Giddy

Ahhh - I am in such a good mood today. Didn't start that way, but here I find myself.
SO much work to do, but there always is. And I slept through the observations I was supposed to do at a middle school this morning for our research project - which I was feeling horribly guilty about, but then I saw my counselor. It is okay for me to sleep. When I am so passed out that my alarm clock doesn't wake me and it's physically difficult to get out of bed, it usually means the sleep was needed. And I DO feel so much better now.
So I got some sleep, I saw my counselor, I met with a professor, I got ready for class, and then we had an awesome presentation (my two partners and I). Class let out at 5:00, but I'm still on a high from it. It easily could have flopped, and I still don't know that everyone got it, but I personally think it went beautifully and every major element of our topic was illustrated through our activity and commented on while our classmates reflected on the experience. Such a cool feeling - and, as always, I had some very nice additional conversations with some classmates. I love that class!! I don't think I have thanked my friend enough - a certain individual responsible for my dropping a psych class and taking this narrative analysis one. I am SO glad she did. I cannot imagine NOT participating in this amazing, dynamic learning process.
And it has so opened my eyes to what reseach has the potential to be - just as rigorous, but with very different methods, data sources, and presentation/representation. Not always readily accepted by traditionalists, but why shouldn't/couldn't it be?
And I get to have a personal trainer for the remainder of the semester through one of the SES (sport and exercise science) courses at school, SES 490: Exercise Assessment and Programming. SES majors develop, organize, and implement a training program for a "real" person, which means they need & take volunteers from around campus, and I'm one of those volunteers this year. My trainer has actually been doing it (training) for a little while and likes it so much he decided to pursue a degree in it while still working out and training others, himself. He has a very holistic approach to "fitness," loves learning - wants to come back for his masters next year - and loves sharing knowledge, which totally clicks with me! And best of all, even though their class/our sessions are only on Mondays and Wednesdays, he checked with his teacher and is going to have me come to his gym where he works a couple extra times a week, so I get to start this weekend! Yay! And while maybe I should hold off on the excitement until I find out exactly how hard he is going to work me, I can't help but really look forward to it - a (free) personal trainer who is going to work with me in a way that focuses a lot on core strength and how all my body parts work together (instead of isolating certain muscle groups) in all dimensions of fitness (i.e. cardio, speed, strength, power, diet, stress, etc.). This has the potential to really benefit both of us. Maybe I'll even get to where I can make it through an entire orchestra rehearsal without slouching... I'll definitely keep updates...
Oh, and I have the most awesome, wonderful boyfriend. He makes me feel so good just for being me. And I love him for being him. In fact, we often tell each other, "Thank you for being you."
It's an important thing to say, and an important thing to hear - so to everyone in my life and whoever might happen to read this, thank you for being you.
And now off to orchestra, and then work on editing that manuscript. Life is good :)