H A P P Y __ T H A N K S G I V I N G .....

 (picture copied from: http://www.dandelionwishesphotography.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/dsc_3591_blog.jpg)


               ..... to you fine people.   It has been a long time since last I posted. At least it seems that way.  Time is not flying by at all and thus my semester is dragging on forever.  December 13th is my last day of finals and then I am off until second week of January.  This, my friends, is a much needed break.   However, believe it or not, I am thankful for my busy time, for it means I am doing all the right things.   That's always nice to know, isn't it?


       I have come to the conclusion that I don't want to "just be an anthropologist" and therefor, I changed it.  Come on, who doesn't like change, eh? ;-)   "Ethnohistory"  is the check box I am now checking off when stating my degree.  How did that happen?  I am not completely sure, but I think it went like this:   I was supposed to transfer to GSU for this upcoming semester, however, they did not take my current credit hours into consideration and thus, I fell short with the required transfer hours/credits.  I took the CLEP test (College-Level Exam Program) two days later and made a perfect score and earned 12 credit ours... on the phone with GSU once more, telling them that I now have the required transfer hours (I was only short by 4 credit hours), but they denied me again, stating that, although impressive, they cannot accept the CLEP credits for transfer credits, but will definitely count towards my overall hours.  This is not helping !!!   I met up with my adviser, Professor Tadros, who has been my history professor for two semesters (he should be familiar to those of you who read my research blog) to seek advice.  My GPA of 4.0 seems to be attractive enough for him to try to talk me into staying at my current university as a billboard to show what kind of student comes out of this new University (the university I am currently attending is only 5 years old).  However, GSU has a fantastic honor's program geared towards research and I want to take advantage of that type of program.  As it stands now, I am going to my current University for one more semester (all history classes, whoo hoo, I can't wait) and then transfer to GSU for the fall semester.    My professor believes that I should become a historian as he feels I am pretty good at grasping it all.  Plus, I already have my Ph.D. theses in the works (New England Colonies...).  I think, it also has something to do with him being a bit bias toward "history" as that's his field ;-)    This is one thing for which I am definitely thankful : having met Professor Tadros who is a phenomenal professor.   Because I love History and the Human Behavior (in the context of history), he suggested the field of Ethnohistory which is comprised of History AND Anthropology...  YIPEEE, the best of both worlds ;-)  


        Jenny has changed her future goals as well.  Not having gone to the University of Hawaii may have been the best thing for her after all.   She has picked up ballroom dancing again and fell in love with it once more.  Jenny decided to make "ballroom dancing" her future, however, it has become not only a future plan, but her life.  Another thing for which I am thankful : Jenny finally found her place in this huge world... she found her passion.     She has changed her major from Marine Biologist to a Business Major in an effort to build her own business, a dance studio.  We couldn't be more proud of Jenny.  And  those of you who are connected with me through facebook have seen Jenny "in action" ;-)  soon, she will participate in her very first dance competition (ballroom dance).  And I am thankful for my mother-in-law for it was her who introduced Jenny to ballroom dancing and who is supporting Jenny immensely in achieving her goals.


       Julia is faced with a decision of dual enrolling for next year.  As you all remember, Julia wanted to get a degree in Music from Julliard.   Her passion has been her Viola for the past 6 years.  I still tear up when I take my seat in the audience and look upon the stage; whether she is already seated or the stage is still empty... the tears don't care.. they will flow as they please.  However, Julia has changed her mind as far as her degree is concerned.  First, we thought she wants to have a degree in the field of linguistics, as she has said after her return from a summer camp where she studied Arabic (two semesters in 3 weeks).  But no... not even close;  Religious History is her field of study now, in particular the Crusades.   Another thing for which I am thankful.  Her decision, however, does not come as a surprise per se, as she is fascinated by various religions and their fall and/or progression.  She has been doing her independent research project for a bit over a year now and is doing a fantastic job with it.


    You all know how thankful I am for Lewis.  To this day, he is the best thing I could ever have come across.  I believe I have mentioned it somewhere that Lewis is "back to school" as well... his EMBA with GSU; a 3-year program in only 18 months.  He is so very busy with work and school, but we manage.  Family life has changed with all of us being in school, but we will be okay (if I say that often enough, it will be true, right?).  We try to put as much family time into this busy life as we can.   Next year, with Julia being in the dual enrollment program, all four of us are sitting at University-lectures. 


    I am thankful for all of you.. my family, my friends, my online friends and those who just follow either of my blogs.  I appreciate all of you... and more than you will ever know.    You all are soooo good to me.  I thank you all for sticking around, even though I am a sucky friend at the moment.  THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR BEING IN MY LIFE !!!    May you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and may you all have plenty to be thankful for.      Tons of Hugs, Kisses and all that fun stuff !!!!!