All I know is that graduate school is hard. It's only the first week and I'm already clear that there are not enough hours in the day to do all this stuff. It scares me to think about what it will be like the rest of the year, trying to do this stuff around working nearly full-time.

I'm wildly tired. I slept for an hour when I got home yesterday, to recover some missing hours. I slept 7.5 hours last night, but I feel like old jeans -- worn, faded, and with a few tears in the knees.

And lord, I'm so behind. I've done reading as skimming, which isn't bad, but definitely isn't good. *sigh*

Mike commented on the fact that he has to take over everything while I do this. All I could think is, "Welcome to my world!" I put him through engineering school, and I remember it well.

I like my classes, but the things I'm learning overlap so much, it's hard to pull them apart and separate them in my head. I'm hoping that a few days away, i.e., the weekend, will give me some perspective.

I have two classes so far. I have been sure to email a teacher who griped that she was feeling forced into having me in the class by the chair, so I told her she could back out if she wanted.

The afternoon class is a class that could bury a gal. I had 2 chapters, a writing assignment, a form, and notes to take for a quiz tomorrow. I haven't finished, but I'm so damned tired, I'm going to bed and will get up early to try again.

Russell couldn't imagine why I would be so tired from "just school." I explained that I had gone to one class, discovered that the room had been changed to a different building and that I'd had to walk there on my cruddy knee and back again and that my knee wasn't amused. I also explained that on the first day, it's a lot of material to cover, so, I was overwhelmed and that my brain simply shuts down in response to that.

And besides, old people need their naps.

Just shut up, dammit.

I am starting grad school today. I feel like I did in Kindergarten when I stood outside our 60s-70s ranch house on Cape Street in a homemade sack dress of red plaid with my little white tights and black shiny patent leathers -- nervous, vulnerable, and very grown up.

I'd rather be teaching. ;)