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One of my favourite pieces of fanart ever:


John Calvin and Thomas Hobbes by `spacecoyote on deviantART
Few historians know of the heartwarming friendship between French Reformation theologian John Calvin and English political philosopher Thomas Hobbes, the latter of whom may or may not have been real, considering he was not even born yet.


I thought that I would let you guys know what's going on with my life, just to make sure that I don't have that negative post from last week lingering on in your minds.

I just wanted to say, first, that I really do appreciate all of the kind words and kind thoughts you had for me last week. I really was going through a tough time, and I think that having good friends and a supportive family have helped me become the person I am today. So thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

I'm feeling much more positive this week, likely because I have a load of stress off of my back.

I still don't have a job, and I'm still a bit upset over the fact that I won't be at Fort Edmonton or the Father Lacombe Chapel, and thus won't be an historical interpreter this summer, but I'm very much in a different state of mind now. I'm more like "Well, this will teach me how to deal with rejections" - because nothing has ever gone TOO wrong for me before - so I suppose that this is a valuable life lesson.

I have also had another job interview! A friend of mine from my honour's history class sent me a message through facebook: she saw a poster for a research assistant position here at the university. It pays fairly well, is at the university, includes extra library privileges (good for bookworms like me!), is Canadian history, AND has the possibility of a paid, week long trip to Ottawa to search the archives there.

Also, when she sent me the e-mail address on the poster? It was with Prof. Muir, my old Pre-Confederation History professor. And current History of Slavery, Serfdom and Servitude professor. He's also the one who originally recommended me to Professor Langdon to ENTER the Honour's programme. Which all means that he knows who I am, and that I'm good at researching and have good writing skills.

So I had the interview yesterday, and I think that it went rather well! He and Prof. Carver need someone to help them do the background research for a new course on Canadian legal history - on the British North America Act (AKA the Canadian Constitution) of 1867 and the 1982 amendments that included the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. But it won't just be dry legal stuff. They're experimenting with a new teaching method involving, essentially , role-playing. Not skits, but having students research historical personages in-depth (their speeches, journals, newspaper articles, etc.) and writing papers from their points of view, etc. They need someone to do THAT background research.

I've been doing a decent amount of research for an undergraduate student, and I have a history with researching programmes at Fort Edmonton, so I may be ahead of any other applicants they got. They were also very impressed by the fact that I could speak - and translate - French, and even said that if that was the case I might even be sent to Quebec City or something to do research instead! Also, they only have grant money for 8 weeks of full-time research - meaning flexible hours. Meaning they may be able to accommodate my 3 week vacation to Ireland and Scotland.

The only thing that's really holding me back, I think, is that I'm still kind of inexperienced with archival research. And I've only ever taken one Poli-Sci class, on the European Union, and no law classes. BUT I figure that if they need someone who can do the history, I'm good - they can handle the law stuff, perhaps. ;) Also, when they asked me what I knew about the Canadian Constitution, I gave them an effective summary, off the top of my head (the last time I looked at it was over a year and a half ago), and Prof. Carver said that my answer was just what someone in his Canadian legal history class would have said at the end of term. So I may have impressed him a bit.

I think it really all comes down to how I did on this morning's exam and the paper I just handed in. Why? Well, I'm currently taking a class with Prof. Muir. ;) He actually quickly quizzed me on my paper for his class - which I spent the rest of the day after the interview editing - and made reference to the fact that ironically, he was distracting me from studying for his class. He has a good sense of humour, and I think that he likes mine as well. Still, I think that he may wait to see how well I wrote on the exam and how well I examined the legal cases in my paper before he goes forward. I've never had a job depend on an exam, before. I think that the test itself went well, but I'm not sure about my paper. I kind of ran out of time for it - I've never had that happen before. I had to stop writing at like 10pm last night because I needed to study for the exam.

So... yeah. I may or may not have a summer research job. If not, I still have the interview for the Antique Photo Parlour... oh, and the Hotel Selkirk (the functioning hotel run on the grounds of Fort Edmonton) also got back to me (a month after I submitted my resumé to them) and I therefore have an interview with them next week as well. SO one of those may be an option as well. We'll see. :)

Right now, I'm just going to relax. I finished my final exam this morning, and handed in that paper (my brain turned off towards the end of writing it, and I'm just hoping that my natural writing skillz pull me through). I think that the exam went really well, though, and I felt that I was eloquent enough in both to get a chance. So, we'll soon see, won't we? :)
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