It’s the beginning of the 3rd week of classes at Purdue and I’m in Rawls Hall. I’ve really only got about 10 minutes for this post…long enough to do something, but not long enough to do anything significant. I feel like I’ve spent more time in Rawls these past weeks than I have in my own apartment….and that very well may be true. But, if I had to choose a campus building to spend a lot of time in, I guess I could do worse.

Rawls is pretty nice digs.

I’m mostly excited about school, and I love learning, even when it’s stressful. But I’ve started to realize some important things as I move through this process.

1. Going to college in your 30s is very different than going to college in your teens. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It makes me admire my mom even more for returning to college in her 40s! But, I don’t think I have the energy reserves I had when I was 18. Conversely, I think I’m much better at making the most of my time than I was 10 years ago, or even 5 years ago.
2. My “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” approach to undergrad isn’t going to serve me very well now (see above) and is not translatable to my current situation.
3.  I continue to be bad at math. I mean BASIC math. And, Lord, there’s a lot of math.
4. I’ve met some really cool people who will be a great help to me as I move through the program. Now, to get over this whole self-sufficiency thing!
5. Most of all, I am excited for the opportunities that await me after I’m done with this program. I just have to keep that goal in mind and all the effort will be worth it.

It is August 7… I am home from working 24 of the last 36 hours. It is so hot (even at 10 pm) that I’m listening to Christmas music - as I do - to keep myself cool. As I was checking my Google Reader, I noticed the link to my own unused little blog and decided to reacquaint myself with it. And that is when I saw this quote I’d posted:

“Things work out best for those who make the best of the way things work out.”
-Abraham Lincoln

Over a year ago, I created this post. At the time, the words meant little more to me than something cool someone kinda cool allegedly said (but who knows…there was no audio/video recording then). Little did I know at the time how true those words would come to ring in my life. To say that, since the time at which I posted that quote, I’ve  experienced serious upheaval in nearly ever aspect of my live is a gross understatement. But, you have to, as is oft uttered in my family, “suck it up”!

Tomorrow, I begin my first activities as a new Master’s student in the Krannert School of Management at Purdue. Tomorrow is the day that my making the best of the way things work out goes into effect. I am so excited to beginning the prelude to the next chapter in my life. And who knows, maybe I’ll finally learn how to do math!!

This is my first post on my new blog. This is something I’ve been considering doing for quite some time, but I’ve been concerned about starting it and not keeping up with/updating it regularly enough. But, I guess I determine what constitutes “regularly enough” so, yeah.

So…

I just got off the phone with my cousin Ramona (on my mom’s side) we are trying to set the wheels in motion for a family reunion of sorts…she’s thinking a cruise next summer. In reality it wouldn’t be so much a reunion as a union. I hear tales of long ago family gatherings but none have occurred in my 30 years on the planet. We both expressed concern about the potential of dating a relative and not knowing because we’ve not met a large percentage of our family members. Also inherent in that mutual concern was the genetic vanity we all experience — we’re all so pretty, who wouldn’t want to date us.

Anyway, that’s what I have for the day. Hail Obama!