Post-Thanksgiving Dispatch From The Front

I survived yet another Thanksgiving. I really have no idea how I make it every year, but I do.

The graduate school semester is winding down, so it's crunch time for me, but I'm a lot more worried about how far behind I've fallen on my holiday shopping because normally I've got my presents for everybody by Thanksgiving. Having to take care of my grandmother (and do grad school work) has slowed me down to the point where I have almost no presents ready to go at a time when I'm normally done. It's stressful, really.

I do have some potentially exciting news coming up if it works out, at least, but I can't spoil things just yet because we don't know how official it is. What I can say is that it involves my art and I might just be getting a break here, so fingers crossed!

I just want a social life back, really. Graduate school takes that away from me for about four months at a time, and now that my grandmother's in the house and needs us to help her out with so many things, I really don't get out when I've got free time, either, because my free time is almost entirely devoted to helping her. I don't mind helping her, of course, but I definitely get really, really frustrated about not being able to see anybody. I've already got Asperger's to make finding friends and potential boyfriends difficult, so not even having the time to try and practice my social skills is really starting to eat at me. I guess you could say graduate school actually makes me pretty lonely.

I also guess I should go and do some work, though. I've got two weeks to go before I can see anyone, so the least I can do is get things done.

Graduate School Keeps You Busy

It's been a very busy few weeks for me, but I think things are finally settling down now.

I had an issue with the bursar's office at my school regarding my student loans - they thought I owed them money when I didn't because the government sent me less money than they initially said they were going to, so my bursar bill got all messed up and there was a temporary hold on my ability to register for classes.

Luckily, that hold is gone and the problem's being repaired, and I'm now registered for my third of four semesters of graduate school. It's weird to think that I only have four weeks of classes left (and that one of these weeks is only for one day because of the Thanksgiving break) and then I'll already be halfway done with my Master's degree - it's giving me a sense of accomplishment for a change.

I'm also feeling accomplished because I managed to catch up on the commissions I owe people last night, so I now currently don't owe anybody any art. It's wonderful to be done with those, too, because for the past several months (since August) I've been behind on pretty much everything and catching up is a wonderful relief.

That being said, I still haven't been sleeping very well lately. I think it has to do with my grandmother moving in with us - I've been under a lot of stress involving that, and it's definitely been getting to me because I'm constantly exhausted. It's been over a month now since she's joined the household, and we're all really, really worn out by the whole thing but she's been very grateful and is doing her best to help out with things despite being 80 years old. It's always nice when the person who moves in with you isn't mean, after all.

Asperger's-wise, I think I've been handling the changes fairly well, although I did have a bad dream about missing my subway the night before I had to take the train out to Brooklyn for some archival field work at Green-Wood Cemetery for school. (I've got three more nights out there, and I'm loving it so far, but it's quite a long commute and it's pretty chilly these days!) Bad dreams generally indicate stress to me because I know I have a habit of laying down to go to bed and only thinking about what work I need to get done the next day, so hopefully I'll be able to get some time off to myself to do nothing soon. I'd really, really like to do nothing.