in the life

I have to tell you that so far, my spring quarter schedule is pretty much kicking ass. I feel like I may be, just maybe, finally hitting my stride at school. Today has been great, for example. On Fridays I don't have work, only my India class, so I got to sleep in til 9, watch Price is Right, eat a real breakfast of eggs and sausage and coffee, then go to class at 11:30. On the way, I ran into Amy, and she and I both already have ticketes to see the Dalai Lama on Monday, but she got really good floor seats to his talk so she gave me one, which is exciting! In class, I had a lot of trouble focusing for the first hour, but at the break I got a Diet Coke so the second half was much better, and I think I might even have an idea for my research paper (we read an article about the green revolution in UP and I started get really interested). After class, I met Meghan for sushi lunch and we dished on everything from boyfriends (hers) to the election (hilary vs. mccain, discuss) and the new german shepherd she just adopted from the animal shelter that cries whenever she leaves and makes the neighbors complain. I really admire her adopting from the shelter, because I know it has to be hard to train a dog while she's in school full-time and living in a studio apartment. Good lord.

The weather was gorgeous today. It was the first day over 60 degrees in about 6 months...and it inspired me to clean my entire apartment when I got home. Is that weird? It made me feel better about running in and out of my apartment all week, throwing papers and clothes everywhere. Then I watched tv and made pasta and cookies with reece's pieces in them (because honestly I need to go grocery shopping and didn't have much else). And I will most definitely be watching the Miss USA pageant in an hour.

So yeah, the Dalai Lama is in Seattle giving a few conferences, one at which is at school Monday when the university will give him an honorary degree and he's going to speak. I'm not sure how I feel about that, and really I'm going because it sounded like a good opportunity for my studies. I think I'm just going to go and figure out how I feel about it later.

I think I LOVE my schedule because I'm not taking arabic right now. It's not just that all that pressure is gone, but that I'm able to focus on my other classes so much more and give them more time and thought. I think this is especially important since I still don't have a topic for my major. Plus, it leaves breathing room in my schedule so that instead of scarfing down lunch at my desk I can take time to run errands in the middle of the day, like buying books I need or going to the bank (or go to Urban Outfitters and drool over the new summer shoes, like I did on Wednesday). I can't really explain how much happier I feel, just that things are starting to click for me, and I'm not nearly as frazzled as I've been so far. I'm starting to remember why I like school, and that might be the most important thing. I've also decided that I want to take classes this summer, too. I figured out that I can afford the extra loans since it will save me a bit of time and money in the long run.

So, enough about ME. I'm so excited to go home in a few weeks for graduation. I hope the stupid airline mess is cleared up by then.