At graduate orientation we were told several variations of this equation:

Community + Support – Bad Time Management = Success.

What I thought was hilarious was that most of us had zero friends, zero community, and support coming from people we barely knew. So, success seemed to many of us to be a distant galaxy. I laughed about this concept with some acquaintances over a beer at the campus pub last week but the laugh was definitely tinged with self doubt and exhaustion.

The first week is over. Hooray! The last day of the week ended with me walking into our program orientation late, starving, sweaty, and flustered- a bus 20 minutes late will do that to you (well, not the starving part- I actually forgot to eat, and subsequently my stomach made horrid noises throughout orientation- I hereby apologize to the two women who were on either side of me).

Yesterday ended with a meet up at a local pub to meet other folks in our program further in a more casual setting.  I met some really lovely souls. One girl who owns a very handsome, older, fat cat; a gentleman who enjoys Spokane (which I loathe and said so); a couple from Moscow, Russia, who are both hyper intelligent and beautiful; a wonderful girl who shared her favorite restaurants and foods with me; the list goes on. Only one person in the program I can banter with so far. I miss giving shit to people. I miss banter and comfort in company. I miss sitting on patios drinking gin with good people and relaxing, or taking walks and not talking and having the silence be fine. I miss reading in the company of people, of being able to be a bit pointy or sassy.

Alas, I need to go read now…til next time!