Most people on this site already follow me on Facebook or some other place, but for those people who are wandering by, here is my life right now:

- I started my life as a full-time student in a Master's Rehabilitation Psychology program. I love it. The professors are genuinely interested in people learning and getting certified as counselors, my classmates are insightful and fun, and I love the material even though it's getting to the point when it shifted from "Oh okay I know this." to "Oh okay, this is a lot of information."

Right now I have a 10 page paper draft on dyslexia due (not actually required, but definitely something I'm aiming for) on Tuesday, an exam on Tuesday, another exam on Thursday, and ongoing work on a manual for a program that should be in working shape to put on in real life (specifically a group counseling program for caregivers of people with dementia).

- I've been keeping in physical shape partly from splurging on a personal training contract (which has been going really well; I surpassed my first two goals really quickly) and the Madison Minotaurs rugby team. For my first attempt at team sports, everyone has been very very supportive and I've been doing better and better.

- I got struck down with mono at the beginning of this month, which meant fun with fevers followed by a nasty sore throat followed by swollen tonsils. I'm feeling a lot better, and have MOSTLY avoided the chronic fatigue, but I definitely needed to take a few days to recover. Thankfully I didn't have a part-time job (which I will be looking for once Tuesday passes) and my professors were understanding on the week I did have to miss. The only persistent problem is: you know that rugby thing? Yeah, can't tackle anyone until around our first game (a tournament in St. Louis).

- Other than that, things are awesome. I spent time pre-grad school getting sucked into Skyrim and enjoying my last moments of freedom before academia and eventually my new adulthood.

So I got an e-mail about tuition, then was like "Okay let me check my grad school app status." It still read pending but just for the hell of it I opened it up and saw this:

"Your program has recommended you for admission. The Graduate School will be reviewing your file. Please refer to this page for updates."

AWWWWWWW YISSSSSSSSSSSSSS

There's more to come, pictures- and text-wise (since it was that amazing) but



MY SISTER GOT MARRIED!

(That's our friend Albra who was the Matron of Honor, my sister, and some dude.)

moar later

I moved today. I have to go back to my old place and clean and take care of uninstalling the cable, but beyond that everything is done.

Minuses:
- No dishwasher, which is actually okay because I like washing dishes by hand. (I'm a freak w/e w/e)
- The AC units are... interesting. There were some older models in the basement and I had the movers help me move it upstairs. Because of the fact the building is old, plugging it in directly causes the fuse to blow so I needed an extension cord. Situation remedied! Still kinda annoying, though.
- I live near the "bad part of town." Which actually isn't bad, but I'm going to get sick of hearing that from other white people people.
- As a result, there aren't that many grocery stores nearby, and certainly none near walking distance like my old place. However, Trader Joes is not that far away and is in fact closer than before, so that works instead!
- Roommate = less space for my stuff, although the basement is HUGE and I don't really need a lot of crap anyway.

Pluses:
+ Roommate! Which means cheaper bills!
+ Speaking of roommate, we are both currently walking around in our underwear which is nice that wedunncurr about that sort of thing.
+ Also speaking of roommate, he got as excited about me about new cooking things and he also got excited about giving me recommendations for books relating to women's studies. (That was his second major with Econ.)
+ Kitties! One black, one gray.
+ I know three of the other tenants: my friends James, Carlie, and Rebecca. The only other apartment is a couple I don't know, but I know their names and they're apparently nice, just have weird hours and so people don't see them often.
+ FREE LAUNDRY
+ FREE LAUNDRY SERIOUSLY EXCITED
+ New apartment is a block away from a bike/running path and is also not far from the Arboretum.
+ New apartment is also closer downtown.
+ The bus schedule is not as stupid as the old place. At the old place, the bus route either alternated between one side of the street or the other, and you needed to know which one to stand on and moreover! you needed to know when each came because one arrived earlier than the other did. Also it ran hourly most of the time, whereas this one is every half hour.
(Of course, I'm planning on working on my car situation once things settle a bit anyway. Go figure.)

So far, so good!

Reasons I love my sister #5112:

She was very tempted to get these as her wedding shoes.

Tonight I got tipsy on just one bottle of PBR.

*SIGH*

My mom told me I'm starting to look like Adam Levine.

She meant it as a compliment, obviously, but I can't stop lolling over how random it is.

The combined need for restaurants/food companies to demonstrate they can put bacon on/in everything combined with the bizarre meme-like quality I see bacon factored into most jokes on the Internet now is making me want to become a vegetarian out of pure spite.

Last week I got to talk to someone in the Rehabilitative Psychology program I'm applying for. It was a great discussion, and it seems like I'm a good fit for the program. The only worrying thing is the semester where I need to do an unpaid full-time internship, but scholarships and loans will help with that. I hope.

In any case, I changed my plan to apply for the fall, instead opting for Spring 2013 just so I can make sure I don't have to go "Well will I make it?" I was banking on the rolling admissions working in my favor, but it would still look better to apply when it's not after the deadline. Plus now I don't have to stress out about getting my recommendations and statement of purpose together. The main bummer is that while there isn't an overwhelming need for rehabilitative psychologists, the field is apparently unpopular because of the stigma of working with people with disabilities.

:/

Oh. And I have an interview on Friday. I'm excited about it. Hence the other reason why I postponed my grad school idea for a few months.

Speaking of which: if I DON'T make it to grad school for this, I'm considering the possibility of becoming either an RN or possibly a Nurse Practitioner. I'm not sure how likely I'd be able to get into either of those, but if I do, it would definitely be something that I would enjoy too.

So, how are you?

It seems like at different time periods I'm in the "mood" for a different form of media. Sometimes it's books, sometimes it's video games, and sometimes it's TV and movies.

While I'm doing reading (still in the middle of book 1 of Otherland) and video games (taking a Mass Effect 2 break and doing Paper Mario because why not), I'm juggling some TV shows right now, mostly because I have a subscription to a local video store which does the whole "three things out for an unlimited time" thing Netflix does only slightly cheaper and of course as a local business. Stuff I have watched/been watching:

- Paranoia Agent - Less creepy than I was expecting, but still awesome.

- The Wire - Season 1 - MORE.

- Buffy: The Vampire Slayer - Season 7 - Okay so far.

- Avatar: The Legend of Korra - MORE.

- RahXephon - Weird, but beautiful. Interested to see how this develops.

Otherwise, things have been pretty good. Almost finished with my grad school stuff; I was a bit waylaid this week after spending time with friends over Memorial Day weekend, and my statement of purpose is still a pain but the end is close. Finally.