'tis a wonderful thing to kick back at the end of a long day of work and class with some cheese, crackers, and a cold Blue Moon with an orange wedge. the day wasn't TOO long considering i had a nice lunch of nachos and frozen margaritas with christina, lol, but 4 hours of work and 3 hours of class were just about all i could handle.

the highlight of my day was a rather unexpected e-mail from professor connolly (in charge of the Linguistics graduate program) telling me that the dept. somehow got ahold of some money and would give me a $4,000 stipend plus 9 free credits (half a year's tuition) in the form of some sort of assistantship. this is obviously wonderful news, considering i a) had never asked my department for money and b) i still haven't secured the means by which to pay for my Master's. it, is, however, a bit complicated if i end up getting the assistantship with media and technology services, however unlikely that may be.

the deal is that the MTS assistantship pays 18 credits (a full year's tuition) and gives an $8000 stipend, double what SELL can give me. while i would love to stay in my department and organize the library or work as a research assistant, the fact is that i need to take whatever gives me the most money, obviously the MTS position. so if i do get the media job, i'm going to need to have a chat with connolly and perhaps try to work out a deal where i could reduce my assistantship to 5 hours (the MTS one is 15 hours and you can only have 20 hours of assistantships as a full-time grad student) and get whatever money that translates to in the form of a stipend.

if i only get the SELL one, i still have two interviews with the Office of International Partnerships and programs, though both of those are pay-by-the-hour positions for 10 hours/week. i'll still need a loan, but at least i'll be getting as much money as possible under the circumstances. i now need to make sure that someone can, indeed, hold more than one position regardless of the hours involved...bleh

well it is too fucking hot to think right now, and has been for 3 days. i don't understand how it can be legit chilly one day and then change to 97 in less than 24 hours. not having air conditioning is really wonderful this summer. i would love to buy an air conditioner, but naturally i can barely make ends meet and can afford neither an air conditioner nor the subsequently higher electric bill.  

that is all. 

'mornin

gaaah things can be so frustrating...

i once again have no idea what i'm doing with my life, not that i ever did. my academic interests over the past few months have shifted primarily to Romance languages, namely Iberian, i.e. Castillian, Catalan, and Portuguese.  I get on kicks and go about e-mailing Professors of Portuguese at Brown, the Mass. Association of Portuguese Speakers in Allston, etc. etc.  

yesterday I decided it might be a good idea to split my M.A. apart, and spend a year inbetween on a Fulbright grant.  this is obviously quite a production, with a hardcore application process with a slew of recommendations and other such things.  my thoughts were to go to Andorra on an English-teaching scholarship, and to on the side research the linguistic reality of the tiny country - with Catalan as its official language, but ample speakers of French, Spanish, and Portuguese throughout.  now i'm reconsidering for a variety of reasons....

instead i may try to find a hardcore summer program somewhere that would enhance my knowledge as well as help me figure out what to write my dissertation on, etc.  but what would i want to do? i know of Portuguese language programs in Portugal, as well as at Middlebury (the latter being more hardcore, but the former obvi IN the country of the target language) Then there's the possibility of finding TEFL certification in Barcelona or Andorra, or attempting to do some kind of Catalan language course in Barcelona.  Last but not least, there's good old Eastern Europe, which I feel bad for somewhat abandoning.  I found this great new summer program in Macedonia, Montenegro, and Kosovo all about state-building and minority issues through SIT. ahhhhhhhhh!

I really should be studying Latin right now if I hope to get an A in that course...my grades so far have been in a steady decline, lol. 96 > 90 > 88. hopefully today's will start a rising trend

brief update

so i managed to get drunk enough off of four beers last night to embark upon an extensive eating binge involving bread, lox, cheese, oreos, peanut butter, and granola bars, lol. i'm pretending it didn't happen and am continuing to work out and eat well. i'm definitely already seeing results, which is great.

anyway, today was somewhat productive. i worked 9-1, then had an interview for the MTS position at 1:30. i think it went well, but the last time i thought an interview went well i didn't get it. so...yea, about two weeks and i'll find out. worked out afterwards, then just hung around the apartment - hookah'd, did a load of laundry, and some other stuff.

now its off to dinner with mel and some LAGgers!