Well, it's been a strange long weekend. Since I've only been in class for a week so far, it feels a little bit surreal that the semester has actually started, and that I'm not still on vacation. Anyway, brief recap of the past few days: Thursday night I took advantage of not having much work yet and went out with a friend. Friday was spent in various meetings/in my advisor J's office. We worked our way through a problem that had been stumping me for a while, and now I feel way better and more capable of finishing it up myself. Exciting/cute: J was also super jazzed about my interview invite next month—probably equally if not more excited than me! And since I basically worship J, it gave me a major ego boost to see him all psyched about that. Another plus is that this school is in the same city where my brother lives, and within an hour of where my parents live. The prospect of being that close to my family again is extremely appealing. So, we'll see. It's kind of amazing how one interview (not even an offer; this just basically means I made it to the second round of the admissions process) has gotten me all cocky about the whole thing. I'm like "uh you want me? GET IN LINE." Everybody keep your fingers and toes and all other crossables crossed that I get offers from lots and lots of schools and have plenty of options!
Sorry, back to my recap: Saturday I worked at the food bank in the morning, which was interesting/inspiring/sad—and not because of the clients this time. There was a group of extended family members volunteering (a few middle-aged couple and a few of their kids). One of the women introduced herself, her husband, and her teenage daughter and told me that her son had passed away a few months ago...Saturday would have been his birthday, so they had decided to honor his memory by volunteering and giving back. Another of the women later told me privately that the son had committed suicide. I didn't expect that to hit me so hard, but it almost took my breath away. It seemed crazy—surreal, almost—to see his parents walking and talking and going on, although I suppose that is what you have to do. Really makes you step back and take stock, you know? Anyway, they were all absolutely lovely and even went out and bought lunch for everyone (including me and a couple other non-family volunteers) later that afternoon! Of course I crashed my car on the way home, which put a slight damper on the whole experience, but otherwise it was very emotional and inspiring and clarifying. I hung out with another friend of mine later that evening; this is the first semester we haven't had class together, so we are definitely making an effort to stay in touch because she is awesome and one of my closest grad school friends.
Yesterday UGH. You guys remember Ex New Dude? Who I dated very briefly, and who seemed to lack boundaries a little once I cut it off? He had been texting me a lot throughout the fall...at first I responded, then just stopped. Well, he texted me around New Year's saying something very sweet like "wishing you the best, I really liked hanging out with you, hope you and your family are having a great holiday" etc. and because I am a SUCKER, I broke my silence and answered....so we got into a conversation, and then he asked me out to coffee once I got back to College City, and I couldn't say no. I KNOW. So after stalling for a couple weeks, I finally agreed to meet up with him yesterday. It was.......slightly awkward, but also clarifying, in a lot of ways. Part of me had accepted the invite because I hadn't seen him in person in a while, and was doubting my feelings and my decision to abruptly end things, so I sort of wanted to see whether any of that initial spark was still there. And um, no. Not even a little bit. Not sure how to sugarcoat this: he was SO FUCKING BORING. I forced myself to sit there and chat for barely and hour, and then made up some excuse and bolted. So, that's that.
Today was spent on random chores. I took my car to get an oil change and had my mechanic take a look at the front bumper to make sure I didn't do any real damage on Saturday. Oh, and also I discovered that my 60-year-old mechanic makes short films about superheroes in his spare time. It makes more sense if you've met him. Then I spent some time playing phone tag with my car insurance company, did some work, and went for a run. Now I'm hanging out at home, listening to a podcast, roasting veggies, and debating whether I want wine or tea.
Happy MLK Day to all, hope it's a great week!
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