Shaun Horton: Master's Student
God damn that was a long week.
I am sitting in a large 3 BR Tallahassee apartment less than a mile from FSU campus. Berkshire Apartments claims to have just renovated the place, which must mean they slapped spackle all over the walls, coated it with paint that is already beginning to peel, and then dumped a few truckloads of bugs and lizards on it and removed the sidewalk for good measure. Our front sidewalk is a few wads of waterlogged carboard and a warped sheet of plywood. There isn't a single right angle in the kitchen. The oven door scrapes against the wall when you open it and the refrigerator door is too warped to close properly unless you lift it off the hinges first. But I'm getting central air for only $350 a month plus 1/3 utilities.
Of the four REL tracks here. The two major ones are American Religious History (aka "ARH") and Religion, Ethics and Philosophy (aka "Miscellaneous"). I have been told they are flexible here and I can pretty much study anything I want. FSU is becoming well known for it's ARH program, and it may be worth having to write a thesis for me to switch. I'm told they have no problem with that.
I was told a lot of things this last week, not all of them in the order I would have liked. I would like to have known that I was required to supply immunization records before I register. I almost did not register for classes at all because UNCG has a strict policy of never faxing medical records, even after the patient has signed an authorization form and begged them to release the information. My family doctor has a policy of not coorperating with patients who haven't seen him in the last year. On top of that, FSU has a policy of sending back forms if they don't like the way someone hand worte the number 3, which is what they did when my parents finally persuaded the doctor to sign a form saying I had my shots.
I'm better off than some. A few students had to go under the needle to sign up. We all found out about this requirement three days before the registration deadline. Those were three very stressful days.
This semester I have three courses, one part-time assitantship and 30 textbooks. I have managed to gather 19 textbooks so far. I have been trying to buy them online, but my debit card gets declined every time I try. Apparently I never bothered to tell my bank that I have moved, and all the recent transactions from Florida must look like someone down here stole my card. I have to call them in the morning and then hope I can get my books online in time to sell all the ones from the bookstore back before the deadline for full refunds.
How the hell I am supposed to read 30 books in 15 weeks I have no idea.
I have been hung over all day after a long and stressful department reception where I was supposed to hobnob and politicize with the professors and staff. I only had one drink there because I did not want the head of the department to think I was hogging his scotch, but I took advantage of the rum and Tylenol when I finaly got home. I hate hobnobbing, especially when it is so transparent. I'm no good at that shit.
It turns out that Martin Kavka, whom Dr. Kreuger personally recommended to me, is not only a brilliant scholar in post-modern religious thought, he is also well-versed in popular religion and culture, and is away on leave this year and inaccessible to me as a potential mentor.
My social life consists of the occasional exchange with my elusive room mate and several phone calls a day to Sheena, with whom I share a phone plan that allows unlimited calling. It's better than instant messenger.
Sheena spent a few days down here with me to help me settle in. I might write about that sometime, but this post is long enough and not interesting. I am still alive, so everyone knows, but life has little to offer me at the moment. I am living for the future again, crossing my fingers and telling myself that if I make it through this week, then maybe I will make it through the next.
One day, there may be a payoff.
I am sitting in a large 3 BR Tallahassee apartment less than a mile from FSU campus. Berkshire Apartments claims to have just renovated the place, which must mean they slapped spackle all over the walls, coated it with paint that is already beginning to peel, and then dumped a few truckloads of bugs and lizards on it and removed the sidewalk for good measure. Our front sidewalk is a few wads of waterlogged carboard and a warped sheet of plywood. There isn't a single right angle in the kitchen. The oven door scrapes against the wall when you open it and the refrigerator door is too warped to close properly unless you lift it off the hinges first. But I'm getting central air for only $350 a month plus 1/3 utilities.
Of the four REL tracks here. The two major ones are American Religious History (aka "ARH") and Religion, Ethics and Philosophy (aka "Miscellaneous"). I have been told they are flexible here and I can pretty much study anything I want. FSU is becoming well known for it's ARH program, and it may be worth having to write a thesis for me to switch. I'm told they have no problem with that.
I was told a lot of things this last week, not all of them in the order I would have liked. I would like to have known that I was required to supply immunization records before I register. I almost did not register for classes at all because UNCG has a strict policy of never faxing medical records, even after the patient has signed an authorization form and begged them to release the information. My family doctor has a policy of not coorperating with patients who haven't seen him in the last year. On top of that, FSU has a policy of sending back forms if they don't like the way someone hand worte the number 3, which is what they did when my parents finally persuaded the doctor to sign a form saying I had my shots.
I'm better off than some. A few students had to go under the needle to sign up. We all found out about this requirement three days before the registration deadline. Those were three very stressful days.
This semester I have three courses, one part-time assitantship and 30 textbooks. I have managed to gather 19 textbooks so far. I have been trying to buy them online, but my debit card gets declined every time I try. Apparently I never bothered to tell my bank that I have moved, and all the recent transactions from Florida must look like someone down here stole my card. I have to call them in the morning and then hope I can get my books online in time to sell all the ones from the bookstore back before the deadline for full refunds.
How the hell I am supposed to read 30 books in 15 weeks I have no idea.
I have been hung over all day after a long and stressful department reception where I was supposed to hobnob and politicize with the professors and staff. I only had one drink there because I did not want the head of the department to think I was hogging his scotch, but I took advantage of the rum and Tylenol when I finaly got home. I hate hobnobbing, especially when it is so transparent. I'm no good at that shit.
It turns out that Martin Kavka, whom Dr. Kreuger personally recommended to me, is not only a brilliant scholar in post-modern religious thought, he is also well-versed in popular religion and culture, and is away on leave this year and inaccessible to me as a potential mentor.
My social life consists of the occasional exchange with my elusive room mate and several phone calls a day to Sheena, with whom I share a phone plan that allows unlimited calling. It's better than instant messenger.
Sheena spent a few days down here with me to help me settle in. I might write about that sometime, but this post is long enough and not interesting. I am still alive, so everyone knows, but life has little to offer me at the moment. I am living for the future again, crossing my fingers and telling myself that if I make it through this week, then maybe I will make it through the next.
One day, there may be a payoff.