a new year begins

it's time for my second year of school to start...i can't believe my summer is gone and i am going to be heading back to class once again....

this year i was planning on taking a monday night and thursday night class....however, my monday night class is full...and the waitlist is long....so, i made plans to instead take two thursday classes...one at 4 and one at 7....it will be similar to my first semester at albany, when i had two monday classes....it means that i will be missing an afternoon of work and need to work late on the other days, but the good news is only traveling to albany once a week...

i will be taking administrative planning in higher education and survey research methods....both are with professors i have never had- which makes me nervous...but research methods is with my advisor, so that will be exciting too....the other professor i know nothing about and i am a little sad that i am not taking a class with the one professor that i feel i click well with....his class was the full one....so, i will venture off this year without him....

you maybe wondering what these two classes are all about...i also am wondering....i have already received the book listing for the survey research class- there are 8, that's right, 8 required texts....plus a list of "optional" texts which is 10 books long....i just finished ordering my 8 required, from three different sites, to get the best prices....the grand total, you maybe wondering....$340....yup....just for one class....the course description talks about how the class will help with the understanding of modern research design, including practice in developing questions, designing questionaires, and conducting "mini small scale surveys" (this part of the description came right out of the catalog)....

the administrative planning class simply states- policies to guide growth and development; applications for techiniques on decision making; using planning models....interesting....

well, thursday is my first day....and my new year will begin...

an international holiday

my birthday is pretty important to me....actually, i like to believe it's an international holiday....a day in which everyone i know, and who knows me needs to celebrate, no matter where they are...in the last few years, the international holiday has become difficult for me.

three years ago, i had an outstanding birthday....maybe one of the best i ever had....it was the first month that kristen and i would only be paying one rent, so we decided to splurg....we rented a limo, invited friends along, and went on a wine tour....it was a great day. it started with a surprise of what friends were coming and ended with two tickets to a patriots game....i cried, out of happiness, twice....

in the last three birthdays since then, my friends have been outstanding...doing everything to make the international holiday the best it could be....they have thrown parties, planned day trips and weekends, just about anything they could think of...and i love them all for it.

but the day still seems to be the hardest day each year for me to make it through....it's not just the day, but the month....august in general is a stressful month in my line of work, but this holiday makes it that much harder....i never thought my birthday would be the hardest part of my grief....the hardest holiday to make it through....it makes the missing stronger and sadness more intense....

i will continue to try and find my happiness in the international holiday, but i know it won't ever be the same