We've been closed for over a week. It's been a little quieter but there still hasn't been too too much time to breathe. Or maybe it just feels like that because I'm overly tired. Haha. This weekend, I was going to do something - and then it was raining and I decided to just sleep on Saturday, pretty much all day. So you'd think on Sunday I'd wake up early - but oh no, even though I went to bed at midnight Saturday, I didn't wake up until 1 pm on Sunday. I guess my body just really needed some rest.
Closing stuff is done. My office still needs to be cleaned but we'll get to that eventually. My keys are all nicely sorted into envelopes and are ready for the Fall. I'm lucky this year because my residence hall won't be used over the summer, which means I don't have to deal with turning over keys to conference services and then getting them back and having to sort through all that again. That would not be fun!
We've had quite a few day-long or half-day conferences/institutes/meetings. That's made time go by quite quickly. Today, I had to present a workshop - it went alright even though it could have gone so much better...but considering the circumstances.... It was just a mess! The theme and description had been decided before I was asked to present - then various presenters kept being added, which just increased the confusion and mess - and in the end, I was the one putting everything together yesterday. But hey, I guess I learned my lesson - I have to be a lot more careful what I volunteer for around here. Or maybe I should just stop volunteering. Wow, I'm seriously frustrated right now, huh? Haha. It's seriously time for me to get out of here. Some days, stupid things like presentation or departmental drama just kill my spirit and then I wish I could just quit everything.
Dear me, those past few entries have been pretty dark. I guess it's just the closing blues....
So let's focus on some of the good things that happened recently. Before we closed I had some great conversations these students. You know those random moments when you are procrastinating from Closing Tasks and they need a study break....
I'm going to lunch with one of my future residents on Thursday. That'll be fun. How nice is it when students actually want to see you even over the summer? ;)
I've also started working out again. I realized that I'm in the worst shape ever...I went running the other day and after 15 minutes I almost collapsed. Not okay. So now I'm on this ridiculous going-running-twice-a-day trip (in the morning and at night). I've made it for three days so far. We'll see how long it lasts. I'm thinking about cutting back to once-a-day working out; that seems a bit more reasonable, right?
I'm also trying this new not-eating-ice-cream-every-day diet. Yup, ice cream is my weakness but I want to cut down to once or twice a week. And let me tell you - that's not an easy thing for me. Maybe that's the reason for my recent grumpiness...LoL.
Anyway, it's time to get back to watching Dancing With The Stars - The Result Show. I'm rooting for Chelsea and Mark, in case you're wondering. How could I not? I love Disney and Chelsea's a Disney Star - and then there's Mark, who comes up with the most amazing and creative choreographies. I think Derek Hough's dance style would match mine more, but Mark would definitely be a partner who'd challenge me more to step outside my box. Okay, I've seriously spent too much time thinking about this.
Take care!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Not a good night!
It's Friday night. We close Sunday at 7 pm and let me tell you, Sunday can't get here quickly enough.
Closing started off pretty quietly, a continuous flow of check-outs with some peak times that led to lines outside our office but nothing too bad. As I mentioned earlier, I'm pretty much done with all the paperwork, so I just need them to move out, so I can add the last few paragraphs about closing to my transition report, complete the damage and missing keys documents and then I'm really done.
I got my summer assignments today and it really shouldn't be a very stressful summer. I have a feeling I'm actually going to have quite a lot of time on my hands, which may get me into trouble ecause I tend to start new projects during that time. Or maybe I can just be smart and plan things for the Fall, so next Fall won't be as crazy. We'll see....
So all in all, I was in a pretty good mood. And then tonight happened. We have Saturday exams here and let's be honest, having an exam on Saturday simply SUCKS. There's no better way of saying it. Half of your friends have already moved out, almost everyone else is out celebrating - and here you are, stuck in the building studying as if your life depended on it (because a lot of those exams tomorrow aren't in the easiest classes). If I was one of those students, I'm sure I'd be in a pretty bad mood right now. But if all that wasn't bad enough, now you have to deal with inconsiderate other residents who are loud, playing music, yelling in the hallway, throwing parties in their room with way too many people in much too small of a space....
No wonder the duty phone has been ringing quite frequently tonight and the callers have sounded pretty frustrated. And so I've spent my evening running up and down stairs, documenting incidents, calling the police once because I smelled marihuana, unpropping exit doors and doing late check-outs.
And I'm just SOOOOO tired. I want to end the year on a good note - because in spite of everything it's been a good year and I've had a great group of residents - but it's the stupid little things like everything that happened tonight that just build up and at this point of the year I'm just ready to be done with it all. I usually have quite a lot of patience (when it comes to working with students; I have absolutely no patience when I want to see something change in our department...haha), but at this point of the semester students should really be on their best behavior because it's not the time to mess with me. ;)
Closing started off pretty quietly, a continuous flow of check-outs with some peak times that led to lines outside our office but nothing too bad. As I mentioned earlier, I'm pretty much done with all the paperwork, so I just need them to move out, so I can add the last few paragraphs about closing to my transition report, complete the damage and missing keys documents and then I'm really done.
I got my summer assignments today and it really shouldn't be a very stressful summer. I have a feeling I'm actually going to have quite a lot of time on my hands, which may get me into trouble ecause I tend to start new projects during that time. Or maybe I can just be smart and plan things for the Fall, so next Fall won't be as crazy. We'll see....
So all in all, I was in a pretty good mood. And then tonight happened. We have Saturday exams here and let's be honest, having an exam on Saturday simply SUCKS. There's no better way of saying it. Half of your friends have already moved out, almost everyone else is out celebrating - and here you are, stuck in the building studying as if your life depended on it (because a lot of those exams tomorrow aren't in the easiest classes). If I was one of those students, I'm sure I'd be in a pretty bad mood right now. But if all that wasn't bad enough, now you have to deal with inconsiderate other residents who are loud, playing music, yelling in the hallway, throwing parties in their room with way too many people in much too small of a space....
No wonder the duty phone has been ringing quite frequently tonight and the callers have sounded pretty frustrated. And so I've spent my evening running up and down stairs, documenting incidents, calling the police once because I smelled marihuana, unpropping exit doors and doing late check-outs.
And I'm just SOOOOO tired. I want to end the year on a good note - because in spite of everything it's been a good year and I've had a great group of residents - but it's the stupid little things like everything that happened tonight that just build up and at this point of the year I'm just ready to be done with it all. I usually have quite a lot of patience (when it comes to working with students; I have absolutely no patience when I want to see something change in our department...haha), but at this point of the semester students should really be on their best behavior because it's not the time to mess with me. ;)
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Closing
Five more days and we close. :)
New RAs will often comment on how "creepy" it is to be in such a big building by yourself, but honestly, I LOVE IT!!! It's not that I don't love my residents. Just tonight I was leaving the office at 10 pm and ran into two students who were sitting in the Lobby. I stopped to talk for a while and ended up staying until 11 pm. I know there are quite a few residents that I will miss terribly this summer. But let's be honest, it will also be absolutely wonderful to have the building to myself! I can't wait for the quiet, being able to come and go at any time and knowing that I won't run into someone who may need something and stop me with a question. Never having to worry that maybe you yourself are being too loud and breaking quiet hours. Knowing that you can't get called randomly to respond to an incident. Ahhh, I can't wait! ;)
So far, this week has been pretty much the typical closing week. I'm usually pretty good at keeping up with paperwork - for example the majority of my transition report has been written for a while - so closing doesn't tend to be that busy and I actually spend quite a lot of time in the office working on random things that really aren't that important. One of the things on my to-do list (I need something to keep me focused or I'll just start daydreaming) is looking through my files on my computer and organize those better. When things like that are on your to-do list, you have to be pretty bored. ;) Haha.
Don't get me wrong - there are things I could do. I want to revise the syllabus for one of our first-year courses for one of my learning communities. I also am in the process of writing a syllabus for a learning community leaders class. I could probably start thinking about things I can prepare for the Fall. But there's just nothing pressing, which is kinda nice and then also kinda strange and unnerving. Nevertheless I manage to stay in the office until 10 pm - what is wrong with me? But then again, that's normal for me - especially around this time of the year. You always just feel like you should be around, even though there really isn't that much to do but it's closing and closing is supposed to be a big deal, right?
New RAs will often comment on how "creepy" it is to be in such a big building by yourself, but honestly, I LOVE IT!!! It's not that I don't love my residents. Just tonight I was leaving the office at 10 pm and ran into two students who were sitting in the Lobby. I stopped to talk for a while and ended up staying until 11 pm. I know there are quite a few residents that I will miss terribly this summer. But let's be honest, it will also be absolutely wonderful to have the building to myself! I can't wait for the quiet, being able to come and go at any time and knowing that I won't run into someone who may need something and stop me with a question. Never having to worry that maybe you yourself are being too loud and breaking quiet hours. Knowing that you can't get called randomly to respond to an incident. Ahhh, I can't wait! ;)
So far, this week has been pretty much the typical closing week. I'm usually pretty good at keeping up with paperwork - for example the majority of my transition report has been written for a while - so closing doesn't tend to be that busy and I actually spend quite a lot of time in the office working on random things that really aren't that important. One of the things on my to-do list (I need something to keep me focused or I'll just start daydreaming) is looking through my files on my computer and organize those better. When things like that are on your to-do list, you have to be pretty bored. ;) Haha.
Don't get me wrong - there are things I could do. I want to revise the syllabus for one of our first-year courses for one of my learning communities. I also am in the process of writing a syllabus for a learning community leaders class. I could probably start thinking about things I can prepare for the Fall. But there's just nothing pressing, which is kinda nice and then also kinda strange and unnerving. Nevertheless I manage to stay in the office until 10 pm - what is wrong with me? But then again, that's normal for me - especially around this time of the year. You always just feel like you should be around, even though there really isn't that much to do but it's closing and closing is supposed to be a big deal, right?
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