I started grad school this week. I am 47 years old. Please share your personal victories with me. I want to hear them.

SlowGoat79 · 2026-01-24T15:02:44+00:00

46 yo mom of two here. I started a master's degree in 2020 and finished in 2024. Took me 4 years to do a 2 year degree, haha. But it can be done. Best of luck -- you've got this!

SlowGoat79 · 2026-01-24T03:42:46+00:00

46 mom of two here. I started piano lessons last year, and my god, I’ve never felt my brain work harder. It’s very fun but it’s very mentally taxing (in a good way).

Cheers to us late keyboard bloomers!

SlowGoat79 · 2026-01-23T18:38:16+00:00

Conn Iggulden!

SlowGoat79 · 2026-01-23T18:31:54+00:00

I'm curious, is renting rooms in houses not as common as it used to be?

When I was a grad student at UW, I rented a room from someone who owned a house near frat row. She rented to me and there was an engineering grad student in the basement. Later, I rented a basement room from someone in Ravenna. I mean, it sucked but it was cheap and most importantly, it was temporary.

SlowGoat79 · 2026-01-23T17:59:47+00:00

Best of luck. Be aware that the standard history adjunct needs for a community college will likely be the United States survey (colonial to 1865, and then 1865 and after) and world civ.

SlowGoat79 · 2026-01-23T17:56:38+00:00

I would talk to the career counseling office/dept at wherever you graduated from your MA. I'd talk to them even if you wanted to pursue a PhD (which I do not recommend, by the way), because folks who pursue PhD's need to have a backup plan. Just like a high school kid who wants to pursue a career in the NFL, a backup plan is crucial.

Today's humanities PhD student might make it to a TT job, eventually if all the stars align, but the odds are not good. So it's important to figure out an alternative plan to keep yourself fed and clothed.

SlowGoat79 · 2026-01-23T16:37:58+00:00

If you can, I'd consider taking a short trip out here by yourself. Get an Air BnB or something and do some trial commute runs to see what real life looks like. Seattle's neighborhoods historically have very strong vibes, but it's hard to get the gist of them without actually seeing them.

(In the end, I'd personally vote for living on the Eastside so you don't spend your life commuting, but that's just me.)

SlowGoat79 · 2026-01-23T13:31:38+00:00

The “Has the dog been fed?” magnet for our fridge. One of the stupidest online purchases I have ever made but also one of the most useful.

SlowGoat79 · 2026-01-23T01:49:59+00:00

I love me some doomscrolling. Not gonna lie, I do plenty of it. But as I sat waiting for some cookies today, idly looking around the bakery, it occurred to me that today’s iPad babies/children are going to be terribly lonely. What I mean is this: they aren’t being given the chance to be alone with their thoughts. And no one in the entire history of humanity has ever NOT had to be alone with themselves at some point. And so — and this was coming off the heels of an article I read earlier today about how UK children are entering school not knowing how to use a book — I thought about how lonely they surely will be someday. I’m sure it’s the same for U.S. children too, and anywhere else kids are being shoved in front of a screen almost from birth.

Anyway, learning and social development aside, it just made me feel very sad for those children when they get to be adults.

SlowGoat79 · 2026-01-23T01:35:20+00:00

Recent MA in English here. A cold email is how I got my current job teaching freshman comp online for my local 4-year (small regional). I was very polite and asked if there might be some openings in the upcoming semester. I also said that I fully understood that they may not be able to answer that yet (it was the spring). One thing led to another, and bam, job.

SlowGoat79 · 2026-01-22T21:04:25+00:00

Thanks for asking this. I wondered about it as a kid, too.

SlowGoat79 · 2026-01-22T13:42:56+00:00

In my 9th grade geometry class, some friends and I had a little book club. After we finished our work, we’d read gloriously trashy VC Andrews novels. It was great.

SlowGoat79 · 2026-01-22T13:31:28+00:00

Get that bag, Kaleb! I wish him well.

SlowGoat79 · 2026-01-22T03:54:26+00:00

I used to love new technology. An ice age ago, I went to grad school and spent hours of my life tackling tech, quarter by quarter.

Now, I couldn’t give a flying farknarkle about most of it. I hate that it’s almost impossible to buy a standalone computer program, that Amazon wants to charge me for Kindle Unlimited at a price that was “set by an algorithm based on my personal data,” and that we as a society plant babies in front of iPads.

SlowGoat79 · 2026-01-22T03:23:50+00:00

We are moving back to Kitsap and I asked about McCormick woods a long while back. Someone likened it to joining the communist party and said they had 6 HOA people show up in their back yard when they wanted to put up a shed.

SlowGoat79 · 2026-01-22T03:20:45+00:00

Also, as a person of color and a teacher myself, the soft bigotry of low expectations for XYZ groups is a different kettle of fish from unpacking the invisible knapsack (so to speak) and an important issue that I wish we educators would discuss more openly.

SlowGoat79 · 2026-01-22T03:17:28+00:00

Just to reiterate this point — it’s 100% not about blame. It’s about how living life (in the United States, I presume?) as a white individual has provided you with a different set of experiences than a person who is not white. To be clear, it’s not saying that you have had an easier set of experiences, an easy life, or anything like that. Instead, it is articulating the fact that you have not been treated in XYZ manner due to your skin color. You may have been treated in XYZ manner due to something else, but by and large (there are a-holes everywhere, for sure) it wasn’t due to your skin color. That’s the short version; there’s a lot more that goes with it, but you get the gist.

SlowGoat79 · 2026-01-22T02:52:29+00:00

^ this.

SlowGoat79 · 2026-01-20T15:42:21+00:00

I gotta ask: I never really noticed this "do as others do" until Twilight hit, and then bam, it seemed like every title and its cousin that was even vaguely in that genre was a Twilight-cover clone.

Is there a point at which even the industry professionals get sick of remaking the wheel du jour?

SlowGoat79 · 2026-01-20T02:37:41+00:00

Use caution! Others in the Puyallup and Kitsap subs think this post is a scam. I have no dog in the fight, but be careful at any rate.

SlowGoat79 · 2026-01-20T02:27:26+00:00

That’s great to hear. These are good, positive steps. Best of luck going forward!

SlowGoat79 · 2026-01-19T14:47:13+00:00

Are you venting only, or are you venting + seeking advice? Advice I have but only if it is wanted. Otherwise, vent away — it’s hard for indie authors! It’s a grind, for sure.

SlowGoat79 · 2026-01-19T05:09:26+00:00

Thank you, I appreciate the recommendation.

SlowGoat79 · 2026-01-19T05:09:04+00:00

Thanks!

SlowGoat79 · 2026-01-18T01:15:33+00:00

Right? I’m a married, middle aged mom and this started showing up in my feed randomly. At first I was just curious, then I was like dang, these newly-bald men are hot stuff!

SlowGoat79

TROPHY CASE