It is the second day of classes, and I am officially stressed. My classes are still all fantastic - interesting, engaging profs, cool subject matter, etc. Ballet was less thrilling, but it's a gym class, so I'm okay with that. The stress comes from the work. Granted, this is Swat, lots of work is to be expected. There have been times when I've definitely felt overwhelmed here. There are times when I've had to just not do the reading. But usually, I've felt mostly in control.

That changed today. Monday I got a decent amount of work assigned for English: write a very short poem, rewrite a set of song lyrics with a partner, read 20 poems, write a one-page paper on one of them. A week to do this? Okay, that's manageable. Today, Philosophy of Religion. About 80 pages of Kierkegaard to read for Thursday, plus 2 articles. Daunting, given the slow speed at which I read philosophy. Ballet: no homework, just need to bring socks on Thursday. Wonderful. Costume Design: read a play, a chapter of a book, do a concept for the designs for the play. A venture into the unknown here, so definitely daunting, but also interesting. Play-writing is tomorrow, who knows what I'll have to do for that.

The real issue came out of the blue. Philosophy of Religion: weekly community based learning projects (aka volunteer work - tutoring, etc) for 2-4 hours a week. Costume Design: weekly "lab" sessions in the costume shop, learning basic sewing skills and costuming techniques, probably 2-3 hours a week. That's an extra 4-7 hours of work that I was not at all expecting. Granted, they won't start for a few weeks yet, but when they do? Dear lord. This on top of about 3 hours of choir a week, 1-2 hour radio show, hopefully some swing dancing and taiko here and there, going to the gym, my RA duties, and hopefully 4 hours of work in the library per week. I'm terrified.

So I called my parents to have a pre-breakdown mild panic, thinking that would help me. It did. I'm going to talk to the philosophy prof, figure out exactly what is required, see how flexible it is, etc. 2 hours per week at the Humane Society I could probably deal with; 4 hours a week tutoring young children would be awful. (Tutoring makes me tense. I don't know why, but it is insanely nerve-wracking for me. It becomes a very high-pressure experience, and I really don't want that.)

I don't want to give up anything, so I'm going to have to try my best to juggle everything. It'll be interesting...

Oh. And while I've mostly calmed down about the work thing, there's other frustrations. Namely, discovering what has happened to my old house. Crazy doctor man has ripped off the deck, gotten rid of the two mini-waterfalls we put in, torn up some beautiful trees, ripped out all but one bathroom, gutted the basement and kitchen, knocked down various walls, removed my old bathroom to put in a hallway, torn up lots of carpeting, and god knows what else. The house, as I knew it, is gone. And while I love the new house and am fine with leaving Quincy, the house in Quincy was cool, and I did spend 8 or 9 years of my life there. So yeah. A bit of a shock.

The solution to this shock, of course, is to go eat some leftover pizza and then do work. Whee.

I am exhausted, but extremely happy.

Yesterday I got the urge to run, so I ran. Granted, it was only for about 15 minutes, but still. Today I got up and went to the gym for about 30 min. I had lunch with friends, and that was lovely. Then I went to my first class of the semester, Lyric Encounters.

It was awesome. I've had the prof before, and she's great. It's a 3 hour class, so I was a bit worried that I'd get tired/bored, but I didn't. I was interested the entire time. It's a small class, with workshop elements... We talked about what makes a poem lyrical, then took the musicality idea and played with it. She gave us instruments (from a recorder to a cowbell to a woodblock to finger cymbals) and a set of poems, and in small groups, we set poetry to music. It was cool. Then we composed poetry to music. Then we listened to other poetry that had been set to music, and discussed the choices made, and how they influenced the reading of the poem, and things like that. And it was just nifty. I loved it. Now, of course, I have a lot of work for the class to do before next week, but it should be good.

Tomorrow: Philosophy of Religion, Ballet I, and Costume Design. Hopefully they will all be good. Wednesday: Play-writing (which I've heard is great) and choir. We're singing Handel's "Messiah" this semester. I'm thrilled. I love the "Hallelujah Chorus."

Also exciting: my attempt to learn how to swing dance this semester. We shall see how it goes, but it should be fun.

I had my first hall meeting tonight, and it went really well. I've got a good hall, and I think this year will be good.

Time to get started on my work.

Having costume design switched to Tuesday is mostly good, but it will sadly cost me the chance to go see Death Cab for Cutie and a few other bands. The New Pornographers are in Philly during October break, so I'll probably miss out on that as well. This leaves Sufjan Stevens at the TLA and Enon (w/ 2 other bands) at the 1st Unitarian Church. Both are on Wednesday evenings. I have choir on Wednesdays. I can miss choir once before I have to start doing stuff to make up for it.

So. Which concert do I choose? Sufjan (I know at least 2 people who are going), or Enon (don't know anyone who's going, but that could be changed, I imagine)? Sufjan Stevens is awesome, but Enon is dancy. Dancy concerts are usually quite fun.

Hrm. Anyone have any opinions/arguments one way or the other?

Turns out one of the people I thought I lost over the summer was not, in fact, lost - he just didn't make it on the list. So now I need to make a sign for him, and also signs for the two new people I just acquired. I need construction paper. All I have left is varying shades of pink, which I don't think the three guys would be huge fans of. They may get it anyway, if I can't find other stuff.

My hall is now full. Any bets on how long that will last?

The downside of being the basement RA - the high turnover rate - is already in motion. When I first got here, I learned that I had lost 3 people and gained 2 more. Just the other day I lost 1 person and gained another 3. 1 of those 3 has already switched out and is moving into Strath Haven. Geez.

Turns out it was good that I was here instead of rafting today - lots of people came by needing help getting into storage and such, and I was the only RA in the dorm. So I helped them.

I'm feeling somewhat better after napping on and off throughout the day, but I think I need to pick up some cough medicine tomorrow. Now, however, I am off to make a delightful meal of Easy Mac, since I slept through dinner. Woot.

No rafting for me after all. I woke up with a nosebleed, of all things. And the scratchy throat that I thought was gone has instead divided its strength, sending half to my nose for infernal dripping, and half to my chest for hollow, ineffective coughs. How fun!

So, I was looking over my online class schedule just to make sure I had everything right and to write it down. My costume design class has changed times - it is now 7-10 pm on Tuesdays, rather than 2:15-5 pm on Fridays. This means that I have no classes on Fridays now. I have 3 day weekends. This ROCKS.

My schedule, as of now:

M: Lyric Encounters, 1:15-4
T: Philosophy of Religion, 1:15-2:30; Ballet I (PE), 3-4:30; Costume Design, 7-10
W: Play-writing, 1-4; Choir, 7-10
Th: Philosophy of Religion, 1:15-2:30; Ballet I (PE), 3-4:30
F: Nothing

Oh yes, this is quite nice. Now the question is if I should still try to work T and Th, 10-noon at the library, or if I should switch to another time. I could combine all 4 hours into one Friday afternoon shift. But the idea of not having to do anything on Fridays sounds much more appealing... And it's probably a good idea to have at least a few days where I have to get up (relatively) early.

RA rafting trip tomorrow, so I need to get some sleep.

It seems I am fated to not go bowling. The 2 times we tried to go this summer didn't work out, and I was supposed to go tonight with all the RAs - only I lost track of time, and I missed my ride and couldn't get to Parrish Circle on time. Curses. Instead I watched 2 episodes of Sex and the City while working on hall signs. Progress is being made.

We had the fire demo/training today, which was interesting and a bit frightening. The sprinklers release a ton of water - I wouldn't want them to go off for no good reason; the amount of water will ruin everything. So don't hang things on them, hit them, or get them too hot. Anything that causes the little glass ball to break will release a torrential downpour. Also, the effects of water on a gas fire? Not good. Big silver Type A canisters are not to be used on gas fires. Little red Type ABC are good. This has been your public service announcement for the day.

Done with my first day of RA training. It was fine - nothing too exciting, but I got to meet some new people and get exposed to more aspects of the job. Tonight will be more unpacking and then early to bed, I hope - my throat is still scratchy, and I don't want to risk getting really sick.

I went to the bookstore and picked up a new ethernet cable... 25 feet just managed to do the job. Also picked up books for half of my classes - lots for philosophy of religion, unsurprisingly. I had to crouch down to the lower shelves, so one of the store dogs came over and gave me a kiss. Very much like Katie, only less hyper and fatter.

Nothing else of interest to say...

Back at Swat. RA training starts tomorrow. My week at home was nice, but not exactly relaxing - dealing with a 3 year old and an 8 month old baby is draining. The zoo was fun though, and I finally got to see the penguin exhibit. There was a baby penguin, which was just as large as his parents, only fluffy grey-brown. It was funny to see the parents flank him even though he was just as big as them.

All my stuff has been drug down into my new room, a hellish process. Carrying bags and boxes down 3 flights of stairs just isn't fun. At least my new room is nice, and big enough that I can have my unpacked stuff strewn about and still be able to walk around.

I have the list of people on my hall. The 2 girls I thought would move didn't, but another guy did leave. 2 other guys left and were replaced by 2 more. And the rooms that were left open (3 in total) don't appear to have been filled. Hopefully the year will go well.

Time for sleep.

My current favorite people: Jean, for helping me lug all my stuff upstairs; Rob, for being willing to drive me to the airport; all my other friends for just being awesome.

Tonight was fun. We surprised Anna - her birthday is coming up, so we had an early celebration. We went out the dinner, then had cake at the house. People are still there hanging out, but I'm exhausted, so I'm back at ML. I'm going to crash now and attempt to make amends with my poor lower back, which hates me oh so very much right now.

Home tomorrow.

I am packed. I am not stored, but I am packed. There is space still available upstairs in the 3rd floor storage area, and that is where I will be putting my stuff (hopefully all of it, at least most of it...) I still need to get that stuff up there, get some other stuff over to Kyle and Emily's (soon to be Erin and Caitlin's), and get Rob's PS2 back to him. He is, in theory, coming over to get it and to help me lug stuff around.

My back kills. I am tired. I just want to collapse. However, since I stayed in and worked on packing and such last night, instead of going to Victoria's thing, I feel bad. Therefore I will hang out with people tonight. Then I will store my stuff, collapse, and then drag myself to the airport (again, hopefully with Rob's help). And then my week at home begins.

I am in a bind. I have too much stuff, no good way to store it, and no solution. I can leave some stuff at Kyle and Emily's - small things, like my CDs and printer, that are somewhat valuable. I can put some stuff in storage at the dorm. But given the amount of crap I have, that's not going to be enough, especially with the restrictions put on what you can store. My plan of shoving it all in a closet for the week I'm gone and leaving a friendly note won't work, because I don't know what they'd do with the stuff.

Honestly, I'm thinking that renting a small storage unit at the place on the Pike might be my best bet. 2 small problems: getting the stuff there and getting it back. Being without a car makes that very, very difficult. Finding someone to help me get the stuff there might not be too tough, but getting stuff back to the dorm when I return? Harder, as not many people will be around. Also, renting a storage unit for just a week seems kind of silly.

Gah. I am so very screwed...

Oh, because I think I forgot to mention this before: my parents closed the deal on the house on Friday. It is sold. I no longer have a home in Quincy, and crazy doctor guy is out of our hair (unless he comes back and sues us at some point, which I wouldn't put past him.)

Today I have done laundry, cooked pasta with meat sauce, watched 25th Hour, Cruel Intentions, and a bunch of episodes of Scrubs. I have had basically no social interaction, but I'm okay with that. Today was just one of those days where I was perfectly content to sit back and disappear.

Bed now.