It has been a ridiculously long time since I posted on here! Clearly, my school brain does not have much room for fun writing. Sadly, fun reading has gone out the door as well. I suppose it should be just another motivator for finishing school as soon as possible. Fortunately, I am not yet at that point where I ask myself, "Why did I CHOOSE to go back to school?!" However, I have a feeling that sentiment might appear in the next couple months. :)
In a quick summary, school is good, work is good, and overall, life is good too! I was able to go home for Christmas, which was really nice, and now I'm just suffering through the bitter Midwestern cold. I don't think I need to expand on that.
Here's a song I want to share, called "I am Mountain" by the band Gungor. Enjoy!
I'm sorry it's been so long since I wrote on here. These last two months have been full of activity and change! I don't even really remember the month of August, except that I went on an amazing trip to Washington state to visit a lifelong friend and her husband. We had a wonderful time exploring all the neighborhoods in Seattle and then spent two days in Spokane, where they have been living for the past few years. We had great weather, ate interesting foods, and drank a good amount of coffee and alcohol (not together). :P It was unlike any trip I've taken before, because we didn't make any plans ahead of time and just played each day by ear. It was lovely. Here are a couple pictures from that trip.
Another piece of news from August is that we moved again! We're only living about 15 minutes from our old place, but we had a really bad experience with our landlord this past year, and we decided to move to a more corporate-run apartment complex. I'm liking our new place a lot, and we plan to stay here for at least the next two years.
Oh, also...I finally started graduate school! This semester I am taking two classes, one online and one on campus, which has worked out really well so far. I'm enjoying both classes and don't feel overwhelmed [yet] with my schedule. I am still working at the hospital three days a week, which gives me a nice balance of time at home and in the office. I have to say that I feel very satisfied with life right now. It has only been a couple of weeks, but working part-time with school was a really positive decision and I am so thankful to have a husband that supports us in a way to make that possible. He is quite the catch. ;)
That's all for now. Enjoy the fall weather, everyone! I hope you are all doing well.
Question: What do you do when you've completed everything on your long-term "to do" checklist?
My "To Do" List:
1. Take a graduate course. CHECK
2. Study for the GRE. CHECK
3. Take the GRE. CHECK
4. Get good enough scores on the GRE. CHECK
5. Get two letters of recommendation. CHECK
6. Complete and submit application to graduate school. CHECK
7. Wait. CHECK
8. Wait some more... CHECK?
Well, I'll tell you what I have been doing: seeing friends, hanging with the hubs, reading, laundry, and watching a lot of TV. Oh, yeah, and now I've moved on to obsessive cleaning. It all sounds pretty normal (maybe not the cleaning), except for some reason, it doesn't feel normal. It feels like I'm missing something. Like now that my class is over, Christmas break came and went, and I'm done getting everything in order for school, I don't have a purpose. Sure, I still work 40 hours a week, but work has been slow lately, and I don't have a lot that is challenging my mind. I got in a really good rhythm of balancing work and my class, while still having plenty of time for fun -- and I miss that!
It's so weird, because up until a few months ago, this WAS my rhythm. Work was my main responsibility, and it felt sufficient. I'm guessing that living ten minutes from work and having an extra 1.25 hours in my day has something to do with this feeling, but there must be more to it. Why do I feel so antsy? Any ideas of how I can NOT feel guilty for having nothing to do at night?
That's all for now. And hey, I blogged, so that's something fairly productive I did today (...or is it?). :-]
I am ready for a change. I have been feeling it so strongly lately, and it doesn't make a lot of sense. The past few months have been full of change: Toby got a new job, we moved, and I started school again. Yet somehow I still feel the need for change. I'm pretty sure this feeling is actually caused by me returning to school...mostly because I really like it. I know two years ago I stated very adamantly that I would NEVER go to graduate school, which was preceded by at least a year of intense desire to go directly to a PhD program. Clearly, education is a passionate subject for me, and now I think I feel ready to be a full-time student (and part-time worker) again. I've been in contact with a couple professors in the department, and all I need to do now is pass the dinky little GRE test before I can apply (italics=sarcasm). Does anyone have some advice on how to study well for the GRE? Is there any way I can just blink my eyes 10 times and automatically pass with flying colors (by the way, where did that saying originate?)? Sigh. There's something I've learned about myself since being an adult, that is, I really like to work by myself. I guess that was true in college too, but it wasn't such an issue because most of my work was supposed to be done independently. In my job, I work by myself for the most part, but then I have to wait for other people to make decisions. It's that silly thing called an organization. I know there are many great qualities about an organization that you don't have when working for yourself, but it can also be a pain. Toby correctly identified me as a "scientist," and I didn't really understand what he meant until recently. I don't particularly like laboratories, but if I could just sit in one all day wearing a lab coat and doing "science" (or evaluation in my case), I would be quite happy. I don't like waiting. I don't like inefficiencies. And it's irritating when everyone is on a different page. I'm always on MY same page. :) Don't get me wrong, I still really like my job and the organization. I just think someday I would really enjoy working for myself. I guess that's all for now. I'm off to do some homework and read an exciting article on Culturally Competent Evaluation. Good night! H
Happy Wednesday, friends. I'm so glad there are only two days left in this week. For starters, work has been CRAZY busy lately, and I am quite stressed out. I can literally feel the tension in my shoulders at all times. If I was the kind of person who got massages, this week would probably be the time to do it. Or maybe I should take a bath - you know, in that fancy sparkling bathtub provided by apartment complexes everywhere. Oh wait. :) Anyway, the stress is mostly due to the fact that I am currently learning some new skills at work so I can fill in for a co-worker who is going on vacation next week. My position is already split into two separate roles, and now I'm just throwing a third into the mix. Why not, eh? Sometimes my brain just really hurts.
On a more positive note, I'm really excited for this fall. I'll be taking my first graduate class starting in September - it's called Principles and Methods of Evaluation. You probably just dozed off reading that title, but I am super pumped. If you know me well, you know that I'm a true nerd at heart, and I especially love research and evaluation. So this is right up my alley! I'm hoping that this class will help me decide if I want to apply to be a full time grad student and pursue my MA in...get ready...Quantitative Methods in Education. Yeah! It's all part of my master plan to become awesome and start my own non-profit consulting business. Details to come. Of course, knowing God, He will most likely throw something totally wild my way to teach me to trust Him more, and I will end up pregnant with triplets at age 25. (Note: I am not pregnant.)
Well, that's all for tonight, folks. I know this wasn't the most interesting blog post, but I'm home alone, bored, and there's no Olympic gymnastics on tonight to entertain me. I will leave you with my current jam: Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men. The video is really weird, but the song is great. Enjoy.
