A Mismash of Thoughts

1. I rarely post on here anymore. It's sad because there are so many thoughts that run through my head on a daily basis that I intend to post about, but by the time I manage to get to my computer and/or the end of my day, I have either forgotten or have no time/energy to actually put my thoughts on the page. I'm going to work on it though.

2. I am officially Minnesotan. I have gotten in the habit of wearing a fleece when it's 30. It's in the 40s today and it feels like summer. No joke. This morning, I went outside, and I swear I felt a warm breeze. It's kind of nice on days like today, but given that it was -2 the other day (in the middle of March!!!), I'm not really envisioning Minnesota as a place I could end up. It's just too damn cold. Sorry, MN friends.

3. Speaking of friends... I miss my friends. There are so many people in my life that I so rarely see or talk to anymore. It's as much (if not more) my own fault as anyone's... I've become terrible at keeping in touch. It's that old trap of "I need 3 hours to really catch up with so-and-so... I'll just wait until I have enough time." Well, it turns out that 3-hour blocks of free time just don't happen very often. So, consequently, I put off phone calls until a time that never seems to come. I feel like I've lost touch with many friends who are in the Twin Cities area too, though. This semester has been so busy and there just aren't enough hours in the day. Hopefully the summer will be a little better (at least I won't be teaching), but I kind of doubt it. It won't be any less busy, it will just be busy in different ways... c'est la vie (of a grad student) I suppose.

3a. Related to the above (and below) thoughts... I think at times, I like having a life far too much to be in academia. I like having time to see my friends and go out to dinner and explore the city. I like being able to run errands on the weekends, and have options of what to do with my time, rather than having my time decided for me by the work that needs to get done. I am interested in my research (generally speaking) and like what I'm doing in grad school, overall. But I'm not sure that I love it enough to LIVE it. I don't ever want it to be a regular occurence for me to be in my office and/or having meetings on Sundays. It's a condundrum, because this is what I see from a lot of the 'successful' professors in my department and in the field. If that's what success means, I'm not sure that I really want to be all that successful. HOWEVER... (see #4).

4. I like when things fall into place. There are/were a lot of things up in the air about the way the summer and next year are going to work out. Practicum, research, plans for dissertation (yikes!), etc. etc. A lot of things with the latter are still up in the air (i.e. I need to make myself make some decisions!!!), but other things are beginning to fall into place. What can I say? I'm a planner, I like when things start to come together. It helps my sanity, and makes me feel better about life.


5. I am escaping to Florida next week. With some of my favorite girls from college. It hasn't really hit me yet -- there is too much to do before then. I've barely even planned beyond the absolute necessities. Forget about packing. But I'm excited... I'm excited to remember what 80 degrees feels like. I'm excited to put aside journal articles and statistical analyses and lectures for a few days in favor of beach time and maybe even reading for pleasure (gasp). I'm also, of course, excited to see my girls. I can't believe this came together as smoothly as it did! There were moments of doubts, but we're making it happen. I'm so proud of us :-).

6. Did I mention it is 50 and sunny outside? Life is good (and that's saying something since I'm actually sitting in a coffee shop 'working' as this 50 degrees and sunny-ness happens on the other side of the glass window from me).

More soon...