School's Out!

With the exception of one remaining group assignment, I'm finished school for the term - classes are done, and I can now get myself back to the regular reading/watch/gaming schedule.

Right now reading means continuing my journey through A Song of Ice and Fire

Right now watching means I'm running through the last new episodes of most shows I've been watching and am finally getting to check out some movies I meant to see last year

Right now gaming means Little Big Planet: Karting - which is both silly and fun.

Now only 26 more days until I'm back in a new course!

Things I’ve Noticed: I won Bookmonkey Saw!

So I just got my mark back for my class project focusing on the Saw franchise and I got 87% - my conclusion wasn’t as strong as it could be, but my review of the videogame stood out nicely and overall I’m pretty proud of my work.

 

Next year I’m not sure which aspect of horror I’ll be looking into – perhaps a style of horror like “found footage”, exorcisms or zombies,  or maybe I’ll spend more time looking into a format, like horror in videogames or the like.

 

Anyway, it was a lot of work, it’s something I’m glad to say I’ve finished and I’m quite happy to finally put the Saw franchise behind me.

 

Thanks everyone!

Things I've Noticed: I'm heading back to school

Today marks the first day in my second year of library school - not that I'm a second-year student (although I sort of am), but as I'm about a third of the way towards my Masters of Library Sciences, and there isn't such as thing as a 1/3 student, I guess I am a second year student.

This term I'm actually taking two classes, a Thursday morning (Organization of Information) and a Thursday afternoon (Multimedia LIteracies), which means that for one day a week I'm not at work but am instead a full-time student (sort of).

It was very cool - I got to have first day jitters, meet new students and get the smell of freshly sharpened pencils (a scent I've connected with school ever since kindergarten).

Anyway, I've seen the early work on the saw-themed banner I'll up next month and it looks pretty cool - and hopefully by the time it goes up I'll be able to understand it's relevance to the series (which I've still never seen) and am pretty excited to spend a month looking at one of the biggest horror franchises of the last decade, so at least I'll be in the know.

Being a student is pretty cool!

Things I've Noticed: When I was 35, It was a very good year...

I’m turning thirty-six on Saturday, so as I sit here typing I’m thinking of all the stuff I’ve done in the last 367 days, and overall I’ve done pretty well.

 

I’ve kept up with my blogging; three posts a week every week (over three years now) and although some of them could have been pretty short, they have all continued to let me gush about my favourite genres, and reading and life in general.

 

I’ve completed my first third of Library School (which I bragged about here)

 

I examined the trend of re-imagining in Horror cinema

 

I got to go to the Alberta Library Conference.

 

I found my favourite Horror Comedy of the last seven years (since Shawn of the Dead)

 

I got to spend the day before their birthday with both of my kids for the first time in six years.

 

I found my favourite Horror video-game since Resident Evil 2 back in 1998

 

And most importantly I got to spend another year married to the nicest lady I’ve ever met.

 

Man, if 35 was this awesome – I can’t wait to see 36!

Things I've noticed: I'm a third of the way through Grad School

So last year at this time I was getting pretty excited about going to Library School - the program is designed for a two-year span if you're a full time student and right now, after taking both spring and summer classes, I'm actually a third of the way through as a part-time student.

Am I still excited?

Heck ya!

To be fair there have been assignments that really wore me out and somedays I've felt crazy for going back to school in my mid-30s, but overall I'm loving it here.

Looking ahead to the 2012/2013 school year I'm taking on a bit of a heavier load due to a scholarship I recently got, but right now I can still feel the excitement I had back on that first day when I didn't have any idea about the amount of time/work/fun/exhaustion I was about to let myself into.

A quick list of some of my other favourie thirds

3. The Empire Strikes Back - okay, I'll admit this is the second third, but holy cats was this movie awesome, and when I first saw it I could not get over how creepy it would be to be stored in froze carbonite.

2. The first Reese Peanut cup in the package - just knowing that I still have two more awesome little bites of peanut-butter and chocolate make that first cup the sweetest.

and finally,

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - now for those of you too young to remember (you know, those of you who are still in Elementary school - or are adult-looking clones who are actually only a few years old) this movie was amazing!  From beginning to end it was pretty much a fantastic fantasy/quest film... and the best part?  We had two more of them to look forward to over the next couple of years, yes two-thirds of a whole which added up to complete awesomeness!

Like I think the next two years will be for me!

Bookmonkey
P.S. My first thought for excellent first thrid of something was The Matrix, but considering how the second and the (ugh) third ended up, I didn't even want to tempt fate with the analogy.

Things I've noticed: My Summer is 18 Days Long

Over the spring and summer of 2012 I’ve been taking evening classes to continue my work towards my Masters of Library Science Degree. The Spring had me focused on a budgeting course and the summer is focused on a course called The History of the Book. Both of these classes have been fun and informative in different ways (one of them will probably have a bigger effect on my future in the library world, and the other on my understanding of the library world).

One side-effect of the two courses however, is that once I’m all finished, I will have exactly 18 days before I hit the Fall 2012 term and begin again.

So… what to do with those 18 days.

Bookmonkey’s Top Priorities for his (almost) three weeks of course-free Summer 2012

1. Start working on stuff for my 15^th Wedding Anniversary: mostly I know I’m going to be busy in September and October with school and the new job, so this is my big opportunity to do some grunt-work involving the big event

2. Get on to my reading list for August: As I’ve said in previous posts, I try to read 7 books a month for my own pleasure. This month I’ve been reading an awful lot of books on the Mass Market Paperback format for my class – interesting reading but I still have six books to go this month and so far have only got to Warm Bodies.

3. Write Thank You / Update Letters to my Grad School References: At this time last year I was waiting and waiting to hear whether I would be accepted into Grad School or not – little known fact, you actually need letters of reference from previous teachers and others in your profession to apply. As I sent my four references the news last year that I got it, I figure this year I should send them an update on what their letters have got me so far in my continuing education

4. Begin to weed my home book/music/movie collection: August is a perfect time to follow the instructions from one of my earlier posts and begin to see if I can make some room on the many shelves I have throughout my house. As my birthday is near the end of the month, I’m pretty sure I am going to need the space.

5. Take a vacation maybe? For years my family has done summer camping trips, usually sticking to mid-week camping as the crowds are thinner, but if I want to get out at all this year I only have two available weekends in which to try (we don’t even bother trying on long weekends), so if we want to get out there this year I’ve actually only got two small windows in which to make the attempt.

And after all those things are done, maybe I’ll take a nap! Or start planning for Christmas.