While I am Wating to Have Money for my Masters Degree, pt. 2

I've written about this before, but one of my long term goals (3-5 years) is to go back to school for my masters degree. This isn't something I can tackle right now, however. Financially it would be difficult, but really a bigger barrier is that the school I would like to attend is a couple hours away. If I had the money I could perhaps commute, (I even have a friend nearby that would let me crash there if I needed to,) but honestly, I have enough going on right now in my life that I don't have the energy or time to tackle my masters too! When I begin working on my masters I want to be ready - I want to have my life running a little more automatic so I can really devote myself to it. It needs to be to be my main focus - not an afterthought.

So, what to do with myself in the 3 or so years between now and then? How can I use this time wisely - besides trying to build my passive and non passive income streams to a level where things take care of themselves? Well, one of the things I am doing is taking an online class at my local community college. It isn't for credit towards the masters obviously, it is more towards my own education - it fills in one little piece of the gap between my present degree and the field that I want to enter. (And it is a mighty big gap.) The class has also been good at getting me in that "back in school" mode. You know how people will tell you to constantly be looking at your resume' and how can you build it, even in your present job? Well, I am kind of doing the same thing with an eye towards my application to college for my masters. I want to put together a "resume'" that will show any application board why they should accept me, with a bachelors in marketing and little practical experience in their field, to their school of library science.

To this end, Tuesday night I did the coolest thing ever.

I'm not sure how I got on the Torch Club's email list. It might have been back when I was attending Chamber of Commerce luncheons for my office. Maybe I threw in a business card to win a raffle - who knows? In any case, I have been receiving their monthly emails for a long, long time. Somewhere along the line I sort of stopped paying attention to the emails and deleted them pretty much out of hand, but it just happened to be that I read the one that came last month. It announced the lecture they would be having, "Creating a Virtual Archive." Well, how could I resist that? I want to be an archivist! So right then and there I emailed them back and asked to attend.

I didn't know anything about the Torch Club when I asked to go to their dinner. Apparently they have been active in my community for over 80 years. They are a very old, national organization of professionals that gather each month to hear a member talk about some particular topic. It is just my luck that there happens to be an archivist in the group. Actually... it is more than that. I met librarians and archivists and college professors. There were only 30 people or so there, but almost everyone I met was working in some field that related to the one I wish to enter. On top of it all, they were all so friendly and welcoming. Everyone was just fantastic. I made some wonderful connections with people - the kinds of connections that I think will really help me on my journey. By the time I had left I had a business card of a college professor that asked me to contact her when I go back to school if I am needing an internship and a line on doing an archival project for the city. This would be the kind of thing I could work on for my own pleasure, but also show to that college application board I mentioned! It was an amazing night - by the time I got home, I was flying high with excitement!

The dinner cost $27 - but it included parking and a fantastic meal at an exclusive club. Those two things alone would have made the evening worthwhile, but the people I met and the things I learned made it priceless!


See also:

While I am Waiting to Have Money for my Masters Degree, pt 1


Remarkable photo of New College, Edinburgh by: Hettie McFarlane