2001-05-13
Mother's Day, AHD Job Pontifications, posted at 5:29 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com Mother's Day was nice. We visited Grandma, and I'm happy to report that reports of her demise have been exaggerated. She's goofy and forgetful, but not stricken down by the disease like I was worried she would be. I hope to surprise her with at least a couple visits this summer for a trip to the cemetary and lunch at the Redford Inn.A guy who was an Assistant Hall Director across the street signed my guestbook, and I perused both his and another fellow AHD's diaries for the past year. It made me again realize that the job was sort of a waste for me. Sure, it helped me pay my bills. But I didn't gain anything from it. No lifelong friends. Nothing I hadn't gotten from the last three years in res life. Being in the Curriculum/Teaching program put me on the outside looking in of the program, and my schedule was different from pretty much everyone else in the department. Stacia was cool, but didn't challenge me. Lisa was nice, but I haven't talked with her since she left in December. Nancy was also nice, but I doubt I'll ever talk to her again. I'm pretty good friends with Kevin, but that occurred before this year. I made much better friends on staff in the three years I was in Akers than in the year I was here, in a year in which the job should have been more entrenched into my life. It wasn't. I felt undervalued by the department and I wasn't motivated to do anything but the minimum. I don't know any of the other AHD's on more than a surface level, which is a bummer. I blame myself and the scheduling of meetings when I couldn't make it. Hell, they scheduled the big Kellogg retreat - a time where the emotional whallop of losing Ann Bolger was discussed (which I have discussed a lot here, as it had a big impact on my life) - when I had to go to school. I called the folks that head up the department, and their basic response was "tough luck."
*Mark, you're ranting now. It's over. Relax. It was an alright year. You can't complain. You love teaching. You didn't love your res life job for the first time. So what? You were able to survive it.*
Whatever. I'm pretty tired, but am hoping to run a few miles tonight. We'll see if that happens. I've got to get some caffeine in me.
Meanwhile, I was planning on writing my "Great Expectations" test over the weekend and applying for a few jobs, but none of that happened. Tomorrow is a half day at school, however, so I'm hoping to get some planning done in the afternoon.
Semi-exciting news from Friday: when there are 100 teachers in a school, a principal probably shouldn't be expected to know the interns. But yesterday, now that I have taken the longterm substitute position for the remainder of teh school year, the principal stopped me, put his hand on my shoulder, looked me in the eyes, and asked, "How is the new assignment going, Mark?". It was pretty cool. That he knew my name, I mean. I was pretty much shocked. Maybe I can squeeze a nice letter of recommendation out of him.