Research

My favorite part about writing papers--and history papers in particular--is doing the research. I spent a happy afternoon in the Fort Vancouver regional library looking up documents, pictures, and books about Clark(e) county, Washington. Of course I got sidetracked. It's one of my many superpowers.

I found some great pictures of the area from around the turn of the last century. I showed them to Mr.X who oooh'd and aah'd appreciatively.

Now I've got to read through all the bits and pieces that I've checked out, compare them to the photographs that I've taken of various historical maps, and see what other photos I have got to take still.

w00t.

Planning Ahead

Registration opened up for the spring term yesterday. I had some time after finishing up the pot sherds project* and before class started.

I am All Anthropology All The Time next term. Hoorah! I'll be going to school Monday through Friday, but it's pretty mellow. Mondays and Wednesdays are just one class, and it's introduction to archaeology taught by the very doctoral candidate whom I helped with her pot sherds project. Tuesdays and Thursdays start early (oh, the pain) with "Peoples of the World" which studies the principles of cultural anthropology by looking at different ethnic groups throughout the world. Then I've got an introduction to physical anthropology with a lab on Tuesday afternoons. On Fridays it's a history of anthropological thought in the middle of the day.

I'm sure it'll be heavy on the reading, but that's fine. I can read.

*Wednesday morning I had the surprising pleasure of cataloging, breaking off a sample from, and packing away the very last pot sherd of the many that were brought back from near Chaco Canyon. The doctoral candidate said that that was the last one, and that she was really happy--two years of always having to do that work whenever she could fit it in. Made me feel good to have helped in some small way.

In Which I Feel Foolish

I suck. I wrote two papers last week at the last minute with very little forethought or planning--even though both assignments appeared on their respective class syllabi. I feel like a jerk--and have gotten the grades that I deserve. I feel foolish for letting it get away from me.

Last Wednesday I had two anthropology exams; bam, bam, right after each other. Yikes. I got my grade for the ANTH101 exam; an A. I do however, know that I missed an important component of answering the last essay question. All I can hope is that the professor will be merciful.

After the exams yesterday, I wandered to the next classroom. I waited outside the class, along with another classmate. After we sat there for a while, she asked how I was doing on my paper.

PAPER?!

Oh crap, crap, crap. I forgot entirely about a paper due this Friday at 5:00PM.

I've already requested an extension--for the first time ever--and hope to be able to turn it in next Tuesday. *eep*

In the Midst

Just checked the mid-term grades; three As and a B. I'm pretty chuffed.

I've got tests in both of my anthropology classes this Wednesday. Eek. Tomorrow I've got a meeting with my adviser to plan my spring term classes.

Exam I: Anthropology 330

A week ago Monday was the first anthropology exam. It was in the more advanced class (300-level) and is taught by a working archaeologist. I studied. I panicked. Pored over notes. Freaked out. Studied some more. Last Monday, I walked into class, loins metaphorically girded, and took the test.

Today we got them back. The professor said that scores ranged from 10/60 to 56/60. Guess who got 56? Yep. Me.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

Whoops!

Who knew that studying and reading and writing would take up all my time? Harrumph. You mean I can't just put the books under my bed and suck up the knowledge by osmosis? Like damn and how.

I wrote my first paper for the Latin American history class. That was scary, going mad and trying to remember how to do citations MLA-style, as well as how to form a coherent bit of discussion, and get it on paper. It came back today, I got 13/15. It kind of disappointed me, not to get a perfect score. (Yeah, I'm one of those nerds.) This was my first academic paper in about five years. This was the first paper for this professor. Hell, 13/15 is pretty fucking awesome.

Besides, now I have a better idea of what the professor wants in his papers.

Tomorrow I get to write my very first precis. First, I have to figure out what the hell that is. Then I've got to write it. It's due Friday at 17:00. It will happen. Oh yes. It. Will. Happen.

Hoorah!

Today was the scary, scary geography test. We had 10 categories each containing eight items of which we had to choose five from each category to place on the map. Fifty items to place on the blind map of Latin America. Yawp.

Imagine, the last test I took in school was five years ago. Scary. I had a list of 160 items to study, and did my damndest. There are big maps of North, South, and Central America hanging in my hall. Thank goodness for the educational supply store near the house. There may be two or three that I got wrong, but that's pretty good.

Hooray for surviving the first test. Next week, my first official paper is due. Paper, schmaper; I can write a dang paper.

:D

Shoveling Information

While all of the classes are interesting, none has overwhelmed me with new information. Except for the Latin American culture and history class. There is a list of about 160 countries, rivers, geological formations, cultural and historical locations, as well as historical divisions of Latin America that we're being tested on the day after tomorrow.

That's all of Latin America; including the Caribbean, and other sites of historical interest in the southern United States. My brain, she is whimpering.

Nice thing is that there are a lot of study aids on-line. They have proven to be valuable, really testing my knowledge. Quizzing myself on-line doesn't allow me to cheat myself. Creating an arbitrary number of times I have to ace a quiz before moving on is helping the memorization. A bit. *laughter* I probably won't get a perfect grade, but it's okay.

While memorizing all 160 (or so) places is driving me mad, it is nice to finally know exactly where Suriname is.

In other news, my 101-level anthropology class had an announcement requesting volunteers for data entry from a dig site in the American Southwest. Of course I sent an e-mail right away, volunteering my time. Fingers are crossed.

It's Been a Week

I got everything signed that needed to be signed.
I've got all of my books. My tuition is paid. My parking for the year is paid. I got my Cougar card.

Tee hee.

Hell, I've even got a Washington State t-shirt. I may break my rule of only one school shirt from each school. Owning a Cougars! t-shirt is almost imperative.

When I got home, I started reading. Catching up is fun. I am lucky, I am a speedy reader with decent retention of information. I also went to the local library and got some picture books about some of the stuff I'm studying. Last Monday was Labor Day, so no classes. This past Wednesday was my first, regular, day of school. It was brilliant.

I noticed how much we humans stink. I don't mean in a bad way--it's just very noticeable. Yeah, I've spent the last three years around smaller groups of people and at home--and not smoking anymore has made me more aware of smells. I hear it might have something to do with menopause as well. All those wonky hormones. We humans, gathered in groups, have a distinctive scent.

Being back in school is great. It's also interesting to go in with this new, more centered sense of self that I've discovered over the past three years. I'm there to learn--and I'm okay with being wrong. Even being wrong in front of the whole class. That's really freeing.

The field of anthropology is fascinating. I haven't decided in which area I'll be concentrating. After taking the broad, survey course--ANTH 101--perhaps I'll have a better idea.

Here's to doing more awesome readings and (finally) being smart enough to start all my projects early. Yay!

First Day of School

Wednesday morning. Alarm sounds at 09:00. I'm excited, but nervous, and the cats are confused. I have kept a waking up at noon schedule for years. I double check my e-mail inbox for any word. Hmmm. The professor of Latin American history has said I can join his class. Awesome. Another quick check of maps, schedules, and locations. Coffee. Clothing. And out the door.

w00t.

It's a grey, rainy day and I regret the lack of a hat. There will be no umbrella carrying for me. Oh no. This disdain for an umbrella happens when you marry a native Pacific Northwesterner. (He calls himself a "webfoot.") Off to school.

I join the long line of cars making a left turn onto the campus. The road goes uphill with loopy, lazy turns that I look forward to riding a motorcycle up one of these days. I pull into the daily lot, my $3 in quarters jangling in my pocket and ready to go. Daily parking pass, paid and put on dashboard.

I walk into the first class--ANTH330--the one where the professor didn't reply to my e-mail. There's a nice student who confirms that it's the correct class, and let me look at her syllabus. I sat through the lecture--which was interesting, all about the discovery of Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis)--and booked up to the professor at the end of class. He was very nice, signed my form, and gave me a syllabus.

All right. Ten minutes to the next anthropology class. Happily, it's one building away.

Made it to class two--ANTH101--a good survey course of the field. We watch at couple of old Jane Goodall films--they're dated, but interesting. Both are all about the chimpanzee troupe she studied in Gombe. I went running after the professor and got my form signed. Yay!

Ten minutes to the next class. Happily, it's one building away.

Class three is HIST409; American environmental history. It's a totally new field, studying how environments affect human populations that develop within them. It also goes into changes that humans make to their surroundings and how that affects the ecology. There were two guest speakers from the Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge. Informative, and they're looking for volunteers. I hope that I can get some field time up there to go with the archaeology portion of my anthropology degree. The professor signed my form at the end of class, and asked me to e-mail him to arrange a time to meet so I can get caught up. Fabulous.

Ten minutes to the next class. Happily, it's next door. Literally the next classroom. Hurrah!

Class four, and the one that ends my day, is HIST331--cultural history in Latin America. The professor made it to class a little late, but passed out a crap-load of papers (including a syllabus) at the beginning of class. We watched portions of Eisenstein's long-lost film about Mexico made in the late 1920s (¡Que Viva Mexico!) and some portions of La Otra Conquista. I'm really excited about this class, particularly since Latin America is a big mystery to me. I know a little about the pre-conquest civilizations--thanks to my continuing interest in archaeology--but very little beyond that. The professor also signed my form.

SCORE.

Next stop, my adviser to drop off my paperwork, and home. But first, chiropractor. Did I mention that I tweaked the hell out of my back last Sunday? Oh yeah, I did that. Ouch and ouch. On top of running around campus and getting all ducks in rows.

Getting a Handle on It All

Saturday I got my welcome letter from WSU (**Go Cougars!).

Sunday, I played with my student ID number and the student-only web site. Tried to see if I could register for any classes, but it was not to be. It was fun to stumble around and find out out the system works.

Monday, I called and made an appointment with my adviser. First, I had to figure out who my adviser was. I was surprised at how friendly and actually helpful everyone I spoke with was. That made me breathe a little easier. Appointment made for Tuesday afternoon, and I girded my loins for being on someone else's schedule. Weird.

Tuesday. Of course I got there early. I don't know the campus and it would be rude to be late. Also a terrible first impression for the person who'll be advising me every semester until I graduate. I want her on my side. We talked, I found out that 73 of my previous credits transferred (yay), so I've got 47 credits to graduate. That's four semesters or two years. I am going to see if I can take a summer course or two just to keep my toes in.

She gave me a rough plan for the next two years, showing what classes I needed to take to fulfill my major. Then she looked for classes that I could get into. I had several to choose from. My job was to go home, write e-mails to the professors asking to be added to their classes, and prepare the paperwork that they need to sign to approve my request.

I wasn't afraid to write the e-mails. I was afraid of walking up to strangers and asking for their signatures. (This explains why I am tragic at celebrity-stalking.) Good news, the first response to my e-mail came back in less than an hour. The second came soon after that. The next one came several hours later. But nothing from the professor of the class that would start my day. *gulp* So I'd have to go in cold.

*gulp*

Tune in tomorrow for My First Day of School.

**I am still tickled that the school mascot is a cougar. It's almost a reflex to yell, "Go cougars!" after saying the school name. Reminiscent of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure ("San Dimas High School football rules!"). Okay, maybe it's only me.

I'm also amused because of the whole cougar thing and wonderful Mr.X being 10 years younger than me.

In Which the Madness Begins

The scramble begins.

I've got my student ID and access to WSU's (Go Cougars!) students-only site. I called this morning and have an appointment tomorrow afternoon with an advisor. Seems that I can't register for classes without meeting with an advisor--and that's every term. Not that I mind. It will be nice to have at least a little hand-holding as I go through this.

And yeah, I'm still scared about having to take yet another math class. Let's hope I can assuage the Powers That Be with a statistics class. After all, anthropology and statistics makes sense.

I'M IN!

Yesterday, Washington State University (Go Cougars!) sent me an official welcome-to-our-school package. YAY! Too bad classes started last Monday. Oh well. The package has a letter with my WSU identification number (necessary to create my network ID and password, so I can "conduct University business through" the WSU website), a brochure, and a WSU Vancouver (Go Cougars!) window sticker.

Now, do I scramble to find classes, buy books, and catch up the past week of lectures? Or do I wait until the Spring semester? I'm leaning towards throwing myself into the mix, taking that leap of faith that I'll be able to get into classes and catch up.

Tomorrow, I'll call admissions and see if I can get an appointment with an academic advisor and get my shit together.

Eep.

PIN!

Hoorah!

Got my PIN and accessed the University of Maryland College Park transcript request form. Made my request, and got confirmation that they received the request. With any luck, they'll let me know when they send the transcripts.

I just wish I knew this was the correct route from the git-go. Oh well. I expect that I'll make a lot of novice mistakes, going to wrong places and chasing after incorrect protocols. Yay.

Update

Two and a half hours after sending my e-mail, I got a call. The nice lady sounded as though she had a very large slice of clue cake.

She asked when I'd attended, then asked which campus I'd gone to, and suggested that I try to contact the College Park, MD campus.

Well damn, that would have been nice to know at the git-go.

She gave me a phone number with which to contact that campus. I'll try it tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I've gone to the UMCP/Testudo site and requested a PIN. If I can go that route, I may be able to avoid actually talking to anyone. Which would be, frankly, my preferred mode of dealing with bureaucracy.

In Which I Try to Resolve the Great Transcript Mystery

 Here is a copy of the e-mail that I sent today to both the registrar's and bursar's offices:

I attended the University of Maryland (College Park) from the fall 1985 until the end of spring 1987. It was not a glorious college career, and ended with academic dismissal. Life goes on.

In 2001, I applied for and took one course at Santa Monica College. My academic probation was lifted after receiving a 4.00 in that course. In 2002, I applied for and entered Portland Community College, ending up with an associate's degree in 2005. I will be finishing my undergraduate degree at Washington State University with the goal of a master's degree in library science from the University of Washington.

What can I say? Sometimes it takes a while to figure it all out.

On July 7, 2010, I sent a request and a check for official transcripts to be sent to Washington State University in Vancouver, Washington.

On July 16, 2010, my check was returned with a form letter saying that my request for official transcripts could not be processed because my records could not be found. A request for proof of my taking courses in the University System of Maryland was made, I assume so that further research could be done. Luckily, I had requested, and received copies of my University of Maryland transcripts in 2002, and still had them. I made copies of the form letter and of the transcripts dating from 2002, enclosed a check and a cover letter, and sent everything off. (See attached file for .pdf copy of those same transcripts.)

On August 10, 2010, my check was returned again. I received another copy of the same form letter, except that this time, I was informed that my request could not be processed at this time due to an undisclosed hold.

How odd.

On August 16, 2010, I called the 800-number that is on the letterhead of the form letter that I received. I spoke to a couple of different people and was assured that I would be contacted by phone no later than Wednesday, August 18th regarding my situation. I have not gotten that call.

I certainly understand that a lot can happen over 25 years. Even an unpaid parking ticket may come to light. It's also difficult sometimes to deal with the three hour time difference between Maryland and the state of Washington. I know, I spent a lot of years working with California clients while working in DC.

I would like to know what I need to do to expedite the sending of my official transcripts to Washington State University. If needs be, I will be happy to make arrangements to see to this matter in person.

Please note the subtle threat to show up. I hope they'll be so horrified at the prospect of dealing with a real person that we'll be able to get this show on the road. If not, well, impromptu trip home for this woman. Yay for scrapple at the Tastee Diner!

Yay! Bureaucracy!

Last Friday, the 13th, I got another response from the University of Maryland. Hope springs eternal. I thought it might be notification that they had found and sent my official transcripts to Washington State.

Foolish hope.

They returned my check to me again, with the same cover letter as before. However, instead of saying that they couldn't find my transcripts and requesting proof of my having attended (check box five), they checked box number four. That says that "We cannot process your request at this time due to an undisclosed hold. Please contact the appropriate office/division for further information." Which is followed by three addresses with check boxes next to them; none of which were checked.

I was pissed off last Friday and ranting. I've calmed down a little. It does still bother me though, the last time I requested official transcripts from the University of Maryland, in January 2002, there was no problem. Now? Now there's a fucking problem? What. The. Hell.

I suspect that the actual searching for transcripts is being done by underpaid interns. And, since my records go back to 1985, no one's willing to go the extra bit to track the dang things down. I suppose they don't expect me to show up, as I'm on the other side of the country.

They may be very, very wrong. Because if I need to take a week and go back east to get this shit done, I will.

Today, I called the 800-number for the Stateside Student Accounts office. I went through level one of the automated phone answering system, chose an option, and got looped back into the same menu (the recorded voice was different, the script was the same), and finally got a live person. Yay! (One must take one's triumphs where one can.)

This operator was helpful and seemed to care about solving my dilemma. She also had an awesome Southern Maryland accent and I could feel mah Myrrlin' accent coming back to life. I explained what had happened and what I was trying to do. She put me in contact with the Student Accounts office--yes, that's what I thought I was calling initially, but quibbling over such things can drive one barking mad--and another woman who had an even thicker southern accent answered. I explained again what I was trying to do and, after several attempts for her to get my information so someone could call me back, she confessed that our connection was terrible. Hilarity ensued. Eventually we got everything together, and I included my e-mail address so there was another avenue to contact me.

If all goes as I'm told (Yeah, you know that hope thing? My middle name is Hope. I either have very optimistic or very cruel parents.), someone will contact me by Wednesday. I hope that they'll have some way for me to break through this muddle.

After I got off the phone, I tried to call the admissions adviser at Washington State, thinking that she might have a suggestion about another way to pursue getting my official transcripts from the University of Maryland. *laughter* She no longer works for WSU.

Awesome.

Try Again

Just got back from the post office. Sent off copies of transcript that the registrar at the University of Maryland sent me in 2002 and the letter saying that they couldn't find any record of me. Sometimes it's good to hang on to those things.

I'm ashamed to say that this minor blip nearly bumped me off the track. The "Oh, fuck it!" gremlins were chanting their siren song, but I gave myself a stern talking to. Today, everything is in the mail. Even though it sets me back a term, I'm not going to obsess about it. Shit happens. Adapt and move on.

A lot of the reason that little things can derail me is that I've had a pretty easy life. School came easily to me. I hovered around the fringes of the popular kids and was content. Things tend to fall into place for me. Which is great, but when things don't flow--BLEARGH. I freak out a little. It's something that I'm not proud of, and fighting smug complacency is boring. But it's necessary.

Fingers are crossed that the University of Maryland comes through.

And now, laundry.

Photocopies

Mr.X photocopied my old transcripts and the letter that the University of Maryland sent. He also made a .pdf copy of both so I could send it off to the UofMD registrar.

Now to get the hard copies mailed, along with a check. Of course, this means that I won't be able to start school this term. Ass monkeys.