Ancrene Wiseass

A would-be medievalist holds forth on academia, teaching, gender politics, blogging, pop culture, critters, and whatever else comes her way.

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Yes, this really is yet another blog by a disillusioned grad student. I sympathize, but that's just the way it has to be. For hints as to what my bizarre alias means, click here and here and, if needed, here and here. To get a sense of what I'm up to, feel free to check out the sections called "Toward a Wiseass Creed" and "Showings: Some Introductory Wiseassery" in my main blog's left-hand sidebar. Please be aware that spamming, harassing, or otherwise obnoxious comments will be deleted and traced.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Flotsam, Jetsam, and Advice-Seeking

Yep. Still tired. But I am recovering (I think) from a two-day visit with Old Man Trouble (otherwise known as exhaustive depression). I have a crapload to do in the next three or four days, so that's a good thing. Of course, it would've been far better if I hadn't lost about 30 out of the past 48 hours to generally feeling like a big lump of self-pity and self-loathing (the latter having been induced largely by the former), but there you are.

I hereby vow to have a list of summer goals and priorities on record here by next Friday. And I also vow that at least four of them will involve working specifically to help myself detox from the effects of the grueling academic year I just completed and the residual effects of the couple that came before it.

Meanwhile, I can announce that I have (finally) managed to pass my orange belt tip test. So I should be in reasonable shape to test for the yellow belt next month. Wish me luck on the formal, dojang-wide demonstrations going on this weekend: I'm afraid I might need it, since I'm not nearly as conversant with the long form I'm performing as I ought to be.

Also meanwhile, I seek your wisdom, O Ye Internets. I have been offered a steady summer/next-school-year job which would be very flexible, would require me to work no more than 10 hours a week, and seems to be gratifyingly low-key. Needless to say, it also would go a long way to ensuring that I could comfortably pay my bills. The catch is that it's only paying $8.63/hour: it's a position usually reserved for undergraduates. And I'm also in the running for a much more desirable (and better paying) job that I think I'll be asked to interview for within the next week or so.

Despite my tendency to play it safe in such matters, I'm inclined to turn the current offer down: I suspect that I really shouldn't take a position which is paying as little as that, not only because I'm A.B.D., but also because that pittance will be even more of a pittance once I count in the cost of transportation, on-campus lunches, and taxes. And because I'd probably do better to eat PB&J for the rest of the summer and spend the extra hours on writing projects than to earn so little for my time.

What do you think?