I am not too proud of that title. (Ok, maybe I am. Just a little. … Shut up. )
Anyway, hi, people.
Another residency gone, and another post-residency get-back-in-touch-with-the-world survived. That makes time #5, which means…yes. Only one more.
I may cry now.
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K, didn’t cry, but I will. Give me time.
I won’t dive into how much the program and the people in the program mean to me. Then I will cry, and that’s best left for after the final res. Instead, I’ll take a stab at light-hearted and list ten things I learned this res.
1. Showing up a day early is actually a really good idea, especially when one decides their teaching presentation needs final, minor, changes the day of orientation.
2. I am not as terrified of the horror genre as I previously believed. Joe Hill’s NOS4A2 and a friend’s thesis reading taught me this.
3. I stand out, apparently. People I’ve spoken to once or twice know who I am, and I don’t really understand that. I also feel very awkward when they say “Hey, Mary! How are you?” and I’m left standing there wondering who I’m talking to. (Joys of legal blindness and such.)
4. I can, in fact, write science fiction. It just takes a lot of brain/will power.
5. Evenings with writers are some of the most fun, entertaining, interesting, amazing times I’ve had/will ever have.
6. People can surprise you.
7. Magic, ritual, and religion take a lot of work to create and use well. I’m willing to put in the effort. And that’s a good thing. (Or is it?))
8. “Candle in the Wind” can be very inspirational if the lyrics are recited in the right way.
9. The Game of Thrones theme song can be warped in the most hilarious way possible.
10. To everyone who has graduated since I began the program in January 2012, I miss you. It gets a little harder to let you go every semester. This past class…I don’t know what res will be like without you in June, and I’m not sure I want to know. But like our word counts that march on, unstoppable, toward “The End,” life and time move forward. June will come. I’ll find out, and then I, too, will leave those behind me to fill the slot of “soon to be gone.” The class behind them will then fill the slot of “holy crap, we’re next, The 6s are leaving.” And so on it will go into infinity (or until the cycle is stopped by unforeseen circumstances). There are no words. Just know that you’ve left your mark—each and every one of you who has graduated. And know you will be missed, remembered, and cherished.
And I said I wasn’t going to get emotional.
*deep breath*
Think I’d better stop there. SHU, thanks for another week of awesome. I will see you in June. Till then, I will whip this thesis into shape for final deadline, and I will pass my other two classes. I will do this because it is “do or do not, there is no try.”
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ANNOUNCEMENT
2014 has begun, and I have survived res. I want to be more active. You may have noticed the existence of a new page at the top of the blog—My Animated Movies. That’s exactly what it sounds like. It’s a list of all the animated movies (Disney and otherwise) I’ve seen. I’m dedicated, or crazy, or both.
Starting this Saturday and for every Saturday until I’ve done them all, I will do a brief (or not-so-brief) post about the movie. There will be humor. There will be animated philosophy. Most of all, there will be blasts to the past and, hopefully, a new way to appreciate all that animated movies do for us.
Join me. I begin Saturday with Disney’s 101 Dalmatians.
NOTE: If you previously read this post and would swear up and down it said Friday, you would be correct. What I get for writing blog posts while still sleep deprived from residency. I was originally going to do Friday. Then it dawned on me that Saturday morning was the time for this—in honor of Saturday morning cartoons and such. So I’m officially calling this series CMS (Cartoon Morning Saturday), and it all starts tomorrow.
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As always, thanks for reading.
Mary
@desantismt on Twitter
-Kit ‘N Kabookle
My book blog
