5 posts tagged “grad school”

Hi, I'm back.  Some things are changing and I want to write about them.  This seems as good a place as any.  I've missed writing here.  I've missed my neighbors, reading new things, and discovering new people.  I'm cleaning up a bit by deleting useless posts.

I'm done with grad school.  No, I didn't graduate, I just know now that Speech-Language Pathology is not for me.  This happened on Wednesday, and I've been having a hard time letting it all sink in.  It still doesn't feel exactly real yet.  I am going back to my love of tech support and web design.  I do want to stay in DC.  I had a job interview at a small tech support firm today that went very well.

I really want to work there.  The atmosphere is so relaxed, yet it's obvious that they work hard.  Since it's so small it's very team oriented and close-knit, which I like.  They've also made the interview process surprisingly fun.  The ad I responded to requested a personal cover letter and to avoid a stock resume.  I saw it Tuesday night and had to apply right away.  Writing the cover letter was very refreshing just to get everything out about why I wasn't interested in speech anymore and why I wanted to get back into tech support.  I put a few humorous bits into my resume which the person doing the hiring commented that he enjoyed.  It sounds like they are interviewing a lot of people and from what I could deduce hiring only one.  I tried my best to make myself stand out but it's hard.  I don't think I've ever wanted a job quite this much.  The interviewer said they were doing interviews until Wednesday and then if I was hired, he'd call.  And if not...no call.

Here's hoping.

Now I just have to get Nick up so we can head over to Georgia Brown's before it's too late!

This week hit me like a tidal wave and now the debris are strewn throughout my studio apartment: audiology reports with my professor's chicken scratch all over them, sticker charts and visual schedules for my favorite Friday morning client, and empty glass and open textbook remnants of studying for the strangest and most difficult midterm I have ever taken--scattered.

"Melissa tells me about what you all do in your program and there is no way I could handle it." -law school graduate

Then there is Frances, sitting alone and broken on my desk while I ignore it to type on the nameless media desktop.  Yes, I name my computers.  It surprised me when my first computer, a desktop Compaq purchassed by my parents as a graduation gift asked me to "name" it when I started it up for the first time.  Taking the prompt literally, I tried to think of an appropriate name for a computer, and Alfred came instantly to mind.  My first laptop, a black Dell, I named Lucy as a suitable compainion for Alfred, thinking of Adam and Eve when I dumped Alfred's files to a flash drive and placed them in Lucy.  Frances was a combination of both--a widescreen laptop had no gender and therefore was honored with a suitably antiquated yet androgynous name.  Upon receiving Francis I bestowed Alfred to my brother and Lucy to Nick under the conditions that after doing the factory restore, they would keep the computers' names in tact.

Now that it is time for Francis to change hands (Nick and I have decided that I need a new computer, and he will have the task of fixing Francis so that he may keep Francis) I am trying to think of a suitable name for my soon-to-be-arriving macbook.  I don't know if macs have the same naming processes these days (my parents' second-gen imac did not) but I insist the tradition continue, at least in spirit.  The white macbook is female, and deserving of a name you would picture on the tiniest, sweetest little old ladies with cheery hats and rosy cheeks and a never ending supply of fresh baked cookies.  Nothing with the "voiceless alveolar fricative" (the soft "th" as in "teeth") since I hate that sound.  "Gretchen" sounds too trendy.  "Doris" and "Gurtrude" are relatives.  I'm considering "Mae".  I am open to suggestions.

Have you ever given a name to a computer, or another inanimate object like a car?  (Dolls and plush animals don't count.)

This is what my life is like right now, just to give you a little glimpse of how things are going to be for me until December 5 when clinic ends.

Monday - Usually get to sleep in but that hasn't happened yet.  Either there's a group project to do or I have to meet with someone about a client or take tomorrow where I have to give hearing screenings to preschoolers in Arlington.  At 3:00 I have my first client along with my friend Megan.  We usually spend quite a bit of time setting up beforehand.  Then there's two ours to wrap that up before my next client at 6:00, and that ends at 7 (although I have to say that this client hasn't shown up for a Monday appointment yet).  Then I have to go home and prepare for Tuesday's class.

Tuesday - I have Voice Disorders class and that's about it.  The class is two and a half hours long and starts at 8am (always a bad time for me).  Then I'm technically free, but I usually meet with classmates or professors to discuss clients or do group projects.

Wednesday - I start with Audiology clinic at 12:45, but I usually have meetings in the morning so sleeping in doesn't usually happen.  I have a client a couple hours after Audiology and that ends at 7pm.

Thursday - My day begins with Neurological Disorders at 8am, which is my favorite class (with the professor that reminds me if Paula Poundstone - "Prof. Poundstone").  After the class I have my PASL (Pediatric Autism and Social Language) track meeting and then there's some time for me to prepare for my client at 5.  I'm "done" at six, but wrapping up after the client usually leaves me coming home around 7pm.

Friday - I have a client at 9:30am, so I usually try to get to the clinic at 8:45 so I have time to prepare everything.  After that is Prosem ("Professional Seminar") where we hear different speakers (eventually we'll be speaking there ourselves) and then there's a short time for lunch and to get everything ready for my final class, Child Language Disorders.  That ends at about 3:30, and unless I have more meetings, I'm done for the week.

I usually end up with way more things I have to do on a given day than I have time for.  Last Thursday I realized I'd gotten the time wrong and I had an extra hour to prepare for a client and I was completely elated.  I couldn't think of anything better than another hour!

My evenings are usually spent trying to de-stress and I Nick often ends up helping me calm down.  He tells me to stop threatening to quit, and that I'm strong and I can make it through this!

When Nick was in Grad School he had a couple of classes to go to each week and that was basically it.  He even worked full time.  Speech-Language Pathologists deserve more credit, I'm telling you.  Being a full-time undergrad and working 39 hours a week in retail is nothing compared to how hard I'm working right now!