Last day of classes

[icepixie]

So. Today was my last day of undergraduate classes ever.

(...I'm pretty okay with this, actually. Wheee, only one more assignment and I'm done!)

I celebrated by getting Chandra and my library copy of Brideshead Revisited (been meaning to read that for at least four years now) and heading to the steps of Rosse (and when I got cold from being in the shade, amongst the angels on the lawn) to both listen to the Pealers and read. So yes, this did mean that I was reading about bells and spires and such of Oxford while listening to our own churchbells being used to chime out...the Imperial March from Star Wars.

Heh.

I went up into the belltower for the last fifteen minutes, mostly so that I could get in on the swinging of the F bell. I have yet to get the rhythm right for that, but it's fun to bounce around on the rope.

Then there was the AVI/local foods picnic which...was kind of awful, but the sentiment was nice, anyway. Also, there's free Mexican food in honor of Cinco de Mayo later tonight, so there will definitely be some second dinner happening.

I had a nice, longish chat with my Practice and Theory professor (who was also my British Empire prof last semester) this afternoon as well. He's such a nice man; he offered to write me a recommendation for any kind of job or grad school, should I ever need it. Given that an MLS/MLIS degree is looking more and more likely the more I learn and begin to dislike about the field of publishing, this is definitely a good thing.

I perhaps ought to get something more done on my take-home final so I can get it done this weekend and laze around all during finals week, but...it's due Thursday. And I'm lazy now. *g* So perhaps not.

Comments

[spockette.livejournal.com]

Mmm. It's weird how quickly it all goes by, y'know? I remember getting an email from you when you were still trying to choose what college you'd go to - and now you're just about done with college. It's very odd, how at once it seems like just yesterday and at the same time it feels like forever ago (everyone has changed so much since then!).

[icepixie]

God, I know. More often, it feels like I've spent my life at college, but at times I can definitely remember just arriving here and then I think, "Where did the time go?"

And yet I'm still in contact with you (and so many other people from FS-Shippers from my high school years, OMG!) after so long, and that makes me happy. *hugs you tight*

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I'm reading Brideshead, too! It makes me want to swan around the garden quad drinking Pimms and listening to the chapel bells, so that's what I'm doing. Sebastian Flyte never went to lectures when he was at Oxford, zomg!

Yep, I'm going to fail my exams. *g*

[icepixie]

*uses icon from picture taken in Oxford almost exactly one year ago*

I'm reading Brideshead, too!

I know! Seeing you post about it inspired me to check it out of the library. (You're the third or fourth person I know who's read it and talked about it in the last several years. I've been meaning to read it since before coming to college, fer cryin' out loud.)

It makes me want to swan around the garden quad drinking Pimms and listening to the chapel bells, so that's what I'm doing. Sebastian Flyte never went to lectures when he was at Oxford, zomg!

Hee! Oxford is a good place to swan about and listen to chapel bells in. I enjoyed my two-day trip there, anyway, although of course my experience with the quads of the colleges was pretty much limited to the Christchurch self-guided tour thingy... ;)

Yep, I'm going to fail my exams. *g*

Oh, exams. Who cares about exams? *g*

[elflore.livejournal.com]

School bells chiming the Imperial March?

Damn that's cool!

Don't suppose you've got it as an mp3? *snerk*

And you're not digging the field of publishing, huh? I've been wondering if I should look into editing as a day job while I try to get my own writing off the ground...

Hmm.

[icepixie]

School bells chiming the Imperial March?

Damn that's cool!

Church bells, mind you, from the chapel on campus. The Pealers have played "The Internet Is for Porn" on those things. I'm surprised the bell tower hasn't been smote several times already. *g*

Don't suppose you've got it as an mp3? *snerk*

That would require more advanced recording equipment than I have. *g* But to recreate it in your mind, just imagine it played on a carillion of eight bells, in the key of F-major or B-flat-major. (We can do either, as we have both E and E-flat bells.)

And you're not digging the field of publishing, huh? I've been wondering if I should look into editing as a day job while I try to get my own writing off the ground...

Yeah, as I learn more about it, the less I like it. Mostly because my job at the Kenyon Review--which is made up mostly of reading the unsolicited manuscripts and either passing them on to the editors or rejecting them outright--is pretty much done by unpaid slave labor out in the real world. (Well, okay, I'm unpaid slave labor as well, but I don't need to earn a living right at the moment.) If you want to eat, you have to be more adept with the whole social skills thing--coddling authors, etc.--or more into the financial side, from what I can tell. Neither really appeals to me. I like what I do now. Although I can see myself in the publicity department of XYZ publisher. I enjoy talking up books I've read.

Also, I don't want to live in NYC. That cuts out a lot of job opportunities in the field right away. Although I know one can do copyediting from one's home, and I think I could do that pretty well, at least for a while...

[elflore.livejournal.com]

Editing: Hmmm, that makes too much sense. I *might* be able to work with authors...not sure about the coddling, but I might be able to talk to them if they're halfway reasonable? Definitely can't see myself doing the financial bit. The copyediting from home, though...that's exactly the kind of editing job I was thinking would be good, actually. Need to find out more about how you get such jobs. (I did used to know someone who did that for textbooks, though I've not talked to her in years.)

And I still want to hear those bells! *g*

[icepixie]

I *might* be able to work with authors...not sure about the coddling, but I might be able to talk to them if they're halfway reasonable?

I...couldn't. Not at all. I'm okay with writing comments on somehting I read and occasionally sitting down and telling someone what I liked and didn't like, but I've lost all patience and tact over the years. And I definitely couldn't call/e-mail/meet up with a bunch of authors and prod them into getting me their manuscripts on time. Gah.

The copyediting from home, though...that's exactly the kind of editing job I was thinking would be good, actually. Need to find out more about how you get such jobs. (I did used to know someone who did that for textbooks, though I've not talked to her in years.)

I'm a little worried about the fact that my attention span has been shot to hell by high school and college, but beyond that, I think I could totally do the copyediting thing. I know very little about how one goes about getting a job like that, though.

I dunno...I really enjoy reading new stuff and poking at it and like the idea of publishing it, but I think my temperment is vastly better suited to a library job, a graphic arts/design job, or copyediting at home. I'm complete crap at "networking," and much prefer to just do my own thing on my own without having to be nice to other people. (On second thought, maybe not the library job...or perhaps a research librarian position, where I only have to interact with the dedicated folks in a back room somewhere...)

BTW, the "Demystifying Publishing" entries at alg's journal have been quite interesting and educational about the field, particularly at a big publishing house.