Final Reflection

Well. It’s all over. The fat lady has sung. I completed my final quizzes for Cataloging last night and sent in my notes to her about the graded assignment, everything is done for Library 2.0 and has been for a while, and once I finish writing this entry and submit it on Sakai, everything will be done for Research and Evaluation as well.

This has been quite the semester for me, since it’s been more like a mini-mester and I’ve never had to do that before. I also haven’t taken summer classes since between my sophomore and junior year of high school, when I had to boost my math skills and prepare for the SAT’s.

I finally paid my summer term bill the other day, and it costs more than it’s going to for me to go to Greece, even accounting for all the extra sunscreen I’m buying. In the memo line on that check, I was so tempted to write some rather off-color remarks. I think I’ll save them up for my final semester(s), which are coming up fast anyway.

In terms of the proposal process, which I realize is what I’m really supposed to be writing about here, it was definitely a lot trickier than I was anticipating, and to make matters worse, I believe I did it kind of incorrectly anyway – I wrote more of a research paper than a research proposal. As I believe I have mentioned, if I had to do it over again, I would have either not signed up for summer classes knowing that I had a big trip at the end of the semester, or not signed up for the trip in the first place because it really hampered my ability to think clearly and devote as much time to all the projects I had on my plate as they deserved and required. Ultimately, I’m pretty sure that if I had been able to stay focused enough to write more of a proposal than an actual paper, I would have had a much easier time of it anyway – not to say that writing research proposals is an easy task, but it’s steeped much more in analysis of methods and questioning rather than analysis of conclusions and then answering all your questions. Ah well.

As I also said in my individual journals, the ironic twist to all of my research was that it was on information overload and information fatigue and information anxiety, and I experienced all of these things to the Nth degree all throughout the research and writing process. It gave me a whole new appreciation for the topic. It was also interesting for me because every time I printed out a new article I would immediately wish that I had just done a CTRL+F search for key terms while it was still online but reading online makes my head, and one of the things I had tired to learn about while researching were the different ways that technology can help and hinder the issue of information overload. Life imitating art?

But hey, I survived and I am fairly unscathed – well, I will be unscathed assuming I don’t fail any of my classes, but I kind of doubt that will happen…not to jinx anything, obviously.

I hope you all enjoyed your semesters and will continue to enjoy your respective summers! For now, I bid you adieu and leave you with this tragically catchy Fall Out Boy video:

Research Journal Entry #16

I’m so close, I can almost taste it! I submitted my proposal for Research and Evaluation, along with my literature review and final project for Library 2.0 last night, and I just wrapped up my technical services report for Cataloging. Once this very journal entry is complete, I can consolidate entries 13-16 and submit those, and then sometime later tonight or tomorrow morning I’ll write my final journal reflection.

The only thing that really sucks currently is that I’m very on edge because Dr. Ma apparently doesn’t feel that any of my multiple emails warrant a response, so I have no idea when/how I’m supposed to submit my graded Dewey Decimal System assignment/follow-up quiz that’s worth 20% of my grade. Super nerve-wracking and extremely annoying.

Anyway, beyond that, I’m about as set as I can be. I may get out of work early today, which would be glorious (though financially disastrous, considering that I’m already missing all of next week and the following Monday, taking off this Friday and a half-day on Thursday) because then I would have more time to visit Steven at work (maybe), go for a run and maybe a tan, make something nommy for dinner or maybe get something to eat with mi madre, work on the reflection journal, and maybe even start on a movie until the boyf gets out of work. But in the worst case scenario, I won’t get out of work til the usual 5, and I’ll just have two extra hours of patient-free time to work on the reflection piece and also take care of all the listing I’ve been meaning to do for Greece – things to bring in my carry-on, things to pack, things to take care of before I leave, emergency phone numbers, addresses for postcards, etc.

Blogging, blogging, blogging

Just so no one thinks I’ve been totally slacking off – I’d just like to remind all of you to check out my slightly more personal (but still mostly professional) blog here. Om nom nom pasta salad!

Oh, and of course I’ve also been picking at my 2.0 course project blog for the Ashaway Free Library, too.

Research Journal Entry #15

I spent the whole glorious day on the beautiful beach yesterday, from 9am to 7pm, drinking rum and napping in the sun and dancing and eating scallops (in no particular order). I started on a new book today, Maine, which is J. Courtney Sullivan’s sophomore novel and so far I like it. She has a very comforting writing style, and she makes the everyday gripping (but not in a creepy Hitchcock way). Sometime tonight and/or tomorrow afternoon, I’ll be submitting my proposal, literature review, web 2.0 service project along with its implementation plan/reflection piece, perhaps the 4th research journal if I can think of something else to say sooner rather than later, and the technical services report for Cataloging…maybe. When I’m not doing that tonight, I will hopefully be watching the Bachelorette and eating ice cream. I can’t even deal with packing for Greece until at least Thursday afternoon, and then Harry Potter is Thursday night/Friday morning! The end.

Research Journal Entry #14

I had a breakthrough with cataloging today and I think I might just pass the class after all. I don’t want to give anything away, but I think I may have gotten myself to (or possibly beyond) the halfway point that will get me at least a 50 on the project and then a 78 (?) for the course overall.

Anyway, said breakthrough took up virtually my entire morning and now I am going to reward myself with some mindless interneting. I might tan later, I might not. Who knows. I’m so wild and unpredictable. I feel like my whole life has opened back up again, because I’m virtually done with the summer semester at long, stressful last. I could go on a longer run than usual tonight! I could go to the library! I could read a book! I could go shopping! I could hang out with friends an hour or two later! I could go to the beach! I could hang out with my mom! I could start packing for Greece! I could actually BE excited for Greece for the first time in ages, because my departure date is no longer necessarily synonymous with my date of academic execution!

Research Journal Entry #13

My amazing weekend is definitely over – I spent several hours this morning crying on and off about all the cataloging nonsense I have to try to make some sense of, and I just don’t get it. It’s frustrating, disheartening, and terrifying that I could fail the whole course based on having severe difficulty with one project even though I’ve been pulling 90’s/100’s on all the quizzes, doing my homework and actively engaging in the online forums, and really focusing on the material, and all for a class that means absolutely nothing to me and has virtually nothing to do with my future career (assuming I ever even get a library job anyway and don’t spend the rest of my life as a secretary or waitress).

Anyway, to cheer myself up, I did start chipping away at my graded Dewey Decimal System assignment, and that’s not entirely unapproachable…merely confusing and contradictory at times, but maybe I’m just doing it wrong. I also put the finishing touches on both of my papers (the protoproposal and the literature review), tweaked a few things in my implementation plan for the 2.0 service project, and all my citations are done, and I did some mental packing for the trip to Greece (which is only 10 days away, ohmaigash). So it wasn’t a total loss of a day. I guess.

I am now looking forward to eating some lovely berries and cheese and heading home cause I get out early today (at 3, woohoo!) and body planting myself onto the boyf asap.

Research Journal Entry #12

Happy holiday weekend, everyone! As predicted (nay, promised), I have not done any homework since Friday morning (except attached/submitted a copy of my Annotated Bibliography for Research and Evaluation, but I barely broke a sweat) and I could not be happier. The foam party was awesome on Friday, I made some excellent progress on my tan on Saturday, went shopping, ate delicious food, went to Paddy’s again on Saturday night, woke up bright and early this morning and headed to the beach again (although it was mostly cloudy, boo), and now I’m waiting to find out if my friend Hannah has to go in to work tonight or if we can go see Transformers and maybe go to the second foam party (though I’m doubtful that we actually will, and that’s okay with me). Very lovely weekend for me, I hope you’re all enjoying yours as well.

Naturally, this journal entry would be way better had I actually done any work at all since I last posted, but seeing as it’s due on Tuesday and I will not even be starting to think about working on anything until Tuesday afternoon, I figured I’d just get it in now.

So, points off for content but points on for fun??

I mean, honestly, if I wasn’t so gosh-darned good at time and task management, then I wouldn’t have been in a position to be able to shirk my responsibilities this weekend entirely, right, and then I would have had something to update about because I would have been stuck at home working on stuff. But I’m too amazing and efficient for that.

The end!

Research Journal Entry #11

I got so much work done on both my papers this past week! My research proposal is about 98% finished at this point, thank goodness. I just need to proof-read it once or twice for errors and awkwardness, and I will be totally set with it. The literature review for 2.0 is about 90% done – the concluding paragraph is still unfinished, and I need to proof read it all to make sure the topic sentences go with the thesis and all, but otherwise I am happy with it. I’ve also made a lot of progress on my 2.0 final project – the blog is up and running, though a little lacking in updates because Ashaway is a sleepy little town and summer reading is only just kicking off. I wrote the majority of the implementation plan for it yesterday on my lunch break, and it’s going pretty smoothly. Oh, and I also aced my last Cataloging quiz, which is a small miracle because I had to guess at a lot of it. I am beyond thrilled that everything is running so on schedule and I was able to stick to my own deadlines – I’m a little proud of myself, too, I have to say.

I’m not out of the woods, yet, though. I still have to get through the rest of Cataloging, and while I have managed to build a decent margin of error from doing so well on the quizzes, that can easily be shattered by the fact that I do not understand MARC whatsoever, or almost anything else for that matter.

Anyway, I’m giving myself the weekend off cause it’s the holiday and I deserve it. I’ll still have to check in at some point to copy/paste or upload my annotations and these journal entries onto Sakai, but since they’re basically done, I’m not counting it. Otherwise, I plan to be at the beach for as much time as possible – basking in the gorgeous weather that the meteorologists have promised, dancing at one of the two foam parties going on at Paddy’s, and/or attending the Pimps & Hoes Ball…also at Paddy’s. I might finally get around to making that berry pie I’ve been dreaming about for a month, too.

Research Journal Entry #10

I haven’t really touched my proposal since the last update, but I have successfully written about 90% of my Literature Review for Library 2.0 on the impact of Facebook and other social networking sites on interpersonal relationships, and I’m pretty happy with it. I did all the citations in MLA format before I noticed that it has to be done some other way, but that should be a pretty easy fix and it’s still not due for a while. I just wanted to have the two major papers mostly done before the end of June so I could focus on Cataloging. I have no clue what’s going on in that class, but I keep getting 4/5’s and 5/5’s on the quizzes, so I guess I’m doing something right.

It’s almost lunchtime, and I am psyched for noms. There’s also a mobile blood bank in my office park, so my coworker Sarah and I are going to zip over there and try to donate before the end of our break. I’m not sure what the deal is with when you’re allowed to eat leading up to donating, or whether you’re not allowed to donate if you’re on your period, or exactly how long it is that you are required to wait after getting your last tattoo…so I may not be able to do it today after all, but there’s no harm in wandering over to find out anyway, and it won’t stop me from doing it sometime soon! I figure that if I’m willing to subject myself to needles for aesthetic purposes, then I should be willing to donate and do some good.

Research Journal Entry #9

I spent most of last week writing my protoproposal – I’d estimate that it’s approximately 75% done right now, perhaps a little more. I’m not totally sure how this is going to affect my ability to write regular journal entries on it, but I’ll make it work somehow. Anyway, it’s going fairly well so far. I’ve blocked everything off into sections, so all of the results and the researchers’ reflections on those results are categorized according to the advantages and disadvantages of the internet, the gift and curse of technology, the effects of information overload, and the role of librarians in the Information Age. All of that is, of course, sandwiched between an introduction paragraph (or two), and a conclusion with notes on the strengths and weaknesses of the research I used and a lot of suggestions for further research. I mean, I’m pretty sure that’s what the paper is supposed to look like anyway, according to the syllabus, so unless that’s just a pack of lies…I should at least get points for following directions, doing a hell of a lot of reading, talking about it to my friends constantly and annoying the crap out of them, working through my lunch breaks, and trying my best.

Anyway, there’s more to do tomorrow and all of next week – gotta start on the 2.0 paper ASAP!

Oh, PS – you may have noticed, I just posted my book review for Blink a few minutes ago, too. I will also be tweeting it on my class Twitter account sometime on or around the 30th, so prepare yourself for a barrage of updates coming at you. You have been warned.

PPS – I really should have mentioned this way earlier (see: weeks ago) but it kept slipping my mind – I created a blog for the Ashaway Free Library as part of my course project for Library 2.0, and you can check it out here!