The whereabouts of this weary meanderer
I can sum it up in one word: library. As anyone I've spoken to in the last three weeks can tell you, the driving force of motivation to "just get through" comes as a final oral comprehensive exam this coming Tuesday, pass/fail, determining my fate as a grad student. So suffice it to say, a little nervousness has crept in. Yesterday was a particularly normal, not out of the ordinary day, except maybe the latter half which curtailed into this morning: work, class, work, lecture, library.
As I lugged all the necessary study accoutrements into the 5x6 hole I’ve come to call home, I settled in for a couple of hours with breaks in between to chat with other folks who had come out of hibernation. A couple of hours even after that, past when most of the sane populace had headed home, I decided to look over material just one more outline. The next thing I knew, I was being awoken to the sound of the janitor, Greg, whom I’m well acquainted with having worked at this library for over a year, knocking gently on the door. This is not an uncommon occurrence, and so he specifically has a moratorium on the length that he lets people “power-nap” before he wakes them up. In my case, it had been two hours. So I finally trudged out of the library at approximately 5:13AM, 23 and ½ hours after I had begun the day prior.
The next hash mark waiting to be accomplished in my planner included a site visit to Big River Zinc at 7:00AM out in Illinois, so I hurriedly put my things together and set out. Boy do I miss the days of field trips to the zoo and candy factory. Instead, as a class we inspected the occupational hazards of zinc smelting. The highlight of entire trip was when we got to peer through the sulfuric acid vats and sniff the fumes in their primary purification cell. Sure beats watching cotton candy being spun and taking pictures with the llamas, let me tell ya…
Never so glad to be at home for an hour before the start of my next class, I’m more relieved than anything that my main complaints consist of not getting enough sleep and getting stressed out about a mere test. I realize the absurdity of it all when I see how other people make their living. But hopefully with enough optimism and an educational “notch” on my belt, I can do my part to ease their trials a bit too.
posted by Sheila @ 3/30/2005 10:26:00 AM
1 Comments:
Best of luck, Sheila. I know you'll do great! (Take care of yourself, too in this time of stress!)
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