I am a serious student, I am dedicated, study hard, and want to truly learn. I think when you put lots of effort into whatever you do, people around you go out of their way to encourage you, and people in position of authority try to show you the right way and guide you, so you get to your goal successfully. I have been getting encouragement, to continue my studies, from not only my family and friends, and of course my professors, but also from total strangers, who saw my excitement and dedication within the first few minutes of our meeting.
One Friday night as I was about to leave the library, I decided to check out the text I was reading, so that I could continue reading it overnight. I don't like to check out books from the library if I am not going to read it cover to cover! Reading a chapter here, another one there, and taking notes, doesn't take that long, and I rather read and take notes in the library, let the book stay in the library, so when another student like me just wants to read a few chapters, don't get disappointed that the book is not available.
Anyhow, that Friday night, just before the closing time, as I walked toward the circulation desk to check out the book, I saw a line in front of the librarian! I was so not ready to wait in line, that late in the evening, but I wanted to read that book, so I stood!
The student librarian, looked like he was a freshman, who just started, and was probably over his head trying to deal with all of us in a short period of time before closing. I was thinking to myself why a more capable fulltime librarian is not there to help this poor guy who obviously was not very comfortable behind that desk.
Suddenly the women in front of me turned to me and said, "I had been librarian for over 15 years, without the capability of computers of today, and I never allowed anyone wait in line, I was efficient and speedy!" I decided to be polite and show that I was interested in conversing with her, but in reality I just wanted to get home and continue studying/taking note from the book I was reading! So I asked her if she was a librarian here or in another school. She told me that she worked in another school, first as a librarian, and then when her marriage dissolved, she decided to go back to school, got her master's and then a Ph.D., and was hired as a professor at once.
Suddenly not only I was interested in her story, in a split second, I also became an admirer! She continued that, she had two teenage girls at that time and she felt that she needed to excel in her career. I can't image how she did it, going through a divorce, taking care of two teenage girls, holding a fulltime job, and then if her life was not full enough, starting graduate studies. I told her that I was very impressed, and continued that, after my divorce I was such a mess, I couldn't even do my job as efficiently as I had done before, and here she was not only she took care of her kids and did her job well probably, she also went to school.
She asked me about my story and I told her that I was back at school after almost 20 years for a master's degree. She told me now that I was there, why stop at masters; why not go for a Ph.D. She said that she can see my dedication, being there on a Friday night, and added that these days it is essential to have a Ph.D. if you want to go further in your career.
I told her that I thought I was too old to continue! She asked me how old was I? When I told her, she said she was about 6 years my senior when she started her master's degree and continued that she had a great lengthy second career as a professor, and now she is into her third career, a researcher in Women's studies, and that is why she was at the library.
So, yes, the thought of continuing to a Ph.D. program has been in back of my mind! I so would have gone after it if I was a bit younger, or if I didn't want to have kids. Both my older sisters had their youngest kids when they were 41, so that is the absolute latest for me to consider getting pregnant and have a kid too. I have a window of three years maximum to have a kid, preferably two, lol, and that is a tight window, lol. My plan, all along, had been to finish school, at the latest, at the end of 2011, and right away start concentrating on starting a family. But I can't help it not wanting to continue, now that I know I can be a success at school , plus I know where I like to advance in my career, I think requires having a Ph.D!
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
I got another A-!
My other professor just sends us an email that the grades have been posted on the class webpage and I could not breathe to go there and find out my grade! Of course the grades were posted with our student identification number. Gone are the days that the grades were posted on the professors' door with our social security numbers. Of course I was grateful that I could check my grade from here and I didn't have to beg my dad to go see my grade and call me. Anyhow, I jumped to fetch my purse and got my id out, and off I went in search of my grade. I am so memorizing my student id number, lol.
Of course I did not expect to get an A-, I thought more like B+. I did lousy on my midterm, and even thought I studied very hard for the final and I thought I had done well, I could not be sure. But I GOT AN A-, lol.
I can't begin to say how ecstatic I am at the moment. I did well this semester. I wish that I had not dropped the other class and had gotten another A- in that too. But hopefully I can do better next semester and pass all three of my classes with grades A as base! lol.
Baking cookies right now, the smell has saturated the apartment, and waiting for my sister to get home.
Happy times.
Of course I did not expect to get an A-, I thought more like B+. I did lousy on my midterm, and even thought I studied very hard for the final and I thought I had done well, I could not be sure. But I GOT AN A-, lol.
I can't begin to say how ecstatic I am at the moment. I did well this semester. I wish that I had not dropped the other class and had gotten another A- in that too. But hopefully I can do better next semester and pass all three of my classes with grades A as base! lol.
Baking cookies right now, the smell has saturated the apartment, and waiting for my sister to get home.
Happy times.
One successfully done, one to go ...
I got an email from my professor with comments on my final paper and my grade for the course. I GOT AN A-. Even thought I am very happy and excited, but I cannot shake the feeling of wanting an A! I really worked hard and did well, or so I thought, but maybe not perfect. Beside the two papers, we had 10 quizzes, each with 10 points; I accumulated 91 out of 100. We had homework almost every week, 2 to 3 challenging questions per homework, accumulated to 75 questions. I got 69 of them correct. And on the two papers I got a "great job" comment. So yes, I was hoping for an A. I suppose the people who got an A got perfect scores on their quizzes and homework. Oh well!
A few weeks ago when I was trying to decide if I wanted to take a third course next semester, I came across a new special topic class. It is being taught by the same professor that I dropped his class this semester. I went to talk to him to find out more about the course. After he explained in details what he was going to cover, he summarized that it was the continuation of the course I dropped but was sitting in. Suddenly I got very mad and was about to kick myself for another round, when he told me that even thought the prerequisite was the course I dropped but he would sign for me to be admitted to the next semester's class. He told me that he was very impressed by my dedication and I would have gotten an A in his class if I hadn't dropped it. So yes, I ended up kicking myself for a bit, but then I reasoned that I was at school for the learning, I learned the martial of one class for free, and now I could take another class for credit! Of course I would be at school a bit longer, but my goal is learning. You see, when I dropped that class, I continued to attend it with the professor's permission of course. The first couple of weeks I didn't do the homework, but then I decided to keep up. So I first turned in the couple of homework that I missed turning in on time, and after that I turned my homework on time. The professor was great and he did take time to grade my homework and write comments. Anyhow, the grade was based on the homework only. They were challenging and I spend a good 2 or 3 hours per question, in excess of 20 hours per homework. But I kept up, learned a lot, allowed myself to be able to take the next semester's course, and now I even feel real good that I could have gotten an A in it. But the little fact that it was not for credit is still bothersome to me, lol.
So next semester I shall be taking three classes. I have figured I can handle it, and since there is no prospect of employment, I have not heard from any of my friends and former colleagues who told me that they shall get back to be with good news and soon, so I figured I might as well not waste my time.
I have been at my sister's for five days now and all five days I have gone to gym. I weight myself today and I am down one pound since Saturday. If this gym's scale is as accurate as my old gym's scale I have lost over 10 pounds since September. As soon as I get to my parents I shall weight myself; I know the difference between that scale and my old gym's scale for accurate comparison. Anyhow, I have gone to gym everyday and have done cardio for 2 and half hours; 45 minutes on stationary bike, followed by another 45minutes on elliptical, and finally one hour on the treadmill. I did not push myself to go hard and at high level; I started at the lower levels than I was used to and I am building my stamina back. Even thought I have felt tired afterword, I am not in pain, and the reward is that I lost one pound; considering that I had eaten out every single day, I am very satisfied with this lost pound.
We went out to dinner Friday night, with my sister's boyfriend, and hopefully to be my brother-in-law soon. I had stake and cream brulee, amazing. Saturday we went to one of my sister's good friend for dinner. I didn't know her and if she had not emailed me earlier to invite me personally when she found out that I was going to be at my sister's, I would have not gone. But I am glad I went, she and her husband are great people. I had a great time and eat lots of delicious food. Sunday was Christmas shopping at the mall and we had pizza. I am proud to report that I did all my Christmas shopping in one day, lol, considering that I had to buy gifts for 20+ people.
Every year I put a lot of effort into Christmas gifts, but this year I didn't have that much time, so I decided either I was not going to give gifts to anyone, or just give gift cards. When my place got rented, and one month ahead of time, I decided to consider that I was still paying the mortgage and spend the rent, well maybe a good portion of it, on gifts. However, I decided to go with gift cards, for one there was no time to pick gifts for 20+ people and for another when I see something for someone and feel that it could be perfect for them, my budget for the gift for them goes out of the window; I couldn't do that this year. So I decided on the value of the gift cards for grownups, and then doubled it for the kids. Got gift cards from Apple store for my two brothers-in-law, one soon to be brother-in-law hopefully, three adopted brothers-in-law, lol (my best friends' husbands are truly like brothers-in-law) and their kids, except for my oldest niece who is no longer a kid! For my oldest niece, my sisters, and my two best friends who live here, I got gift cards from their favorite stores. For my best friend who lives oversee, I got a gift card from her local Amazon. I could have gotten her a gift card from her favorite store too, and I knew she might be here in the summer, but I wanted her to be able to spend it as soon as she wants. Thus I was only left to get gifts for my parents, which was fun to just concentrate on them.
Monday night my sister was going to dinner with four of her former classmates and their families, so I tagged along, and last night we went to her neighbor's apartment to celebrate the longest night of the year. It is a Persian celebration. I am familiar with this celebration since one of my college roommates was Persian and she had told me about it. So more eating was done and this morning I am still one pound lighter than the day I got here.
The plan for today is to bake cookies to take with us tomorrow to our parents. I have done the shopping and going to start soon, but shall wait to make couple of batches with my sister tonight. And tomorrow I shall use my last gym pass and then in the early afternoon we are headed to our parents for Christmas.
I have been thinking that since I am not that poor anymore, lol, maybe I could either join my old gym, or join my school gym, which is as good, but cheaper, or go the cheapest way and take up running. All I know is that I have been enjoying working out, and I want to lose weight without developing lose skin, so I have to exercise. I shall think about it some more and make my final decision by the new year, lol.
Right now, I feel so happy and excited. I wish that I knew how I have done on my other class, and if that grade is good also, I would be on the top of the world! I feel that I am finally guiding my future to where I would have wanted to go, happy and successful. There have been lots of uncertainly in the past few months, but I am so glad I took a chance, and when given the opportunity, I used it well. I am hoping that next year at this time, I would be even happier, thinner, and more satisfied with my decisions and where I am.
MERRY CHRISTMAS.
A few weeks ago when I was trying to decide if I wanted to take a third course next semester, I came across a new special topic class. It is being taught by the same professor that I dropped his class this semester. I went to talk to him to find out more about the course. After he explained in details what he was going to cover, he summarized that it was the continuation of the course I dropped but was sitting in. Suddenly I got very mad and was about to kick myself for another round, when he told me that even thought the prerequisite was the course I dropped but he would sign for me to be admitted to the next semester's class. He told me that he was very impressed by my dedication and I would have gotten an A in his class if I hadn't dropped it. So yes, I ended up kicking myself for a bit, but then I reasoned that I was at school for the learning, I learned the martial of one class for free, and now I could take another class for credit! Of course I would be at school a bit longer, but my goal is learning. You see, when I dropped that class, I continued to attend it with the professor's permission of course. The first couple of weeks I didn't do the homework, but then I decided to keep up. So I first turned in the couple of homework that I missed turning in on time, and after that I turned my homework on time. The professor was great and he did take time to grade my homework and write comments. Anyhow, the grade was based on the homework only. They were challenging and I spend a good 2 or 3 hours per question, in excess of 20 hours per homework. But I kept up, learned a lot, allowed myself to be able to take the next semester's course, and now I even feel real good that I could have gotten an A in it. But the little fact that it was not for credit is still bothersome to me, lol.
So next semester I shall be taking three classes. I have figured I can handle it, and since there is no prospect of employment, I have not heard from any of my friends and former colleagues who told me that they shall get back to be with good news and soon, so I figured I might as well not waste my time.
I have been at my sister's for five days now and all five days I have gone to gym. I weight myself today and I am down one pound since Saturday. If this gym's scale is as accurate as my old gym's scale I have lost over 10 pounds since September. As soon as I get to my parents I shall weight myself; I know the difference between that scale and my old gym's scale for accurate comparison. Anyhow, I have gone to gym everyday and have done cardio for 2 and half hours; 45 minutes on stationary bike, followed by another 45minutes on elliptical, and finally one hour on the treadmill. I did not push myself to go hard and at high level; I started at the lower levels than I was used to and I am building my stamina back. Even thought I have felt tired afterword, I am not in pain, and the reward is that I lost one pound; considering that I had eaten out every single day, I am very satisfied with this lost pound.
We went out to dinner Friday night, with my sister's boyfriend, and hopefully to be my brother-in-law soon. I had stake and cream brulee, amazing. Saturday we went to one of my sister's good friend for dinner. I didn't know her and if she had not emailed me earlier to invite me personally when she found out that I was going to be at my sister's, I would have not gone. But I am glad I went, she and her husband are great people. I had a great time and eat lots of delicious food. Sunday was Christmas shopping at the mall and we had pizza. I am proud to report that I did all my Christmas shopping in one day, lol, considering that I had to buy gifts for 20+ people.
Every year I put a lot of effort into Christmas gifts, but this year I didn't have that much time, so I decided either I was not going to give gifts to anyone, or just give gift cards. When my place got rented, and one month ahead of time, I decided to consider that I was still paying the mortgage and spend the rent, well maybe a good portion of it, on gifts. However, I decided to go with gift cards, for one there was no time to pick gifts for 20+ people and for another when I see something for someone and feel that it could be perfect for them, my budget for the gift for them goes out of the window; I couldn't do that this year. So I decided on the value of the gift cards for grownups, and then doubled it for the kids. Got gift cards from Apple store for my two brothers-in-law, one soon to be brother-in-law hopefully, three adopted brothers-in-law, lol (my best friends' husbands are truly like brothers-in-law) and their kids, except for my oldest niece who is no longer a kid! For my oldest niece, my sisters, and my two best friends who live here, I got gift cards from their favorite stores. For my best friend who lives oversee, I got a gift card from her local Amazon. I could have gotten her a gift card from her favorite store too, and I knew she might be here in the summer, but I wanted her to be able to spend it as soon as she wants. Thus I was only left to get gifts for my parents, which was fun to just concentrate on them.
Monday night my sister was going to dinner with four of her former classmates and their families, so I tagged along, and last night we went to her neighbor's apartment to celebrate the longest night of the year. It is a Persian celebration. I am familiar with this celebration since one of my college roommates was Persian and she had told me about it. So more eating was done and this morning I am still one pound lighter than the day I got here.
The plan for today is to bake cookies to take with us tomorrow to our parents. I have done the shopping and going to start soon, but shall wait to make couple of batches with my sister tonight. And tomorrow I shall use my last gym pass and then in the early afternoon we are headed to our parents for Christmas.
I have been thinking that since I am not that poor anymore, lol, maybe I could either join my old gym, or join my school gym, which is as good, but cheaper, or go the cheapest way and take up running. All I know is that I have been enjoying working out, and I want to lose weight without developing lose skin, so I have to exercise. I shall think about it some more and make my final decision by the new year, lol.
Right now, I feel so happy and excited. I wish that I knew how I have done on my other class, and if that grade is good also, I would be on the top of the world! I feel that I am finally guiding my future to where I would have wanted to go, happy and successful. There have been lots of uncertainly in the past few months, but I am so glad I took a chance, and when given the opportunity, I used it well. I am hoping that next year at this time, I would be even happier, thinner, and more satisfied with my decisions and where I am.
MERRY CHRISTMAS.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Done with my first semester ...
I had my only final yesterday. I think I did OK, but then I could be wrong! I wish I was given the right answers, so I would know for sure, right now, if I had done OK or not. My niece tells me that some of her professors post the answers of an exam right away on their class website, and she always knows right after the exam how she has done. Unfortunately, my professor is not of this school of thought!
Anyhow, I also handed in my second and final paper for my other class on Monday. I think I did OK on that too. I put a lot of time and effort into it, and I learned a lot. That is all I can expect of myself.
So now I am going to my younger sister until Christmas. She lives a few hours drive away from us, in the neighboring state, and she asked me to go stay with her and then drive back with her on Thursday. I jumped at her offer because for one, her condo has cable, lol, so I can watch movies during the day that she goes to work. Of course she also has internet. Plus there is a gym in her building and she said she can get me passes. I have seen her gym, it is pretty good. And lastly, I would be in approximately of an oven so I can bake cookies. In my tiny basement area I don't have an oven, and I love baking Christmas cookies so here is my chance.
I am at my parents right now to do laundry and then I shall take the train in the early afternoon to get to my sister's by the time she gets off work. We are going out to dinner. I can't wait. I have been such a student, lol, for 3 and half months that going out to dinner is such a huge deal to me right now.
So now that I shall be connected to internet all day, I hope to be able to post more and read much more. Have a great weekend.
Anyhow, I also handed in my second and final paper for my other class on Monday. I think I did OK on that too. I put a lot of time and effort into it, and I learned a lot. That is all I can expect of myself.
So now I am going to my younger sister until Christmas. She lives a few hours drive away from us, in the neighboring state, and she asked me to go stay with her and then drive back with her on Thursday. I jumped at her offer because for one, her condo has cable, lol, so I can watch movies during the day that she goes to work. Of course she also has internet. Plus there is a gym in her building and she said she can get me passes. I have seen her gym, it is pretty good. And lastly, I would be in approximately of an oven so I can bake cookies. In my tiny basement area I don't have an oven, and I love baking Christmas cookies so here is my chance.
I am at my parents right now to do laundry and then I shall take the train in the early afternoon to get to my sister's by the time she gets off work. We are going out to dinner. I can't wait. I have been such a student, lol, for 3 and half months that going out to dinner is such a huge deal to me right now.
So now that I shall be connected to internet all day, I hope to be able to post more and read much more. Have a great weekend.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)