I have just clicked the button to turn in my final paper, of my final grade class…ever!
I’ve been in grad school for the last 3 years. I started when I was pregnant with my youngest child, and her 3rd birthday is this weekend. My family has missed me. Has it been worth it? Yes, absolutely! I will now have a Masters degree in not one, but two academic areas. I’m pretty proud of that. Especially being an Alaska Native woman and having the privilege of working with Alaska Native students; I present them with a heck of a role model.
So what will I be doing next? First, I need to decondition myself from this ridiculous habit of multi-tasking. Based on necessity for survival, I developed an extreme habit of multi-tasking. I’m a jack of all trades, but the master of none, so to speak. I can’t remember the last time I just sat down and goofed off with my family. There’s always something needing to get done. This will probably be the hardest habit for me to break, but certainly worth the challenge.
I’m looking forward to having hobbies again. I’ll just be assigning the homework and grading it from now on. While I am a good student, I’ve been over homework for sometime now. I miss being able to read just for the fun of it.
And as far as the future… well I have no idea. The grant for my program where I teach runs out this year. It’s promising that the local school district is considering funding us through the next school year in hopes that we can land another grant. There’s certainly no security in that, but surprisingly I’m at peace with it for the time being. I’ve done the best I can and my students are thriving. I’ve also really enjoyed a chance to reconnect with my cultural roots. I am crazy excited about Never Alone and am going to look seriously into the Cook Inlet Organization and see about getting involved with more educational gaming and creating culturally Alaskan games.
This has been an amazing journey. I’ve met some incredible people and really pushed myself further than I ever expected. The greatest thing about it, is while I may be closing this one chapter of my life, the adventure isn’t quite over. There’s so much out there to try, explore, and conquer. Game on, everyone! Enjoy the adventure!
BTW– “Zombies, Run!” is one of the most incurable games I have ever played. If you hate working out, I HIGHLY recommend this game!