Done with comps!!!

And I'm spent.

I never thought they could be so exhausting. seriously... it's two days later, and I'm still beat. I have loads of work to catch up with, work that I didn't have a chance to get to because I was to busy studying/freaking out about comps for the last two weeks. Turns out that three weeks is a long time to put the rest of the things in your life on hold, and it doesn't seem like it all went away, because here it all is, waiting for me to deal with it. well, too bad. I'm taking my time to get back into things. No worries, though... I'll get back to things. In a sec.
Meanwhile, in other news... I just landed a part time job with my practicum placement, working cases that are attached to the study I'm already involved with. So now they'll be paying me... yeay, money. I'm also still keeping the weight off, still marathon training and running a lot, still generally busy but happy enough with the state of things. John's focusing a great deal on his working out at the gym and reading Greek, two things he never did back in Texas.

It's cold. No snow, but it's definitely cold. being less fat in cold weather is not my idea of fun. If anyone has any ideas on how to be generally warmer in a smaller body would be most helpful.

I have a race next weekend, a little 4-mile run in the park. Beyond that, there are a couple of races afterward, in coming weeks. All I can say is that I better not get injured. That would definitely make running a bunch of races a lot more difficult. Here are some pictures from the races I did in December and earlier this month, a couple in texas and one when I got back to New York.

Here's the bunch of us at the "Just for the Heck of it" run in Arlington.

And here I am, later in that race, turning a corner and kicking a little ass.

See? I'm beating people. They're behind me. I like pictures where there are a bunch of people running behind me.

This is after new years, at the Addison Resolution Run... I was pretty happy about doing this one, because it was my first 15k. Turns out I'm capable of running a 15k. Notice the person running behind me. Oh, yeah.

And here I am crossing the finish. Incidentally, I ended up getting a trophy for this one... fourth place in my age group. Woohoo!

And this is at the Fred Lebow Classic, in Central Park, just after getting back home from Texas. Note the smiling. Running isn't just pain after all!

And then, the finish line... and people behind me! That never gets old, believe me.

Extra fun

For starters, Ricky has been in town, so it's been extra happy for me these last few days. Ricky was a big part of my world back in Dallas, mostly at Dallas Opera rehearsals (and after rehearsals at the bar), so having him here for a few has been a real treat. That's one of my extras.

Another was the race I ran on Saturday. Okay, so I got there at 9:10, thinking I was early for the 9:30 start... except it was a 9:00 start. Great. So I get on the course anyway... the 5-mile course... for which they've already started taking up markers, so I can't tell where my turn is... so I manage to add an extra mile to the race by running the whole stinking 6-mile loop (but still finished ahead of the walkers... HA!!!), and the chip on my shoe didn't record my actual start/finish time, so I was clocked at something like an hour and twenty minutes for something that only took me about 55 minutes to run. Yeah... talk about extra.

Finally, there's my last extra... comps. Enough already with the stinking comps! I'm sick of them... I've done it once, and once is enough, thank you. I haven't studied nearly as much as I know I should have at this point, but hey... I have five more days, right? No problem... I've got this. Doesn't mean I'm not stressing, but I've got this.

Another little extra... at my practicum placement, I was offered the opportunity to apply for a part-time position that actually pays money, so that's in the works. Yeay for extra money (assuming I land the position). Anyway, fingers crossed, please.

Back home and loving it

Seriously... I really missed New York. We both did. Sure, we had a good time seeing everyone back in Texas, but I've had enough of Texas. Sort of the reason I moved to New York in the first place. Strangely enough, it turns out that John was eager to get back to the Big-Appleness we call home. I may have pried him kicking and screaming into New York life, but he's more than accepted it with open arms since he's been here, and we were giddy as those two little naked Rodin sculpture babies when the plane landed at Laguardia. So yes, we're back, and happy to be so.

Now it's crunch time. John has a paper to write. I have comps, as well as a life to get back to. Meanwhile, a friend of mine just had triplets, which makes me feel a little like an underachiever (she even worked all the way through her pregnancy... that's a woman after my own heart)... maybe I can look to her as inspiration to finish my comp studies and get on with everything at full steam.

Here we go.

Happy newness

Hope everyone's having a good start to the new year! We had a good enough time of it, I suppose. John and I worked a job, but it was a super-easy new year job of standing around watching cash boxes at two new years eve parties, so it was easy money (and enough of it to buy me for new years). Afterwards, we spent some time with friends, eating some good food and doing some back-and-forth resolutioning. My resolutions: to stay in my new weight range, to run the NYC Marathon, to put together a game plan for my album sales, and to not be negative about my self-image for the next year. John's going to continue pursuing calm and focus in his life, which he's enjoyed so far, and to depersonalize things in general. Very spiritual of him, if you ask me, and rather admirable. After all, we're both in the gym already, and working as hard as ever, so the usual "get in shape" resolutions are sort of pointless. we're also very committed to schoolwork as it is, so I don't think we'll have to go down that road of resolutions, either. I suppose, then, that these deeper, self-reflective resolutions and goals are the only way to fly, and I can't say I mind it too much.

In the coming week, we're going to be getting new tattoos... I'll be sure to post pictures as soon as I have some, so keep your pants on.