Monday, September 5, 2011

A legitimate reason for my recent silence..

Ummm, yeah.  I guess you could say real life started back up for me.  About three weeks ago a friend called out of the blue and after catching up for a bit told me that she was leaving her position as a graduate assistant track coach at Tufts to pursue other endeavors, primarily returning to school full time.  Knowing that I had been bouncing around without a real level of seriousness since I returned to Maine she suggested that, if I was interested, I should contact the women's coach and see if she had anyone in mind to fill the position.

After mulling over the idea for a couple of days I decided it wouldn't hurt to show a little bit of interest, get a bit more information about the position, and at least get my name out a bit more within the coaching ranks so if other positions were to become available my name may get a mention.  As it turned out none of those future contingency outlooks were necessary because after a couple hours of good conversation I became the new graduate assistant coach with the women's cross country and track and field teams.  This means, more or less, that I'll be a full time assistant coach for the next couple of years and getting paid a minute stipend while taking master's courses that are paid for by Tufts.  In the span of two weeks I've developed a (potentially..) pretty serious two-three year plan that's gotten me extremely excited, while also bumming me out to an equal extent because clearly this means I won't be returning to the 808 any time soon.

While having my share of freak-out, overwhelmed moments I spent August 24-26 in the Greater Medford/Somerville attempting to get the proper administrative paperwork in order to begin work on the 31st, classes on Sept 6, and also, well, find a place to live and resolve all that other nonsense that relocation entails.  As is often the case with my life this all went rather smoothly.  And by rather smoothly I mean I was able to find a crusty room to rent on the cheap close to campus and have about half of my academic information in place for classes to begin tomorrow.  But coaching started up a week ago and I have to say I'm loving things.  After being away from sports in general for a couple of years I think I've gotten into the proper frame of mind mentally that allows me to enjoy coming to work every day.  Granted, it's only been a week; however, I'm extremely excited about the opportunity to work with some talented athletes and learn from the quality coaches I'll be working under.  As I process how things have progressed over the past couple of weeks I just find myself having an all-encompassing desire to learn which I never had while an undergraduate at Bates.  I needed some of this shit to be on my own terms and now that it's my decision to get back involved and be busy and broke I'd better be as positive mentally as I can and just make the best of it.

I feel extremely lucky for how things have worked out, and to some extent I feel a little bit guilty how easily things have worked out for me, dating as far back as high school.  At the same time I've worked my ass off to certain extents, and this work ethic has opened quite a few doors for me.  So if you want me to apologize for getting lucky and landing interesting opportunities by my "flexible" schedules in life, well, that's just not going to happen.  K, I'll stop defending myself...now.

Anyways, I'm planning to begin taking courses in pursuit of an MA in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, with my focus being on the Environmental Policy side of things.  My crunchy, granola-eating side is going to finally show itself more than just letting my face and hair grow long.  Actually, I did trim my beard growth considerably prior to kids returning to campus.  However, the hair, banana clips and all, is here to stay for the foreseeable future.  That's just where my comfort level lies.  So I'll be taking two courses in that field beginning tomorrow, taking the GRE's soon as well and then applying to the program in January for acceptance to begin in the fall of 2012.  If accepted then I'll be residing in the Greater Boston area for another year or two as I complete the necessary coursework, internships, and thesis.  Yikes, right?

Strange thing?  This (probably..) three year commitment doesn't feel daunting at all.  Taking classes right now without being officially enrolled in a program isn't all that scary to me.  At worst, if I'm not accepted then I'll have spent a year taking courses of my choosing that I was interested in and gained another year of coaching experience at an institution well respected for both its academic rigor and athletic prowess.  And, my acceptance into a program will more or less take care if itself so long as I do well in the two classes I'm taking this fall, providing even more motivation for me to get my head out of my ass and actually do my best to learn.

Alright, I've talked plenty about myself for today.  This definitely feels like the lamest post I've ever written and I apologize for not telling more folks about this before I skipped town.  I'm sneaky, what can I say.  But now that I've moved in and settled into a place with more opportunity for interweb I hope I'll be able to resume goofy topics concerning me experiencing a new place.  I certainly don't enjoy people that much and, while not NYC, there are certainly quite a few more people around here than in the 207 or 808.  Let's see how this goes...Cheers.

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PS - Dammit.  I had some goofy-ass videos I had been meaning to post for a little while but I just realized these links are all bookmarked on my desktop at home.  Sorry folks.  Nothing in particular is coming to mind right now so stay tuned until I'm able to remember or I'm able to unearth new gems.  That is all, and, as always, thanks for your continued readership of the 'Pad..