Semester is over…I’ll worry about that tomorrow!
Posted: May 16, 2010 | Author: risingwiththemoon | Filed under: Library School, Life Crises, Technology | Tags: enjoying life, living in the present, metadata, Scarlett O'Hara, semester, XML | Leave a commentThis week ended my spring semester. It was not too terrible of a semester – the spring semesters seem to have more breathing room for me since they are a bit longer, and not so compact. I just completed courses in relational databases, as well as a metadata course (for those who do not know what metadata is, it is “data about data.”). I enjoyed both courses. I was not really looking forward to the metadata course at first, but I found it a lot more interesting that I thought. Honestly, I was not sure what to expect. The best part was an introduction to XML, as well as some hands-on experience creating metadata records using different schemas. These were great courses that I hope give me the knowledge to succeed in the changing information science landscape, and would be recommended for anyone who is interested in the digital aspects of librarianship.
So, after this, I will be taking my capstone exam, and then one more summer class (reference services for the sciences fields), and I will be done in August! It has been a long journey, which I will be glad to end. People always ask me what I want to do after I get my degree. Of course, the obvious answer is find work in the field. While there are options and I am open to many different things in many different places, there is a lot of competition. That, unfortunately, is the nature of our economic climate.
The whole “end of the road” thing is simultaneously exciting and stressful. But, since this is also my birthday week, I need to do what I should have done…take a week off of anything school or job related…and just enjoy life (aka slack off like it’s no tomorrow)!
There is always this crisis when you get closer and closer to 30, and you start re-evaluating your life. There are always these implicit rules that society imposes on us…telling us that we have to have achieved certain milestones by 30 (aka, have the career, the house, the husband/wife…and kids too!). To some, they may see me as a failure because I have none of those things right now (except a job that I am so thankful that pays my bills), but I have to live my life each day, and make the most of what I have today. A very wise coworker said instead of seeing a birthday as a reminder of what has not been achieved, see it as a time to be grateful for being blessed with another year on this earth. There has been so much I have put off to get through this program, such as a nice haircut, or a vacation!. It has been almost 4 years since I have taken a real vacation, meaning where the vacation actually lasts about a week. I may not be able to afford to go anywhere right now, but clearing my mind is free.
As Scarlett O’Hara says: “I’ll worry about that tomorrow”
…which, consequently, is another day.