St. John's College
Annapolis, MD
Sunday, January 14th, 2007

It's the 2-2-2! Woo!

Seriously, though, it's been something of a tough week - but with some noticeable, and encouraging, perks.

Classes were long and hard, but I also reconnected with all of my SJC friends and had fun seeing them again. Work was crap a lot of the time, but I also got new responsibilities and feedback that showed how much I'm learning, the strong skills I'm developing, and the trust and respect the people I work for have towards me. I always worried that I wouldn't be able to do everything I needed to, but I somehow managed to do that, and do things I didn't expect besides. You know. The ususal.

Let's see, what were the highlights? A "lowlight" is probably my continuing struggle with Apollonius and geometric conic sections. I'm very frustrated there. But on the other hand, my Dante seminars have been wonderful. Inferno is a great read. I noticed as I was unpacking from break that I've finally managed to establish myself here with a degree of comfort as well as the consciousness and organization I have to have in order to function. I've got lots of cool books and projects to keep me busy, when I get free time. I even have enough to share with other people. Then, on Friday night, I attended an okay lecture and a really good party, and watched a B movie, and made some not-bad tortillas from scratch.

And yesterday was a lovely mix of coffee, meeting friends (and new friends), listening to music, going out for good food, looking for interesting books, and reading.

So despite the complaints that I have during the week, the fact is that I have everything in my life that I need, and in fact things are going very well indeed.

Looking ahead . . . Working on an awesome summer job, I definitely have some leads, but it's going to take time and lots of intention to develop. (But it's very very cool. Soooo coooool.) Working on getting some more nutritious food at the dining hall, which I'm putting more effort into preparing myself. I may even end up supplementing it a little from the grocery store. I think the extra effort will pay off though, just in developing better habits. And of course, the usual studying and being busy, and meeting people and having off-the-register integrity support it all. Yup.

Okay, a bientot, everyone! Welcome back!

Roxanne