Dust in the Wind

This is a semester for the ages. My first semester of grad school. Well, the last three or four weeks, in particular.

My computer crashed a week ago. Lost everything. All that wasn't saved on discs or jump drives or just so happened to be printed out or archived on websites. But now I have a new hard drive, thanks to my wonderful uncle Bruce, the computer prodigy.

The three-week transcript saga (one I don't wish to rehash again) is finally over. And, it seems, needed not happen in the first place (well, of course it shouldn't have happened, but I mean the transcript request nightmare might have been averted). Universities are terrible communicators. Have you noticed? The refuse to bother to look up your phone number. Instead, the wait for you to call wondering what the problem is. Or they just mail the form back to you unfilled. Or the mail just doesn't arrive. I love KU. I really do.

An another note, I'm trying to narrow down my paper topics. It's hard, let me tell you, but I'm so glad I have direction. And I just need to have the intense motivation. Which I'll for sure have once I get the topics down. 40 pages in 18 days. Painful. But I'm going to try to make it fun. Yes, try to make it fun. Creative.

Speaking of, it's back to it. Thursday night. My night when I normally do nothing because tomorrow's Friday, and I don't have classes. Can't spare too many moments these days. Thanksgiving will be only the day of. In Manhattan with my lovely family. Minus my grandpa for the first time; he was sick, hunched over on the couch, last year at this time, coughing, sleeping. He's in a better place now, and so is Grandma. She gets a big Thanksgiving in a big house with lots of family that love her.