It's Only A Paper Rose

Hello, world! I'm not dead! I've just been...kind of insanely busy. As mentioned earlier, school is ramping up in intensity, and while I don't feel overwhelmed, exactly, there have definitely been some things falling off the edges of the plate. Thus, this post - part assessment, part update, so I can get a big-picture feel for how I'm doing and my friends have some idea of what to expect for the next six months or so.


Things I am keeping up on:

Schoolwork. I'm averaging 99.3%, grade-wise. I know no one else is shocked, but in all honesty, it's come as a bit of a surprise to me; my academic history has been...checkered, to say the least. But a large part of that was frustration with the curriculum (my favorite refrain in grade school was "When am I ever going to *use* this?"), so it's probably not that surprising that now that I'm older and can see the bigger picture (and also am following a very focused vocational track rather than a general-education one) I have far less resistance to studying and practicing.

Housework. For a given value of "housework", anyway; between my school schedule and Brian getting hit with All The Travel in January, we didn't get our Christmas tree taken down until it was nearly a Valentine's tree. But basics like kitchen-cleaning and floors and laundry are keeping up, partly due to Brian helping to pitch in and partly due to sweeping and mopping being an excellent way to take a break from studying while still feeling virtuous.

Relationship stuff. Sunday is my day off to spend with Brian; we've recently added Thursday-night date-night in as well, because one day a week wasn't cutting it. Tonight was supposed to be going to the Art Institute, as Thursdays are free admission for Chicago residents, but I was a goofball and forgot my wallet, so instead we had Italian food, and he took me to a bookstore he'd been meaning to take me to for six months. (You know you're kind of a nerd when a visit to what turns out to be a truly awesome bookstore is a super-romantic date. <3) I picked up a few books, including one that looks insane in a completely awesome way; I also had a chance to reflect on how excellent curation is the bread-and-butter of a good bookstore. I've been to so many where I recognized none of the books on the shelves, and found none particularly appealing; this one was the opposite, that rare gem where just about anything you pick up ranges from "that looks interesting" to "oh man I have to sit down and read this right now". It's probably good that they're all the way down in Printers' Row, or I'd likely have to set aside a whole budget category for them.

Work-study. I'm actually being partially reassigned; the owner of the school has a lot of use for my writing abilities, and more to the point, my translation skills. (He's very fluent in English, amazingly so for a third language; still, a lot of the social niceties escape him, and much of the school's documentation could use some polishing, and placing in appropriate cultural context.) At the very least, it means I get to work from home tomorrow, which means I get to sleep a bit longer, and that's fine by me.

In-person social interaction. Even outside of the classroom, as I observed earlier, massage school does wonders for your social life. Hurrah for practice!

Duolingo. I lost my six-month-plus streak due to a couple of particularly boneheaded days, but I'm up to 45 days again, and have been regularly practicing both Italian and Swedish. It's only problematic when I get tired and they start blending together in my head. En ragazzo dricker ankar fredda!

Sleep. I'm in my thirties now, and while I'm in excellent health, hoo boy have I noticed my sleep debt limit decreasing. Tempting as it is to get that little bit more of studying (or reading, or cleaning) in, it's just not worth it in reduced spoons the next day.

Yoga (barely). My goal has been to get in the studio three times a week; some weeks I manage, others it's only two, and one week I only made it in once. But I'm going regularly, which feels like the most important part, especially since I have so much else going on that could feel overwhelming without regularly taking time to relax and reassess.


Things I am not keeping up on, or not as much as I'd like:

Creative stuff. I haven't picked up the guitar for three months, and I've barely written anything either. I'm not entirely happy about this, but it's not unexpected; for something so unpredictable in output, creative efforts take a surprising amount of time and energy, and right now I have more reliably-rewarding things like school to focus on.

Blogging. I have a bunch of school-related posts on my "to blog" list, but so far none of them have made it into final form, or even hastily-scrawled-on-the-LiveJournal-equivalent-of-a-cocktail-napkin form. (I strongly suspect that The Boy's dropping out of the program is related to this; while it's made things far smoother and less awkward in class, it's also meant far fewer opportunities for self-reflection and personal growth. Heh.) Hoping to correct that soonish; I suspect this will turn out to be a period I'll want to look back on in the future.

Social Media. I'm still keeping up on LJ/Facebook via phone, but I'm posting/commenting less frequently these days, and I barely do more than look at Twitter. The fashionable thing to say here would be something along the lines of how surprised I am that I don't miss it and how much richer my life is for more face-to-face communication; but while it's true that I don't miss the long stints of addictive-behavior-patterned refresh-heavy consumption, I do miss the social connection and discussion. So, please be patient - I still love you all! And I'll be back, if hopefully not wasting entire days in front of the screen again.

Reading. I think this may be the first time I've ever been in danger of falling behind on my Goodreads challenge. Not that I'm worried - I set myself a relatively small one this year in anticipation of school sucking up all my time, and part of the issue is that I've been listening to podcasts as well as audiobooks. But still, I've read distressingly little for fun since December. I've been trying to limit my book-buying concurrently, though that's admittedly met with mixed success. *side-eyes Sandmeyer's Bookstore bag*

Writing letters. Apologies to my erstwhile pen pals; I'm keeping up with responses to people who write me, but only barely, and my usual steady stream of cards to people has slowed to a bare trickle. I haven't forgotten you, I promise!

Drinking. Not that I was ever a heavy drinker, but my once-steady-if-low level of consumption has become rather less steady. Tonight I had a martini, and it struck me that I haven't actually sat down and mixed a drink in weeks. More than once I've gotten a beer or some tonic water out of the fridge to have with lunch or dinner, and then realized I had too much to do to properly enjoy the relaxing effects, and put it back. (Given Brian's similar ratio of interest to actual consumption, our fridge is rather full of beer at the moment.) While I'll be grateful when I have the time to kick back with a gin and tonic somewhat more regularly, I can't see this as a bad development, as I feel I'm doing more long-term-rewarding stuff with my time. I do sometimes miss the creativity involved in mixing drinks, though.

On the whole, I think I'm doing pretty okay. I could probably stand to de-stress a bit more; maybe a few more hot baths are in order. But for the next six months, I think I can deal. After I get my license, hopefully things will calm down a bit, especially if I'm working part-time. We'll see.