Trying to bring it on home

The good news is, my first of the three assignments passed.

I have a solid draft for the second one and will finish and turn it in tonight.

(I am going to be out for a few days, so this is non-negotiable.)

For the record, the first assignment was writing up the research methodology, the second is writing up the results, and then the third is putting all of them together. 

I've had enough unexpected things go horribly wrong that I am almost scared to say it, but I think I should have everything submitted and graded by October 10th.

Before then -- in anticipation of losing access to the course materials and online library -- I have three side quests:

• Writing up notes from the classes I took for a ready reference document. 
• Writing up the competencies that were learned in anticipation of creating an updated resume.
• Checking to see what other research papers I might want to read that this library has. (Some things can be very hard to find.)

You will note that this is separate from the interviews and portfolio materials that I wrote about last week. I am probably not going to find any more books from the class material, but I can't rule that out. The last book I read was from a previous class that I didn't realize I wanted to read until I was reviewing the material. 

For these three, I am mostly done with the first one. 

I am holding off on some of the notes for the final class until I have completed the work. Knowledge looks different when you have to apply it.

For the resume, I have competencies sorted by the class, but I need to sort them again to reduce duplication, get them down to their essence, and figure out which ones I am best at and where I could use some work. 

Job interviews have moved away from asking about your greatest strengths and weaknesses because people do not answer honestly, but it's still good to know what the real answers are.

The last one is at the earliest stage, which is a shame because I think the library access might be the first thing to go. I just have a list of names and topics that I need to spend some time messing around with, That's not a particularly organized activity, which is probably why I haven't gotten far. Having a clear pathway is very important for me. 

Is that a strength or a weakness?

In addition (and this will probably help with other things), I have this journal session I need to do that's going to be a post-mortem on my college experience.

I have had a lot of things go wrong that were not my fault, but I am sure I could have handled some of them better. 

I want to put that all into perspective. Then when there are things that indicate processes that the university should improve, I want to give feedback.

That's for those who come after me.

And maybe for the importance of self-expression; it's okay to have more than one goal.