Such is Life

This may have been the longest break I've ever taken between posts. It's been busy! When I have time to write (which isn't very often) I don't have the energy to be insightful, creative or communicative. Here are some quick updates:

• Next week is 6th week in a 10 week program. We're in the middle of mid-terms right now.
• Last weekend I drove to New Jersey to visit with KM, her new husband and RJ. It was a long and expensive drive (WTF is up with toll roads on the East Coast?!?!?! I spent $17 one way). I was grumpy on my drive up, as I didn't have the time to spend 6 hours on the road, but I am SO glad I went. It was really rejuvenating spending time with people who know you.
• I've been sort of depressed lately. Which is another reason I haven't written in here. I am not worried about how I feel. I think it makes sense: big life changes, constant stress, total immersion into a completely different way of thinking, etc. On top of that I am rethinking everything about the kind of nursing I want to go into, and that might mean going to a different school after this year. AND I have a horrible clinical instructor. So it's been a hard time lately.
• I don't miss home exactly, but I miss familiar people. It can be exhausting relying solely on new people for all your friend needs. And it just isn't the same...
• I spent 4th of July inner tubing on the Shenandoah River in West Virgina. It was lots of fun and FANTASTIC to be outside not studying.
• I met a nice/interesting/fun boy. I really had a good time with him, but nothing can come of it because he is leaving the area soon. Considering how I'm already feeling a lack of emotional connection to anything Baltimore-related, it kind of felt like a cruel cosmic joke: "Here's someone fun that you enjoy hanging out with....but now he's leaving. Ha, ha, ha!"
• And due to all of the above, I want a pet. I like dogs better then cats but my building doesn't allow dogs, so I have to get a cat. Problem is cats are expensive, so I decided to start babysitting. This solves many problems: it gives me a personal connection with something little to love (it's for one 19 month little boy), it gives me non-taxed cash, paid time to study (little boys need sleep), it is flexible--there is no set structure to when I will work and I can say yes/no depending on what's happening in school, AND the woman I'm sitting for works in the department at a hospital I may want to work at one day, so there are good networking opps. I start tonight!
• While B's are Beautiful , A's are always Awesome and I'm getting A's in 4 out of 5 classes right now.