Grad School

My life is ridiculously busy right now. I'm spending all my free time reading, writing summaries of the readings, or writing lesson plans, soon to add grading homework to the list. I had to drop the one RPG I was planning on taking part in this year. I can't do the costume designing I was hoping too. Half those readings are for a class I'm not enjoying, and the readings are hell. I'm going to have two 20 page papers, when I've never written a paper longer than 12 pages, and also a take home final that will be about 15 pages. I'm only sleeping so-so, I'm dealing with meds and allergy testing and waiting for all my furniture to arrive so I can build it when my desk finally comes in...

...and it's all worth it. I'm learning so much. I'm possibly less stressed than I've been in ages, despite being busier than I can ever remember. Last night, after archeology (the class I have to take that I'm not particularly loving), 7 of the 8 of us went out to dinner together after, since the class ends at 7:05. And one of those people, the other linguistic anthropologist among us, brought her boyfriend, so the number went back up to eight.
There's this kinda amazing feeling of "we're all in this together", where everyone seems totally willing to give advice, or to commiserate together, or just to chat. I'm sharing my office with another of the first year TAs (there are only three of us, out of about twelve, I believe), and a second year. They're both archeology. Yet we still get along great.

And it's time to run off to class.
I miss all of you in the Brandeis/Boston/Worcester area...but I'm glad to be where I am.

Invisible Illness Awareness Week - September 14-20, 2009

Me? Do a meme? Normally, wouldn't, but this one, taken from ultimatepsi and nyren, struck a note and seemed worthwhile. (Also, to both of you, read and acknowledged.)

Basically, an "invisible illness" is loosely defined as any pain condition that can't be seen visually by others. Crohn's Disease is a typical style medical condition that isn't visually obvious to anyone, but I hear tell the cramps and burning and vomiting can all be quite trying when it's 3 or more times per week every week for your whole life. A less typical one might be Autism, where visually you look like everybody else, but internally the high pitched tone a TV makes, the whine of fluorescent lighting, the reek of cologne, the excessive saltiness of all foods, is enough to make each day a full-frontal terrorist attack on all of your senses, which only adds to the daily confusion of a verbal world you have to re-symbolize into pictures in your mind's eye before you can comprehend it. Invisible illness is no joke when you live with one everyday, and you get stigmatized for it by anyone who chooses to believe "it's all in your head".

So, in support of Invisible Illness Awareness Week, I am proud to bring you ( my answers to 30 Things About Invisible Illness )

Well, time to return to reading >.