Emuzines

Not too much time to post tonight.  This preview picture is a little outdated–but this is what I’ve been up to.  The end of Winter quarter is nearing, and presentations and papers are all coming at me.  I had a great presentation yesterday, and got a large chunk of one of my papers done last night and today.  But it’s been busy…my days have definitely required two doses of caffeine.

Hi Everyone!

It is Fall now and things are getting really busy!  My mom came to visit me last weekend.  We had a great time, and packed as much fall fun is as we could.  We did some shopping, cooked some scallop chowder, baked some pumpkin pies, and visited a flower farm/pumpkin patch!  I enjoyed showing my mom around my new home and most of all just enjoyed being with her, hanging out at home at night, etc.  I hope she had as much fun as I did!  Here are some pictures…

School has gotten incredibly busy.  There is an extraordinary amount of reading.  At USC, I often got away with not reading…but here, I have a prelim exam at the end of next summer, covering all of the first year’s readings…so I have to know them all.  And the class structure is much different than anything I had in undergrad (predictably) or even at USC.  I feel as though maybe the professors tried to get this sort of feel at USC, a true seminar/interactive type of conference…but it never really happened.  We basically run the entire class, and have to be all smart-sounding and bounce ideas against each other…the professors rarely talk.  I think this type of class is pretty new to all of us, and so we meet 2 hours before each class to warm up!  I feel now that we’ve settled into a good groove and classes are feeling less awkward, with less silences…  Today David found some cricket chirps on his phone to play in case we hit an awkward silence, which would have been great (we should have been quiet!), but we didn’t hit any of those today.

My cohort is so wonderful!  Tomorrow we’re going out to a place called Little Prague, for happy hour and some appetizers and things.  It’ll be the day that Nik meets them all.  April and I have a plan to “set up” our boyfriends, since both are new here and a little lonely.

So school has been busy and good, but work has been busy and wonderful! I have gotten deeper into understanding the ins and outs of the MIND, and learning what I’m doing and what my choices are. Right now I’m working on an intervention study with little ones (12 months old!) with autism, and I’ve also started work on a chapter which will be published in a book by 2 researchers I really admire…and then which will be published in a journal, hopefully. I know that the chapter is due after Christmas, but I’m not sure when the book plans to be published…but in any case, I’ve gotten started! I’m really excited and love going to work. Every day there…I can’t come up with the right words…it’s like Christmas morning for me!
Anyway, all is well. Things are settling into a nice groove, and although some days are really long, they’re good. I have become addicted to TWO cups of caffeine everyday, though. Now, I’ve been to grad school before and I’ve had long work days…but never have I needed caffeine like I need it now! I am an absolute zombie without both servings. But, mm, at least coffee tastes great!!