A little much-needed reinforcement...

The last week has been challenging. Today was good. Things have been bit by bit starting to feel like they are falling to pieces for our move, the house is in caous, and I had this guest lecture to prepare for the class I'm TAing in. It involved video, in digital form, which, as it turns out my computer cannot play, and cannot be inserted into power point without 4 different types of software and about 100 hours of time - neither of which I had. I managed to figure out an alternate set up though, and the presentation is done! The prof I've worked with for the last year and a half or so (research and TAing etc) gave me a very kind and encouraging introduction when he introduced my presentation...would have made me weepy if I hadn't been infront of a group of 30 people. He's not one to really tell you what he thinks about you, or whether you are doing a good job - very reserved and kind of shy. So, it meant a lot that, even if only in this context he told me what he thought.

The presentation went really well. The other prof from our research team did a presentation as well, and the prof I'm TAing for took all of us out to lunch together. It was really good. They were both so encouraging and provided me with lots of postive feedback which was desperately needed at this junction in life. Then, while discussing our research and what to write up for submission etc....they decided that I should "tweak" my final report, send it to them for revisions and review, and submit it for publication!! The report I WROTE is the one we'll be using!! And I'll get to have the awsume learning experience of getting their feedback and coaching as I prepare it for submission. Now, this in NO WAY means it will be published at all, and definately not any time soon. It could easily be rejected after all the work put into it. It's a lengthly process. And there is a gargantuan amount of "tweaking" to do before it is anywhere near ready to be sent in. Apparently I'm supposed to be doing this "in my spare time" while in Mass. Lol! Good thing I don't start classes till January. Anyhoo...the prospect is exciting, and though it's a lot of work, I can't turn down the opportunity to not only have my name on something, but to actually have written the majority of it!

I actually finally had the time to clean the kitchen, somewhat assemble the living room (broken down ikea furniture and half packed boxes littering it), go grocery shopping and prep veggies, tuna and salad for snacks/lunches this week. We've totally been comfort eating this week - which means increadibly unhealthfully. Forgetting to eat, then eating really unhealthy food, and drinking lots of coffee. We have kept up our running though, so that's good. Our office room is still a disaster, but most of it is the "get rid of" pile (now covering half the room), so there is not much I can do about that till we have our "come take away our stuff" get-together. Sigh.

Deep breaths. I really do need some breathing room right now. It's hard.