Candidate #0000 - Post 30

50 days until I start my new job

Movie I just watched:
Cadet Kelly (Yes, I’m addicted to the Disney Channel. I’m not ashamed to admit it…well, the fact that this blog is anonymous does make it a little easier…haha.)


It’s been one of these days.

The Hungarian Dance from Antonin Dvorak, the ring type of my cell phone, sounded unnaturally loud in the quiet apartment. I woke up with a start. I threw back the blanket and tried to get up to reach my cell phone that was lying on my dresser across the room. My foot got caught in the blanket and I fell. My glasses went flying – why were they still on my head? I must have fallen asleep again while reading with my glasses still on – and I almost slipped on the book that was lying on the floor – yet more evidence that I must have passed out while attempting to read.
I grabbed the phone and looked what number it was. The Duty Phone. I looked at my watch: 10 a.m. Okay, not really early but on a Saturday!!!

It was one of my student staff members, telling me that building 12 had no hot water and that she’d been unable to get in touch with Emergency Maintenance. I told her to keep trying the phone number for another 15 minutes – sometimes they just step out for a second and then nobody’s answering the phone – and if she wasn’t able to get in touch with them after 15 minutes to give me another call and I would call the Complex Manager.

My head had started to hurt. I went to the bathroom and washed my face. I stared in the morning. What was I going to do today? I had nothing planned. There was really no rush in getting out of bed.

With a sigh, I went back to my bedroom and crawled into bed. I had just closed my eyes and was about to float off into dreamland when the familiar sounds of the Hungarian Dance interrupted my thoughts. With a groan, I got up again.

It was my staff member, just telling me that she had gotten a hold of Emergency Maintenance now.

Now I wasn’t able to fall asleep anymore. I grabbed the book I’d been reading last night, “Beginning Your Journey” and continued reading. After I finished the book, I decided it was time to get up and have some breakfast.

I spent the rest of the day reading – switching back and forth between Student Affairs literature and Harry Potter – and walking back and forth between the couch in my living room and my bed being unable to get really uncomfortable in either location. My head continued to throb.

I definitely handle late-night incidents better than early morning phone calls. At night, I’m usually still awake. Or even if I am woken up in the middle of the night, it doesn’t seem to screw up my entire day. Being woken up early in the morning on the other day (or at least what I consider early)…I’m just not a morning person.

Later today, I realized that I was probably having a headache all day because I hadn’t had any caffeine. I’ve been trying to slowly cut down on my caffeine-intake (I’ve become way too addicted to soda) and today had been the first day in a few months that I didn’t have any.

After that realization, things turned around for me. I went running on campus and even though I was absolutely exhausted afterwards, it felt good. I read an article by Baxter Magolda on active learning and got inspired. I kept thinking about the article and finally sat down and came up with a new community building plan that I want my staff to try this summer – it probably won’t all happen until after I leave, but I’m sure I’ll find out how it went. And it’s all about leaving a legacy, right?

Now I’m going to eat an apple – trying to eat healthy – and then I will continue reading Harry Potter for a little while. But I’m going to make sure that I’ll take my glasses off and turn the light off before I fall asleep.

Let’s just hope no phone call wakes me up tomorrow morning!