Sigh. Sort of.

This week has been interesting. I can see the end of the semester very clearly, and that really excites me. Several major deadlines came and went this week and now I can breath a short sigh of relief. Funny how each of these deadlines could have sent me into a panic, but battling them one at a time made things go by without too much bloodshed.

This week was a real challenege that required me to do the one thing that I hate doing, but is basically what I signed up for as a grad student. A few years ago, giving presentations or lectures in class would have sent me into a corner, crying and rocking back and forth, but somehow it's doable right now. The anxiety is still very present, but it seems to lessen by the day. So it's done! And questions and feedback went much better than expected! Maybe I'm not the utter moron I sometimes bill myself to be.

The one slight hitch in this week is with a fellow classmate. As grad students I feel like we've signed ourselves up for work. Lots of it. Lots of reading, writing, and learning. One of my classmates, a very heavily recruited classmate, has made it quite clear that they are not interested in putting in much effort. This bugs me, but I can let it go. What I can't let go is this person dragging me into their mess. Classmate successfully conned me into doing a big project on my own, and then took credit for the entire thing. We aren't in high school anymore. As grad students shouldn't we all be invested in learning and putting in a degree of effort to get work done. I'm annoyed at myself for not being more vocal and for being annoyed.

I take comfort in knowing that I'm here to learn but I can't help but be a tad bit annoyed. Department politics here we come.

In non school related news, another weekend is coming and once again I'm left without any plans. Moving away from friends and family requires a huge transition. I save errands and projects for the weekend so I have things to occupy my time. A nice book and possibly a movie are definitely in order, but I should probably make an attempt at something social. I try to remind myself how nice a lazy weekend used to feel, but that's really not of much comfort now.