so it's been a little while, and I'm actually in CO. PC didn't work out for me at this time in my life. I guess it was a gut reaction. I did spend some time in Paraguay. It was nice, and fortunately it wasn't incredibly hot while I was there.

So I don't know how much longer I'll continue this journaling. Maybe, maybe not. I already keep my own hard copy journal, and I just don't use this much any more to keep in touch with people.

Meh...

Well I have about two and a half weeks till I leave the country for two years. That's right, I leave for Paraguay (by way of Miami for a few days) on Sept. 24th.

And today is the day I finish writing my thesis. After today, it's all just editing! That's exciting. Unfortunately for me, it is also the beginning of the day, so that means that I have all day to moan and groan about finishing this up. But if I do a good job then my thesis defense on the 14th will go beautifully and if I do a really good job today I might not have many edits to fix before turning the thesis in, all in my last week before leaving town. WOO!

I live an interesting life.

I have been invited!

I woke up this morning and checked my mail as ususal. I had an application status update notification and when I got to my application online it said I had been nominated. Now all I have to do is wait for freaking ever (or so I've heard) for the invitation packet to get to me so I can actually know where I'm going.

I'm fairly impressed. I got an email yesterday morning from someone in the placement office asking about my "romantic involvement" and asking to get a transcript. I called back as soon as I got the email that same day and told them what they needed to hear. And now I'm invited the next day. I didn't think things worked that quickly with the Peace Corps... but then again I did receive my dental clearance the day after they received all my medical packets.

OK. I'm off to go on a bike ride. Did I mention I'm training for a triathalon? Aug. 5th the Tri-For-A-Cure triathalon. It's all women competing and the proceeds go to breast cancer research. Perfect!

Medically Cleared!

I'm medically cleared... just heard today. That was so easy! It sounds like for most people that it takes numerous back and forth episodes to get cleared. All the additional info they wanted from me was proof of a new polio booster. Wow! So next step (and hopefully coming soon) is hearing where I get to go!

Just a quick update for friends who live far away from me at the moment... I've got to get out on my bike/run before it gets too late in the morning so I can still get to church and shower before that!

I'm not finishing the thesis by the previously stated deadline. Now the deadline is... freeform. I'm also having trouble actually getting a lot done on the thesis.

That leads to a reason why I've been less productive than normal. For aproximately two weeks (since 6/10) I've been single. The approaching 2 years gone in the Peace Corps were too much for Logan. So last week I was a total slob and laid around pretty much every day except for managing to get in to work. But this week I pulled myself into full recovery mode and managed to get my triathalong training (Aug 5th!) back on track (mostly) and worked quite a bit as well as 6 (a rather measly number, but something) hours on my thesis.
Next week will be even better... but we're going to forget that yesterday's goal of 6+ hours of thesising didn't actually happen.

So, I'm off for a bike and then a run. I did a swim then run brick workout on Wednesday and totally accomplished it with flying colors which I didn't expect at all. So, today should be just as good:) Then church (yay!) and visiting my sister and seeing her new house.

Oh yeah, and the week of June 3-10 I was in Tucson, AZ as one adult leader of the senior high mission trip to work with Humane Borders. We put water in the desert for undocumented migrants. WOO! We didn't break any laws but it sure felt like we were defying authorities:)

still thesising. realization came today that I have a month (technically 5 weeks, but I have to subtract the week for the mission trip I'm helping out with in June) until my thesis is due to my comittee. Whoa, a little freaked I have to admit. I'm not even done with my data analysis, much less done translating the data!
However, my revision of the first three chapters (Introduction... way too long, Methods and the Literature Review) of my thesis are progressing nicely though slowly. Had a good discussion with my friend Elliott about actually sitting down to "do" which has helped, and Mother's day weekend, though nice didn't help. My consolation is that most people go through this with a thesis or dissertation. Thank goodness for that.

Lots of my friends are buying houses these days. And getting married. Two folks from my family are getting married. WIERD. My cousin Matt who is a month older than I is in July and then Molly, his cousin (but not mine) is getting married in June. I found out that I don't get to go to her wedding (during the mission trip) and don't get to go to Jamie's (Matt's fiancee) bridal shower for the same reason. Poo. I love events that serve cake as an integral part to their existance.
Actually, all events that serve food are must-dos to this Graduate student. Especially since I'm cutting down my hours this summer while finishing the thesis. 10hr/week. YIKES! It will barely support my rent/food/toiletries needs, but it means I have more time to thesis and the best part of working where I do is that I am able to raise it back up to 20/week after I'm finished thesising.

This summer I'm filming a couple professors solving physics problems on a whiteboard to post for physics students as examples of how to solve problems. VERY stimulating, let me tell you. We've already done two practice shoots, which have been ridiculously essential. Have you ever though of having to 'storyboard' your physics problems? Well neither of the professors ever had til this summer! I'll also be doing some cool stuff like filming clouds forming in time-lapse for the cloud show, but mainly physics problem solving. WOOO!

Anyways. OH! Another wedding: my best friend's brother. I'm going with her because her fiancee is in Iraq. I'm debating wearing my super fancy dress because I can and because Laura is a brides made so will be all pretty to match. It doesn't quite fit though, and I have to find an appropriate bra.

PS- In case you are wondering I miss my brain. It's been in thesis mode for way too long and thus some of this randomness. Other associated symptoms have been extreme forgetfullness and general ditziness.

As I continue to go about my daily life I've noticed that every once and a while I'll think: "It's lucky I'm already doing _____, it might make my transition easier." Of course, I'm referring to the Peace Corps. Things that I've recently had this thought about are that I have to wash all my dishes by hand (sadly I have no dishwasher), or that I am already having to get around sans car. And I feel like I do pretty well despite lacking some of the modern conveniences that I used to take for granted.

The of course I've also had thoughts to temper these previous thoughts. For instance, I might be used to washing my dishes by hand, but water comes so easily here and I might have to haul water from a distance to wash my clothes or dishes or to boil to drink. I might have to wait for the rains to come to take that bath I've wanted to take for a while. I can get around really easily on my own two feet and with my bike here, and I'm used to it taking a bit longer to get places. But I feel safe traveling on my own in Fort Collins, I can bike or walk home at night and not have to worry overly much about being mugged or worse.

I'm feeling fairly isolated currently, what with this whole "thesis" thing going on in my life. I'm going to have to get used to asking people to walk home with me at night from a late community meeting. I'll have to get used to the idea that even if I do have a bike down there that doesn't mean I'm more immune from personal attacks just because I can go faster than someone running after me.

I heard a story third or fourth hand the other day of a Peace Corps volunteer who took a taxi cab home and because it was dark paid extra to have the driver take her directly to her house. Then later that night the guy came back and raped her. This was the story that gave me pause, because it sounds like she did something to be safe, but yet still ended up getting harmed. At least it is always good to know that this sort of thing can happen here too, but still, it was an intimidating story to hear. Who knows if it's true, I heard it on the internet. :)

In any case, perhaps I will be a bit more prepared than most for living without modern conveniences but I don't know that anyone can ever be truly prepared for everthing they may encounter living in a foreign country with the Peace Corps.

Well, another day well spent. I've been hard at work on pretty much everything. Not as much as yesterday after Easter with the padres, but none the less, hard at work.

I sent out 20+ emails (all composed yesterday) to break the week-long abstinence from emailing people down in Central America bugging them for interviews. The reason I had a week off from this? Well, one person mentioned that it was infact Semana Santa, which meant everyone down there in CA get's a week long vacation. Well, not wanting to take any chances of people not being around, I figured I would work on something else for the time being and wait till TODAY to send the emails out en-masse.

So far so good. People have been responding pretty quickly. About 5 of the 20 I sent out this (late) afternoon have already responded. People in Tourism seem to have pretty long hours down there, or their work/personal emails combine. Anyways, things look good there. I also have some new contacts for Panama, which is great since I have no data from that country yet.

So my date for my defense is set. June 28th, which means I have to have a completed paper on June 22nd. OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!! That is coming up super fast. And I don't have all my data. So, hopefully I get the rest of it in two weeks, which gives me till the end of April/beg of May to analyze the data (here's hoping for two - three weeks of analysis TOPS). And then I can start writing the thesis in May. I have a week that I'll be gone in June, but I also drop down to 15 hours/week at work.

Oh my friends, please think nice thoughts at me.

And I'll do my part by trying... no, staying incredibly on top of everything and not slacking off. Sound like a deal?

Shouldn't I be in Latin America?

I didn't think I would see this today, especially since I'm not in Central/South America yet. My wandering attention was caught by a strange noise just now. I looked out my window, which faces a small expanse of lawn, then a ditch and then a large apartment complex. A younger man was hacking at some of the ditch vegetation with a machete. A machete. I haven't ever seen one of these in the US, only in Panama. I had the impression that we had much more "advanced" technology here in the US (especially in Fort Collins!). I'm guessing this fellow is an employee of the apartment complex and was told to go out and get rid of certain plants... however I get the impression that employee or not, he had no idea what he was doing and was just hacking at stuff for fun... and throwing the knife around like it was a toy. Boy am I glad I am on this side of the ditch, and not his.... :)

So I was right! My third cholesterol test done by my actual doctor and not in rapid-screen format came back and it's fabulous! Despite some slightly elevated numbers (which the doctors weren't even concerned about) everything was great. WOOO!

Theisising progressed a bit this week, which also happens to be Spring Break. Despite only having one class to go to, it's been a relief not to go into class this week... also really nice is not going into work, so in reality I gained like, 23 hours in my schedule. In reality too, I have done more TV watching and laying around than I would otherwise, and despite not getting as much done as I would have liked, that's ok with me. I'll get it all done... I've got a knack for it.

And anyways, if I had been in OKC this week, nothing would have gotten done.

Logan is off buying supplies for breakfast! Yum:)

So, I guess not much else is going on. In all my laying around I did find out that there is a Gilmore Girls episode on at 9am, a fabulous discovery except for the fact that I am never home at 9am on a normal weekday.
Also great is that I've seriously started training for a 10K again! My body is super sore because the training program I have includes some strength training. I'm going to need that strength training for the swimming portion of the triathalon I hope to do this summer, so I'm glad it's there, and the plan aslo includes some cross training, which I'll do in eather biking or swimming.

And I guess finally this summer Logan and I will likely be heading to either coast (San Francisco or New York) to make some committment rings for ourselves. Logan's middle brother (who I'm not that fond of) lives in NYC, so potentially we'll end up there. I'm just excited that after our initial realization that what we wanted to do was too expensive we've come up with something else cool... and it's this workshop that seems pretty inexpensive that we could actually make our rings!

OK, time for some quality reading time!

OK... so sorry for the laps between posts.

I'm almost done typing up my interviews from this December. Thank goodness. I need to be more motivated in general because when it comes down to it, I have about 4 more months to get this whole "thesis" thing done with.

Spanish has increased in difficulty this semester, potentially because of the teacher, but also potentially be cause it could be a "weeder" class... a class meant to weed out those unfortunate students who can't hack it in the next level up... 300 level spanish... So wow... four years ago I was at that level, and now, back to hoping I don't get weeded out!

My new roommate is great. She and I get a long really well, both enjoy our Gilmore Girls on Tuesday and is vegetarian. No, I haven't returned to complete vegetarianism, but it is still a possibility, especially since about two weeks ago I found out that I have incredibly high cholesterol. Which is partly why I visit the doctor tomorrow. One, to get a second test, because I'm not convinced that in 6 months (!!) my cholesterol went up over one hundred points. Not convinced. But I'm also headed there to figure out my last little bit of medical before sending all the forms into the PC HQ. For some reason, despite having gotten the vaccination years ago, I am apparently not immune to Hep. A. Crazy!

OK, work at LSOP tomorrow, so I've got to get to bed. It's going to be a busy day tomorrow!
(oh, and we had LSOP Open House on Saturday and it went FANTASTIC!)

wonderful wonderful!

Logan and I did go dancing last night, and sadly my coordination has dissapeared over the months we didn't go, but it was a lot of fun, and I even got that margarita I've been wanting!

I've started transcribing my interviews. This one I've started with is super difficult because there are two people and the female is not well miked. A challenge, but that's ok.

I'm going to take a break in just a bit for some Gilmore Girls and then back to my thesis!

back to school, though I don't have much to do by way of classes this semester. I'm in one Spanish class, and 7 hours of thesis credit. I don't know what I have to do to get those thesis credits fulfilled, aside from completing a thesis... but I guess I'll find out.

My trip to Mexico was overall successful. It had me wondering about my decision to join the Peace Corps for a while, but now I'm feeling back to normal.

What's going to be tough about this semester is not the overwhelming amount of work to do for classes, but rather getting myself motivated to complete the thesis, and staying motivated througout the semester. I'm pretty sure that I will be graudating this summer, not this year. I might apply for graudation anyways, just in case I do get my act together and come up with a thesis and defense before mid-April. However, my goal is mainly to enjoy my last 9 or so months in the States, finish a thesis... get my M.S., spend time with my friends and family and Logan, and enjoy myself. I hope to find myself again. Graduate school I feel has made me into someone slightly different that I was when I graduated from KU... someone more absent-minded and more confused about life, someone more stressed. In any case, life has treated me well the past year and a half, but I hope to make it even better.

Logan sadly will be working close to full-time and also only taking 3 classes, so will be super busy. I'm hoping we can keep our weekly date going, especially if we can make it to Salsa dancing on Tuesdays, but I have to wait and see.

I'm also re-invigorating my desire to run a triathalon... starting with getting the 5K and 10K races down! I want to run the Bolder Boulder in the spring (10K)! And then hopefully this summer a sprint-distance triathalon! I wanted to do this ages ago, but the running held me back (because I used to hate it) but now that I acually have hope of running more than 2 miles at a time, I figure no time like the present to get myself in shape for this. It can only but help as I transition to life in Latin America with no personal vehicle.

Speaking of vehicles... about 2 weeks ago I said farewell to my car as it traveled with my sister to Greeley, and I depositied a nice sum of moola into my bank account (yay paid off debt!!!!!!!). So since then (and because of the incredible amounts of snow we've been getting here weekly) I've found myself reliant on friends for transportation (and Logan) as well as the busses and my own two sturdy legs. Today I got done early with an appointment at the dentist, and decided that since it was about an hour till the next bus came that I needed, I would just walk home, which took about an hour anyways (with a detour to the rec center, which was sadly closed).
I'm really liking this new pedestrian-friendly life, but not liking the businesses and homes who continue to not shovel their sidewalks! Seriously people, there are some of us who don't have cars!

I'm forming a new appreciation for the car-less. (and also for the fortunate people with cars and time to drive me places!)

I guess that's it for now. I should spend my time more usefully, ideally in reading about ecotourism (I present on this topic to my church Sunday) or in transcribing my interviews from mexico... but in all likelihood I will be making hot chocolate and watching TV. It is the last day of break, afterall!=