T.G.I.F.

Well, Friday finally arrived, and I am so relieved. It has been a really long week. For the last two weeks, I've been getting all antsy for school to start, trying to get organized and not sure what to expect. Monday, I spent time getting grocery shopping done and the last bits of organization and errands before classes started.

I had trouble sleeping Sunday and Monday nights, so I was quite worn out by Tuesday. I made it through the work day and arrived to school early. I ended up catching my advisor in his office, so I talked with him (about my aspirations) for a few minutes and he shot off an email to the PLU MFA program to see if he could gain any advice for me as far as applying. Now we just need to wait to hear something back. In the meantime, I'm trying to get a portfolio of work together. Not an easy task.

On Tuesdays, we have Lyceum, which means that everyone on campus meets in the "commons" and we start out with announcements and then have lecture or a guest speaker. After that, we have a break and then end up in our seminar groups (with our advisors). We discuss the lectures/speakers and other things. We will eventually be writing a memoir for that portion of the program.

Wednesday was a tough night. I had Research Design. I wasn't all that excited about the class in the first place, but after the first night of class, I'm really dreading the quarter. There were a lot of people in class who were just obnoxious. There were also probably half that didn't seem to understand the expectations and/or what we were supposed to be doing or how to go about it. I think the professors spent way too much time trying to coddle people along who should (by this time in their college careers) know how to do research. It isn't rocket science at this point. Then there were a handful of antagonistic people who were trying to argue about every little point, and then there were the "amen" people who have to comment or acknowledge every little thing that they find interesting or unusual. Please... someone... give me something sharp to stab into my brain to stop the anguish. But that class, and something that was said before, really started to make me wonder about the expectations here and if I'm going to be at all challenged. If we are working from the lowest common denominator, I'm not going to be very happy.

Thursday night was better. There were still a couple of obnoxious/amen-ers in the class, but it is a web design class, so it was interesting and at least I felt like I was learning something new.

Now today, I am waiting for the two-hour session that we are forced to take. Based on the levels of the parking lot right now, I'm wondering where everyone is. Less than a half hour until class starts and there are hardly any cars in the lot. I am going to try to talk to my boss to see if I could work an extra 40 minutes a day (Tues-Thurs) and leave early on Friday to catch the same class that is offered at 2-4. That would make life much better. Plus, my advisor is teaching that one, so I think that would be a better fit anyway. We'll see if I can pull it off.

All in all, it has been a mixed-bag kind of week. I'm hoping that as we proceed, things will operate more smoothly and I won't be so irritated with my classmates. I want to enjoy school and feel challenged by it, but if nothing else, I only have eight and a half months to tolerate it.

It just makes for a really long week in some respects. I am really tired, but the week has just flown by. I have a lot to do as far as homework that I need to get done this weekend, but I'm just looking forward to getting a little bit more sleep and trying to refocus on my organization. I've got about 350 pages to read (for various classes) and then I have two journal assignments to write. Eek. I got one assignment out of the way the other day. I scooted over to the library at UW-T right after work (and before school) so I could print out the article I needed. But now I've got to get the rest done this weekend. And on the home front, the house needs cleaning and I've got a couple of other irons in the fire, but things should be okay. Law and Order: Criminal Intent is going to be on USA (marathon) this weekend. I'm looking forward to that and the season starts next Thursday. Yay.

One thing that has kept my spirits up during the week is talking to the Tamster. That girl makes me laugh all of the time. I'm so glad we found each other. I'm looking forward to seeing her on Sunday so we can get the Tacoma Word! thing straightened out and we can get busy with the photos for our art project. Whoo-hoo.

Well, I guess I gotta run off to class. Yikes. At least there are only two hours to go until a short bit of freedom. :D