Home, School, Fall
It feels so good to be home! After traveling for the past two weeks, I've learned an important lesson about myself. I'm a homebody. I need a job that is the same place that I live. I function better when I'm comfortable and I'm most comfortable at home.
So I got home late Friday night and went straight to bed. (Well, after making sure Tiger knew that I still loved him.) Early Saturday morning, I went to class. Finally Saturday afternoon I came home and stayed home. All day Saturday Kristen and I kicked ass around the house. We mowed, vacuumed, dusted, mopped, washed, and laundered. Lucci House was sparkling once again. We finished off the busy, busy day by rewarding ourselves with barbeque. (I was entertained by how many trucker hats I saw at the barbeque place and oddly enough, none of them were on truckers. Instead they were on hipsters. Trucker hats are a trend I will never understand.) Of course, the company was perfect. I love my little sis so much!
Sunday morning meant more work around the house, but the bulk of it was laundry. Spent the afternoon at Mom and Dad's. It was so good to see them after my trip away. I'm so attached to my family! Late Sunday night I worked on pictures from the Alaska trip and finally got them online.
Monday, Labor Day, meant sleeping in and going shopping. (Hey, if it's not a day to work, it's a day to spend, right? I mean, when else would I have time to spend it?) Mostly it was just really nice to have a break. Surprisingly, the weather gave us a break too - it was overcast and rainy all day. It was a hint of fall, reminding us we can look forward to cooler weather in the coming months.
After a very relaxing weekend, I've gotten back into the swing of things at work and school. Work is up and down every day depending on the customers and the size of their problems. School is a new semester and a very promising one at that! My first two classes are Decision Modeling in Excel and Managerial Finance. I didn't think I would enjoy either too much, but I think I was mistaken. The Decision Modeling course is so interesting I'm actually reading ahead of the book and am excited about ways I can use it at work. The finance professor was so enjoyable on Saturday; I can't wait to go back for lecture this week.
I've surprised myself with this excitement. I guess it's because I ended last semester with such a bad taste in my mouth regarding the statistics class (which I ended up earning my first ever C in). The grade didn't bother me as much as the poor instructor and the lack of learning on my part. I know it sounds like I'm just blaming the instructor for my shortcomings, but I'm aware of the studies done on students blaming teachers for their performance and vice versa so I'm pretty sensitive to it. I was at a disadvantage in the beginning by never taking a statistics class before. Plus, I did take a vacation to Alaska, which caused me to skip one homework assignment. But I really did try to learn. I think that it's a sign when before the exam more than half the class shows up to a study session with the TA. I really wish I could have taken video in class; it would have been humorous to show other people how the prof talked to the whiteboard instead of to the class. Ok, ok, I could go on and on with complaints, but that's not the point. The point is I finished the stats class feeling really, really stupid. I didn't feel like I learned enough. I felt like the C+ was a mercy grade and I really should have failed the class. I felt like maybe business school wasn't for me. I spent a lot of time feeling sorry for myself. So I'm surprised that in the first week back in class, I am already feeling excited again.
These classes are interesting to me. These professors are great. The finance prof is already including ethics in his lecture, which is awesome to hear. We shouldnt have to take an ethics course just to get ethics in this education; I think it should be taught in every subject. (As a reminder to many of us who become so focused on goals that there are some rules by which we have to play.) In Decision Modeling, Im learning a ton straight out of the book! And I'm already thinking of ways to apply this learning to my job. This is such a relief. I wasnt sure if I was going to make it a lot longer feeling like I have the past couple weeks. But I think itll be ok. I know Im doing the right thing by being in school even though it means I put everything else on hold. Itll all be worth it in the long term.
Looking ahead this weekend should be pretty laid back and hopefully will include some hanging out with friends. Next weekend Kevin is coming to visit! We havent seen each other in an eternity (two months straight!) so Im really looking forward to it. Well be going down to Austin for 20x2 on Saturday, the 13th. (Im performing but thats a whole other story.) In a couple more weeks, I have to go back to Arizona for more meetings. In the middle of October Im going to Lubbock with Kevin to visit his parents. At the end of October Im going to El Paso to visit Autumn and Ky. Then Ill be spending Thanksgiving with Kevin in New York City. Can you tell Ive spent a small fortune of plane tickets recently?
So lots of things are going on now and lots of things are coming in the near future. Its funny Ive begun to see my life in terms of semesters again. For the past years spent out of school, I viewed my life in terms of a full year cycle. Now Im back at looking at things in threes fall, spring, and summer. So, Im in the fall cycle, which has historically always been a really strong one for me. Theres no reason this fall is going to be any different.
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