Been awhile

Lots has happened since last I posted. I won't bore you with all the details. Suffice it to say, this has been a hard winter. My distaste for my job (or at least, one specific aspect of my job that I cannot get rid of no matter how hard I try) has combined with my seasonal depression to make things really, really rough on me over the past month. I'm not a bioengineer, I don't want to be a bioengineer, I have no desire to learn about bioengineering, but the one prof. for whom I work seems intent that I be intimately involved with every event he schedules, even when said events take place outside of my work schedule. I should clarify that my job description was specific that there would be no hours outside my normal work schedule.

But it is what it is. It's just frustrating beyond belief that I can't even seem to get a phone call to interview for any of the resumes I've sent out. I've been having nosebleeds and stomach problems partially from stress (to be fair, the nosebleeds are as much from a horrible sinus season as from stress), and even had something of a breakdown last week over the whole thing. I just hope that come spring time things look up a little.

Classes this semester: both very interesting with a lot of fun tasks, but I am down to my last 4 classes (granted, spread over 2 semesters) and am suffering from a serious case of Senioritis, combined with that lingering terror that I'm going to be stuck here permanently, even with a Master's degree. Le sigh.

On the up side, on the 16th I'm checking out the MLIS Ph.D. program by invite from the department, which is exciting and not something I ever thought would happen (me being considered an "exceptional" or "outstanding" student). We'll see how that goes. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, because that leads to disappointing, but it is, again, an exciting prospect.

Now, on to this weekend. Friday consisted of doing some content writing for Optimized Scribes, followed by a nice quiet night with Julie. I was trying desperately to unwind and de-stress, which just doesn't happen easily anymore, but we had dinner at the Moonlight and then relaxed at home (or at least, she relaxed. I tried to.)

Saturday I lost a filling in my molar. That pretty much sucked. But at least it isn't sensitive or painful. I have an appointment tomorrow to get it fixed. I tried to use that over the counter temporary filling stuff, only to discover that stuff is really bad. I mean, it stinks on ice. Doesn't work AT ALL. Don't even bother if you lose a filling. Just keep it clean.

Saturday evening we went to our old friend Amanda's for Chinese New Year. We haven't seen Amanda in about three years, and Chuck and Dana for just as long. So it was really awesome getting to spend time with them. Amanda's daughter Viola is four now. She has sprouted like a beanstalk since last we saw her and is possibly the sweetest little girl I've ever known. I'd love to say I'm committed to making sure we don't lose contact with Amanda again, but damn if it doesn't get hard to maintain relationships as we all get older and adult concerns take over our lives.

Speaking of which, I made the observation at the party that everyone there is a reflection of the new world: the majority of us are in our mid-30's and almost all of us are back in school seeking a graduate degree or a different bachelor's degree so we can change or actually acquire careers. That seems to be a common occurrence these days. Our generation didn't grow up as fast as the one before us, and many of us would very much like to just not grow up at all. I suspect the generation after us is back to knowing what they want out of life early, but we Gen X-ers just don't have any clue what we want out of life, except to find a way to somehow enjoy it, which seems more and more impossible with each passing day.

Anyway, in the end, we had a blast at Amanda's.

Yesterday was the Super Bowl party at Mike's. It was fun while it lasted but, well, we all know how that turned out. Congrats to Green Bay. They deserved that victory in spades. I'm still not sold that the Steelers deserved to be there at all. But there you have it.

All-in-all a pretty good weekend, which went way too fast and sees me now back at work. I'm taking the day off tomorrow, but that's for a dentist's appointment so relaxation won't be in the cards there.