Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Aaaand . . . We're Back!

So, it's been awhile since I've posted here, and even longer since I've posted regularly. Sorry about that. Here are some of the things I've done since I last updated the ol' blog:

Taken in my wedding dress to get it altered. The dress I got (because it came in a petite size) was so close to perfect that I don't need to get it taken in or out or anything, but I do need the slightest of hems. But no matter how slight, it's the same price (read: expensive).

Purchased the entire album of that lady from that song on that MacBook commercial. It's pretty good--more songs are in Hebrew than are in English, but foreign languages make for good study music, because it's less distracting.

Finished a paper that's been crushing my soul since December! I did that yesterday, so now I can focus on the more important stuff, like my master's thesis.

Speaking of, I guess this is as good a time as any to tell you--I've officially decided that once I finish that master's thesis (probably this summer), I'm out. That is, I'm not going to go to grad school anymore.

I thought that getting a Ph.D. and becoming a history professor was what I really wanted to do, but it turns out I was mistaken. What it boils down to is A) I'm just not self-motivated enough for the whole process (for example, that soul-crushing paper was due in December, but in grad school [at least, at my grad school], they let you take more time, which is just terrible for a procrastinatrix like myself.) and B) there's always something more to do; you're never totally done with your work.

That was one of the greatest things about that year off I took--when you have a job, you do it, and then you go home and (in most cases) you're not doing it anymore. When you're in school, you're in school 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Your work isn't measured by time, it's measured by the pages you need to write or the time you think you need to study to get the grade you want. Grad school is like that, except more so, because you're supposed to know as much as you can possibly know, so if you really want to do well, you can never be done. And I realized that it would continue to be that way if I became a professor. At least, if I wanted to be a good professor.

So anyway, grad school/professoring is not the answer to Finding My Life's Purpose. There are some big upsides to this, like going out and getting a Real Job that will pay me some Actual Money, and of course that the gentleman caller and I aren't going to have to try to find two professor jobs at the same place or in the same area. Even with "spousal hires" and whatnot, that was not going to be easy.

The biggest downside is that I have no idea what I do want to do (besides A Job for Some Money). . . . Any suggestions?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Let's see.

The only other person I know with a Master's in History is my sister's husband. And, um, he works in computers.

I imagine you'd want to do something remotely related to your degree, so scratch that. :)

Rachel said...

Well, it doesn't necessarily have to be related to my degree, but . . . computers and I are not BFF.

Robert said...

You could get a job as Historical Consult for movies and tv, make sure that they get the details pretty close and that they only screw up when they actually want the inaccuracy instead of doing it on accident.

Craig said...

Hobby Lobby?

Rachel said...

Oh man, that's not even funny. I still get traumatic Hobby Lobby flashbacks, you know.

Anonymous said...

Writing children's activity books about historical figures is always an option