Writing is getting harder and harder while I'm in graduate school. I think partly it has to do with the fact that I'm reading and writing so much for school every day. The other part is that I'm simply overwhelmed with ideas and topics to write about all the time. Sometimes I want to talk about things like my delicious pre-New Year's dinner out with the girls at Carmelita and the incredibly yummy Trader Joe's lava cake that Monice recommended, and other times I want to talk about things like balancing work and school and practicum, liberation theology, topics mentioned in my social justice posts, and my feelings about the term "case manager." I want to wish everyone belated happy holidays and a Happy New Year, and I must say again that I'm so very grateful and touched by the wonderful support, in many forms, given to me by the amazing people in my world. Then, sometimes I want to talk about the the magnificence of Veuve and the warm beaches of Maui, which I fear I may not see for quite a long time (but I did enjoy a bottle of Veuve with TBF for new year's; his awesome gift to me). Did I mention that I visited the fam in K Falls over xmas break and had a lovely time?

The holiday break wasn't quite long enough, though. I'm better rested, but I could have used an extra week or so to get truly caught up. I'm pleased by how everything turned out for autumn quarter, but...off we go again. Winter quarter is now in full swing. One quarter down, five to go. I continue to find myself simultaneously energized and exhausted. Sometimes one more than the other. Right now, I'm tired.

Has anyone seen The King's Speech? It's a fantastic movie. Great acting by Geoffrey Rush and Colin Firth, engaging (I related to the Duke of York's basic fear of public speaking) and surprisingly funny. I also saw Blue Valentine today, which was incredibly well-acted but also terribly depressing. Still, I got totally wrapped up in the story. I recommend both. After a parade of bad movies in 2010, it's refreshing to see some good work appearing.

I ordered a Kindle the other day to give my tired, old eyes a break. I'm doing tons of reading on the computer for school, and I started to feel the strain by the end of last quarter. It should arrive soon. I'm looking forward to giving it a whirl.

TBF and I have sporadically gone jogging together over the past couple of months, and now our main new year's resolution is to go together at least once on the weekends (am also trying to cut back on coffee and sugar, and attempt to be less of an academic perfectionist (I can invest a lot of time and limited energy to school), and take time for friends and family and myself AND...). I'm glad to be doing this. As much as I struggle with liking exercise, and I know I'll never be a star athlete, it feels really good to get out there and work the body. I'm actually enjoying it. I think partly because when exercising my mind can't focus on anything else. It's turning into one of those self-care kinds of things.

Oh my, still so much more to say, but I must go off to bed. I have to be at my practicum site at 8am, which is earlier than early for me. I haven't figured out how to cope with that yet. Working on it...