I have some friends who occasionally still read this. Thanks for sticking with me, folks! I don't seem to ever have the time/motivation/whatever it is to update, though I think of it often. I love being able to read back on entries from years ago, and would like to do the same for this period in my life.
But so, yes. Been ridiculously busy. Why so busy?
As posted about a month ago, I am back in school. I love it. I mean, love love love love LOVE LOVE LOOOOOVE it.
It's a mixture between a calm, rational interest in the topic I'm studying and a psychotic burning need to know more. I have repeatedly left my classes high on knowledge. This is one of my favorite feelings in the world. I am pretty sure my man is sick of me talking about my classes, but my excitement is boiling over and I can't contain it. Have to give him credit though: he listens. Yep, I found me a winner.
Taking these classes has been very difficult, however. I go to class before work on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I leave late those nights to attend another class in the evenings. I don't get to see Mateo much at all those days; if I am lucky, I sneak in five or ten minutes before he falls asleep. I miss him enough that I have to call home and talk to him on the phone. They are silly conversations, but I need to hear his little voice tell me about the noodles he is eating.
Plus, I have constant homework, no time to do it. Most of it, I do during nap time on the weekends, or occasionally some time after 9:00 pm on weekdays. Mondays, in particular, I stay up late. J is gone and T is asleep, and I just power through until midnight or so.
My goal was to continue at this rate for the next 1.5 years, finishing the pre-requisites and then applying to the graduate program. I believed that I still had another required class to take next fall, thus pushing my application date out to 2010 at a minimum.
However, I discovered last week that I was wrong. The fall class is not required at all, and, exceptionally, they are offering it during winter quarter this year. Once I learned that, I quickly calculated that if I were to go to classes full-time, I could apply as early as this year.
I talked it over with my little family, and we decided this was the best course of action. So many factors went into consideration, and I won't lay them all out here, but we weighed the pros and cons. I had already been looking for another job because I wasn't particularly thriving in my current one. Knowing I needed to work somewhere flexible enough to let me keep taking classes was becoming a problem. The class schedule for winter quarter has classes primarily in the middle of the day, too, making schedule arranging difficult.
As a result, two Tuesdays ago, we decided I would quit my job and go to school full-time for the next six months. Doing so would allow me to apply this February for grad school. In the highly likely event that I don't get in (acceptance rate: 18%), I could at least take some graduate credits next year, know the faculty better, and have an additional year's worth of coursework for the admissions board to base their decision on. If I get in, great. If not, I will look for work come June and take one graduate class per quarter, if I choose.
This revelation -- the realization that I could do this and it wouldn't mean we would have to starve for the next few months -- that was a great feeling. I have a work from home opportunity lined up, possibly two. Money will be coming in the door, though obviously I will be spending more than I am making. Still, we can afford the six month gap, and it's so so worth it.
I told my boss about my intention to leave our company on Thursday. I had been having some nervousness about it, but he was incredibly supportive. He and I both recognized that my enthusiasm for my job had been slumping, and we knew it was not a career path I intended to stick with forever. Still, he said he would like to keep me on part-time, doing some writing as a contractor. Sounds fantastic to me, as that is the part of my job where I felt I worked best.
HR made the announcement on Friday, even though I will still be there for another month or so. We need to work on finding a replacement, and people needed to know. When everything was said and done, I felt great.
I am really thankful to my current employer for a lot of things. Mainly, I got to get my feet wet in the corporate world and experience a true desk job. I was given a fair amount of autonomy and learned a boat load about marketing and the software business. My coworkers are almost universally cool people; it is a little bittersweet to leave them so suddenly.
However. However, however, however. I am THRILLED with the occasion to finish up these classes. I am excited to be able to manage my own time, to determine when I do my work from home stuff, when I do my school stuff, and when I go to the grocery -- these are luxuries that I cannot wait to experience again.
I am going to take a lot of classes (five). However, the schedule is bearable, I will be able to pick up and drop off Mateo daily, and Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons are completely free. Yes, I will need to study my ass off, especially since I know "they" will be watching me. But I will be able to do so in a coffee shop, at the library, or at home, if I so choose. This is amazing freedom to me. I might even be able to take yoga again.
So. My job ends the first week of December. The following week is exams. Then I have one week of kid-free open time (hallelujah!), and then it's Christmas and Mateo's school is closed.
And then? Head-first into school.
I can't wait.
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