Life Checks Not On The List

Because not everything got blogged about.

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29. Impromptu international trip

“You should come visit.”
“I think I can.”
A week later, ticket bought. A month later I was on my return flight home. Still can’t quite believe that happened.

30. Skating around a city ice rink holding hands with a boy

Maybe not “my boy” but it felt adorable just the same. The night before I left the county, I took some friends up on their ice skating invite. It's one of the parts of living in a Northern city that I feel like people talk about wanting to do, more than actually doing. I'm glad I did it.

31. Connect with one of my students well enough to invite her over for breakfast.

One of the things I loved about my college was connecting with professors and being invited into their homes. I’m legitimately friends with one of my undergrads and happy about it.

32. Attend a conference in my field where I didn’t know anyone when I went in AND make dinner plans with someone from the conference

This involved me googling her presentation, finding an archived version from a previous talk, and e-mailing an address that I wasn't sure was still active. But she didn't have dinner plans and so I'm glad I made the effort.

33. Travel to hang out with my sister for a week/be grown-up friends with my sister

My sister and I were sisters growing up, but not always friends. I feel like we've mostly made the transition to actually liking each other and not just loving each other because that's what you do with family.

34. Find a church home of my own (not just my parent’s default) and join that congregation

My pastor makes a point of saying you can be active in our congregation without being a member. Being a member doesn't get you any special benefits. But it's still important to me to know that this is my church home.

35. Have a theater subscription

Bought in part because of my checkmark to attend a show alone. I got a whole package of them to enjoy. But having the whole subscription felt like an even more grown-up thing to do.

36. Buy fancy shampoo. Use it.

I didn’t believe in the power of good shampoo until I got one that really works with my hair.

37. Fill out grownup documents. a) Start creating documents.

Filled out a document giving my parents power of attorney for healthcare. Hopefully they won't need to exercise it. But I want to make sure they get to make decisions instead of the state.

Life Checks Check-In

With all of the resolutions people are making around the new year (and a need to clean off my mirror before my holiday party next Friday), I figured now's a good time to review my Life Checks List. Today I'm looking at what I've done.

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2. Pay off the student loans

5. Pay to go to a show by myself (I already go to free ones, but this needs to be something I really want to see)

6. Have a windowsill full of houseplants/15. Have a successful window garden (Huh, must really want this one. Or not. Saw it up there at number 7. Only gets to count once.)



8. See the glaciers at Glacier National Park

Went this summer with my family. Technically, I'm not sure whether we saw the Glaciers. But if not, then I saw the snow that was still covering the Glaciers in late July. I'd say that's close enough.

PS, I think the flowers were pretty amazing.

10. Do a canoe trip

Did another day trip in a canoe with G. But this truly earned its check mark after a 3-day trip this summer.

13. Complete a picture-a-day assignment

My last week of pictures got deleted in the computer troubles of fall 2011, but I'm still checking this one off.

18. Find/Make an occasion to wear those 4-inch stiletto black boots

20. Attend my sister’s graduation

23. Give yoga a second chance

25. Give more boldly

I've upped my giving to a full tithe. (I'd slacked up as I started getting more money, but also being responsible for more of my finances.) There's only been one time this year where I wondered how other grad students afford to do something that I wanted to but wouldn't commit to because of cost. When I realized that their annual cost was less than the amount I was donating, I decided I was okay with my decision.

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It's easy to say that many of the things on the list are things I'd do anyway. Paying off student loans. Attending graduation. Going to Glacier. Those were things that WERE GOING TO HAPPEN. The same way that I hope 3. Finish collecting degrees is going to get done.

But I'm more aware of the things that I'd probably do. The canoe trip. The solo shows. Wearing those crazy heels. Things that I'd been meaning to do, sort of. Things that I'd like to do, so I thought. But the things that I wouldn't necessarily do if I hadn't told myself I would.

I always hated the goal setting lessons in school. When they made us set something I'd usually choose something ridiculously easy, "I'm going to finish this sweater by the time I graduate...from college." (Said in the fall of my senior year of high school when the sweater was half done after, what, 7 weeks?) Maybe I'd say something ridicuously hard, I'm going to sell 800 boxes of Girl Scout cookies, but I wouldn't actually mean it.

It's the same way that I used to feel towards resolutions. The "I'm going to change" mentality the media portrayed wasn't me at all.

But this list has been the perfect nudge for me. The reminder that I want to do something. The prompt of the courage to go ahead.

An exciting day

I'm reading various ethnographies of small towns. Which means I want to take notes on my visit to my parents town (pop 3,700).

First clue that something was up was when three cop cars drove down the road as dad was walking home.

Second clue was when the janitor called to make sure it was safe to go into the church because the police were all around the building.

Third clue was the phone call from a neighbor that there was an escape from the county jail (a few blocks down the road).

Ahhhhhh. Got it.

I walked around town with my visiting friends. We got to see the town sitting on their porches watching the helicopter. Chat with the deputy who I'd met Christmas caroling a few nights ago. Heard the whole story.

About a half hour ago we got the call that they caught the guy. My mom's been on the phone since letting various people know. Part of me wants to go interview people to find out what story they heard, from who, and when they heard it. But more of me says that this isn't the research I should focus on just now.

That and I'd need IRB for anything

Tutorial: Fabric Topped Jars

I love glass jars. It's so easy to put things in them to transport. Granola to school. Salad dressing in my lunch box. Water bottle when my real one was lost. And, of course, the jams and jellies and pickles and apple butter and whatever else I can throughout the year.

Which are also some of my favorite gifts to give. Come December the hardest part is wrapping them.

I've long been a fan of fabric topped jars. In the past I've spent hours cutting out circles to fit the lids just so. But today I didn't have the patience to come up with my template. I channeled my snowflake cutting years instead and went pointy.

Quickest tute so that I remember this trick in the future. (I didn't even retake the pictures when I realized how bad they are. Next time...)

1) Have jar to be wrapped.

2) And some fabric to wrap it in.

3) Cut a good sized piece of fabric (use the lid as a guide).

4) Fold it into quarters. Then start folding diagonally. This one got to be in 16ths.

5) Snip the end. I went for an exaggerated point.

6) Unfold and top the jar.

7) Lather, rinse, repeat.

Please note the lower left jar is not empty
The jelly just stuck to the top of the jar when I made it
and the vacuumed air is still at the bottom

Finals Soundtrack

I downloaded the freebies from Ghostly yesterday. They've been good for that ambiant music in the background this finals.

But after a bit I need lyrics again. Today I went back to last year's TEDActive Entry Mix. Which I should know by heart by now, but because it's almost always listened to in moods like this, there is always a moment where I go, "oh, that's here?"

[Edit]
After posting this I realized that there was a TEDActive Entry Mix for 2010. Know what I'm listening to next.

TA needs to vent

Being a TA is hard. It's totally a different ball game than straight up teaching. (And I almost wonder if it is harder because I've been a straight up teacher.)

You have to translate between student and professor. And what you hear are the complaints, so you've got to negotiate how you phrase everything.

You have to grade assignments that you didn't come up with. So there are times where you don't know what's going on. And then you're defending something that you didn't write. (Plus, grading. More grading. MORE grading. Though I don't know how you keep teaching without looking at the grading to have a sense of where the misunderstandings are. I honestly, don't know.)

Also, it's hard to find mistakes in the profs work. I feel embarrassed every time I don't catch something. But I'm reading through for glaring stuff and things will make sense and then, whooops. Nevermind. Yup, students, the answer key to that problem is horribly incorrect. I think. Uhhhhhh.....

Almost worse though are the times where you think you catch something and the prof says, nope, not an error. And then students come back and ask you to explain and you have no idea. Cause you still think it's an error. And then you reference the book and can't find your mistake. Ask some friends and can't find your mistake. So you tell the students that and cross your fingers.

Which is WAY more complicated than when you're the teacher. Then you either a) know why you did something and can explain, or b) know why you did something and can admit your error. This middle ground is a TIME SUCK.

You Know I Love the Random Reconnections

Lunch today involved me being told that someone else was joining my friend and me. With this friend, that's the norm, so I didn't think twice. Just tried to remember the new person's name.

Then I found my friend in the cafeteria and all but shouted at the person sitting across from him. We were in the middle of a it's-been-a-long-time-hug when my original lunch date got out, "Wait, you know each other?"

"We went to college together," said the long-lost friend giving our graduation years. I talked over him that his brother was my next door neighbor freshmen year and dated my roommate for a while. "It was awkward."

The conversation took a while to find its rhythm. When you know you're going to run into someone you follow one script. When you randomly bump into someone you follow another. When my lunch date introduces me to someone there's a whole different protocol than when everyone already knows each other. None of them quite fit our situation, and I think we tried them all.

Next time will be more natural. It might not happen until January--finals and then holiday travel make it hard to make plans with me right now--but I'm excited for when it does.