Life Changes: School and Work Insanity

So, wow, interesting week and a half, lemme tell ya…

First:

I GRADUATED!!!!

Wahoo! I am officially a college grad…and only .04 GPA below graduating cum laude :( C’est la vie, oui?

Yeah, that graduation thing was an experience…between the sheer insanity of trying to get my family and friends organized to get to the various events on time and then my poor mother falling during the ceremony and splitting her knee open…well, let’s just say that I definitely enjoyed the whole relaxing on the beach while drinking margaritas on Sunday for my grad party.

Second:

Remember my blog a little while ago lamenting the fact that I don’t have a job after the 17^th? Yeah, well that didn’t really happen.

After I finished my audit on the 17^th, my replacement comes up to me and says that he really needs to tell me something and that it’s just between us (well, and now the whole world, but whateva…). As he closes the door to my office I think he’s going to tell me that Tom talked to him and told him that after the audit today he was going to let me go.

Turns out..not so much…

He was pulling me aside to let me know that he had given his notice the night before.

Huh?

Yeah, well, apparently he hit that brick wall that I’ve been bashing my head against repeatedly this last year and a half and decided he just wasn’t the masochist that I apparently am and decided to leave now.

Good for him, I say.

So, fortunately, or unfortunately (depending on how you look at it), I am still employed at my job.

So, I still have a steady income for now (the fortunate part) along with the time off for my two trips: the Alaskan cruise my mom got me for graduation (we leave tomorrow!) and the trip in July to Texas to meet part of my dad’s family.

Of course, this also means that the time off that I was beginning to look forward to isn’t going to happen now (the unfortunate part).

I’m sure Matt’s happier about the steady income part though!

Getting old

I think I have just discovered what it feels like to get old.

I think it's something like:

Staying up until midnight to work on a paper

Getting up at 6:30 to go to work

Feeling like I have a hangover

Even though I didn't have a sip of alcohol yesterday


All the pain...none of the pleasure!

So close...

One final down...only one more to go! Woohoo!!!

So.
Very.
Close.
Almost.
Done.

Then....

















!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reading Nirvana

And, no, I'm not talking about an unauthorized biography of Kurt Cobain.

I don't often recommend books because half the time I am reading academic books for classes (only for one more week though!) and the other half of the time I am devouring brainless novels for the sheer escapism of focusing intently on something that doesn't challenge my poor beleaguered brain.

However, this time I seem to have found a happy medium.

After my travels to Italy, a good friend of mine recommended "Eat Pray Love" to me. It is a story about "one woman's search for everything across Italy, India, and Indonesia".

I'm generally not a huge fan of non-fiction books because I find that they either aren't remotely applicable to my life and/or are not remotely entertaining. Amazingly, this book is both (for *me* at least).

There are parts of Elizabeth Gilbert and her experiences that I identify with so strongly that my eyes are widened with shock as I nod my head up and down so vigorously while reading. Of course, there are also parts where I thank the good lord that I'm NOT like her. And in between giggles and tears, there are the parts that make me look within myself and ask if I could ever let myself be as vulnerable as she is making herself by writing this book; if I could ever let myself really look at the root of my thoughts and insecurities and grow with them and past them.

And I'm only halfway through the darn book!

So, I guess I'm just throwing it out there that I am engrossed in this book, and maybe, hopefully, you can be too. It's one of the very few non-fiction books that I have found that manages to keep me entertained while at the same time challenging me without making my brain hurt. :)

June is HERE!

As my job winds down, so does my school career.

Today I picked up my cap and gown!

(and nifty UW Alum license plate holder that will have to wait until I have a nicer car!)

I am definitely excited about FINALLY graduating (only took 13 years!) but I am vacillating between wanting to nail my finals next week, and just not caring about them at all. I suppose you could call it the last remaining vestiges of senioritis, but part of it is that I feel like I have so many other things that are far more pressing.

I don’t have a job (after the 17^th).

My car is on the verge of dying.

I can’t buy a new car because I don’t have a job (after the 17^th).

I still have debt from my trip to Europe last summer, combined with extra debt that has accrued during the past year of being a student and part time worker living with someone who is a full time worker and not used to living the life of a college student (any more than I am).

I don’t know if I’ll be able to pay towards that debt in a month because I don’t have a job (after the 17^th).

My boyfriend is getting frustrated with me because I’m so stressed about the fact that…

I don’t have a job (after the 17^th).

Oh, and my best friends aren’t coming to my graduation. Minor nit…still sucks…

Thankfully, some things to HOPEFULLY take my mind off of the employment situation:

I’m GRADUATING!

I’m going on an Alaskan cruise for a week with my mom (I’ve never been on a cruise before, so I am SUPER looking forward to the prospect of not having to do ANYTHING for an ENTIRE WEEK!!!)

And, though I’m not sure how I’m paying for it now, I’m going on a trip in July to see my new family down in Texas and also spend a few days in N’awlins chillaxin’ with my boyfriend. I’m sure I’ll be able to save up enough cash to pop into Café Du Monde and get some warm, fluffy, sugary beignets and café au lait. :)