Simple things in life

School has started and is kicking my butt already. Managerial accounting at least makes more sense than the other accounting classes. Still, its no where near easy. That means I'm up late reading and often rushing from my desk at work to my desk at home. If I'm lucky I get the hardest stuff done before the caffeine buzz wears off. If not I have to debate the benefits of another cup vs how late it will be before it wears off and I can sleep.
Fortunately my fiance is a gamer. This means that as long as he has a game to play (and food in the fridge) and he won't really notice I've been gone until I show up again. He offers to run errands for me so that I can cram in more study time, and he's fed me dinner after class. Usually he feeds me because I have had a coffee midway through class and once again there is no food in my fridge. He knows me well enough now that he knows when to pack me back into my car and send me home so that I fall asleep at home and not in the car.
Long way of saying we have to snatch bits of time together. This past weekend I worked from 8am to 6pm on Sat. That's normally my study and catch up time. So Sunday morning I decided we needed quality time together more than we needed to go to sermon. We grabbed coffee and the Cuban coffee shop across the street from our church (I love Seattle) and went for a walk.
It was absolutely beautiful out. The leaves are turning and the air was nice and crisp. We found a little park near by and played on the swings for a bit. Then we kept walking and found a bridge over this huge ravine. The ravine was filled with huge trees and lush green plants. It was gorgeous. I know it doesn't sound like much, but I had an incredible time on our impromptu date. I got to talk to him and focus on just him for more than a quick break between study sessions.
It was great.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could wake up
In the morning when the day is new
And after having spent the day together
Hold each other close the whole night through

The happy times together we've been spending
I wish that every kiss was never ending
Oh Wouldn't it be nice

Are you kidding?

My grade in my first grad school class was based 10% on a one page paper, 30% on participation, and %60 on a term paper. I got an A on the first paper and got full credit for participation. That means I may have alienated my classmates, but it turned out to be for a good cause.

Then there is my term paper. It is no where near my best work. I've done much better. The hard part about it is that I've gotten used to business style writing. So now when I write on serious topics it tends to be short and sweet. Flowery emails and memo's annoy me so I keep mine straight to the point. This resulted in my paper only being 12 pages long. I wasn't really bothered by that until I got to class and my classmates had all written 15-20 page papers. All I could think was that not only had I done a poor job writing it, it hadn't even been long enough.

Fortunately I long ago learned to not stress about papers I have turned in. There is no point. It is literally out of my hands so I might as well move on and not think about it. Which I did, until today. Today I went on-line and checked to see if grades were posted yet. I got 58 out of 60 on my paper. My first thought was: I got an A for that?

I think grad school is going to be easier than I thought it would be.

One, maybe two

I think I finally have friends here that I haven't met through my tour guide.
Last weekend my department went to a professional baseball game. Since I was given two tickets I decided to invite my roommate. I haven't seen a lot of her lately. She is pretty much living in another town right now, about 45 min away without traffic. She got a summer job working as a juvenile defender. It is a really long commute so she is staying with her fiance most of the time. When we were at the game we spent most of the time laughing at talking and having fun. Afterwards we walked home and part way I realized we had managed to form a friendship while living together.
The other friend (maybe) is the woman who has been training me at work. I enjoy her company and we are supposed to go to a concert soon. Unfortunately I'm not sure I can trust her to be more than someone to hang out with. She's a bit of a gossip and there are some things I would rather not have people at work know.
Other than that I still just have acquaintances at church. Haven't really connected with anyone yet, but I'm not giving up. School seems to be the only place I'm not making headway. My classmates won't talk to me. I'm not really sure why, but now that I'm at the end of the school quarter I know its not in my head. As people file in and out of class they ignore me. During break they will slightly turn away as I pass, just enough to discourage me from joining the conversation. Worse, a couple of them make comments under their breath whenever I speak in class. At this point I'm writing the class off and looking forward to the fall. Hopefully the next group of classmates are kinder.

First day of school

My first day of school was on Thursday. To celebrate my favorite tour guide took me to lunch. He also gave me a brand new lunch box. It is shiny black and has a skull and cross bones on it. The skull also has an eye patch. I love it. Reminds me of the gold eye patch with sequins I got my tour guide as a gag gift. Class itself was good and my classmates seem interesting. I'm not sure what I think of either just yet.

After class I met my tour guide for a late dinner. He wanted to take a first day of school picture so after dinner we grabbed my book and my new lunch box and walked to a local square. We took a couple photos and I have to say they were cute.

There were also a couple local musicians in the square practising. One was playing an accordion, and the song reminded me of being in Paris. It had rained earlier making the pavement shine and the blossoms in the trees sparkle. I set my belongings down and we danced until the musicians eventually wandered towards their gig, playing the song as they walked away. It was perfect, and I can't think of a better way to start grad school.