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.