Insomniac's blog

So, not too much going on in the life of Nita. I've been working on my research (by the way, I should be reading one of my background info books right now, but I'm tired and my feet hurt...which has nothing to do with reading, go figure). The research is progressing quite wonderfully now. I've found my central focus and since the archives I'm working with is so large and there are so many directions to go in, I have to keep my focus on just a few things and not all over which would make my paper way too broad. I have about a week and a half to finish up the research and write a whopping 30-40 pages on it. Let's just say that Nita is going to be sucking down lots of coffee and smoking lots of cigarettes. I have this horrible habit of smoking a cigarette for each page I write. I hand write all my papers ahead of time because it is easier for me to stay focused when I write things.

Since this is a random news posting, I will jump into another topic without any transitional sentence...My FOM (Friend of Mine) is seriously considering a position in Duluth, Minnesota. I was shocked when he told me about it and very sad in a way. I mean, I want what is best for him and for his career pursuits but, for very selfish reasons, I would like him to stay around here for awhile. He is so much like me personality-wise and I don't have to pretend to be someone else when we are around each other. That is a weird thing about me...I really don't fit in with anyone in every way like I do with FOM. I mean, who else can I bitch to and laugh with and slug coffee with without feeling like they just don't get me? Oh well. I guess what I am trying to say is that I have become very attached to him. If he does decide to move to Minne-freezing-sota then I shall wish him well and miss him horribly.

In other random news, my middle brother is being a total pain in the ass. He is the same brother who is basically racist, who tries to make himself out to be a perfect Christian when he is really a horrendous hypocrit, and who constantly tries to make everyone live up to his own screwed up system of ethics. Very frustrating. Well, Big Brother decided to give our mom hell because she hasn't been around to visit his kids in two weeks. She went over on Monday night and spent two hours at their house but for Big Brother two hours wasn't enough. So he calls Mom this morning and chews on her leg about not spending equal time with grandkids (she has 11 grandkids) and that she favors me too much. Of course my mom favors me! We are very close and I am her only girl so it is natural that she bonds with me more. But, Big Brother has a bad case of sibling rivalry...which is pretty damn bad considering he is 36 and I am 31. He told my mom that I am just using her and as soon as I don't need her I would stop calling her and taking her out for coffee and such. Ohhh yeah, that pissed me off something severe! First of all, my mom volunteered to watch my kids while I was in school...I never asked her. Secondly, I have always spent time every week with my mom since I was 17...coffee or dinners out or shopping or whatever. Thirdly, Big Brother wouldn't be happy if mom did spend more time over at his house visiting because he is the type who loves misery--both his own and others. Big Brother and his wife (the Sister-In-Law from Hades) have one of those cancerous types of relationships---they are malignant when they are around each other and they invade other normal and happy people to cause misery and woe. I am so tempted to call him up and chew on his leg for awhile but I know it wouldn't do any good. He would just play the victim of a random Nita attack and get all defensive and then things would really get out of hand and calls would be made to the other siblings and war camps would be set up and all hell would break loose. So, why bother? Let him stew in his misery and I will just write him off. I really do not have time for ignorant, racists, holier-than-thou, pig-headed, pedantic jerks in my life, regardless if he is my brother. Sigh...big families suck sometimes.

Okay. That's about it. Oh, Darling Husband and I are headed off next weekend for a wonderful kid-free weekend alone. It will be our 12th anniversary and it has been 12 years since we had a kid-free overnight vacation. Hallelujah!!!

Wow, it has been a long time since I posted. Where to start with updating my few readers? Hmmmm, let me think... Classes are done for now. I believe I did okay in my English capstone (final undergrad English literature course). Grades don't come in till next week, but I got a 100% on my midterm and a 96% on my first paper, if that is any indicator on my final grade. My indy study went fine. I was a little lax in my responsibilities for it but I will be fine, I think. Ummm, other than the grades, school has taken a dramatic turn for me. I dropped out of the teacher prep courses at GVSU. Now, before the Amazing Raye, Beck, Jon, and the assorted others freak the hell out, let me explain why.

I dropped the teacher ed program because I am going to apply for graduate schools this December. Yep, Darling Husband has decided to financially support me for another seven years of schooling. He is wonderful. I am going to pursue a PhD in U.S. history with a focus on labor and industrial history, U.S. immigration history, and the 20th century. Since I cannot pack up the family and go to grad school anywhere, I have decided to apply at Michigan State University and Western Michigan University. My preference is MSU, but we will see if I get in and if I get funding. Funding is the most significant right now since I am just a poor undergrad with all those little mouths to feed and feet to shod. Hee hee. But seriously, if I did the teacher ed program at GVSU then I would have one hell of a busy final year at GVSU and it would make getting my two articles finished and published extremely difficult. Not only that but I would like to have one semester to spend with my kids before the hectic pace of grad school starts. I will still get a BA in English with secondary ed emphasis and a BA in history with secondary ed emphasis, but I just wouldn't be certified in Michigan to teach. To tell you the truth, I really didn't want to teach high school anyway. The teacher ed program was just a fallback in case I couldn't cut it in grad school. And, if things do not work out in grad school, I do have the option of coming back to GVSU and taking two courses, my student assisting and student teaching and then receiving my Masters in Ed. So, I will graduate GVSU in December. I have just my History Capstone left and then I am officially done. Wow. In a way it is kinda scary. I will miss GVSU and all the fine people I have met and my friends. Grad school is unchartered territory where I will have to compete with people who are very intelligent and very committed to doing their best. Of course, now that I think about it, pursuing an undergrad degree was unchartered territory for me also. I am the first person in my family and in Darling Husband's family to get a Bachelor's Degree. I'm a little cautious as of now on everything but I am certain I will make it and will get that PhD.

Okay, enough about the pursuit of the PhD. My summer research got bogged down when my classes started demanding more of my attention so for the next two weeks I am in a mad dash to finish my research and write a 25-40 page paper on it all. I am definitely not complaining about the upcoming deadline of September 1st for my draft of the research paper. God, I love deadlines and the craziness that they inspire! Without a deadline I would never get my ass moving on things. Oh, and I am also presenting this research at GVSU's Great Lakes History Conference in October. Very nice, very nice indeed. So, in October I have the scholarship luncheon, a labor conference I am presenting at on the other side of the state, and the Great Lakes History Conference. Myah's birthday is in October also and I have a museum tour to schedule and my monthly special committee meeting and historical movie night to arrange for GVSU's history department. I love it all. I love the pace and the busy-ness of doing so many things.

The progeny is doing very well. Myah is getting ready for high school (yes, please make that scared, apprehensive face for me!). Princess is preparing herself for kidnergarten (see what happens when you have your kids over eight years apart?). The Boy is just his usual self. Actually, he has made friends with the new neighbor boys who live behind us. The one boy is the same age as my boy so they play together quite often. I am relieved that he has other boys to play with since I was getting a little worried about him. He likes to play like he's a girl. Now, I am not gender-biasing but I do know that if he continues to prefer Barbie Dolls over trucks then he will be teased quite badly in school and I want him to fit in since being an outcast is so very difficult. Wow, that was a run-on sentence! Anyhow, he is becoming more boyish and seems to actually have a good time being a boy. Darling Husband is busy with work. He is starting school soon too! Yep, he is going to get an associate's degree in some sort of computer security thing-a-ma-gig. I am still a techno-peasant. He tried to explain it all to me but the words just do not make sense when they include things like "firewall" and "ISP" and "broadband". I just sit there with that blank, stupid look on my face. All I want to know about computers is that if I turn it on, can I actually type on it and get on the intranets?

So, anyhow, I think that is about it. Grad school is on the horizon, kids doing well, almost done at GVSU, husband in his technospeak fun. All is well in Nitaville.

I know. The title sounds like a soap opera but that has been my life these last two weeks. Uber-busy and, while some really shitty things have happened these last two weeks in academia, for the most part things have been going very well. I was invited by a professor friend to present on my immigration research at a conference this fall. Very fantabulous, very fantabulous indeed. Then, I have been working my way through a few difficult and mentally-draining adventures in academia in regards to a few influential people who I managed to piss-off. Not good, but I am attempting to mend those fences.

Darling Husband has discovered my blog (hello Dear!) and has offered me comments on it like "that doesn't sound like you" and "why do you cuss so much?". Well, my blog is like my diary in a way and I purge my mental frustrations on it so sometimes I cuss and sometimes I sound mean and vulgar. And, in defense of myself, sometimes I AM mean and vulgar. Anyhow, I refuse to censor myself here.

I received some wonderful news today! I got a letter in the mail from the one scholarship committee I applied to and I was one of five women in the area to receive a scholarship! I was awarded $800 for the fall semester! That is absolutely fantabulously wonderful! I am honored, shocked, and joyously happy! My parents are kicking in the rest of the tuition so I can finish up my BAs in English and History. I didn't want to ask them and I sought out every other option but nothing was coming through. My parents decided that since I have never asked them for any help with paying for school and that since I have made it thus far without breaking, they felt they should help out a bit. Even though they didn't ask, I will pay them every month until they have been re-embursed. After all, I am 31 and my parents shouldn't have to support my endeavors.

Not too much else going on. Myah has Swimmer's Ear and is recovering from that. Princess has a skin infection and is on antibiotics to get rid of it. Princess has a long list of allergies and this is becoming standard for her. She has been battling different things since she was about a year old. She's pretty tough about it all though. The Boy is fine. He fell on the side of the road while running with flip-flops on and skinned his forehead again. We're getting pretty used to head injuries with him. His head is somewhat bulbous and the rest of him is tall and skinny...like his dad. Well, with The Boy being so top heavy he just seems to land on his forehead a lot He hasn't learned to put his hands down to break his fall yet. Cornbread, my amazingly cute little chihuahua, is his usual boisterious self. He's a full eight pounds of ferocious cuteness.

Okay, enough of my blathering. All hasn't been sunshine and lollypops but the last two weeks haven't been miserable either.