Mama Tired. Very Tired.

Today is the most tired I have been in a while. I'm really dragging.

It may have something to do with the fact that I didn't go to bed until almost 1 a.m. and then the sunshine pouring through my window woke me up before 6 a.m. the next morning. So, instead of rolling over and going back to sleep like a normal person, I got up and went to the gym hoping to beat the "regulars" to the elliptical machines. Instead, the girl at the desk asked if I was there for the morning class. I was feeling rather adventurous, so I simply answered, "Sure." Then, for the next hour I was taking part in "Track Attack" (you pretty much get the drift of the type of exercise I was doing). I came back feeling rather refreshed, productive and ready to tackle my day.

Of course, had I remembered what the day was to entail, I might not have felt so optimistic.

Last week, I truly enjoyed our class. The topics aligned with my interests and abilities well and our assignments ended up being so much fun. We literally laughed until we cried making a funny promotional video! This week, however, is one of those classes that is a required drudgery. It's a topic that just doesn't really inspire anyone. It's "Cataloging and Classification" which means that we are learning about all the different ways that books are cataloged/organized for libraries. Very technical. Very dull. It's a necessary evil--you can't have a library unless books are arranged in an orderly fashion and can be easily located--but it's still a very stale topic.

That's not to say that I can't find the silver lining: my teacher is wonderful and has great ideas for lesson plans, my group is amazing--we work so well together and enjoy one another's company, and we have been able to use some of the tools that we learned about last week to make our group project a little less difficult and more entertaining, etc.

But the bottom line is that this class--or today anyway--has exhausted me. Even if I had gotten more sleep last night, I still think the end result would be the same. I ended up collapsing on my bed for a few minutes after dinner, then my friends took me to Sonic for a little caffeine wake-up call. I'm feeling much better and looking forward to a quiet night of either movie watching or book reading. Here's to hoping that Mama's batteries get recharged for another long day tomorrow...the day we find out what our next two assignments will be!

The Good Stuff

I feel like I have spent the majority of this semester whining on this blog. Shame on me. It hasn't been all bad, really! Sure, it's been stressful, I have felt even busier than usual, and my assignments have been super time consuming, I can still find some silver linings in the grad school clouds.

• One of my professors was willing to negotiate our assignment list meaning many due dates were changed and several assignments were reduced in size or deleted from the syllabus altogether.
• All of my professors are very understanding about the fact that we have families and jobs to juggle. Generally, if we have a hard time getting an assignment turned in on time, they are willing to work things out with you.
• I expected to be in class every Monday night from January through May. Instead, we only met about twice a month and next week (still in April) is our final class date!
• One of my professors was very organized and her class was very structured. Plus, she was very quick to respond to questions and grade assignments. It made life SO much easier!
• I have one other classmate at my ITV location...thank goodness! Having someone to contact with questions was so helpful. I am so glad I didn't have to go at it alone. Plus, it always helps to have a classmate that you can vent with.
• We always have plenty of time to eat dinner in-between classes. Honestly, I was very worried about this. Sitting in class from 4:30 until almost 10 p.m. without food or caffeine could only mean one thing for me: migraines. Mama's gotta eat! Fortunately, our teacher always gives us a 30-minute break.
• It was tough reading so many books this semester, but I really enjoyed it. It helped me have a reason to read some books/authors that I wasn't familiar with and might not have read otherwise.

See? I AM capable of seeing the glass half full...are you shocked? :)

Conquering My Reading List

I feel like I'm actually making a little progress and slowly but surely getting a grasp on what's required of me in my classes. Today was especially productive because, in one trip to our local high school, I managed to finish three assignments (observation, interview, book talk) and start another (bibliography).

I've also been able to wade through the gigantic reading list for my young adult literature class and decide what I'm reading when. That sounds like an easy task but trust me--it wasn't!

Plus, after combing through our local library system and high school's card catalog, I've also discovered what I can read for free. I love free.

I'm doing okay on my reading list. So far I've managed to read:

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt (my favorite)
Holes by Louis Sachar
Hero by S.L. Rottman
Harris and Me by Gary Paulsen
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne (my second favorite thus far)

I'm considering starting another blog to share my personal book reviews on the books that I'm reading. Not only would it be a fun blog project, but it will be a helpful resource when I am a librarian and need to remember the plots and characters of these books in a pinch. I'm still on the fence about it. Maybe now is not quite the time to take on another project.
We'll see!