It's been two weeks to the day since I last posted.
Like I mentioned to my aunt yesterday...I've settled down into a routine here and whilst I don't find the routine boring... there really is nothing spectacular to write about.
I tick along with assignments and the like; still doing well on them and enjoying the fact. Pretty soon, I will confirm (next week I think) if the Spring assistantship for the STE is going to be possible. Otherwise, I think I'm going to approach Dr. K (Happy/Funny/Silly Panda... or whatever I called him last time...) and ask if he will have me as an assistant. I spent an afternoon with my peer mentor here today and I asked her if that was kosher and she was like: Go for it! So let's see...
Today is Halloween. I was looking forward to this for a long time. We always visited in October but left before Oct 31 thanks to the school schedules...but this year, I'm here. Given that I live in a graduate student community, there aren't actually hordes of ghouls running around but they started at about 6pm - it was still light and one of the first people I saw was a teen in drag... He definitely scared Andrew, my neighbour...
I volunteered at a party for the community kiddies two weeks ago and that was fun enough...saw the cutest ever Care Bear running about that evening. I wasn't sure of doing the whole distribute candy to trick or treaters thing especially since I didn't know what my workload would be like during this weekend.
The usual protocol here is that if the porch light is on, you're OK to knock and ask for candy. No light. No candy. Since I hadn't planned on handing any out, my light was out. However, one motley group did knock and I had some candy lying around, so that was good. I was a little unsure as to how it works? What sort of candy? How much? etc. I had to make do with what I had and they each got one little bar but no complaints and 'thank you's all round so that was fun. Next year, I'll have legit candy I think. It was also interesting to see the parents hanging about in the background playing chaperone. Heh...
Andrew got a "not cool" stare from the same group though when they went a-knocking at his door... he hadn't stocked up. Poor him. At least they didn't egg his door... the usual trick for lack of a treat...
I'd gone into college earlier today and I saw people dressed up and attending classes. Those people are brave... I saw Raggedy Anne, a lady bug (that's right) and some guy in a fur lines sleeveless tunic with a pseudo cow lick... Definitely interesting.
I had an appointment with Saint Mary, our all wise and all knowing "academic program specialist" because I'm doing a Job/Task analysis of her job and she mentioned she considered coming in as a witch but she had a meeting. Too bad. I'd have liked to analyze her witchly duties...
Hehe...
After that meeting, my mentor took me shopping for the monthly stockpiling that I do... I'd gotten my cart and was just picking up some tomatoes when a random guy came up to us and asked what our collective education level was. Well, she's a Masters student in the same program as me and we answered accordingly. He said that that seemed appropriate because he could tell that we were very well educated. She asked if that was just by looking at us and he said yes. That was amusing...I responded with a thank you...because that's possibly the only reaction one could give. He mentioned some sort of "intellectual awesomeness" being radiated by our respective glasses (spectacles), wished us a good day and went away...
Now my mentor is a big anti Walmart fanatic because of the way they undercut brands and mom and pop stores but she said that something like this happens every time she visits one; even though she goes there rarely. I should probably make her my monthly ride... that should make for some interesting shopping trips...
We came back and I gave her an olfactory tour of Indian spices as we chatted. Fun... looks like we will a cookout at some point of time.
What happened in the last couple of weeks?
Like I said - nothing spectacular.
I came to the realization that the Coen Brothers are slightly weird film makers. One really shouldn't go to their movies with expectations of a mind blowing story line but they definitely give you something to think about... watched Burn After Reading two weeks ago and followed that up with Fargo (a much older movie). Should look into There Will Be Blood.
They get a lot of stick for unnecessary violence but somehow I didn't get grossed out... they do have absolutely ridiculous numbers of deaths in their movies (at least the two I saw) but they are not outright bloody or gory. Maybe I'm just weird. Oh well...
This was just a sort of "touch base" post. The fact that I'm struggling to think of something to write about means that it's time to wrap up!
See you in November!
Update?
on Friday, October 31, 2008AJ's Culinary Capers!
on Friday, October 17, 2008Today we introduce a whole new segment into this blog:
AJ's Culinary Capers! *drumroll*
Well, it's nothing fancy but just a thought that I'd like to share some of my kitchen experiments because they excite and amuse me! [And yeah - AJ is what I go by here...easier for the folks to remember and keeps them from making a mush out of my name!]
So I'm considering calling this AJ's Laundry Delite!
Why such an appetizing name? Well...I worked upon it (mentally and otherwise) whilst doing my laundry. Wee!
It's an Asian hybrid.
You need:
- 2 medium green bell peppers
- 2 medium onions
- 1/2 cup (I'm guessing here...let's just call it a "fistful") of sliced cabbage. Bok choy - chinese cabbage is what I used; regular kind shall also do.
- 1/2 spoon FRESH grated ginger
- Schezuan sauce (however you want to spell that
- Satay Peanut Sauce
- Red Wine Vinegar
- Salt (to taste)
I call it an Asian hybrid because technically the peanut sauce is thai, satay is of malay origin but we'd probably call the dish chinese, in India! ;-)
Notice it doesn't have soy or chilli sauce? That's because it's hybrid!
Now, it'd really be great if you could be operating the washing machine on the side as you do this as that'd lend it authenticity.
Preparation:
- Cut the onions and bell pepper julienne and set aside.
- Grate however much ginger root is required to get half a tea spoonful!
- Heat oil in a fry pan - a wok works better but I don't have one at this time. If you're trying this out, you have my permission to use a wok instead and still call it AJ's Laundry Delite. Also, I used olive oil on a whim and it didn't taste bad but any oil might do - especially if you don't like the smell of olive oil when it is heated.
- Once the oil is hot enough, put in the ginger. It will sizzle, crackle and jump. Try not to get singed. Spread it about a little bit in the fry pan (this is why a wok might be better)
- Add the onions and sauté till they are transparent
- Add bell peppers and let cook. No need to cover but the bell peppers will take some cooking before they become nice and soft. This is not meant to be mush, nor crunchy.
- Pour in red wine vinegar. With both ingredients (though I really don't taste the wine in it), personal preference will dictate how much goes in
- Add salt and stir
- Add cabbage and keep stirring.
(You need to decide how hot is too hot, I'm not going to give directions on turning the heat up or down!)
The cabbage will reduce in a bit (lose volume) - add two spoonfuls of however-you-want-to-spell-it-schezuan sauce.
- Stir
- Add peanut sauce 2 min later. Enough to cover all the ingredients in about one swoop.
- Stir
3 minutes later, you're done.
Smell.
Savour.
Drool.
Serve over steamed sticky rice.
I didn't mention the rice?
Well, you had to make that first of all, so that it'd be good and ready to serve right away. Leave in a little extra water to make it sticky.
Serve in a bowl!
Chopsticks are good. I didn't have any :-(
Do not. I repeat DO NOT add tofu or mushrooms under any circumstances. These staples of chinese cuisine would make this cease to be AJ's Laundry Delite. Now if you want to reinvent all of this WITH tofu and mushrooms and call it your own Laundry Delite...who am I to argue?
Just share the results when you do!
Oh and remember: do NOT skimp on the ginger!
Ciao!
Last time I wrote, I was grumbling about missing two questions on a midterm. Well, I got my scores back and the class average is 45, with me getting 42. So I'm happier now... due to other people's "failings" no doubt but happier. Heh. I *did* get a full score on the essays and that's slightly ahead of the class curve. That makes me happy too. It led to a conversation with my mother - about the feeling of being ahead. For years she's been telling me how good it feels. No doubt. She asked me how I felt. I felt good. However, the corollary to this is our continuing clash over me doing "just enough" to get by/get through to whatever I wanted to do and I found myself telling her that while it felt good being ahead...that was only happening because I'm thoroughly enjoying myself in this particular educational context. If it becomes something unenjoyable, I suspect I will regress to doing "just enough" but that's as far. I won't go the extent of doing "nothing". This realization has been dawning on me for some time now and I feel happy to be able to verbalize it now.
So I went to college for a bit today. There are two internships I'm currently looking at and half working on. One would be the "real" one I will get credit for somewhere down the line, towards my course. This is the PACER internship. The second is me helping develop (potentially) a course that the School of Teacher Education (STE) wants to put together - the MAT (Masters of Arts in Teaching). I went into this looking to get an insider's view into a course I myself would consider taking later. It is also a possible backup for internship credit later. Finally, it's just something different and exciting to do. Currently, we're just doing a pilot survey study to see if there is indeed enough interest to justify writing a new course - that was the mindless work from the last post but it should go to a better place. The people in charge seem pretty enthusiastic about this, so I'm hoping it's not something that will fall flat on its face once the surveys are done. The surveys are not overwhelmingly positive right now but that was not to be expected. A little below 50% of respondents are indicating interest. Yet, with a master's class cohort of 16 being enough to push for a course, it should all work out.
As I went in to turn in the previous batch of surveys I'd finished and to pick up a new set, the lady I'm coordinating with - Dr. Galeano - asked if I had an assistantship for next semester and how long I was around. I said I hadn't and I should be around till the summer of 2010. So she's going to see if she can get me an assistantship with her. She had one for this summer and so technically not supposed to have an assistant in the Spring but she's the coordinator so maybe she will pull strings. I feel happy at the prospect of this working out. In case it doesn't work out next spring, I will poke other people with greater confidence in my ability and also - I suppose she will keep me in mind for the summer when she might be able to have an assistant. Woo. Updates as they come.
Finally, I had three bus drivers today - four bus journeys. Two of those guys seemed very happy, saying hello to everyone who got on board and wishing everyone who got off as well. I don't think it was "Wish Your Customers Day" because the third guy didn't say a word but he *did* stop to pick me up at a place where he technically wasn't supposed to stop - which was great because otherwise I'd have had to wait another hour before I could get a bus home.
And when I got home, I got to reconnect (sorta) with a cousin and that was a happy moment as well.
Putting all of this together, I found myself wondering about life in general right now and it came up in a conversation with Andrew, my neighbour as well.
Just before I came here, I was a little concerned about adjusting and being alone and what not. However, slowly but steadily I'm just reaching out and networking with more people. I like the pace and I like the results. If I throw a party right now, the turnout would be pretty sad - though probably fill my little hole here - but I'm happy with that. I'm satisfied with the progress that is happening and that makes me think that I'm either very strong as a person and can adjust well or I'm a hollow shell of a human being with very little need in the way of affiliation.
Either way - I'm happy with what I am! ;-)
Here concludes a post on happiness and happy coincidences.
Go figure...
on Thursday, October 16, 2008So I had a mid term test today.
Online - 20 questions - 105 minutes...
I got two wrong and I'm bugged about that but meh. We also had two essays - 1-2 pages, twenty points each.
It was at home, instructor doesn't mind if we refer to notes. In fact, the prompt for the essay encouraged it. The essays went better...I think. Somehow, I'm never really "sold" on my own writing - at least what I do for assignment/testing purposes - but the results always seem to come out well. So I'm hoping the trend will continue.
What's the post about though?
Well, even with a mere 20q and two essays - one for which I already had an answer! It was rather interesting that after I had the whole thing done, I found some solace and rest for my brain in mind numbing activities of sorting surveys and collating email addresses. It worked wonder for relieving my tired brain of the rage Jean Piaget brings on... and to compare and contrast him to Lev Vygotsky... *sigh*
But yeah... it was good not to have to think. Not to think but just do...
Just do it. Swoosh!
Watch this.
on Tuesday, October 14, 2008Watch it now!
Anecdotes from the week...
on Monday, October 13, 2008To go back to a theme running through the grad school experience, I'm going to share a couple of things discussed in class -
"You get promoted to your level of incompetence."
That's not a direct quote but it makes sense. If you're good at what you do, you keep going higher. Then you reach a certain level where you cannot go higher because you don't have the competencies for that post. Ergo, you're incompetent for the next rung and remain where you are!
Read more!
In Motivation class, we're currently looking at the concept of confidence and control and something called a Serenity Prayer was mentioned.
I really liked the thought behind it, though I will change a little part to reflect my "views":
Let me have grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.
Very nice.
Read more! and be sure to read the mother goose ditty on that page.
As a related spinoff, I found Bill Watterson being irreverent about it (and deliciously so) below:
And finally,
"What will the preachers do if the devil is saved?"
I will let you wonder about that for the time being... it's pretty interesting to ponder upon!
Here follows a short log of a conversation I had with a cousin today.
It is mostly here for me to reflect on the things I (now) believe in. These things were not always the same. During the recent months I have noticed that I seem to have some inner source of optimism that I did not know existed previously. Perhaps it didn't. Life has never been disappointing, in fact it has been very good. Yet, for some reason I was conditioned for a long time to lower expectations about things highly wished for (and some not so much) that it was never a disappointment when they didn't happen and always a sense of pleasure and relief when they did happen the way they were wished for.
Is this the result of a child's fancifulness? Wishing for things which cannot be - leading to lowering expectation?
Is it inborn? I do not know.
Does everyone go through it. I suspect this is more or less true...in varying degrees and at varying times.
What has changed? I am not aware.
Maturity of mind, body, spirit, experience? Perhaps all and more...or all leading to a greater whole... Is it the school experience? Not likely but what helped during that experience was probably this budding spring of optimism.
By a quirk of fate(?) we're studying control and confidence in our Motivation class. There is a concept called Learned Optimism - it talks about learning to be optimistic through cognitive restructuring. This strikes closest home. The cognitive school of thought in psychology appeals greatly to me and my thoughts run in the following manner for now.
[start log]
Aditya says:
to go off on a little garden path: is your pessimism useful?
Caprice says:
it's a case of : 'if i keep my expectations low, then it will usually not work out to be that bad!'
Aditya says:
i know what you mean
Aditya says:
i know exactly what you mean
Aditya says:
but (and i found this upon reflection recently and i really was surprised) realism and pessimism are not one and the same
Caprice says:
no?
Aditya says:
the surprising part of that reflection is how much of an optmist i (seem to) have become
Aditya says:
there's a good belief in your own ability and the knowledge that you have given your goal your best effort
Aditya says:
it is tempered by the acceptance and knowledge of the fact that life's vagaries sometimes dictate outcomes and not everything happens the way you want
Aditya says:
yet, from my experience, things seem to work out for the best
Aditya says:
i'm not saying that our destinies are predetermined
Caprice says:
i just need to choose a goal to give my best effort to! that is mainly the problem here..
Aditya says:
but perhaps that the paths before us and even the choices are determined
Aditya says:
but when we need to make that choice, we are pushed gently towards what works out best
Aditya says:
i realise this is idealistic and doesn't explain an iota of what's wrong with the world
Aditya says:
BUT
Aditya says:
and whether this is mean or not (it's definitely selfish) - the rest of the world is not our concern
Aditya says:
our concern is to be the best we can, do the best we can
Aditya says:
hope that others do their best as well
Aditya says:
and either the world calms down because everyone does their bit
Aditya says:
or you through your actions make your world (and others') a little better every day
Aditya says:
if not better, at least not worse
Caprice says:
yes, that is a very good outlook to have
Aditya says:
i will be honest with you. i have no idea where it came from
Aditya says:
i didn't even realise i had it until about a couple months ago
Aditya says:
but it makes sense
Aditya says:
*shrug*
Caprice says:
yup!
Caprice says:
i think i've heard that before somewhere
Aditya says:
heard what?
Aditya says:
i've not been sermonising to you before
Caprice says:
that if we all focus inwards, the outward world will also improve!
Aditya says:
no! it's not a matter of focusing inwards
Aditya says:
that (to me) indicates going into a shell.
Aditya says:
let your energies come out of you
Aditya says:
look at YOU, the entire you, not just the inner you
Aditya says:
and the rest should follow
Aditya says:
if not by example, at least for (most) of your experience
[end log]
So yeah do your best, with both ability and effort, and just see what happens. Be prepared for the possibility of failure but even slightly wonky dice rolls can be made to work in our favour with proper effort, planning and strategy!
Dovie'andi se tovya sagain! It's time to throw the dice!
It just doesn't matter...
on Sunday, October 05, 2008You hope your story was enough. You hope the moans are enough.
You hope he goes to check on the moaning.
So you lied. (Why did you lie? It doesn't matter) By the time he figures out the lie, you'll be out.
Running.
Free.
As you round the stairwell, you see him following you.
No time for questions.
No time to arouse suspicions.
There is a leer on his face. You don't like it.
You just...run!
You get to the basement.
Enclosed. The door is... down the passage way. Bright lights. No windows.
Phones!
You dial.
A voice: 9-1-1. What is your emergency?
Listen, I'm alone in this basement and there's a man after me.
Surprise flickers across his face. Then...annoyance.
There is no protest. Your fears...were not unfounded.
He's followed me down into the basement and then there's this person upstairs.
Bloodied. Dying.
You lie again, why?
Uncertainty flickers on the face.
The voice: Is this person armed? Do you see a weapon?
Is he armed?
IS HE?
Can you even remember the face enough? The only thing you notice is the fleeting nature of expressions. You don't like those expressions. Not quite a remarkable face.
Armed? No he doesn't seem to be armed.
A gamble... this entire thing a gamble.
A dream. Questions!
Where are you? Who is this? Who are you?
You don't know. It doesn't really matter.
Right now.. just terror and survival. Two things matter.
Retreat.
He has gone away.
The gamble worked.
?
Relief.
You turn around, trembling in relief. Half sobbing.
He is gone.
Listen - he's gone. It doesn't matter. There's no problem.
The voice: Are you sure? What is your location? I will send a unit to help you.
No really. It doesn't matter. It's all OK.
Fire alarm!
Fire alarm?
SPLAT!! goes the axe as it smashes through your head.
The voice on the trailing phone cord: Are you there? What is your location? Hello? Are you OK? Hello?
It just... doesn't matter....
Catching up on correspondence...
on Saturday, October 04, 2008For the second time in as many months, I find myself sitting down and catching up on correspondence.
While it's not quite snail mail... it's still interesting that one does need to take the time (if one is to make an effort) to sit and write separate things to people, answer separate questions, ask separate ones of one's own and not just send out some weird cc going "hi! wassup? how r u? lol!~~1"
It makes me wonder and reflect.
- I have people writing to me
- These people ask different (and interesting) questions
- I respond
- Am I lazy to have to do this all at a time? Yet the answer to this is "no!" - most decidedly... especially since I wouldn't like the lol type message sent to me, I'm not going to send it myself and it's worth it to make an effort for people who make some themselves...
It feels quite good and I hope it keeps up.
It's different, I suppose...being a little further than away than a (regular) phone call or to just up and go see someone... but I'm glad it happens...
Distance makes the heart grow fonder? Perhaps not necessarily but it does seem to make communication something one can't take for granted...
and I'm pleased with the effort on all sides...!
A change in perspective
on Friday, October 03, 2008I always thought that perhaps Americans need to be told too many things. I laughed at Windows XP when it had a tooltip (these are the small yellow boxes that briefly appear when your mouse pointer hovers over something and they tell you what the button does.) appear when hovering over the close button. All Windows user know what the X does and Mac users are not going to be stupid. However, when I looked at two pieces of print guides - one... my international center grad student handbook and second ... an instruction sheet I got for a party that is going to be put up soon, I had a new respect for thoroughness.
Perhaps the tooltip over the close button is still a little redundant but I suspect it comes more out of an ingrained thoroughness or a requirement of completeness which is global in all aspects.
What I mean by this is: There is no reason for a good designer to stop including certain things in small "obvious" places when they do a certain thing for the larger whole.
There is nothing really that my graduate handbook doesn't cover... from registration, to working, to working after the course, health, night clubs, transport... you name it and it has a place, person and number for every bit of information you need. One just needs to bother to read it.
The party sheet has instructions on how to set up your station, what items it will have, how to greet visitors and what to do with them, how to wind up and how to clean up and finally, where and how to return the materials you used. (It goes as far as telling the food crew to give away opened food packets at the end of the day) You just can't go wrong. It is an entire instructional module - thorough, complete and no need to ask questions. Time consuming at first but enduring and easily edited later.
(If you're confused by now... that's OK... this will still be a good post for ME to reflect upon later)
Secondly... I was amused by an automatic check out machine at a store yesterday. If you have no cashier, you're going to need instructions and you get them - written and in voice.
You press "start" to get started. (Duh!) Then a voice tells you to scan your first item and place it in a bag. I did scan. I didn't place it in the bag, I placed it on the side. The voice asked me to place it in the bag! (There are some weight sensors under the bag) When I did place it in the bag, it asked me to scan the next item. I was to click Pay when I was done, select payment method, follow written instructions and be on my way.
The insistence of the machine amused me - you could put anything in the bag, doesn't matter as long as it has weight - but it still made me put it in the bag. Another thing that happened was an understanding and wonder at the machine, the thought that went into it and the nature of its instructional design. I'm reminded in daily life, of applications for what I'm learning and it's not limited just to HR and the like and that's pretty interesting and gratifying.
Finally - HR has certain jargon - you learn about it (well, you do if you're studying HR) and it remains a little sterile (at least it did for me) in its application and you think it applies only to the corporate scenario. One such jargon term/idea/concept is a job aid. A job aid is anything that helps you make sure you do your job properly. These are checklists and/or instructions on a machine, at your work station as you do work.
To me, these things were only limited to factories and production lines and their kin.
However, the washing instructions on your t-shirt? They are also a job aid. They help you take care of your clothes properly. Never thought about it this way but my perspective's been changed and I look at almost everything in a new angle.
It is different. It is new. It is interesting and it is good!
Go watch this movie.
Check in your disbelief at the door. Check in your meal at the door - it's not gory enough to make you want to lose it but it's pretty violent. Be prepared to have a good time.
Be prepared to raise some eyebrows. Be prepared to have fun.
I completely agree with the critic below who said:
"'Wanted' is kind of unintelligible and idiotic. Also kind of nasty and brutish. And also undeniably kind of fun..."
Don't say you weren't warned but go anyway!
If you've watched the first Narnia movie... the lead guy is Mr. Tumnus, the fawn - which makes it even funnier/more interesting.
It will.. eventually. The thing about that is, while I'm doing many different things and learning much different stuff, it all sort of contributes to a larger whole. No single thing is monumentally interesting enough to report on and telling about it all would probably be incredibly boring.
I will be looking at periodic updates, interesting anecdotes and happenings and that kind of thing but I think to truly see the synthesis of my experience here, you'd either have to talk to me, see some of my work (when it comes about) or just wait and watch! It's not really something that can be explained.
So yeah... following up on the last post, a couple more ideas have popped up. At this time, I'm considering just doing the technical "teacher training" courses like instruction, assessment, evaluation etc. without going in for the degree. I would link these as electives for my current course and come and do a B.Ed back home... that should work.
Another thing I considered/am considering is switching to a doctoral track. The main reason for this is that doctoral students are studying the same courses as I am, and get a fancier degree. They also get preference for assistantships and thus get waivers etc... so it'd sorta be a free ride. Yet, if I don't get that (right away, at least) - then it's an added expense that's not really required. My (chosen and proposed) line of work doesn't really require a doctorate but it would feel nice to have it and one of my teachers believes that it might be beneficial for certain other plans of the future as well... yet for those plans... keep watching this space.
At the same time, I'm a little too lazy to give it my all and spend four more years here. It's interesting but a thought I had yesterday was "illuminating" - I'm not uncomfortable here. I'm not a sort of person who would be against settling abroad. Nor am I the sort who says I must come back. Yet... with things working out the way they have in these last two years, I currently want to come back and as a result... staying here for too long gives me a sensation of being "not at home." Even with me getting more comfortable about the thought of going to work in corporate settings (talking with my teachers and the application based nature of assignments is making it less stressful - I need to realise that no one will expect perfection right away - if there is such a thing anyway - when I start a job... I will be able to learn on the job as well and there, I shall have someone senior to guide me as well... I just need to breathe!) at this time I find myself looking at corporate settings at home. This also has two reasons:
1) I really want to teach back home and for that, I need to be home... and this could be something I could do part time/after hours.
2) There isn't a lot of professional, technical implementation back home, of the kinds of processes I'm learning about here. People do this sort of thing - no doubt - but they wing it and it would be good to perhaps teach them to be systematic or call myself a Pundit and do it myself... India, not the world, could be my oyster.
Segueing from the applications of the ISD process in coporates, I go to schools and if I wanted to do doctoral work, I could just do it in India for two more reasons.
1) Indian Ph.Ds don't seem as hard core and course based as they do it here - so I could do it at a little more leisure.
2) I would have a framework to base my research upon because what I'd like to do is see how Best Practices of instruction transfer from the western world and prior research to India and the collectivist culture.
It will be a challenge - but a delicious one.
I just need to start talking to people.
And talking to people is sort of a skill or an art I'm learning here. Slowly but surely my shell and reserve that keeps me from piping up, asking questions and just approaching unknown people is falling away. Make no mistake... it will be a while before I'm "debonair" about it and it might well take the rest of my course for me to get there but get there, I shall!
So today, I went to meet two of my teachers - well, one teacher and one advisor (he hasn't taught me yet).
To my advisor, I showed my proposed plan of study. I'm aiming for a major in Performance Improvement and Human Resource Development. Employers in India will feel it's delicious!
However, there were some issues some of the electives I wanted to take but the Boss put my mind to rest about that - for now. Suffice to say I'm a little annoyed that there is one course I might not be able to take due to lack of knowledge and subsequent "poor" planning. However, as of now, all things are a go!
What also came out of this meeting was a potential internship.
We need to have an internship component for our degree and the Boss said that we could do it practically anywhere. How it started out was with me discussing course choices with him and whether I should take one on Computer Courseware or Distance Learning. Distance Learning is not really an area of interest but with virtual organizations and the like, it might be a good skill to have in the kit... and he said, well, we're developing an undergrad course and it has videos and stuff and web pages that need developing - so that would be e-learning.
I like it...I get to work with him, it's curriculum development, it's e-learning AND chance of some money. win win win win. Plus win - looks good on resumés.
The genesis to this was really him thinking that perhaps I should do e-learning, rather than computer courseware because I could teach myself the latter. Well, I can teach myself stuff but unless it's required or a deep interest, I don't. It's not a matter of deep interest here but the pressure and requirement of an internship will help me get it done!
So yay!
I talked to my other professor - let's just call him Happy/Crazy/Funny/Silly Panda Bear.
He takes two of my three classes and I went and discussed the possibilities of using my project from the MPM days as a basis for my final projects in his class and that was a productive discussion that led to ideas that, while hypothetical in origin, might actually have real world, real time application. Let's see... that's for when I go back but keep watching for updates on the project and then the final idea. Panda Bear has been talking about the usefulness of a Ph.D in some of my future ventures and that's what led me to the transfer of knowledge/research to India idea and he said that it'd work!
Ph.D is a fair amount of work and Ph.Ds here who teach, need to do a LOT of publishing to keep current and build a reputation. I'm curious. I'm not sure, however, that I'm that interested in publishing. But, if I do transfer the current research from here to India (because I'm curious about the effects) then I should get readily publishable material, I could do a Ph.D on it and since no one is really doing anything of that sort in India, be THE MAN to go to when something like it required. Woo! Power trip! (Don't ask what "that sort of thing" is unless you have an afternoon free and can meet me in person)
After meeting both teachers, I went and met a third one - just went and talked to him about helping with the MAT program and he didn't really have anything in mind with which I could help but he then thought someone else might... so something interesting might work out of that. They haven't started writing... they're still collecting info. So, an insider's view on something I might take. If nothing else, I get more experience from helping, watching and learning on the job!
And again: it looks good on resumés!
All this from just going and talking to someone, asking questions and being prepared to take no for an answer. That's also a skill/requirement sometimes...
And I will continue... it's been interesting. Before I came here, a "boss" in an interesting company said I should go and talk to her if (in her words, I say "when") I came back from the US.
Recently, another "boss" (these are connections through extended family) emailed me and something might happen there... especially on the consultant level, which is great because I want to work in a school for a while!
So yeah... things are working out well. They are not really as confused and rambly as this post was. Believe me... it makes more sense in my head but you just can't jump in to it.
Oh well... excitement (of sorts) and work lies ahead. I should talk to my uncle and my Godfather about a few things as well. *makes note*
That's all for this time... you'll be sure to hear when another surge of excitement passes through!
