Halfway Through May

It’s been a very big couple of weeks, but I ironically don’t have as long a newsletter for y’all today. Finals week was a crazy chunk of time as I wrapped up the first semester of my Masters in Library and Information Science degree. Reflecting back on the last five months, I’m mildly overwhelmed by the sheer weight of everything that’s been occurring.

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When I started this MLIS program, I wanted to focus on getting a degree that could serve my eclectic range of interests and, at the same time, set up a real career that could develop my ability to be self-sustaining. I had my doubts about the likelihood of that happening. My MFA degree was a great experience in so many ways, but, terminal degree or not, it didn’t land me in the middle of teaching positions. The MLIS has proved itself more readily functional.

In just two weeks, I’ve landed two new jobs!

The first is as the Editor-in-Chief of the San Jose State’s Student Research Journal, a great position that allows me to use all the skills I’ve developed over the years working for literary journals. I can deepen my understanding of academic work and do something I like doing, all from the comfort of my own home!

The second job is as a Library Specialist for my local library system, which is a pretty fantastic deal. Before my first semester even wrapped, I’ve already walked away with two incredible positions that fill out my major career objectives. That’s more than I could have dreamed of five months back.

Everything else planned for this month has been pushed back a little, including work on my novel. All my trainings kick into gear soon, so I’m going to take the next week to relax a little and sort out my life.

I’ve mentioned a few times that I’ve been planning to change the structure and frequency of these newsletters. Well, that’s going to start now. I intend to have two more weekly newsletters for May, and then switch to a much larger monthly newsletter in June. That will allow me the freedom to start writing some additional content for the newsletter as well, and maybe even start releasing some paid-only content here. It will also be a necessity going into one of the busiest years on record for me, as I tackle both new jobs and the coming MLIS semesters.

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I intend to still write Medium articles and share them here, but those will naturally also decrease in number while I focus elsewhere. To that end, I’ll also focus heavily on topics that my readers are interested in. Want me to write a film guide for 1980s science fiction? An informal essay on capitalism? A rant about UX choices in open-source software? Hit me up in the comments section and let me know you’d like to hear from me.

I’m keeping this newsletter short because that’s the main news I have to share at the moment. Next week, I’ll be showing off my new “Command Center” which includes a special standing desk, a radical gaming chair, and my wicked monitor. This will be the seat of all my work-from-home projects for the next year, and I’m really excited to show it off.

But, for now, go easy… and, if you can’t go easy, go as easy as you can.

~Odin

Thanks for reading Halvorson Times! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.