:headdesk: Yeah, that would do it.

Teehee! It's only until next year though, then to graduate school I go!

Ah, graduate school... :heart:

I know, I can't wait! And I don't have to TA at all since it is a purely medical/graduate institution!

Yeah, I remember you telling me. Though, lately my opinion has been changing about TAing -- seeing a colleague of mine basically butcher what should be a really great course, I'm inspired to design my own version, and to try to do a better job if I get to teach my own course.

Ahh, I see. I love teaching in general, but TA'ing usually just means grading papers and stuff. If it is teaching a full class, that is different!

That's true -- though in my school, TAs teach the summer courses. And TAing is a great way to get exposure to teaching without having to be thrown in on the deep end.

The deep end is the fun stuff though, *snort*. Though then again, I've been trained and certified by the College Reading and Learning Association, so for me, it is different, ;)

What sort of certification process was it?

And I didn't think the deep end was fun... being tossed in to teach musicianship with only my experience as a musician, and my own memories of learning it myself. Pretty much no supervision.

Teach me music composition! <3;

And I had to go through about 30 hours of training as well as log several hundred hours teaching and tutoring.

Composition isn't something you really teach... it's like "teach me how to write a novel." Well, you sit down, and you write. And you think. And you cross out, think, and write some more. You can teach someone grammar, or the construction of an argument, and you can coach someone on whether things are working or not, but you can't really teach novel-writing itself. Composition is the same: I can teach you music theory, and I can coach you through musicianship skills like sight-singing, coordination, rhythm, dictation... but I can't really teach you anything except the frameworks of composition.

Yeahhhh, I know. I fail at creativity! XD

I am on and off with creativity. Sometimes I'll have the most amazing ideas... and then other times I'll suck worse than an old rag. That's probably why I could never take any form of art professionally.

@ Foxy: I understand! I just transferred back into a dormitory so when I go back to school I will be separated from my cat for the first time in a year! The horror! (haha horror film, unintentional word relation....)

OMG, for how long?? I am only separated from it for 3 weeks, but I cannot fathom any time longer!

UP TO 3 MONTHS!

I don't know what I'm going to do! I used to live in something akin to a co-ed Frat (I know that's an oxymoron, I mean that it was a housing situation best equated to a frat house), where I could have a pet and it wouldn't matter. So I bought the first pet that I've had on my own, and coincidentally my first cat. I love her so much! Back in normal housing though, it's not cool to have a pet.

I don't know what I will do without my feline companion!

You should just get an apartment instead.

I probably should, but the shitty school housing is so cheap. But still. Being separated from my lil' cat is going to be awful. My mom was really sweet though "we could ... bring her with us when we visit you?" And I was like ... that's kind of weird but hell to the yes.

Hope you're having a good vacation.

I hesitate to go on long vacations because I know I'd miss my cats! I totally sympathize.

[I][URL=https://www.menewsha.com/forum/member.php?u=71186]scholar[/URL][/I]: It's so true! I went for a weekend trip to NYC and left my cat with a friend and I was like "I DON'T KNOW IF THIS IS A GOOD DECISION!"

Totally. In fact, I had to go out of town just for a couple of days, and asked a colleague who lives nearby to just pop in ONCE over the weekend. I left Friday night and got back Sunday morning, and it was clear she hadn't been over at all. In fact, she came by Sunday afternoon (which was when I told her I'd be back) and looked horribly embarrased when it turned out I was home. I'm never relying on her again. Fortunately it was only a day that the cats were without food or clean litter (and we have water in a fountain thingie, so that wasn't a problem), but I was furious. Couldn't say anything to her, though, as it would have rather ruined our already tenuous working relationship.

Yeah, I didn't realize what a big deal it was to trust someone to look after your pet until I had my own. (Like I said, my cat now is the first pet I've ever owned myself - so I'm still learning). When I go back to the school my family has agreed to take care of my cat, I don't think I could trust anyone else to take care of her for that long! I understand the dilemma!

One of my professors goes out of the country for months at a time, and sublets her apartment to students -- she had two cats, until recently, when one died. While she was out of the country. The poor girl subletting had to take the cat to all sorts of vet appointments, and then even make the decision to euthanize. I don't think I could either allow someone to make that decision, or make it for someone else. :( Very sad. I cat-sat for her current subletter recently, and the poor kitty was so lonely and sad... really just wanted to have a person around more often. The professor was in town briefly a few weeks ago, and I went over to her place to say hello, and the cat was completely different! All bubbly and bouncy, compared with the morose and depressed version I'd seen earlier this summer. Cats get depressed, you know.

Waa! I don't think I could deal with that! It's too bad that they don't have someone that loves their cat just as much as they do, that they could leave it with.

This thread is now depressing again, D: