Yeah, I can't say that I saw this coming...

So, this is the the beginning of my last semester as a graduate student;
- and, my first semester teaching at my local community college.

This definitely qualifies as beyond my wildest dreams
- because I have some pretty wild dreams (yes, I still want to be an astronaut when I grow up)

but, yeah,
 - I can't say that I saw this coming...

A(nother) New Semester

...here we go again :^/

Seriously, though... - what did you expect?

Ok, so that ends another semester.

18 credits down = 12 more to go.

Imagine that - by this time next year, I might actually be qualified to teach at a university.

Not exactly a plan of mine - but, definitely beyond my wildest dreams.

Sound check...

|tap, tap, tap|
|phooh, phooh|

Check, check (?)

|tap, tap, tap|

Check one. Check one.

|phooh, phooh|

umm,
...is this thing on?

More will be revealed...

So my midterm project was to develop a personal website.

I must say, it was a little weird to write about myself in the third person as if I were someone other than who I really am. (Did you catch all that?) What's even weirder, is to read what I wrote, afterward, and go: "Holy crap, I actually sound like a reasonably decent human being."

https://sites.google.com/a/student.fdu.edu/kenneth-c-dunn-jr/home

...that's just wonderful :^/

My midterm assignment is to design a portfolio page and post it somewhere on the interweb.

And, you know what that means, boys and grrrls:
...more memoir writing. (oh, joy!)

|cringe|

"We wanted to let you know as soon as possible that you were not selected..."

So, I didn't have to wait two weeks to hear back from them afterall.

Although, (of course) I'm somewhat disappointed at not getting the job - I am, surprisingly, okay with it, too.

I figure that they were doing me a favor by saying "No.", because I couldn't bring myself to do it. I mean, seriously - how could I? This was AREA 51 we're talking about here. (No, ...really!)

For the absolutely awesome opportunity (not to mention outstanding resume material) this job would have been, spending four days a week on-site at a "remote location with no internet or telephone access" is a terrifyingly lonely proposition. And I don't do lonely, well. Realistically - I couldn't even keep a dog as a pet because I wouldn't be home often enough to care for one.

They kept re-iterating to me during the interview that I wouldn't be getting paid for the time it takes to commute to work. Really? ...nobody does - but just exactly how far are we talking here? Apparently, so far that staying on site and sleeping in a dorm every night during the week is the better option.

Has anyone else seen that History Channel documentary about the folks who work out there taking a three-hour bus ride to work every day? That's a six hour round trip - every day. Makes a dorm room sound attractive doesn't it?

I have to admit - on my flight home from the interview - it occurred to me that I would have to stop writing altogether. What if any of the fiction pieces I've been kicking around in my head actually turned out to be not fiction? I signed a non-disclosure agreement - so I couldn't even try to pass off what I've already written as memoir, either. I mean, I don't even care if I ever get published - writing is just a hobby to me. But, if what I've been writing, or might write turned out to be anything - anything at all, actually - things would not go well for me.

So, yeah, working on some cool-ass super-secret tech would have been off-the-hook. But the trade-off of leaving my family and friends behind to move across the country where I don't know anyone (and can't even have a dog!) is definitely a tough sell - but, then go and factor-in that I can't even write, too?

So, yeah, they were doing me a favor.