Shameless Procrastination - and my schedule

It occurs to me that I never posted my schedule. It also occurs to me that, by doing so now, I am pretty much forcing it to change. I'm OK with that.

• Monday - In Oakland 12-6. Homework for Tuesday thereafter.


• Tuesday - In Oakland 10-3 and 6-9, usually doing reading in Oakland in between.


• Wednesday - Homework or errands in the morning, in Oakland 2-5, homework for Thursday thereafter.


• Thursday - Homework all day, including reading for Friday. Watching video of class when it's posted.


• Friday - In Oakland 10-4. Every other Friday evening, gaming. (I'm not up for homework on Friday nights, really; that's my designated fun night, I think.)


• Saturday - Reading for Thursday class.


• Sunday - Writing for Monday assignments (some of which are for Thursday class, as well).

I had an Exalted game that was slated to happen every other Thursday night, but that fell through. The ST got promoted at his job and just doesn't have the time anymore. I'm happy for him but sad for me; I put some time and effort into that character. And I find Exalted satisfying in a way that I just haven't found some other role-playing systems to be. (No offense to my Facebook D&D group, who is awesome, even if they are letting my character lay on the ground and bleed, right now. ;)) ... I wish I could convince someone to run Shadowrun 4e, or a different Exalted game, on opposing Thursday or Friday nights; that would be the best thing ever. Games at someone's house is much more within my budget than going out to dinner or drinks, and it's escapist in the same way as fiction is--only without the "I should be reading library stuff, not this fiction book" guilt--also it's just, you know, fun. (Side note: There are plenty of library folk who appreciate the value of games, so I don't feel super weird about coming out of the gaming closet on this blog. I only feel a little weird. :)) I realize my game-running karma is low; when I have a full-time job-and-no-school, or I'm in a graduate program where my schooling and work are integrated better, I will have to pull together and run a game of my own. But for now, for time reasons, I must rely on the kindness of friends.

Unless anyone's interested in Parlor Larps? (If you click that link, don't read too much about Snow White or All Saints Eve. I have those two.) I'd run one of those for interested people--not as well as Henry did, but I'd do my best.

Ends and beginnings

I've changed around my class schedule. I think it's pretty solid, though I may still want to change sections for one class. 

LIS 2000: Understanding Information

LIS 2001: Organizing Information
LIS 2670: Digital Libraries 
LIS 2700: Managing Libraries (the real name is longer)

You'll notice there are only four classes there. I mean, that's a pretty heavy load for grad classes, anyway, but I had resolved to take five, so that I wouldn't be stuck taking four during the summer. (I hate summer classes. A semester seems a little short, for some topics, but trying to finish a class during the summer is just insane. I already know one of my summer classes will take up a few weekends, for instance; it says so on the course schedule.) I found, as I was trying to schedule things out, that the only way I could possibly take five classes was to force myself to attend nine hours of class, in a row, and I know myself and my attention span better than that. I'm worried about six hours, honestly. (I'm buying a coffee pot and cleaning out my thermos.) Or I could take a class I didn't want as much, which seems like a waste, in its own way. So, I lamented, it will just have to be four classes, this semester, and I'll make up for it in the spring.  Ah, well; it'll be an easier transition, this way, and having the extra time to do everything well, the semester before PhD applications are due, isn't the worst thing in the world...

Having my schedule decided, having my Pitt digital ID and login information reportedly on its way to me, having met several of my new coworkers at CMU, having watched one very cool coworker leave Brentwood already, and having seen the post made to the internal blog at Brentwood, saying I'm leaving, I'm kind of in a different mindset, now. I no longer feel entirely like I'm part of the Brentwood staff; I'm sad to be leaving them--in, you know, two weeks--and I'm excited about starting my new job and my studies. (It's very funny that I only just got my status changed to "Staff" yesterday, in Millenium. :)) Again, I find myself just feeling kind of liminal and floaty. 

This post was originally just going to be about how much I like the Brentwood folks and will miss working with them and also how excited I am to work with the folks at CMU, who also seem pretty excellent. I just kind of wandered off into logistics, though, instead. But I can't understate what a good experience I've had, or how excited I am about working with the folks at CMU (which I expect to be a better education, in a lot of ways, than my classes themselves). It's a pretty fantastic time to be me. 

Back to scheduling, for a second: not to seem like a dork--which you know I am--or like someone with a bad set of priorities--which you know I am not--but I did check with everyone to make sure my bi-weekly Exalted game could be moved to Wednesdays, instead of Tuesdays, if needed. Obviously, school and work come first, but I'd like to be able to fit that into my schedule, if at all possible. It's good to have regularly scheduled "play" time, you know? It keeps a person sane ... ish. And Josh is a very good ST. And I think I finally have my character set up so she'll be fun to play, within that group. So I'm extra pleased that everything seems to be falling into place, with respect to scheduling.