I haven’t got much to say in defense of the several month-long break I took from blogging. The whole concept of Undergraduate Musings — sober and, for the most part, intelligent thoughts from a college student as she actually makes her way through college — was reasonable enough. However, this past semester got the better of me.

  1. For starters, I really put my working-under-pressure skills to the test. I took a Radical Politics course this semester as one of my Honors Program requirements with Prof. Ieva Zake. The course description promised a lot:
    “The course provides an in-depth look into selected revolutionary/radical ideologies of the 19th and 20th centuries. Geographically the course covers various regions such as Europe, the United States, Latin America, Russia, China and Africa. The course discusses the intellectual roots of revolutionary ideas; the internal dynamic of radical political movements; and the ways revolutionary ideologies can serve to build radical states. The course will analyze such ideologies as anarchism, Marxism, various forms of Leninism including Maoism, Castroism and African socialism, Fascism, Nazism, radical feminism, environmentalism and anti-globalism. The course is built on an interdisciplinary perspective that incorporates sociology, history and political science.”

    and I went in with sincerest hopes that the once-a-week, two and a half hour course would deliver on at least some of what it claimed to include. Prof. Zake, as full of wit, whimsy and energy as she was knowledge, provided just the right mixture of lecture and discussion to keep the abnormally long class from tiring all of us out. In fact, some weeks we all lost track of time and had to be kicked out of the room by the professor that needed it after our class.

    The only drawback to her class, was the way which she assigned and collected homework. Each week we had a hefty (sometimes whole books) amount of reading to complete before the next class. Due by 10 a.m. the day of class — emailed to her — were response papers. My first, and in retrospect worst, paper was the only one that I managed to finish more than a day before it was due. The rest were written, in their entirety, 2 hours ahead of deadline before I grabbed my things and sprinted to my 9:25 a.m. physics class.

    After finding that these rushed papers were the kind that got me 4/4 grades… I stuck to the pattern. And as a consequence, began to do the same with more and more assignments. Before you caution me that this was all my doing and in no part the fault of professor, allow me to say this: I know. I also know that its probably a good sign that I can not only handle deadlines tighter than Nun’s panties, but that I’m starting to like them. (Remember, journalism major that’s in it for the love of the field?) In comparison, my “rushed” writing shows signs of more creativity, focus and thought. I guess if you give me too much time to think, I just stop thinking and become entrenched in my hatred for the blinking cursor and blank screen. Either way, its meant much less time for relaxation and reflection.

  2. I became reacquainted with the Rowan University party scene. Without going into lengthy descriptions that would inevitably involve the kinds of details that most of you are unaccustomed to hearing from me… I’ll say that I found a group of people that make going to frat houses tolerable and that there were a few people in particular that made the entire experience utterly enjoyable and worthwhile. In short: nerds need lovin’ too and I certainly got my fill.
  3. My roommate and I became the kind of friends that, when the other isn’t otherwise busy, talk endlessly about nothing in particular and love it like its the most meaningful thing in the world. As long as she was around, there was no motivation for me to sit before my laptop and watch my fish, Miguel, do laps around his bowl until I could write a cohesive and reflective blog entry. O Christina, how I love thee.
  4. A friend down the hallway brought a PS2 back to school with him after winter break. I suppose you’d have to actually see the burning inferno that takes up residence in my eyes when he beats me over and over and over again in Street Fighter before you understand why, when I had much better things to do (like eat, sleep or do my work) I was determined to stay in that room until I won at least ONE match.

    You see, his favorite character was Akuma. Mine was Chun-Li. And things didn’t get overwhelmingly tense or serious until one of us initiated a match between the two. I can’t tell you how many times the brutal violence that was taking place on his TV screen slowing spread into the room and before we knew it arms were being pinched and/or punched, shins kicked, arms bit, faces smacked and ribs elbowed. I being a former soccer player, actually mirrored the style of Chun-Li: kick til your opponent stops moving. He, being 90% muscle and 10% insanity, took after Akuma and made the few hits he got in reeeeeally count. Either way, I always returned to my room with my hair mussed and grunting obscenities about how ‘that cheating sonofabitch’ was going down next time. And always, always too flustered to even think of doing anything but put on some music and wait until my roommate stopped laughing at my Street Fighter-related rage.

  5. The Whit owns my soul. Although it didn’t pan out the way I had hoped, about halfway through the semester I realized that I had grown attached to the A&E section and decided to run for Section Editor. I also realized that I loved writing play previews and reviews (very much so). Behold, the fruits of semester:

    To put things in context, The Whit is Rowan University’s student run and produced weekly newspaper. As you can see, there were some weeks when I worked harder than others. By no means am I trying to toot my own horn. But, even for my own purposes, its nice to have a semester’s worth of work in one place.

So there you have it, five — legitimate, but by varying degrees — reasons why actually living through my Spring 2006 semester at Rowan took precedent over cataloging my experiences. Accept them either in whole, in part or not at all. Quite frankly, your acceptance has little to do with how I feel about my past semester. I merely did this to satisfy the curiosity of anyone kind enough to be curious about what I’ve been doing with myself for the past few months.

Now, four months stand between me and my fall semester. Plans, as of right now, are as follows:

Priority #1: Work work work work work and MORE work at the golf range where I am part-time cashier and full-time slave. Although I’m not always in the best mood after my 7- or 8-hour shifts, my co-workers make the pain bittersweet. As a college student just recently having finished the first of four money-draining years at Rowan University, I can very earnestly say that I have a new appreciation for each and every dollar I earn. Work sucks, but being broke sucks more. Such is life.

Priority #2: Become a fine coniseur of my area’s local newspapers. Granted, I don’t plan on eventually putting in a long-term stint at any of them during post-graduction… it can’t hurt to know what’s immediately available in the area and get familiar with what I do and don’t like. Besides, after hearing about the dismal amount of jobs available for journalists, I have to face the fact that I may realistically have no choice but to put in a long-term stint at one of them out of necessity. If that’s the case, and I promise I won’t throw too much of a tantrum if it is, then I ought to develop a good idea of where I’d prefer to be now.

Priority #3: Looking for internships. Honestly, I’d love to do some stringer work while I’m at home but am not at all sure how to go about doing it. Any advice on the matter would be MOST helpful.

Priority #4: Besides worrying about my next paycheck and future career, I’m going to need some recreation. For that, I hope to indulge in some concerts, ze beach, ice cream, summer nights spent staring at the stars, pools and occasionally going to the gym.

Priority #5: Resuming my place as The Jones Family Smart Ass, Wise-Acher and All Around Michief Maker. I haven’t seem them for quite a while. Its about time I make up for all that lost time, wouldn’t you say?

And so ends the first post to end my several month-long hiatus. Without sounding like the ultimate comment whore, I will mention that comments — especially nagging ones — will keep me coming back to this.

Until next time, adieu.