Sometimes I make a good impression.

Ah, the thrill of the hunt. Or the thrill of just barely not getting kicked out of school. I live for it. There is of course the infamous 'Bagpipe Episode of 2004' which nearly cost me $20,000 in tuition and all of my friends. And the incomplete I still have from the fall of 2006, for which I have officially been on probation for a year and a half. This week though there was more excitment.

i. On Monday I informed the Linguistics Department that I would not be applying for a TAship next year. I've TAed LING 101 for 3 years now and besides getting sort of bored with it, I figured the department would want to give some of the other grad students a chance to do it as well. More importantly, I thought I would only be paying tuition as a dissertator in the fall, which is really cheap, as opposed to out-of-state tuition, which is really expensive. On Tuesday I found out that I wasn't accounting for the classes I still need to take to finish my minor, which are extra if you're a dissertator. And expensive also. On Wednesday I worried about how I was going to pay for school next year. And drank some beers outside to calm my nerves. On Thursday I got a call from my advisor. She had just come from a department meeting in which I had been discussed. The concensus, the department really wants me to TA again. I graciously accepted. On Friday I applied to be a TA for LING 101 next year. Crises averted.

ii. Last Sunday night I got an email from a professor I am doing an independant study with. We hadn't meet in a few weeks and she was wondering what was going on there. We decide to meet Firday afternoon; I promise that I've got some stuff to talk about. Friday looms in my future. Wednesday I drink some beers, to calm my nerves. Thursday night I remember I still have a section worth of problem sets to grade for Friday morning. This was prime prepare-to-meet-with-professor time. Friday morning I go row at 5:30 AM, go to breakfast at 7:15 AM, and the library at 9:30 AM. At 12:05 I begin handing back problem sets, feeling woefully ill-prepared for my meeting at 1:00. At 1:00 we meet, we talk, we discuss. I smile some. We plan for the future. We (finally) sign the form needed for me to add this class officially. By Monday I should no longer have a credit underload and risk being classified as a part time student. Crises averted.

Karma, are you out there? I don't want to lose anything this weekend because of what happened today.