The long bus ride home

Decided to skip the knees-up after work and proceed directly to the Leaning Tower of Pizza for what I thought was a 6 PM Arcana meeting - it turned out to be a 7 PM meeting, which meant I was long done with my appetizers and halfway through a large pizza by the time other folks started showing up. Well, at least I got to see the Tigers beat the A's for the pennant while I was sitting there. The meeting itself mostly revolved around goosing the attendance at Arcana, which has been bumping along between 30-50 people for the past six years. Part of that is because it's usually been scheduled opposite the MCBA Fallcon and the Twin Cities Marathon, but a bigger part of it is that they just don't do a very good job of promoting it. I have the feeling that's going to change - they have a couple of new folks who aren't also trying to start an anime convention (#^_^#) so that'll help. We may even see an Arcana room party at Anime Detour, which would be kind of cool. If they can get even one percent of our people to show up (and I'm sure at least 1% of the AD membership is into horror and fantasy) it'll give them a real shot in the arm. And that would be good.

By the time the meeting broke up at 9, I was feeling pretty tired and since the 4F bus goes right by the apartment on 82nd street I decided to just leave the Kia at the Park & Ride overnight and maybe go hike over there this afternoon. It would do me good...on the other hand, I might only walk as far as the bus stop and then catch a few buses over that way.

Slept in until 10 - don't feel any real urgency to get anything done, though I do need to get this place cleaned up a bit before qob comes by to borrow some books. Whenever that'll be.

The long bus ride home

Decided to skip the knees-up after work and proceed directly to the Leaning Tower of Pizza for what I thought was a 6 PM Arcana meeting - it turned out to be a 7 PM meeting, which meant I was long done with my appetizers and halfway through a large pizza by the time other folks started showing up. Well, at least I got to see the Tigers beat the A's for the pennant while I was sitting there. The meeting itself mostly revolved around goosing the attendance at Arcana, which has been bumping along between 30-50 people for the past six years. Part of that is because it's usually been scheduled opposite the MCBA Fallcon and the Twin Cities Marathon, but a bigger part of it is that they just don't do a very good job of promoting it. I have the feeling that's going to change - they have a couple of new folks who aren't also trying to start an anime convention (#^_^#) so that'll help. We may even see an Arcana room party at Anime Detour, which would be kind of cool. If they can get even one percent of our people to show up (and I'm sure at least 1% of the AD membership is into horror and fantasy) it'll give them a real shot in the arm. And that would be good.

By the time the meeting broke up at 9, I was feeling pretty tired and since the 4F bus goes right by the apartment on 82nd street I decided to just leave the Kia at the Park & Ride overnight and maybe go hike over there this afternoon. It would do me good...on the other hand, I might only walk as far as the bus stop and then catch a few buses over that way.

Slept in until 10 - don't feel any real urgency to get anything done, though I do need to get this place cleaned up a bit before qob comes by to borrow some books. Whenever that'll be.

All over but the paperwork

Well, I can't say I'm too surprised. Got the associate dean's letter today informing me that whatever I told him in our meeting two weeks ago wasn't convincing enough, so he's going ahead and letting the axe drop. I'm off academic probation and out of the M.A. program, which means that come April the lenders are going to come sniffing around for the payments on my student loans. It also means that I don't have to finish the childrens' lit course and will get the money refunded. Yay. That'll free up my Tuesday nights and put another grand or so in my pocket to help pay down bills, although there's no telling how long it'll take St. Mary's to process the paperwork. I guess it's a good thing I didn't check the mail before I went off to get the truck and do dinner with qob.

Oddly, I'm not depressed, although that may come with time. I rather thought I might be. Ah, well. Life is full of trade-offs. On the one hand, I helped launch a successful educational 501(c)(3) non-profit that runs one of the two biggest fan-run conventions in Minnesota. On the other hand, the time and effort required to do so could have been used to pass about half a dozen classes over the last three years, in which case I would probably have my teacher's certification and be partway through my M.A., but it's equally possible that illness and stress would have put paid to that anyway. I don't really know, and I'll never know now.

All over but the paperwork

Well, I can't say I'm too surprised. Got the associate dean's letter today informing me that whatever I told him in our meeting two weeks ago wasn't convincing enough, so he's going ahead and letting the axe drop. I'm off academic probation and out of the M.A. program, which means that come April the lenders are going to come sniffing around for the payments on my student loans. It also means that I don't have to finish the childrens' lit course and will get the money refunded. Yay. That'll free up my Tuesday nights and put another grand or so in my pocket to help pay down bills, although there's no telling how long it'll take St. Mary's to process the paperwork. I guess it's a good thing I didn't check the mail before I went off to get the truck and do dinner with qob.

Oddly, I'm not depressed, although that may come with time. I rather thought I might be. Ah, well. Life is full of trade-offs. On the one hand, I helped launch a successful educational 501(c)(3) non-profit that runs one of the two biggest fan-run conventions in Minnesota. On the other hand, the time and effort required to do so could have been used to pass about half a dozen classes over the last three years, in which case I would probably have my teacher's certification and be partway through my M.A., but it's equally possible that illness and stress would have put paid to that anyway. I don't really know, and I'll never know now.