Oh hey blog - I'm treating this like a diary now - maybe. I still assume the audience that is clearly not here yet. Anyhow, here's a long overdue post on what I've been up to. In a word, I've been waiting. In case you didn't know it, waiting is hard. Really hard in fact.
JUNE
At the beginning of the summer I was waiting to find out if I would work Summer PACE. PACE is the after school program that I work at, and summer PACE is an extension of that for children whose parents need the service even after school is out. I already worked PACE Plus during the holidays throughout the school year, which I've heard is a real streak of luck for a first year employee. I had also heard that getting both was rare, especially for a school like mine, where our training requirements were a bit less intense. Positions had been filled before summer started and I was on a sublist with high priority if anyone was unable to fulfil their commitment. I was feeling quite hopeless about it by the last day of school. Then on the second day of the first week of Summer PACE I got a call to start the very next day. You can imagine how thrilled I was. I love my job and I really needed the summer hours.
One reason that I needed hours was to finish paying off tuition debt that I owed to the school I had previously attended, the University of Texas at Dallas. I had had to stop attending because of this unresolved tuition balance. I was coming close to wrapping that up and looking to reapply to the school immediately following.
On Sunday June 8th, I had finished paying off that debt, was turning 22, and looking forward to starting my Summer PACE position the very next day. By that point, I had also switched classes at the daycare where I worked and was now working with schoolers, rather than toddlers (a much needed relief, although I do love those wordless little tots). I really didn't much more than that to be happy on my birthday, but my family helped to make it better with our own little party, as we tend to do, and a gift card to Bath & Body Works. Trivial as this may seem in comparison to everything else, I wait every single summer for B&BW Semi-annual sale. Seriously guys - I wait all year for their two big sales, especially the summer sale.
Another less impactful game changer that I had been waiting for was season 4 of Teen Wolf. You may or not be into that, but I most definitely am and having that show return to my Monday routine made summer feel more like summer. My sisters and I gather around to enjoy an awesome story line and a rather attractive cast. Sue me.
(A couple of moments from tonight's episode - no spoilers)
via stop being so cute
On the seemingly long list of things I am or have waited for this summer, here were a few resolved all at once.
July
Of the "smaller" things that I wait for in life, the World Cup started with a sort of graceless fury. The matches were unlike the first ones I had ever seen back in 2006. It's funny, most of my excitement for the World Cup has nothing to do with the game itself, although I do love soccer for being the world's sport and for encompassing all the best things that a sport can. For one thing, the World Cup is a bit like the Superbowl for me, in that I may not see much of what happens on the screen during the game, but I love what happens around it. There's a fellowship to it that is unique to it, like watching a movie, except rather than being silently sitting on the edge of our seats, we are up out of them screaming at the top of our longs united by a something we root for and believe in, be it a country, a team, a player, or just a brilliant game. The other thing about the World Cup is the guys. They're men I know, but in the sense that I mean, using that term sounded a bit creepy. Whatever. The point is that on the world stage that is FIFA there are some seriously beautiful athletes. And as a female, I can appreciate that, especially when they're running around ripping their shirts off every other time they score a goal, or moving their hips in a celebratory team dance that could only come from South America (RIP Columbia, we'll see you again in 2018)
In other news that hits a bit closer to home, I've waited a couple of weeks to receive more news by way of my employers at PACE. In the last week of June, I got a call that led to an interview for a promotion which would set me from Instructional Assistant to Site Coordinator. It's a bit hard to explain what that means, but the short list of details would show that I'd go from working directly with the children under the direction and program planning of my SC to heading a team of IAs under my own direction and program planning. Another important detail is that the position is a full time position, which would be my first if I got it. And I did - get it that is. Less than week after getting the call, I went in for the interview. I was pretty nervous, especially by the end, because the interview felt so quick. As I was leaving the office where both my Program Specialist and the Program Director had interviewed me, I felt optimistic, as they seemed to like me, but I was a bit hung up on the fact that they had told me that they would "let me know", and they were "still interviewing other applicants". I figured that if I had been what they were looking for, there would be no need for further interviews. I guess I had the right idea, because the very next day, they came by to visit me at the school where I work and deliver in person the news that they had selected me for the position. If I were any more emotional than I am (which is not very much), I would have cried then and there.
According to the internet, lots of people thought these were the cutest happy tears ever
via My Life is QP
There was one formality to be worked out before I could call it official; I had to meet the principal at this new school and gain her approval. Before any actual scheduling was made to my knowledge, the principal stopped by my school the next week (yesterday). We chatted for a bit and she told me that she was settled on the decision and was ready to have me stop by the school for a tour. Of course she had to send word of her approval to the office, which did not happen right away, but soon enough - today - I got a call from the office officially welcoming me to my new position. So that waiting is over, and I'm pretty psyched about it.
I could attribute this stroke of fortune to the lucky stars I might have crossed, but I know and my parents would certainly not allow me to forget that it is God's grace that sustains me where I am and takes me to where I going.
It will do me well to remember that as I am waiting on the most important decision that I have yet to receive news on. Come August, I am hoping I'll be able to say that I'll be returning to UTD to complete my studies in Emerging Media and Communication. Having paid off my debt, I applied for readmittance, and I am quite anxious to receive a status update on my application. So far everyday that I check it I see nothing particularly helpful.
I can't say I feel very optimistic about it at all. UTD's acceptance rate is about 52%. I know of someone with a good GPA and some impressive work behind her name who was not accepted into the Graduate program. I have neither a stunning GPA, nor an impressive array of work, so I must be holding onto quite the strain of hope. Whatever the case may be, I'm sure that knowing will be better than waiting. If it's meant to be, then it will be, and if not, I will carry on.
During the school year, it seems that we spend so much time wishing for summer to begin. Here I am in the middle of summer wishing that it would end already, because summer is waiting.