Today was the last time ...

I registered for classes for graduate school! I have six months left until I am completely done. Wow, time is flying by. I think I've managed to get a somewhat okay hold on my stress right now. But I also have a paper due tomorrow that I have not begun to write and it's 9:32 PM. I'm not going to bother writing it tonight either. Technically, I have until midnight on Friday. I'll do it tomorrow.

I've been doing a lot of reading to prepare me for my internship next semester. Right now, I'm reading 135 days with Elena - Notes Left Behind about a 6 yr old with diffused brainstem glioma. I am constantly amazed by the strength of children and the knowledge that they possess when they are sick. It's been a tough read but really insightful. It's written by her mother and father as a journal for her little sister to remember her by. It is full of raw emotions and all the questions that no one wants to ask or thoughts that people are too afraid to voice. It's really good. I need to get around to booking my flight up to Baltimore in December for orientation. I'm getting more and more excited about it but still having trouble realizing how incredibly amazing this is. I mean, who all can say that they interned at Johns Hopkins? Really, that's some craziness right there. I've also been playing around looking at different places for rent in case I do end up with a job there after I graduate. I found a couple of cute apartments/townhomes that are for rent. I do know that I don't want a place that has the typical apartment feel to it. I want an apartment home. Preferably a townhome or rowhouse to be exact. I'm excited to have a grown up life with a grown up place. I have a great place right now but I'm still in graduate school and have some furniture that can be upgraded to grown up. I'm excited :-) I keep thinking about different goals too. I think I'm going to look into Spanish classes too so that I can work on becoming fluent. It's always helpful to be able to speak more than one language.

And in other news, I had some Start First groups today at a middle school. Start First is an in school violence prevention education program that teaches students positive coping skills to some of the negative behaviors that they might be seeing at home or in their community. Today, I was working with a group of seventh grade boys and asking them when they think of their ideal girl that they would want to go with, what does she look like? Well, I started hearing responses like, "wears glasses", "brown hair", "earrings", "brown shoes", and other very descriptive qualities that described how I look today. Ha! I was flattered and made them focus on inner qualities that they would like. They're really sweet kids. Always a joy to work with.

Another year ...

So my last year of graduate starts tomorrow. I'm feeling a mixture of excitement and anxiousness. I can't wait to see where this year takes me but I am already stressing out over all of the work and the research project. I was talking to my mom tonight about the goals that I have set for myself. I feel like I've done a great job so far in following my dreams and achieving them. I started thinking some more about what I want out of life. I really feel like lately I've changed my focus on life and I feel so much better about it. I'm going to start living my life more instead of freaking out and worrying over it like crazy. This includes all aspects - including my non-existant love life but you know what? I am so much better off alone right now than stuck in a relationship with some loser. And I'm learning to stick up for myself more when it comes to relationships. The way I see it, whoever I end up with is going to be so incredibly lucky to have me. So there. Come on, life, show me what you got.

So let's take a look at some goals that I have for my life ...
- get a job at Johns Hopkins Hospital in their cancer center
- become certified in American Sign Language at Gallaudet University in DC
- get a PhD in Clinical Social Work
- visit all 50 states
- see more of the world
- become a homeowner

I'll have to see if I can find the list of goals that I made for myself a couple of years ago.

Now I need to get ready for school tomorrow and figure out where my classes are ... and probably look at the three readings I was supposed to have done.