The Swing of Life

I've gotten out of my depressive funk. It took a couple of days, but now I'm back into the swing of things here at USC. I just finished my first week, so here are my thoughts on that...

- I miss Nate. Quite a lot. This summer I got to see him nearly everyday, which was fantastic because it really gave me a taste of what our future together will be like. But it made the crash all the harder... leaving him again was so painful that I literally spent the last few days around him randomly bursting into tears for absolutely no reason. That's the good (and bad as well, I guess) thing about being in a long-distance relationship only once, with no big break... you never re-realize what you're missing. Having everything taken away again was so much worse than the first time I left for USC.

- I simultaneously love and hate my work schedule. Waking up at 4:30am SUCKS, but I have so much time free in the evening to do what I need to do... conversely, waking up at 8:00am is a bit better, but getting off of work around 8:30 SUCKS. O.o

- Sydney and I are attendance accountability partners. That is, we both have class at the same time in the morning, so we get to walk to class together. This also means that if I want to keep sleeping, she won't let me, and vice-versa.

- My anthropology class will hopefully be really interesting in a few weeks. Right now we're studying monkeys... and yeah, I much prefer humans, even if it's providing an anthropological base. It's just so boring to read and hear about... but I have discovered that I have an odd interest in watching videos of monkeys. Hmm.

- My adolescent health class should be pretty chill, except for the project we need to do. The professor is the sweetest older lady ever, but she's also really hardcore (she works with incarcerated male youth, and for a while focused specifically on their mental sexual health). The project is frustrating, because I wasn't told about it before making my schedule, so I literally have no time for it, which will be fun. Apparently, we have to go and teach in a high school classroom for 4 hours a week -- where I will find the free time during school hours, I have NO IDEA.

- Anatomy/physiology for the health sciences will be... interesting. I swear my professor inspired the character of Edna Mode... she looks JUST LIKE HER (except a bit taller), and sounds JUST LIKE HER... her personality is even similar. I think someone met my professor and created an exaggerated version, later named Edna Mode. The course content is kind of like drinking from a fire hose -- on the bright side, I understand everything that is going on (for once -- oh happy day), but there is SO MUCH to memorize that I will be completely screwed if I get behind.

- My statistics class is going to be comprised of a lot of self-teaching. The professor (ironically the head of my department) is really spastic and unfocused but pretty funny. This means I enjoy the class, but don't learn much during the period even though a lot is covered.

- HP 490 is going to be an easy A, as long as I do what I need to do and turn in my assignments. I still need to work out stuff with that, but it should be pretty chill, just time-consuming as I'm required to log 10-12 hours per week. I ALSO MIGHT GET TO GO TO CANADA FOR THE CONFERENCE!!! My class schedule is clear for the week, so all I need is the money! I talked with my professor today about getting funding, and he's going to help me see what I can find.

- HPSA is looking somewhat promising this year. Everything depends on getting members, but right now I'm seeing some motivated e-board members (and a few not-so-motivated ones...) so things are progressing nicely.

- I'm feeling a lot more at home with InterVarsity this year. This is amazing.

- Sydney and I made a new friend! His name is Kyle, and he is awesome! He actually lives only about 5-10 minutes away from my Simi Valley address, which is random but cool. This year he's living directly below us -- so if we jump loudly, we wake him up. :D

- Josh is an RA, and his new nickname is "the Wooster." His phrase is "You Sir, are a Wooster." He's not amused, but we are...

- The lactase pills seem to be helping a bit, but I'm still working on figuring out the dosage because I'm still having some lactose effects, albeit muted.

- Sleep deprivation. Need I say more?

- Eating healthier saves me so much money and I already feel a bit healthier.

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In other news, NATE JUST GOT ACCEPTED TO APU AND WAS AWARDED A SCHOLARSHIP!!!

I am super proud of him. We haven't talked about it yet, though, so we don't know if he's going to take the opportunity (many issues to consider), but I think it would be fantastic for him if he has the means to attend.

It's complicated by the fact that this is the only college he ended up applying to, as his community college advisor gave him misinformation and he doesn't actually have what he needs to transfer to a public 4-year university yet. So he's either going to APU or staying another year at Moorpark to complete the requirements, then trying to transfer to a public college. Add in the current budget issues in CA (tuition has been increasing by 24% each year and classes are being cancelled left and right, while the remaining ones are overcrowded and fill before a third of the class has had their registration appointment), and you have one difficult decision to make.

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It'll be really exciting to see what decisions are made in the next few months. We are both getting so close to legitimate adulthood, and each day is one day closer to our future together.