Success!!!

I defended my capstone project today for my master’s degree….and I passed!!! Whoo-hoo!!! 10 semesters of graduate school later. Yes, 10. I changed programs three times and universities once, remember. Bu it’s done!!! I almost don’t know what to do with myself. I’m sure there will be lots of rejoicing and good times with my friends and family over the next few weeks. My father is coming to town and will finally meet the boyfriend, and I’m planning a “Hell Froze Over Frozen Drinks Party” with my friends once the halls close.
But it’s funny how hard it is to wrap my head around the relief and the joy for all of the blessings in my life right now. The degree is finished, my sister and future nephew are happy and healthy, and I have eight weeks of blessed peace to look forward to in less than a month. And it all feels so unreal. I have no problem getting worked up about bad news, but the good stuff is strangely harder to absorb. I’m doing my best to breathe it all in while it lasts. And, happily, it looks like spring is finally back in northeast Ohio! We’re supposed to hit 70 degrees this weekend. It will be excellent weather for celebrating.

No complaining or ranting for me tonight. I’m going to bask in the satisfaction of a job finished at last.

A sigh of relief.

Ahhhh. My classes are over. The last paper has been turned in. My grueling annual self-evaluation for work is complete. All that remains is to check a few hundred residents out of the buildings, and summer will have officially begun! It’s about time. Of course, even though the pace might be slower over the next few months, my world will still be pretty busy. Two courses left (plus program approval and that pesky capstone paper) before graduation. I’m working part-time this summer, and Mama Peacegrrl is planning a visit (a source of both joy and stress). But the weather will be warm, there won’t be any students around, and there might actually be time to do the stuff I enjoy and never seem to get around to lately. Perhaps there will even be a new boy to occupy me. Ha! I AM being optimistic!

I’m jazzed today because I get to leave the office at five, I’m spending time with some good friends tonight, and I’ve got two new knitting books. AND I get to sleep in tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, it will be the 5-year anniversary of my college graduation. 5 years!!! Holy crap. It feels like only yesterday I was clutching my hard-earned English degree and wondering what the hell I was going to do with it. I’ve learned so much about who I am in the past half-decade, and I can only imagine what I’m going to learn over the next. I’m hoping it’s mostly good stuff.
-pg

Auntie Peacegrrl?

So the big news for the year is…I’m going to be an aunt! It’s all very unexpected, but sister peacegrrl is due on September 28th. I’m extremely jazzed. I think being the spoiling eccentric aunt will be awesome. And when the baby starts to smell or get annoying, I can just give her back! Of course this is me putting a positive spin on the fact that I’m a little jealous that my sister, who is three years younger, is quite a bit ahead of me in terms of the whole “settled down life” thing. I’m still chasing after the crush (although developments may be pending, stay tuned!), and STILL pondering whether or not to do the online dating meat market. My life follows a very predictable pattern, I tell you.

So outside of that big news, not much has been happening in frigid Ohio. Working, taking classes (anthropology is kicking my ass, but extremely interesting!) and knitting away. Only now I have a real knitting mission: baby clothes. Awesome. I’m teaching a six-week workshop this semester, too, which is fun. Every time I teach, I get nervous about it, and then once I get in there, I love every minute of it. Maybe that’s my calling. I have no idea. Last night someone put a brutal truth in front of me about the realities of what I really want to do with my life, and it’s making me think. Perhaps by working sixty hours a week and taking classes, I have built such a wall around myself that there’s no WAY for a guy to find me, let alone time to pursue a meaningful relationship. Maybe I’m spending so much time trying to get ahead, get educated, get experience, that I’m missing my life.

Too deep. I need to relax. It’s a Project Runway night, and they’re down to the last four. BIG excitement. I love Wednesday nights.
-pg

Peacegrrl optimism?

I know, negativity is usually what I do best. But what can I say? It’s a good day–in spite of the fact that this guy just kicked off another four years in office. To start with, I’m off to nerd greatness with my triumphant return to grad school. Last night’s class is going to be pretty easy. I think tonight’s might give me a little more trouble…it’s College Student Development, so at the very least I will hopefully continue on the road to understanding why the hell my students act the way they do. But I’m still pretty jazzed about my Liberal Studies degree, despite the misgivings of SOME of my friends. The idea of creating a program of study based on what I’m actually interested in is just so appealing, especially since I honestly don’t know what I want to do when I’m done with it. It’s so nice to be young and completely lacking in direction…

Some other good news…my hero Jim Wallis has been generating a lot of buzz with his new book: God’s Politics: Why The Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It. Read all about it here or watch Jim on Hardball tomorrow night and you’ll see what I’m talking about. One of the things that sucks about being a liberal is that if you admit you believe in God or *gasp* Jesus, a lot of your peers will shun you. Christianity is for right-wingers. Which is actually pretty ridiculous, when you look at it–who preached turning the other cheek? Moving past old-testament “eye-for-an-eye” in favor of forgiveness and acceptance? Loving your brothers and sisters regardless of their percieved transgressions? Rejecting society’s norms in favor of a life of charity, tolerance, and humility? I think that was Jesus, and call me crazy, but some of those ideas seem pretty darned liberal to me. I’m hoping that more Americans, right and left, will listen to Jim’s message and get the politicians to stop using religion as a political foothold and focus on the issues of poverty and human rights that we’re all too happy to turn a blind eye to in favor of war and social security.

So enough preaching, and on to the more shallow variety of Peacegrrl fun that we all enjoy. I’ve got a crush. Just a little one. There’s a very nice, good-looking, smart guy who I’ve been having a lot of fun with as of late, and I have this odd little feeling that I haven’t had in a while. You know, that thing where you really want to see the other person, and it has nothing to do with sex? As crushes go, I figure this is a fairly minor one, and probably won’t lead to much of anything. But it’s a nice diversion, anyway. And for those keeping track, yes, I’m still talking to Blind Date guy, and no, I still have no idea where the hell that’s going. I think it’s probably better if I just don’t worry about it. At least I have someone to see a movie with.

And one last thing to be happy about…a member of my family has been diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease), which, if you know anything about it, is a nightmare. But we found out today that he’s gotten into a clinic in Houston with one of the best ALS doctors in the country, and the Muscular Dystrophy Association is picking up the tab. So even though my family is in for some pretty hard times, at least now we know we’ll have some help. God is great, I tell you. If that’s not a reason to be a little optimistic, then I don’t know what is…

-peacegrrl

A bit better

So first off, a shout-out to my homies Nick and Vixen, for the happy thoughts. I’m feeling a bit better today. First off, I discovered this amazing thing called a Liberal Studies master’s degree, in which I can basically take whatever classes I want, figure out a way to tie them together, and voila! Degree! And the program advisor says that my hodgepodge of English, counseling, and student affairs classes can all transfer in. Good times. I’m thinking of doing something about minorities/underpriveledged students and access to higher ed. Or something. I don’t know. The sooner I get a master’s, the sooner a few more doors will be opened to me–whether I stick it out in student affairs or go off to do something else. Still haven’t ruled out teaching. And let’s not forget that the degree will be FREE…tuition waiver, how I love you.

And let me just say, once I get that degree, unless I meet Mr. Wonderful and he’s insistent that we live in the upper midwest, I’m getting my ass farther south. This weather is fucking ridiculous. Today it was 65 degrees when I got home from work. Now it’s 25 and snowing. What the hell is that about? Yeah, the south is the home of humidity and slavery, and yes, it’s a place where people take actual pride in their ignorance (why else would they hang up the confederate flag and actual write songs to express pride in their redneck-ness?). And it does get up to a zillion degrees in the summer, and most of the people down there think Bush is an American hero. But there’s always Austin, home of good music, radical politics, and liberal hippie-wannabee UT students. And air-conditioning. And none of this freezing rain/snow/sleet/misery bullshit.

Okay, it wouldn’t be peacegrrl without a little man gossip. No, I didn’t get any bootie over the break. This is highly disappointing. However, I did hear from Blind Date guy several times and he called as soon as I got back into town. Perhaps this will progress and the dry spell will end. At the very least, he lets me borrow a lot of DVDs, so the relationship certainly does have merit. I’ll keep you posted.

Alrighty, it’s late, I’m in my office, and my building is supposed to be empty but I’m hearing strange noises and they’re scaring me. I’m going to go lock myself in my apartment now.

-peacegrrl