Pit stops on the trail

I figure since my friend started a new blog, I needed to update mine....and keep updating it regularly.

I am back in my hometown living with my Mama. I have missed her and know she is happy to have me back cooking her meals again, going with her to the store, and watching movies with her when she is not grading stupid (and smart) kids' papers. She knows, however, that I hope for this to be a temporary stop on the trail, an intermediary chapter in a longer story. If you are on a journey of your own, you know exactly what I mean.

I applied to the University of Colorado at Boulder. I have not heard anything as of yet from them back. I hope the community college here sent the transcript on time and everything is nicely sealed and packaged in order to be read. I understand it takes a few weeks for everything to be sorted and for it to be submitted for review. I'm just ready for it to be reviewed.

University of North Carolina at Greensboro and University of Florida (repeats from last year) are up next. I've really grown to appreciate the way they (UNC Greensboro) approach preservation in a community form, treating everything with importance. I like that they see people forget the past unless we keep it alive. Guess I should have done that research more last year, but honestly, I learned more about the cause of preservation at Villa Finale than I ever did before.

I am looking for jobs. Unfortunately, this area is a little dead with the hiring, but I am determined to find a paying position. I need money like anyone else. I got things to pay and stuff I want to buy. I did do a training sim as an assessment for a bank. I just don't know if I scored high enough to be noticed. Banks and I (or anyone I'm related to) have not had a good hiring rapport, as in, they never want to hire me. I don't why; it just happens.

I'll keep the update going. Feb 1st will bring the next 2 applications, then Texas Tech and Appalachian State after that. Much to do, much to do.


--Ellen

Fresh ink starts the new sentence

And a new chapter...

My time at Villa Finale and the city of San Antonio has ended. I will miss it and not miss it. I loved and hated it. Bittersweet was my relationship.

I will miss my friends like Tobin, Katie, Tara, Erika, Farrah, and Patrick. I will miss having everything so close. I will miss getting around easier. I will not miss living next to the interstate, the sound of sirens and trains every few hours, or having roads with little to few turnlanes and sometimes poor demarcation. I enjoy the quietness of my home, seeing my mother, some of my friends and family, and the relative smallness of the city compared to my former haunts of the last 6 months. This place has nothing for my career, however, and will remain forever an intermediary chapter.

My town is beautiful, but small. Small is the word here. Unlike a big city, it has no major museums. Unlike a big city, it has no big museum jobs to try to get. This state also has no museum studies programs in it.

I must get to grad school this year.

So I am applying. I already missed one application date due to the moving process, work ending, internship ending madness i was going through at the end of 2010. I simply forgot, but I just replace that application with another school to apply to. I must keep going.

I have not missed the application date to my dream school, University of Colorado at Boulder, so that is promising. Everything is almost done for that application. I have references lined up. I want to get into that program so badly. Other school app dates are coming mostly at the beginning of February. Hectic, but I will get it done.

So the plan is to stay here until I hear back from the schools and (hopefully) have good news about where I am going. I will get a job until then to past sometime and collect some money for my sake. Jobs here, unlike the big city, are hard to come by as well. Then, when I find out, I hope to pack up early and move to the city. Get a job, get a feel for the location. Then start on my path to a graduate degree.

Hopefully God approves the plan this time.

Sleep time.


---Ellen

And the curtains start to close.

This is it. Tomorrow is my last day at Villa Finale as an intern and I will miss it sorely. I will miss Meg and her welcoming voice and smile, Katie and her advice, hearing stories about Mexico from Karina, and Tina talking about her children. I will miss Chris and Orlando, who were always kind to me as well. Some song lyrics from The Killers ring true at this moment:


Aggressively, we all defend the role we play
Regrettably, the time's come to send you on your way
We've seen it all: from bonfires of trust to flash floods of pain
It's doesn't really matter, don't you worry it will all work out
No it doesn't really matter, don't worry, that ain't what its all about

We hope you enjoyed your stay
And it's good to have you with us
Even if it's just for the day
We hope you've enjoyed your stay
Outside the sun is shining
It seems like heaven ain't far away
Its good to have you with us
Even if it's just for the day


Tomorrow I will have to say goodbye and set off on further adventures. What they are about and where they will be, I do not know. I hope that I will be going to grad school in Colorado or in North Carolina and that Joe will have a good job too. I look forward to my future adventures bright-eyed and hopeful. God will not let me down.

Ready to Sail Away (Not Literally)...

I'm tired. I've been tired the past week. Why? Because it's the holidays and for some reason, I've been working 9 hour shifts like nobody business. Yes, it's paying for stuff. No, I am not enjoying it.

I know in a real world job I'd work 40 hour weeks, but I'd at least get some days off. I had one day off this past week and that was Thanksgiving. I have none this upcoming week until Monday,the 6th, where Joe and I ship off to Alabama.

Currently, my back is filled up with tons of stress pent up from the week. From every bitchy customer to every pet peeve, all stuck in my back. Now, it's hard to sleep. Thank you, retail job.

I have so much grad school stuff to do it isn't funny.

Happy Thanksgiving

This year is my first thanksgiving day away from my family and, yes, I do feel the effects. I miss the food, the family, and the ambiance. The laughs, the news, the tasty tasty food.

What can I say, I am food fan. (Obviously)

Today is the only day off I have this week and I'm enjoying it as much as I can. I'm not cooking, mainly because Joe is extremely picky and I am tired of cooking. I will pay someone to feed me and enjoy it. I think we are going to have some exquisite mexican (if it is open). I'm going to be watching the Saints game and working on my statement of purpose. Perhaps catching up on last week's episodes of Conan. Such is my life.

Tomorrow I have to work Black Friday and will hate it. I have grown to become numb to customers and their antics, just learning to shake off their quips and going on about my life. I am looking forward to not being a member retail society one day. There are not enough people who have worked retail in the life and I feel that is a shame.

10 days before I see my darling Mama again, attend my sister's wedding, and generally enjoy what it is was like to live in Fairhope before being in Texas. We are going to move back to Alabama briefly for the winter. It will be a regrouping, however. My journey does not have me ending up in Fairhope for long. I must keep moving.

Enjoy Thanksgiving everyone and enjoy your family. I look forward to seeing mine soon.

Love,
Ellen

Oh,blog, excuse my neglect of you

So much to cover in so little space.

Ahem.

Work and Villa take up most of my life, I end up tired, and forget to blog. Bad me. Baaaaad me.

Things have so changed at Villa Finale.I have essentially "graduated" from the actual house and moved on to the Carriage House, or the basic offices on site at the house. Walter's House looked absolutely beautiful. People now get to enjoy the wonder that Walter Mathis created over time. I haven't been in the house since September 30, but I hope to view the inside one more time before I leave this place.

Meg is wonderful as always and I get to work much more closely again with her again. I'm currently in charge of cataloging of the Villa Finale Carriage House library into Past Perfect, a museum catalog software. I can easily say that this has been one of the best learning experiences of my life and I will miss it dearly.

Meg told me the other day that she had been (and still is) extremely impressed that I came to San Antonio simply to intern at Villa Finale. To her it showed my passion for museum work and how I am driven to do what I must to do to become a museum curator.

I told her that if I had not done, if I gave up, that everything would mean nothing, and this quest I have put myself on would have been just a big waste of time. I might as well live out my days working at P-Mart.

I'm talking to the Curator and Asst Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Dr. Jen Shannon, at Univ. of Colorado at Boulder about the museum studies program there next Tuesday over the phone. So excited! This woman has a lot of the similar interests I do!!

I must always remember nothing good is ever worth giving up on.

Let me sum it up for you

Hmm, where did I leave off? Between work, internship and procrastination, I've neglected my blog just a little bit!

So hence I will sum up the past few days at Villa Finale. Things are definitely coming together. The dining room is almost fully put together, the library looks great, the napoleon parlor still needs some work and we are moving things around upstairs finally.Karina and Tina have been helping out as the other interns (although both don't speak much) and the docents (including Bumbling Ed, who I am sure to make an appearance in my posts) are being trained by Sylvia, the director of public affairs I believe. Also, I will miss the company of Tobin.

Last Thursday was Tobin's last day before she heads back to SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design). We had a fun day including going on a quest to steal(borrow) forks Christ the grounds manager's desk in the Carriage House and playing Where Does the Retablo go on the giant arc of Retablo paintings on the wall upstairs. I will miss her talking to me about San An and her life. She's definitely an interesting girl.

Things are moving ahead for the opening on the 30th. More to come.


Ellen