It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

Wow. I did it. At times I didn't know if I could pull it off, but I just got my grades back from Spring Quarter and I passed with flying colors. For any of my gentle readers out there whom I haven't permanently lost, this past quarter was no small feat. Never in my academic life have I ever been pushed, pulled, stretched, frustrated, loaded upon and expected to do MORE MORE MORE than this past quarter. I think I expressed sometime ago on this blog that after my first (fall) quarter I truly felt like a bonafide grad student. Well, those feelings were just one-upped to "tried-and-true". If I ever thought that I didn't want to do this for the rest of my life, this quarter would have shown that to me. I feel like I've emerged from these past 12 weeks like a beaten warrior, but victorious none-the-less. The only regret I have, is not keeping this blog up to date.

That's the thing about me, I have yet (and at this point probably never will be able) to master the fine art of paying attention to all defining aspects of my life when more is asked of me than I think I can handle. Instead, during times of trial, I basically abandon anything that doesn't directly benefit my ability to surmount my challenges. Anything on the side becomes temporarily superfluous. So in the case of school, once I really started to feel the weight of the quarter, I had to narrow my focus on what was really going to get me through it all, taking away distractions and anything else that would set me off course.

I realize how damaging this type of attitude and lifestyle can be -- to friendships, family, and to personal relationships. I wish I were different, but at 28, this is pretty much who I am, and always have been. I'm not sure if there's a lot that can be changed at this point. What I do have going for me is the fact that this program won't continue on for the rest of my life, and as my good grad-school friend Jessica has told me numerous times, "Grad school is just a time to be selfish, not in a bad way, but in a way that you get what it is you need in order to turn around and start giving back to others."

So right now I'm on a week-long break. Summer quarter will probably be no different than last, but with the stress lessened by the fact that I have already done this once before, and I don't see it getting any worse. In the mean time, I'm going to get some pics up of what I have been doing since my last post.

Stay tuned, more to come!