Probation / Parole Officer

19. Marriage and Family Therapist

*20. Ecologist

thanks mark that was kinda fun

well im really enjoying teaching, have had a couple of lectures now. mind you most of the students just kinda stare at you and roll their eyes if you happen to mention discrimination or power struggles (even thought they are 1/3 of the framework of the text). but they dont have to like the class just pass it :(
i love my afternoon class, its much smaller and the students actually talk and occasisonally laugh at my jokes, but the morning class is starting to open up a bit more.
hunter had his first day back yesterday. we had a bus crisis, which they assigned him to the wrong bus but that has been straightened out (crosses fingers). one of the kids on the block is in his class, so needless to say hunter is very excited.
looking forward to a three day weekend gaming extravaganza....

Balanced, Secure, and Realistic.

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