The school part of graduate school--

Omgosh. Grad school is definitely doing a job job kicking my butt right now.

I have learned that you can't just take pride in finalizing your to-do list. You have to get things done so your to-do list gets smaller or smaller. The thing with me is, I'll keep adding crap to the list. Just so I won't forget down the road.

My to-do list currently has on it: work on paper due next week and finish painting apartment (which we all know probably won't happen until the summer). Who am I kidding?

I do take pride in the fact that our STUPID paper was completed tonight at 11pm. It's due tomorrow. Figures. It's so hard to get us all together. We are all adults, living individual lives. It's not like undergrad when the majority of students don't have full time jobs, or children, or spouses. It is seriously difficult to get a group of 4 or 5 of us together to work on a group project. But we did it! We spent 7 hours together this work working on it...not counting the time we worked on it individually. Group papers are the worst I think. Ahh but it's DONE! :-D

November 18th is a big day for me. I have tons of crap due that day - tons! Including a paper on a book I haven't read yet. (Date check - yes, it's Nov 13th!) I heard it's a good one though ... one about the experiences of living in a concentration camp during WWII. I've been told the main point of the book is "it's not about what happens to you, but how you react to what happens to you" so .. I'm sure I'll finish it quickly! I better, huh?!

After that I'll only have a couple more assignments due for the semester and the Monday & Tuesday before Thanksgiving I'll get TWO out of 3 of my FINALS to start completing. Grad school finals are awesome. Yeah, they're cumulative, which sucks, but they're take home, open book essay finals! The sooner I start, the sooner I'll get done .. which means the sooner I can get back to stalking people on Facebook! ;) juuuuuuuuuust kidding. (right.) No, but I do miss it...

On a different note - I registered for classes already! November 9th. I thought that was kinda early but maybe I'm wrong. I am taking 3 classes right now (9 hours), all of which are kicking my butt, but to my defense, only because I procrastinated. So what do I do? I sign up for FOUR next semester! You know me, trying to get out of school as soon as I can! At the going rate I'll graduate December of 2011. Gah, that seems forever away but I'm sure it'll be here before I know it. Anyways, four classes. I was going to take a week-long class in December on spirituality but I think I'll take that time to go home and have a break with my family. Oh! AND .. one of those classes next semester is only 3 weekends long. How awesome is that? 3 weekends and I'm done. Grad school DOES have its perks!

I am so blessed to be here. I try to thank God every day for the job He gave me here and for the opportunity to further my education, for free, because otherwise I'd just have a Psychology degree and I'd either be doing something I hate or working a job that doesn't require a college education. He DEFINITELY was keeping His eye out for me! I have no doubt in my mind. Thank you, Lord! :)

peace out, facebook!

So, I blame Facebook for distracting me the most. As a result, I have decided to get off Facebook until all my work for the semester is complete! I did this once before, you know, when you temporarily deactivate your Facebook, knowing that the minute you sign back in everything pops back up, as if you never left. Yeah, I tried that-- I was productive an entire day and then later that night, what did I do? I signed back on! I have absolutely no self-control. Or, I didn't. Who knew that all it would take to get me off and focusing on things that are more important was a bribe? I didn't, but it's seemed to work so far. Okay, okay....so I'm only two days in! It's been a pretty productive two days!

Yesterday I was pretty proud of myself. I wrote a nine page paper in APA format with 20 references, ate in the caf twice (not my norm), had a salad instead of something greasy, and got water instead of Mountain Dew, twice! If you know me, you're probably proud too- haha... I'm working on productivity! There are so many things I need to do but so also so many things I WANT to do. So, I'm getting items in my to-do list marked off one by one, less slowly and more surely than usual! I must say, I like this no Facebook idea.

Sidenote: if for some reason you see a status update or something, it's ONLY because I said that I would ONLY and I mean ONLY get on Facebook to post updates to this blog and updates to my devotion Facebook group, "ten minutes to get you through your day." I'm staying true to my vow and not just because I was promised one of my favorite TV shows on DVD. :)

Enjoy your Tuesday!