I never got around to that stream of consciousness thing – but I can make some sort of concerted effort here…

I went back to the library the other day and returned all the programming books I had checked out. I needed to get all distractions out of the way. I then promptly checked out a DVD on Wassily Kandinsky, Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, a book entitled Nonverbal behavior : perspectives, applications, intercultural insights from CJ Hogrefe – and Donald Asher’s Graduate Admissions Essays: Write Your Way Into the Graduate School of Your Choice, which is what I had set out for in the first place.

These are all in addition to the first edition of George M. Eberhart’s fine series: The Whole Libary Handbook. I’ve made it up to the chapter on the ISBN coding – and I must say it has opened up quite a few hidden treasures. Add to that Herbert S. White’s collection of papers Librarians and the Awakening from Innocence and Redesigning Library Services, A Manifesto from Michael Buckland and you can imagine how much dustier that old copy of Proust is getting by the bedside.

Then there’s the two classes I’m taking at the community college. But I don’t want to get into those here. I think they may be on to me. Shhh.

So this whole Personal Statement thing I’ve been struggling with. Well. For some reason or another, I’ve been finding it rather difficult to just sit down and write something out. The whole process is reminiscent of my knack for sweatin’ deadlines. Philosophy papers used to love to milk my brain. Those topics would mull around in my head, points of an outline would gather themselves around the bedroom on sticky notes for days on end, all of a sudden – WHAM – paper’s due tomorrow. The papers all worked out — it was just my method then — but this is a little different. This is about me. This is difficult.

So, I’m gonna go ahead and get a jump start on what I plan to begin using a portion of this site for in the future. I’m gonna turn my blog into my personal notebook. Eventually — when I get that letter of acceptance in the mail and my stress level momentarily dips – I’ll build a blog around the entire school experience. I haven’t quite figured out how to implement all the tools around this notion yet – but it’s pretty clear that a printable format is around the bend and that the categories on the new section likely will not be closely related to Beers in Me. Those have pretty much died off anyways. Don’t worry. You won’t have to see any of it. It’ll have it’s own folder and cozy little hideaway. Of course, you never have to see any of this. You can just walk away.

If, however, this kinda thing gets you going — or you yourself are wondering how in the heck other people have gone about this process, then might I suggest you

Okay — the question the:

PERSONAL STATEMENT

Please indicate your reasons for requesting admission to the Library and Information Science Program. Describe your plans for graduate study and a professional career as they relate to your personal and educational background. If there are special circumstances or factors that you wish considered with your application, please indicate. Attach a current resume or curriculum vitae and any additional materials. Please limit your statement to 250 words.

Just so you know – the above paragraph is 67 words long.

Okay. Moving on to the first part of Asher’s projects – wherein he asks you to consider personal questions and respond with either lists or one or two sentence answers. So that’s what we’ll get done tonight.

1.a What makes you different, unique, unusual? I spent my junior year in High School living in Monterrey, Mexico. I spent my junior summer in college living in a tent in Skagway, Alaska.

1.b What writers and which particular articles in your field of study have had the greatest influence on the development of your thought?

and

1.c Who were your favorite professors in college and why? How has each influenced you?

1.d What was the best paper or exam you wrote in your major? What makes it good? Unbridling Billy Budd, because I wrote it for me. I developed a sincere love for the text and the sub-text and everything that text would make you feel. I took a reader’s-response and flipped it around so many times the thought of the book still makes my head spin. What began as a fascination with Melville’s continual references to Billy as a horse turned into a ferocious appetite for the “truth” of the book. It is a hunger that is still waiting to be filled – as I am pretty sure that if the book teaches you anything – it is that there is no absolute truth. (Which, of course, would be an absolute truth and thereby negates itself.)

1.e What is the single most important concept you have learned in college?
Learning is fun. The quest and the acquisition of knowledge is a wonderful task that is unending and rarely unsatisfying. Often times in the search for one nugget, one comes across an entire mine filled with treasures. While there are times that the task can become extremely difficult – there is always someone or something who has been down a similar path and knows the easiest steps to get to the destination. (I’m thinking of good professors here.)

2.a Where were you and what were you doing when you first thought of pursuing this? I was sitting in Alaska in my brother’s condominium, which he lovingly refers to as his fishbowl, working on my weblog — and coming across other people who shared similar tastes and thought processes who also shared a career in LIS.

2.b How has your interest evolved, and what specific turning points can you identify? my interest has evolved in that I believe I have now narrowed down my desired field to the realm of Metadata. This turning point came about recently when I saw a presentation online from Clay Redding entitled “What is Metadata (and what does the Metadata Librararian do)?” He was discussing XML and standards and validation and all this wonderful language that I have grown to love over the past two years that I’m not going to get into here in detail because I need to finish these questions and I’ve been over this enough on this website as it is.

2.c What work experiences have led you to believe you would like to pursue graduate education? Oooo…Is this a trick question?

2.d What experiences as a volunteer or as a traveler have influenced your career direction? While living in the tent in Alaska — there was a library just down the street that had access to all the modern technologies — and books to check out. (Had I needed them. I’d brought my own library up and wasn’t worried about the internet so much in 1998. Which reminds me — which one of you Hanousek residents stole my copy ofHeart of Darkness, and did you see Ken Jennings nail that question on Final Jeopardy?)

2.e What experiences from your family life have contributed to this choice? Both my see-store and my cousin Sean have stated their beliefs that I belong in graduate school. Both have pursued higher education for themselves…annnnnnddd….I’m gonna need to think about this one a lil more…Better highlight it.

3. Oh man. This calls for a table. I never learned how to do tables. Ummmm… I’ll get back to this one too.

4. List of profs at the targeted university that interest me: Well, so far I’ve only come across Dr. Mika at the orientation, but based on the descriptions in this prospective student packet — it looks like Dr. Ankem, Dr. Anghelescu, Dr. Day, Dr. Du, Dr. Neavill, and Dr. Walster are all interested in like topics.

5. Can you describe an experience that demonstrates remarkable drive or perseverance? Ummmm….There was that time I was gripped by the fear…But I don’t think that’s a good story to share — although getting off that mountain in the morning when the snow obscured every direction was a rather wonderful tale that if I haven’t told here already I should probably get around to it. Which reminds me — I really need to fix that search function.

5.b What do you do with your leisure time? I read. I write. I shoot basketballs in the twilight. I study. I dream. I see movies on the big screen. I laugh. I cry. I think back and wonder why. I ponder. I break. But never do I make the mistake of <chorus>Poesy! Whoa – o….Whoa -o… Can’t you see? It’s poesy and it’s all about meeeeeeeeeee! I am awesome I am grand! Please don’t misunderstand, don’t deconstruct what I have worked so hard to builllllllllld! <chorus>Poesy! Whoa-o….Whoa-o…

5.c What can you tell someone that would lead them to believe they’d enjoy your company? I’ve never seen Gigli. Orrrrr….maybe…Hanson is the most misunderstood band in the history of the world? I can’t believe they have a wikipedia entry.

okie-dokie — I’m tired…And I need to think about a couple of these questions a little more. Tomorrow is the database class – so I need to get some shut eye. And then its on to the next part of the exercise. Perhaps I’ll upload those pictures of the tail end of Hurricane Frances over Michigan as well.