Please hand me back my ass now.
This quarter is not yet over, but I can say definitively that it has kicked my ass. I'm not quite on the happy fluffy cloud of "still enjoying life, still amazed I made it here!" This quarter was the quarter of reality coming home, of difficult classes, professors both terrible and amazing, internship fails, and a disturbing amount of procrastination. I'm also kind of lonely: there hasn't been much hanging out with friends old and new, I've just been that busy. I haven't seen any of my family since Tony's visit in January, either. And, well...
...Well, honestly, I'm just not meeting as many guys in grad school as I'd hoped I would. I mean, yes, I'm miserable at meeting guys anyway, but there are just eight or so men in my program. Total. And they are all in relationships. This does me and my pitiful lack of dating experience absolutely no good. I've actually started trolling OkCupid again in the hopes that I may finally find the courage to talk to strangers online, but I'm so awkward about it that it defies belief. I cannot seem to bring myself to message/poke/wink/whatever anybody else first.
Oh well, I shouldn't act like it's all doom & gloom: I did manage to see Cori and Nikki recently, and that improved my spirits considerably. I took Nikki to the zoo after receiving two free tickets from a guest speaker in one of my classes, and we happened to go on that one really frigid Saturday about a week back. No one was there, and many of animals were extra active: highlights included snow leopards stalking us, penguins, itty-bitty tortoises, and tree kangaroos! Then, this weekend I went over to Cori and Ethan's for a party, where the homebrew and merriment flowed freely. :) In the coming week, between the end of classes and the beginning of spring break, the other folks in my program will likely find an excuse to party as well, and that will definitely help with the loneliness too. Also, my roommate continues to be consistently awesome and fun, and believe me, it is very much appreciated!
On another positive note: I love oral history with a passion! Oral History Research is probably the hardest class I've ever taken, but by far the most rewarding. Of all the classes I've taken this winter, it's the only one that I can get genuinely excited about. If I can find a way to combine oral history and collections management together, then I will have found my thesis! That, more than anything, is worth the brutal ass-beating that 2011 has been so far!
...Well, honestly, I'm just not meeting as many guys in grad school as I'd hoped I would. I mean, yes, I'm miserable at meeting guys anyway, but there are just eight or so men in my program. Total. And they are all in relationships. This does me and my pitiful lack of dating experience absolutely no good. I've actually started trolling OkCupid again in the hopes that I may finally find the courage to talk to strangers online, but I'm so awkward about it that it defies belief. I cannot seem to bring myself to message/poke/wink/whatever anybody else first.
Oh well, I shouldn't act like it's all doom & gloom: I did manage to see Cori and Nikki recently, and that improved my spirits considerably. I took Nikki to the zoo after receiving two free tickets from a guest speaker in one of my classes, and we happened to go on that one really frigid Saturday about a week back. No one was there, and many of animals were extra active: highlights included snow leopards stalking us, penguins, itty-bitty tortoises, and tree kangaroos! Then, this weekend I went over to Cori and Ethan's for a party, where the homebrew and merriment flowed freely. :) In the coming week, between the end of classes and the beginning of spring break, the other folks in my program will likely find an excuse to party as well, and that will definitely help with the loneliness too. Also, my roommate continues to be consistently awesome and fun, and believe me, it is very much appreciated!
On another positive note: I love oral history with a passion! Oral History Research is probably the hardest class I've ever taken, but by far the most rewarding. Of all the classes I've taken this winter, it's the only one that I can get genuinely excited about. If I can find a way to combine oral history and collections management together, then I will have found my thesis! That, more than anything, is worth the brutal ass-beating that 2011 has been so far!