Awww - puppy!

May as well toss in another link for the day - this pic is from Cute Overload (thanks John!)


Awwww - I totally feel for you, puppy.

On a side note, but partially responsible for my seeking cute puppy, let's talk about balance. One of my favorite professors said something about balance in class on Tuesday - basically that it's a joke, but also frustrating, that anyone should assume grad students have any measure of balance in their lives. Basically, as he put it (or close to), you are "rewarded" for doing more work, putting in long hours, etc. and NOT for actually looking out for yourself.

And it doesn't get any better once you become a professor - or go on to do anything in your life, I imagine. Granted, he doesn't necessarily agree with this, and is always more concerned for the well-being of his students (contributing to "one of the favorites" status - plus, he is just a rockin' teacher!), but that's just the way it goes.

Amen.

I almost would have expected this to unsettle me. But it didn't. I am totally okay with my life being unbalanced - the problem lies in prioritizing. Because it's not a matter of just being out of balance - it's an issue of how it is going to be out of balance. And how do I prioritize people and events and commitments? Prioritizing mail and homework and such is one thing, but what about the people and beings and "things" going on in my life? I try to assign them equal importance - feel they all "should be" of equal importance - feel guilty if I don't approach them all with equal importance. But that's just damn near impossible to achieve. And where do I draw the line and actually stand up for what I need? And HOW do I do that?

Hm. Food for thought.