Is it Wednesday already?

I don't know how it happened that it's Wednesday already.  Somehow a week has passed since I was anxiously awaiting my four-day break, lots of turkey and lots of time with family.  Time sure flies. Wish I could tell all of you it's because I was having fun!  :)

I guess I can't say that I wasn't having fun.  The past few days have just passed in a blur.

I am feeling the stress of being a student taking seven credits while also teaching full-time.  Last weekend I spent a lot of my time writing an eight-page research paper for my Psychology class.  The longer I teach, the more interesting I find it to be on the student end of writing a paper.  In some ways I feel like I have an extreme advantage, but in other ways I wonder if it makes me worry and stress more.

Back in my college days, I was what some would definitely refer to as might call a procrastinator.  Particularly when it came to writing papers.  I remember one incident in particular.  Our assignment was to write a twelve-page paper in Spanish.  I apologize, but today some ten years later I don't remember the topic.  I do remember that I had about ten pages typed when suddenly, somehow, I lost it all.  I'll admit, I'd gone out earlier in the evening...putting off writing the paper as long as I could.  It was almost 3 a.m. at the time I lost the paper.  My dad was traveling on business, so I called him on his cell phone while he was fast asleep in a hotel somewhere in New Mexico to solicit his expert advice on how to get it back.  Well, it turns out that if you don't save something initially, there's no guarantee that Microsoft Word will save periodically.  Turns out I had to re-write the entire paper.  Although that experience didn't necessarily cure my bad habit of procrastinating, it makes for a fun memory and it DID teach me to save my work immediately so that the program starts automatically saving periodically as I work.

In addition to my paper, I've also got an upcoming exam in Anatomy & Physiology.  Tomorrow night I have a written exam, and the practical will be either next Thursday or the following.  Anyone who knows me knows that I am a little bit freakish about my grades.  It's an odd thing about me, especially because as a teacher I am encouraging no matter what grade my students earn.  I'm a little bit harder on myself.  I'm really, really working on not putting so much value on the "A."  But, I can tell you that it's an especially hard habit to break.  I'll even go so far as to tell you that when I got my first "D" on a test this semester I cried.  But, the good news is I got over it.  The world didn't end, and I am more motivated because of it.

The semester is winding to a close (well, at least my semester as a student is) and the holidays are fast approaching.  I find myself getting more and more excited as Christmas approaches.  Every week Tony and I have several reasons to drive over to the East Side of Milwaukee.  There is something so awe-inspiring about the driving down Lake Dr. at dusk, getting glimpses of Lake Michigan and seeing sparkling Christmas lights all along the way.

I hope to be more able to update my blog in a more timely fashion.  For all of you faithful readers out there, I haven't forgotten about you -- in fact, I'm constantly plotting when to write and what to write about :)  As I've stated before, it's a little bit addictive (in a good way)!  I'm so excited that we've made it through more than half the week.  Two more wake-ups and it'll be the weekend!  Have a great end to the week everybody!