Scarborough Festival
Okay, for those of you who don't know what it is, it is a month-long festival that happens in a little town called Waxahachie, TX which is about 30 miles south of Dallas. It's like walking right through a medieval village. Everywhere, people are dressed in medieval costume and speaking with an old world accent. There are human-powered festival rides for the kids - literally kids sitting in big boats hung by ropes and pushed by men. Amazing! So, Breighton and I wandered through the festival, watching some of the funniest shows - the humor is definitely not lacking - and learning some really cool things about medieval life. We watched jousting, saw a falconer and his birds, a magic show, a guy who juggled all sorts of cool things, knife throwing, and even TURTLE races! That's right... turtle races... It was a lot more entertaining then you would think.
So, here are some pictures from our day. There are a lot and I am still working on putting captions on them so for now you will just have to sort of guess at what is what.
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| 2008 - Scarboroug |
Working Life
I know in my last blog that I mentioned another job opportunity. That is still out there, but not moving forward just yet. My work is going well - the usual crazy chaos of a call center. It wears me out, but somehow I seem to do pretty well at it. I am still looking for something else... something that will use my brain a little more, because it feels a little under challenged some days... Someday maybe I will write more about what a day in the life of the call center is like... so that you may get a better grasp on what it is I actually experience on a daily basis.
Summer Life
So, the one thing in life guaranteed to get my son off of the video games is water! Swimming and water parks is a definite way to get him off the TV and outdoors... So, I have a really great pool at my apartment but I also bought us season passes to a water park that is only about 15 minutes away from us. We went last weekend for the first time and that little sucker rode EVERY single slide. He is now tall enough to get on every one of them and boy did he enjoy them. Of course, that meant that "I" had to get on every single one of them as well... including the ones that just dropped straight down. There is nothing scarier then pushing your own child down a slide that drops him 60 feet!! Of course, once I went down and finished pulling my swimsuit out of places I had not idea it could go, he was right there waiting to say, "Wasn't that AWESOME!!". So, I think these passes are a good investment. We went again yesterday just for a few hours and had some more fun... We are going to turn into fish by the end of the summer, no doubt!
Making Some Decisions...
So, I have been tossing around in my head what my next step would be career wise. I always knew that I would return to school - I have known that I would not stop with a Bachelor's degree since the first day I entered college 13 years ago... man that is depressing... 13 years... I could be so much further!! Oh well... I took a longer path... So anyway, the two things I have tossed around are returning for my teaching certification or going to law school. Two ends of the spectrum you think?? Just slightly. However, when I look back... I have always been told I would be a good teacher but I have always dreamed of being a lawyer. That was my entire motivation behind going to school for my paralegal degree so many years ago. Now granted, that wasn't necessarily a proactive step towards law school... but I didn't know that at the time. But what I did learn was that I loved every moment of that schooling. I loved every topic, I loved the research, I was completely enthralled with talking to everyone of the teachers who were lawyers themselves. Till this day, I still love the chance to get to talk to attorneys about their work, I love to read law novels, about the courtroom, about the pretrial work and research... one of my favorite authors is Gerry Spence, a lawyer who writes in his strong southern way about some of the amazing cases he has tried. Life and circumstances and the belief that I couldn't afford law school led me to sweep that vision under a rug. Well, now here I am, finally finished with my undergraduate degree and trying to make a decision what my next step will be. Most people tell me to go for my MBA... every time I say those words out loud, I simply cringe. Nothing about that sounds exciting to me. I don't want to take a path because it is the "typical". I am nothing if not passionate. I am nothing if not a dreamer. I seem a little lost because of the time frame... I mean, I am 30 and still trying to figure out what my "career" will be. But, that is the deck life has dealt me. When I weigh my options, the only true appeal to teaching is the hours. I like the idea that I could impact kids, possibly be that person that gives them vision as so many of my teachers did for me. But I also know me and I think that I may find myself smothered by the beaurocracy of it all. I mean now, you can't even give a student a hug... how different my life would have been if my teachers were forced to follow the guidelines put forth now. I had teachers who I visited 15 years after they were my teacher simply to sit and talk with them. These were teachers who saw my potential and saw my fears as a child and hugged me. Literally hugged me. And now, its not allowed. I don't know... I just don't want to be stifled like that. But when I think about law school... about actually being a lawyer, my heart races, my energy goes up and I feel like I could conquer the world. I don't know what specialty I would fall in to... I imagine that would bring itself to fruition as my education continued. So, I think this is the path I am going to take. There is an LSAT test on October 4th. The LSAT is a required test to get into law school. I am going to start studying for it. With my undergraduate GPA being so high... if I could really ace the LSAT there is a good chance I could be eligible for some scholarships (which would be FANTASTIC). I will need a few letters of recommendation and I will be on my way to entering law school. Now the soonest I can start is Fall 2009 so I have a little over a year to prepare. That will include finding a job closer to campus so I can take classes at night and getting my finances in order so that I may be able to take a pay cut and work less to allow more time for school and studying. But in the end, I think it will pay off. It's going to be a big jump, and a big commitment, but I think this is what I was made for. So, wish me luck!!
1 comment:
It makes me very happy and proud to have a daughter that has done so much with her life. You must get it from your grand mother, Cissy. Although I am a very determined person, I just am chicken when it comes to taking the biggest step.
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