April Musings

The semester is winding down, just as summer is beginning. For the first time in years, I'll be taking a summer class. I haven't yet had this particular professor, although I hear from others that have had him that his classes are wonderful. I hope so, because poetry isn't one of my strong suits, but I'm hoping it'll let me grow and become a better poet. So far most of my professors have been wonderful and encouraging, the kind of professor I hope to be.

With only three semesters remaining until I graduate, time seems to be racing in front of me. I see the end of this phase of my college career and have come to think of IUSB as home, it'll be hard to leave the nest. If I had my 'druthers' I'd take one of each class in the English department, one in each of the speech department and probably one of every other department I could slide my way into. I love being in class, I love learning and yes, some will call me sick, but I even love homework. Once I complete the BA degree and move on to my Masters degree, the end will really be in sight. I won't have a real 'reason' to continue my formal education once I've attained the Masters but I'll probably always be taking one kind of class or another just to keep my hand in the role of student. I don't ever want to forget what its like being a student, because I've found that those professors who have forgotten tend to be the ones that I don't mesh as well with.

Writing short stories this semester has allowed me to work through some personal issues using my characters as the bridge between fiction and reality. It's given me the chance to relive cherished memories, work my way past some painful ones, and let my imagination fly on a child's wings. I have adored every moment of the writing fiction class I've had this semester and I hope it's made me a better writer. I know it's allowed me to look at my stories in a new light. I'd always just written them, saved them to a disc and went on from there. But now I take a look at the reasons behind why my characters do what they do, I take a harder look at my locations and settings and how they help or hinder my characters, and I pay more attention to the interaction between my various characters and how that propels the story along.

I've learned a lot about my writing so far, and I hope to learn even more as I go on. Life is a learning process and if we're smart, we learn from it as we go. I may finish my formal education but I'll be learning things the rest of my life.

Let your fantasies unwind

Spring has sprung, well somewhere it has at least. Not here and not today. It's a blustery 34 degrees on the last day of March. I have a ton of homework to do and no motivation to do it. So I thought I'd just write here for a bit.

I dreamed of Spock last night, not unlike Dr. Sheldon Cooper did as well this week. My dream, however, was a lot more fun than Sheldon's. Spock and I were at a flea market looking for Star Trek stuff. Nobody seemed to recognize him as Spock, perhaps because he had his Leonard face on. Either way, we were able to shop and converse and get to know each other without anyone interrupting us. It was amazing!!

I love my imagination, it takes me all kinds of nice places like flea markets with Spock. My dreams are always in color and I can usually hear, smell, and sometimes even taste things in them. I'm told that not everyone dreams this way and that's a real shame. My dreams at night are a bit like a vacation from reality and every now and then, one is good enough to write down into a journal for a possible story idea in the future. I haven't figured out how I'll use the dream of taking a city bus to the moon yet, but I will. :-)

I'm betting that my favorite authors dream in this way too, or at least they allow their imaginations to run wild at times during the day, which is pretty much the same thing. I frequently go back and re-read favorite books, sometimes whole series by favorite authors. This lets me revisit with old friends and get to re-learn the stories that way. I'm currently re-reading everything Anne McCaffrey. I was introduced to her "Dragonriders of Pern" series by my older sister when I was 16 (Thank you Lin!). I've been revisiting Pern on a regular basis since then. Right now I'm on Petaybee and enjoying the adventures of Sean and Yana and the sentient planet. Maybe I'll dream myself into one of those stories as well, and wouldn't that be fun?

Some of us are a little closer to our inner 6 year old than others and I'm definitely in that group. I keep my imagination going and encourage it to take little trips into fantasy realms just to see what will happen. Everyone should do this, exercising our imaginations might just allow us to find a way to the stars faster and then we'd have a whole new universe to explore. To quote Andrew Lloyd Webber, "Open up your mind, let your fantasies unwind."

Catching up

Wow, it's been almost a year since my last post. That simply will not do. I resolve right here and now to post more often. As this is supposed to be a blog of my journey through school and life, I suppose it's kinda fitting that I haven't had the time to update it more often, but I have to make the time.

Life has been challenging health wise but I continue to plug along in school. After this semester, I have 9 classes (or 27 credits) left to take. That works out to about 2 semesters of class, depending on what's offered. I will be taking summer classes, but might just take 'fun' stuff to keep my study habits up until fall semester starts. If I do five class in the fall and four in the spring, that's my 27 credits. So that puts me on track to graduate in the Spring of 2013. Once graduated, I hope to find employment as an adjunct English professor at a community college (Ideally here in South Bend, but that'll depend on where hubby's job takes him). While working as an adjunct, I will take Masters level class working towards my Masters in Fine Arts (Creative Writing). That's the plan. I see it very clearly in my head. I see the steps I have to take to attain my goal and I can very easily see myself teaching. Nothing is going to stand in my way; not my heart, my hips, or my back. They can just learn to behave and let me do what needs to be done.

And now, since this is updated, on to studying for my last midterm exam. Can't believe Spring semester is already half over, where does the time go?