Now what?

Whoa! The smoke has finally cleared and I've pretty much caught up at work from my five week absence so I could attend Purchase for the B&B program. Thanks to everyone at my office who pitched in so I didn't come back to too big a mess!

But now what? The "what am I going to do with myself till school starts again?" has already started! The funny thing is I find myself more tired now doing nothing than when I was doing everything! So, it's time to get moving. I've incorporated daily walks back into my routine and this weekend, I made The Guy go yard-sale-ing with me to find stuff for The Boy's upcoming move to his own apartment in NYC. We even had a picnic yesterday after I tackled the much neglected bathroom tile. You know you are looking for things to do when you sit with a brush and a tub of ammonia and scrub the bathroom tile! Oh, and I started War and Peace since I thought I easily would be able to read its 1200+ pages over the summer without the distraction of school/textbooks.

Since I used my vacation time from work to go to Purchase, there aren't any trips in my future, and my gardens are small this year because I knew I wouldn't be home to tend to them. What's left?

Any ideas? How will you be spending your summer? How should I? Send your ideas to me at cathyfurlani@gmail.com. Please!

Purchase Winding Down

Hard to believe that five weeks have passed already, but truth be known, I am ready to go home and stay home. Maybe I am a little too old for dorm life. "Why didn't I see you at the party?" "Why didn't you come hang out last night?" Those are the questions I hear, but what they don't know is that I've already done all that. All these experiences that are new and exciting to the students here and old news to me. Already did the party thing, the up all night thing, the don't care about tomorrow thing. Been there, done that. Besides, I am old enough to be some of these kid's mother! Would you want to hang out with your mom while you experience independence for the first time?

Besides, I like my own house, The Guy, The Kids, The Dog and The Cat, my own bathroom, and my own bedroom. I am exactly where I should be now - comfy and happy. That's where I plan on staying. I don't envy the young. Still too many things to find out!

Today we'll practice our presentations before a live audience. Friday is our symposium and move out day and by Friday night I'll be back to being all comfy and happy!

From First to Last

I think these pictures say it all. We are all so proud!

Purchase Participation continues . . .

It's been a real interesting last couple of days here. Besides working on my paper and power point presentation, I've been attending various workshops offered to students in the program.


I recently attended a resume workshop, which turned out to be pretty informative. Not only do I have a new education, awards and related experience to add, I have more than twenty-five years of experience that I am not sure what to do with. There are some valuable skills I would like to brag about, but can a resume really be five pages long? I don't think so. Good thing they are taking us to Morgan Stanley today (one of the many sponsors for this program) who will working with us one on one to discuss our resumes and our future. Career planning at it's finest!

And then yesterday, people from The Princeton Review came to Purchase to discuss GREs - grad school tests. Hard to believe that within the next year or so I should already be considering that! I was worried they were just coming to sell us their wares, as they really are a GRE test prep service, but no - our visitor spent an hour giving us really good tips on how they grade the GREs, what kinds of questions will be in the math parth, the verbal part and the written part - and how long we would have to do them. He told us what we should be studying now and how. He also shared some tips on guessing answers. It was like a free class from the Princeton Review! Very cool indeed! And it made the whole process sound very doable.

It's nice to see so many people excited about our futures here at Purchase. Makes the time away from family and friends and pets and kids almost worth it.

Guy IJ: 49

Presentation Palpatations at Purchase

A busy day at Purchase today. At noon, we are having lunch with representatives from the community colleges the participants are from. Then pictures - group pictures, school pictures, program pictures. Sheesh, hope my hair looks okay today! Then we are having an afternoon class session, for the benefit of our visitors I am sure - we were told to expect guests during the class. And if that wasn't enough to keep us busy, they have planned a Career Interest Workshop for program participants. They said somewhere along the way I must have told somebody what I would like to do after college is said and done (will it ever really be said and done?), and that is the group I will be in. I am curious as to what group that is exactly. I haven't met anyone here with the same goals as me. Most participants are science oriented, so we'll see. I'll keep you posted.
In the meantime, I continue to prepare for my presentation for the final day. I've been receiving good feedback on my actual paper. All that's left is an accompanying power point presentation, that I'll be presenting to other participants, friends and family! I am already getting nervous about it and it's only a week away. Any tips on how to sound calm appreciated.

Did you start Infinite Jest? (See post below.) Actually, I left my copy home this week so The Guy can start it. I am way ahead of the summer reading schedule and I figured I could read more on the weekend. Today I'll give The Guy's progress report:

Guy IJ: 20 pages

Infinite Summer (and Winter)

You may have noticed a book on my bookshelf below has been there since January.  Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace.  I started reading it in January as part of a group project with other DCC students and professors who had a plan to read it and then discuss it outside of class.  Well, at 1000 pages with more than 100 pages of footnotes, it soon became the Infinite Joke.  I was taking five classes and working full time!  There really wasn't much time to read it, and after talking to other participants, I didn't feel too bad.  They were all in the same boat and those meetings we planned never happened.  Still, I trudged trough.  Today I am up to page 500!  Halfway! 

Today is not only the first day of Summer, and Father's Day (Happy Father's Day Guy!), it is also the first day of Infinite Summer!  A much larger group of people web-wide are now reading this together. If you read 75 pages a week from now to the first day of fall, September 21, you will have read the entire book!  Here are some links to keep you going:

The official website of Infinite Summer with many more links regarding the book itself:

www.infinitesummer.org

A cool app that keeps track of your page count:

www.infinite-summer.appspot.com

The author, David Foster Wallace, was a MacArthur Genius Grant recipient, but sadly after suffering depression for most of his life, took his own life late last year.  This has created new buzz for Infinite Jest, often considered his masterpiece.  You can read more about him at his unofficial website:  http://www.davidfosterwallace.com/

Enjoy this longest day of the year, and celebrate the summer season with a good read.  Keep me posted of your progress.  I'll try to keep you posted on my own progress at the bottom of my blog throughout the summer.

IJ:  504

Purchase Update!

Even though I have less work to do here than I did at Vassar last summer, it seems there are less chances for blog updates. I share my bedroom with a woman who wakes up at the last minute and I think the last thing she would want to hear is me typing away first thing in the morning. There is no internet access in our living room and when I am at the library there is research to do. So, let's enjoy this update while we can, shall we?

Week three already and moving quickly! We should have a draft of our independent study paper done by Thursday (I am in very good shape) and then I can start working on my power point presentation that will go along with it. I am writing my paper on Tolstoy's Kreutzer Sonata asking if a man can find self identity and forgive his wife for the identity he and society created in her. Surprisingly, there are already a few essays on this topic, which as been helpful. Now, how to make that a power point presentation? Since the Kreutzer Sonata is a Beethoven piece, I hope to have the music playing in the background. Can anybody tell me if that should be a separate file playing on the computer at the same time or part of the power point itself?

As usual, a lot of young people here can't seem to find the time to get the reading done, or their research project done. Well, maybe they really don't need to party every night, said the old woman in Apt P1-1! Believe me, I love a good party but there is time for everything. Hopefully they will figure it all out.

During the past two weeks we visited the Neuburger Museum on campus, had a resume workshop class and watched several movies. At first I thought the project would be difficult with so many of our afternoons being booked up, but it all seems to work out. In fact, I am hoping that with my free afternoon today I can finish up a draft of my paper and then have two days to edit it.

Hard to believe we are halfway through already, but according to the emails I am getting from work - they are glad I am.

Here it the Sonata for your listening pleasure!




That was quick!

Just got back to Purchase after a nice, relaxing weekend home.  The Guy made sure there was no mess for me to find and I got to relax and cook - which I find relaxing!  It was very nice to spend time with the family and it seems that after you have been gone a while, you appreciate that time with them even more.  

I have an Purchase email address, so write to me to let me know what is going on in the world off campus!  I'd love to hear from you and keep that home feeling going.  You can write me at cathy.furlani@purchase.edu.  I want to hear all the news!

Going Home!

Homesickness creeping in.  Glad to be going home for the weekend!  I even miss the stinky dog and according to The Guy, the stinky dog misses me too.  It's only been a week, but a week of dorm life has been just enough to make me appreciate going home all the more.

The young people here may disagree.  They seem to be enjoying the freedom from family and obligations.  Most of the students in this program are doing research for an hourly wage and not taking a class for credit so when night comes along and I have three handouts and a chapter to read, they just have parties to attend and jello-shots to prepare and chill in my fridge.  Don't get me wrong, I don't mind a good party here or there, but since no one here really knows me, I am just the "old lady" and remind them of the thing they were probably trying to get away from.

Vassar started pretty much the same way last summer.  For the first week or so I felt like an outsider, and the more we got to know each other, the less I felt like that.  Let's hope that happens here too.

What better way to feel young than to visit an Animal Center!  We can pet and feed the animals and we'll learn about the rehabilitative benefits of animals and sick children.  Just stick me on another yellow school bus and call me a kid!  But please, don't feed the wild children . . . 

Purchase People and Places

It's been almost a week here already.  Still adjusting and still figuring out exactly what it is we are supposed to be doing here.  I mean, I know what we are doing here, but we've only had two classes so far and we are supposed to do a research project independently.  I have a great idea for that and have been poking databases for information, but still not sure how many cites we need, or the format, or anything like that.  I guess all I can do is continue to poke around and take notes and keep working.

So far the class has been very split in two.  It is a combination of Psychology and Humanities and it hasn't crossed over yet.  We are going over identity during the Psychology part, and we've dissected a poem for the Humanities part, but I am hoping for more of a cross over.  As a creative writer, I believe there is much to learn about people in order to be able to write about them so the thought of them being combined in one class is fascinating!  I guess it is still too early to tell.

Rooming with four other women is quite an experience.  We are all different ages with different backgrounds and interests.  Some are never here and some are here all the time blasting my least favorite music.  I am glad I brought my headphones so I can listen to my own.  Sharing a bedroom is an experience too.  My bedroommate is very nice, and neat and is making a great effort for us to share the room peacefully.  I really appreciate that and I hope she feels I am reciprocating, but here I am typing this while she sleeps!  I hope I am typing quietly!  I'll try to only make a few mistakes so I don't curse too loudly about them.

Yesterday we took a class trip on a yellow bus to see a fantastic Broadway show called In the Heights.  It took place in a Hispanic neighborhood way uptown and each young person in the show was seeking their own individual identity.  That does fit our class perfectly since identity is what we are concentrating on, and it does fit the Humanities criteria as well being a live performance and all.  See, the combination of the two already is starting!  

Packing for Purchase

It was a nice break while it lasted.  It was almost strange to be home and not have to run anywhere and not have piles of homework to go through.  In fact, it was even stranger making dinner for my family every night, but I am sure they appreciated it.  

Hopefully they did not get too used to those home cooked meals because today was move in day for the B&B Program at Purchase College!  For the next five weeks, I will be sharing a dorm room in a small apartment in beautiful Purchase, New York.  Another three credits, another lesson learned and I'll be home before July 4th to enjoy the rest of the summer.

Sometimes I feel too old for the crap!  I have to share a bathroom and kitchen with people as old as The Boy, and I already know what kind of messes he can make.  But so far, roommates seem nice and neat.  We'll see how it goes.  It's a three bedroom apartment, but we are only using two and it's pretty beat up from the college students who lived here the past semester.  The walls are all messed up and it could all use a good painting, but this place is not permanent.  It's only a temporary resting spot for the education that will be permanent.  My class is a mix of Psychology and Humanities.  We'll have class in the morning and the afternoon free for independent study and research for our final projects, which we will be presenting on July 3.  A piece of cake!

Here is my temporary home for the next few weeks.  As you can see, I tried to make is a comfortable as possible.

Since this program is not as intense as Vassar was last summer (two classes verus one class), I plan on going home at least one night during the week and every weekend, so maybe my family will still get those home cooked meals!  Let's hope they will making them for me!

Graduation Memories Keep Coming

Here is a pic from earlier in the day when I received my certificates for being a PTK National Finalist and All-New York First Team awardee. The awards for the same award just keep coming! I am standing with our PTK Advisor and all around great professor, Dr. Navina Hooker. Signing up for classes at DCC? Registration for Summer and Fall classes is happening now. Links are the the right and be sure to sign up for one of Dr. Hooker's classes.

Now that it's all over, I am worried about losing touch with my DCC friends. If you are one of those people, please be sure to send your email address to me at cathyfurlani@gmail.com so we can keep in touch!