To love life and joyously live each day to it's ultimate good

I just can't make up my mind with what I want to do with my life. Newest update: Nicole and I are considering applying to be LCs again next year. That is if we don't get fired this week. 

So I believe I mentioned in a previous blog about them hiring not just one more LC for next semester but two. This had me really worried at first thinking that meant that they were going to get rid of one of us (I assumed me) but the more I think about it the more it makes sense for there to be more of us next semester. Now that I'm feeling ok with it Nicole is freaking out. It makes me feel better that she's freaking out though. I can't really explain why, it just does. 

Today we were sitting in the office today and I told her that I felt like after traveling for a year I'd probably actually start to feel confident with this job and like I could do it again (really well) for another year. She told me that she'd been thinking recently about applying to do it again for another year. So then we started talking about it together and now I think we're both considering it. Our biggest problem with the job is our constant feeling of not knowing what the hell we're doing. We really feel that we'd enjoy it all a lot more on round two. I think we're going to apply for sure and then make up out minds about whether or not we want to do it for sure later on in the semester. This would definitely give me time to figure out what I want to do with my life. 

While I think that Nicole and I would have a great time being LCs again, I would really miss my friends and family. I like the idea of living in Austin, going to St. Eds, hanging out with John and my other Austin friends (he'll be in Austin at that time) and starting my real life. So I'm not sure. Luckily, I can apply now and make up my mind later. I just found out that Amber did that. She said that she really wanted to do a third semester but she just didn't know if she had a fourth in her so then she backed out. 

I'm back in Indy now!! I'm so excited to be back for a bit! It's nice sitting around watching TV with Nicole and having someone to bitch with in the office. A couple of the AKL boys are coming over tonight to have a nice relaxing evening. I'm excited and looking forward to seeing them. Nicole and I were also talking today about how miserable we both were right before our vacations and really kind of ready to quit. Now we're both fine and could spend another couple of weeks on the road with no problem (though we are both excited for the vacation). 

To know the peace and serenity of a divine faith

I'm really tired right now so I don't know how long this blog is going to be, but I'll start it and see how far I get. 

Update on my life: I'm still in Joplin visiting my last chapter. I've had a few meetings but there's nothing too exciting going on with this chapter. They're nice girls though. I went out with them on Monday night. That was a lot of fun! I mean "a lot of fun" in relative terms though. Compared to when I usually go out with my friends, it was kind of boring. Compared to how I spend most of my days/nights lately, it was a lot of fun! I have not been doing as good at hanging out with the girls as I would have hoped, but that's not completely my fault! They're not really at the house often and when they are they're all in their own rooms or doing homework. I think we might be going out again tomorrow night, so I'm hoping that will be "a lot of fun" too! 

I'm REALLY looking forward to being back in Indy for a week! I miss Nicole! And Jeff, one of the AKL consultants is going to be there all week so I'll get to see him plenty too! Corey and Eric (the other two AKL consultants) will be there one or two days so we'll all get to go out together at least once. I'm excited to see all of them and to see all the girls from the office and to be back in the office! Aaahhhh... the office. I'm also excited to go home after that and to be in Texas for a while, but that's a given. 

I started really looking at grad schools yesterday. I still haven't decided what I really want to do. I think I might just teach. I think that might be good to start off with and then if I want to do something else I can always go back to school for it later on. So that means I need to get my teaching certificate first. I looked at programs at Schreiner, St. Edwards and Texas State. That doesn't sound like a lot, but it's kind of hard to navigate around some of their websites and find what you're looking for (esp. Texas State). I think realistically it'll be Schreiner or St. Eds, unless I find another option that I'm interested in. I also looked at school outside of Texas for the year after next for when I get my Masters in Education. When I get to that point I think I want to go to a school that has an ASA chapter. You can be active in ASA when you're in grad school. How much does that rock? And if I choose not to be active, then maybe I can serve as an advisor. That's looking too far into the future though. If I do get my teaching certificate, I don't think I want to be active in ASA again there. Too bad we don't have a chapter at St. Eds. 

I'm looking at schools in the Austin-ish area. I'm so excited about being back in Texas more permanently. I think I'd rather be in Austin than Kerrville though, but Schreiner is actually cheaper than St. Eds (I didn't think Schreiner was cheaper than anything) so that's why I'm keeping it in the mix. Plus I they have a really good education department . I really want to be in Austin!! 

Well, I had a lot more that I wanted to talk about but I'm tired and I've got to get some sleep, especially if I'm going out tomorrow night! 

To find dominant beauty in art, literature, nature and friendships

So, I got my hair cut. One of the girls I'm staying with at Zeta Alpha actually did it this afternoon after lunch. I love it!! It's so cute in person! 

So I had a good time with the last chapter that I was at but I am so glad to be gone! First off, the bed that I was sleeping in was SO uncomfortable plus the girls didn't give me a blanket until two days before I left. Not cool. The girls were all really nice but the chapter has a lot of problems so girls were constantly popping in my room to talk about things. I am really glad that I was able to be there and help these girls but it really wore me out. I do hope that I'm able to go back for another visit next semester because I feel like I'll really be able to be a lot more help once the new officers have been decided on and take over. 

Now I'm at a new chapter in Joplin, MO. This chapter is more the size that I'm used to working with (28 with total at 35). I'm staying in a house with 3 members. Or, 2 members who are about to graduate this December and one girl who already graduated. They're really nice and I'm loving sleeping in a comfortable bed. I'm going to get to help them with part of the election process and I also get to be here for their new member initiation and sisterhood sleepover. Then on Sunday (one week from today!) I go back to Indy for a week in the office and then I'm done for the semester! I'm so excited to be done for the semester and looking forward to next semester! 

So part of the reason that I haven't been writing as many blogs is because my visits are all kind of the same. I meet with all the same officers and have all the same conversations over and over. I've also been a bit of a hermit the last month. I haven't been hanging out with the girls from the chapters as much as I could be. I'm going to try and be better about that this week (and next semester). 

I talked to Nicole yesterday and she told me that they're not just hiring one new LC for next semester but probably two. This threw me for a loop at first because it made me think that maybe it was because I'm not doing a good enough job. I think it might be because we have 4 colonies that we're going to be working with next semester plus a few difficult chapters and it might just be easier on all of us and allow us to visit more of the chapters that we need to if there's 4 of us. 

So, as for ME and my life outside of this job...

I'm still trying to decide what I'm going to do with the rest of my life. I change my mind just about every week. Two weeks ago I told Hannah and John that I was pretty sure that I don't want to teach. Now I may have changed my mind again. The first thing that got me thinking about teaching is driving through the countryside in Missouri. It was so pretty and it reminded me that I don't want to live in the city when I have a family. I really want to raise my kids more out in the country. This got me thinking about what kind of job I want to have when I have kids. Lately when I think about the job I want I'm thinking about what I'm going to be happy doing right now. I haven't really been thinking about what I'm going to be happy doing when I'm 40. Another thing that got me thinking about teaching again is our lovely new president-elect Barack Obama. I was reading up on all of the changes that he wants to make in regards to the education system and it got me all excited. I want to be a part of it! 

So now I'm seriously thinking about teaching again. If I was to be a Greek advisor. I don't see myself doing that forever. I think I would move on and become a professor (or a dean!). So that got me thinking about whether that's something that I really want to do or if I want to teach. Teaching would be so great because I could work with kids (which I love) and I'd have a schedule that would be conducive to having kids of my own. I could get my teaching certificate in a year and then go on to get my masters of education and then teach. And if I teach in a high needs school for the first few years then I could possibly get some of my loans paid back. That would be AMAZING! So I'm back to where I started I guess -- but still not knowing for sure what I want to do. 

I added some more photos to my facebook album if anyone you would like to see them. 

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2006398&l=227f8&id=175000099 

To fill my days with satisfying activity

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30194251&l=69e63&id=175000099 

This is the link to see the pictures that I've taken recently. I am going to take pictures of the house I'm at now later this week and put them up. 

So I just now realized that I only wrote three blogs the whole month of October. Wow. Sorry about that. I just wasn't really in the mood to share things with people. I'll try and be better about that this month. 

The last time I wrote I was a Beta Gamma on Tahlequah, OK. I had a lot of fun on my visit there! Those girls were so nice! They also stocked my room with snacks so if they forgot to feed me it was no big deal because I had cereal, salads, tuna, nutrigrain bars, etc. I didn't get to go to the wedding while I was there (they forgot about me). I was kind of bummed about that but I did enjoy just sitting around and doing nothing all day, so it wasn't so bad. I also went out one night with some of the girls on the exec board. I had a blast with them!! Those are seriously the sweetest girls I've ever met (as well as the prettiest). The chapter had a halloween date party with one of the fraternities where everyone dressed like a famous couple and we all carved pumpkins. People were randomly assigned dates, which I thought was neat. My date and I went as a devil and an angel. Our pumpkin was totally lame though. Neither of us are creative so we just carved our letters into it. Beta Gamma was also the best chapter I've been to in terms of officers doing their stuff and having good ideas. They some issues with attendance and respect though. 

The chapter that I was at this past week (Alpha Beta in Kirksville, MO) is the biggest chapter that I've been to so far (119 girls). They were not the nicest (but not mean) and they definitely didn't take the best care of me but they were the funniest girls!! I laughed so hard when I was with them. Their campus was really pretty. It looked like a typical college campus that you'd see on TV. I liked it a lot. I did not like that the girls forgot about me for dinner one night. I decided to go to the dining hall and buy dinner for myself (somehow I ended up not having anyone's phone number in the chapter) but the dining hall was closed. Then I had the bright idea to order myself a pizza and have it delivered to the dorm that I was staying it. That was a mistake too. It took and hour and a half and several phone calls before my pizza was finally delivered (cold). Too bad I paid for it with my debit card over the phone the FIRST time I called them. Then the girls didn't contact me until 12:30 the next day to let me know that we were leaving town at 1:00. Ugh. But, like I said, they were really funny so I still had a good time. 

Now I'm at Beta Sigma in Springfield, MO. This chapter is big too (like 100 girls) but total on their campus is 125 and every other sorority is at like 185 (I realize this only makes sense for girls in a sorority). Their house is HUGE! It looks like a hotel when you walk in. There are 50 or so girls living in and they have 2 cooks. I'm going to take pictures but I also want to describe it for you. There's the basement, which is carpeted and painted and has a laundry room, a common room with leather couches and a big screen tv and then their chapter room where they have meetings. Then there's the first floor where the back entrance is. This has the kitchen and dining room area. Then there's the lobby where the front door is (looks like a hotel lobby). Then there's the 2nd and 3rd floors where bedrooms are. There are 5 levels total which of course means that they have an elevator (I take the stairs though!). The 2nd and 3rd floors each have huge bathrooms as well as common areas with couches. It's so amazing. And the cooks serve meals at 11:30 and 5:00 everyday so I'm guaranteed to get at least two meals a day. I still haven't quite figured out breakfast... Today I had a granola bar I found in my bag but I don't know what I'm going to do tomorrow. Gum? 

That's all for now. I'll write another blog soon about ME and how I am and such. I will say that I'm tired of this job. I really hope that I come back rejuvenated after the holidays and have enthusiasm for it again. I still like it and I enjoy my meetings with most of the girls, but I'm just tired of it. I'm ready to be doing something that feels more real. I think part of it may be because elections are coming up within the sorority so the officers that I'm meeting with now don't really care about what I have to say because they're about to give up their positions so I don't feel like I'm really making any difference. Like I said, hopefully things will be better in the spring.