Spring is usually my favorite time of year here, barring allergies. This spring has been cold and miserable, though, and I've been stressed out. I picked up a poison ivy rash from some plants growing in the front rosebed. Lovely, huh? It's the third time I've had poison ivy in the last 12 months. Ever since I found out aloe is a good remedy, it's been easier to deal with, because I have a lot of aloe plants, and it really does work immediately. But last weekend I was so itchy and apparently, extremely whiny, that my dear husband quite pointedly told me to go to an urgent care place and get it treated.
I'm better now, but I've realized that I was under a lot more stress than I realized. March and April are budget-planning at work, which is the biggest part of my job, so I have a ton of meetings and there's a lot of data, and a lot of work to do. Plus, two statistics courses at the same time in grad school. Then there's been a lot of drama at work, including getting a new V.P. and having to deal with some questionable art in the student gallery. And the parking lot is being redone and they cut off the water to my building three times in two days. I had a paper due this week for one of my classes, and had no idea how I was going to accomplish it with the time I had, so I got permission to take a couple of vacation days in order to work on it. I go back tomorrow much more rested.
The past couple of weeks has been rough. I'm watching a Netflix show set mostly in a beach house and it makes me want to move to the beach. I miss the Caribbean. I've been spending a lot of time thinking about the overarching goal of a comfortable retirement to a beach house, but then realizing that's a long way from now. What am I doing today that makes me happy? I can't just spend the next 15 years waiting. It wasn't until I had a couple of days off that I realized that all that angst was just stress kicking my depression into gear. At least I know how to deal with it. Getting older may be hell physically, but it's worth it for the knowledge and experience.
Wednesday, April 25, 2018
Monday, January 15, 2018
Two weeks until class starts
School (grad school, at least), doesn't start for me for another two weeks, so I'm trying to finish as many books as I can. I'm in the middle of a whole bunch. Reading for pleasure is going to be unlikely for me for awhile. I have a lot of stuff that's good, but a lot of stuff that I've kind of been slogging through for awhile.
We went to Hawaii over the New Year, and for months I didn't read stuff I planned to take with me on the trip, so I could read it then. Of course, I packed too many books (better than too few!), and didn't finish any of them, actually. Now I'm racing for the finish line. Well, that and writing, apparently.
I managed to make As in all three classes I took last semester. I think my Analytics professor may have padded my grade a bit, because I was really on the edge. One of our assignments was tough for everyone, though, so maybe he decided to curve it.
Grad school has been a fantastic decision. I had a week at work where I was pretty frustrated by what I saw as some bad decision-making. I have to remind myself that, traditionally, we haven't paid enough to attract top talent. Well-meaning, yes. Best at what they do? Ummm... Perhaps not. Or maybe, like an old boss once said, I hold people to standards that are too high. Not everyone has the intense insistence on perfection that I do, and if they do, they still may not have the means to achieve it.
Anyway, being in grad school gives me the patience to deal with less-than-stellar performance at work (by other people), because I am working toward a goal, and achieving that goal will give me the means to compete for a job outside my organization. I really love what I do, and I love what we achieve at work for society-at-large. But it's nice to be able to tell myself that when I finish my degree, I could go somewhere else, and maybe even make more money, too.
Hawaii was lovely. Now the husband and I are planning on saving up enough to take his parents, and my mom, too, maybe, if I can ever get her to take time off. His parents will probably offer to pay for themselves, but I really want to be able to take them all as a gift, so it might be summer of 2019 or something. I know my mom-in-law really wants to go, and I think it might be fun. They're really wonderful to us, and I think it would be really awesome to be able to do one of those grand gestures. Travel is expensive, but also priceless. Even after going to paradise, I'm still really happy to be home.
We went to Hawaii over the New Year, and for months I didn't read stuff I planned to take with me on the trip, so I could read it then. Of course, I packed too many books (better than too few!), and didn't finish any of them, actually. Now I'm racing for the finish line. Well, that and writing, apparently.
I managed to make As in all three classes I took last semester. I think my Analytics professor may have padded my grade a bit, because I was really on the edge. One of our assignments was tough for everyone, though, so maybe he decided to curve it.
Grad school has been a fantastic decision. I had a week at work where I was pretty frustrated by what I saw as some bad decision-making. I have to remind myself that, traditionally, we haven't paid enough to attract top talent. Well-meaning, yes. Best at what they do? Ummm... Perhaps not. Or maybe, like an old boss once said, I hold people to standards that are too high. Not everyone has the intense insistence on perfection that I do, and if they do, they still may not have the means to achieve it.
Anyway, being in grad school gives me the patience to deal with less-than-stellar performance at work (by other people), because I am working toward a goal, and achieving that goal will give me the means to compete for a job outside my organization. I really love what I do, and I love what we achieve at work for society-at-large. But it's nice to be able to tell myself that when I finish my degree, I could go somewhere else, and maybe even make more money, too.
Hawaii was lovely. Now the husband and I are planning on saving up enough to take his parents, and my mom, too, maybe, if I can ever get her to take time off. His parents will probably offer to pay for themselves, but I really want to be able to take them all as a gift, so it might be summer of 2019 or something. I know my mom-in-law really wants to go, and I think it might be fun. They're really wonderful to us, and I think it would be really awesome to be able to do one of those grand gestures. Travel is expensive, but also priceless. Even after going to paradise, I'm still really happy to be home.
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