The City College at which I tutor students in writing just began the semester, so I am back on a regular schedule: tutoring for 3 or 4 hours in the morning, 4 days a week. The first week is always slow, but next week is bound to be busy, and that means explaining grammar and punctuation rules, trying to help them understand the professor's assignment, and deciphering a variety of first-language influences on their papers (a lot of international students come to SBCC in hopes of transferring to UCLA or Berkeley). I have to say, being a night owl and having a nine a.m. obligation makes for a stressful combination. I am perpetually late or in fear of being late, despite the lack of remonstrances from the very lovely woman for whom I work, who is a poet, artist, and all around wonderful person both inside and outside of the confines of work. I just kind of resent hourly shift work because you are penalized for being five minutes late, nevermind fifteen, and you can't stay late to make up for it, even if you are willing to. But the work is directly related to my degree, I get to work with students one-on-one, and there's a fantastic view of SB harbor: who am I to complain?
I have been extra busy because I took on about 15 hours of volunteering for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF). Mostly it's super low key, but last night I was working for a red carpet event, and the crowds and the random decision making of the staff proved to be somewhat anxious-making. SBIFF -- that acronym always makes me think of some imaginary WASPy jerk named Biff (Is that from a comic or cartoon? I have some echo in my mind of a bully named Biff...) -- is already coming to an end, the last day is Sunday, and I haven't even used any of the 8 passes I've earned through volunteering! Time to get cracking. So anyways, last night I was all excited because I was volunteering for the red carpet, which I was hoping meant I'd be at least somewhere near famous people. It was the world premier of a surf movie (A Deeper Shade of Blue), so all the famous people were very tan, muscular men with sun-bleached hair, and I had no idea who was who. Apparently Kelly Slater and Stacey Peralta were there (those names I actually recognized), as were a whole bunch of other famous surfers, but I was at a total loss. My father is a surfer, and I am sure he would have been very excited (in fact, on a random side note, his high school friend who is also a surfer and who lives in SB was standing in line and trying to convince me to let him and his buddies go in first -- clearly this movie was very noteworthy for wave riders).
So, got home from volunteering, had pizza with PDK, and, oddly, ended up watching a very very very non-surf movie: The Social Network. I was in college near Boston when thefacebook.com launched, so my thoughts on that movie will be reserved for another post.
Anyways, in conclusion, I've been busy, been up late, and been kind of stressed about money because I only have a part-part-time gig at my university right now, plus the tutoring (plus my 3 other part time jobs). And then, miracle of miracles, I got an email first thing this morning telling me that I have been granted a fellowship for the spring quarter! If I believed in god(s), I would thank him/her/it/them. As it is, I am thanking Grad Div and my department. And I am truly grateful, because I had nothing lined up for spring and I just had my fingers crossed that something, anything would come through. This will enable me to cut back on tutoring, not grade for three whole months, and drill down into my dissertation, which is currently languishing in a folder on my computer.
Sorry for all the whining. More crafting news to come!
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