Hole in the Wall

It's the middle of the night and again, I am awake. I did sleep for four hours first tonight but then I woke up, and here I am wide awake. So I thought I'd update y'all on what I've been up to.

Thursday, I met the head of my program, Robin Goodwin and attended his first lecture (X-cultural variations). He seems really cool and the class is going to be great. He is pretty informal, and seems like a good/easy person to get to know. I felt confident about talking in class and talking to him personally. The class seems really good. Like I said, very informal, but there is still going to be a lot to learn. The classroom is more like a lounge, big comfy chairs, no desks, Robin sits, it really is more of a discussion then a lecture. Our readings are like, "here's a list of 20 articles that could reinforce or add to next week's lecture, pick a few that look interesting to you and prepare that way."

Yesterday I went to Psych Methods. It is about what I expected, which means it wasn't much fun. It's like this. It's not going to be much of a struggle, mostly just wiping the dust off of my SPSS and behavioral methods skills, but the lecturer is awful. By no fault of his own, but still it is going to be dreadful to do. First, I am much more of a qualitative guy to begin with, sorry Daddo. Second, its math, which lets be honest, while maybe not difficult is not like, "oh my god, gotta get me some more math."And then there is the fact that there has never been a Psychometrician that is even close to not a giant dork. I think it is either what makes you become a psychmet or maybe something they teach you right before graduation. Whatever the reason, he is completely disorganized and dry and s o v e r y s l o w. I am sure it will be a good way to get back into doing that kind of work for my dissertation, but man, I wish it weren't so painful. And of course SPSS is like $200 for Macs and only $80 for PC's. And yet still, I loves me a Mac.

This weekend I am going to be a little more down to earth, go grocery shopping and do my laundry. Do some reading. Maybe make plans to go to Ireland with a few people next weekend?!? Why not, right? And apparently there is a park around here, so I may go find that.

I feel like everyday I wake up with very little idea of what I am going to do. And so I am constantly just picking something and running with it. I feel like I am just blindly running around hoping for the best. From the inane, this afternoon I decided I needed some Indian food, so off to Indian! To the bigger things, thinking Ireland next weekend. To the huge, ummmm coming over here in the first place. I feel like one of these times I am going to walk full force into a (metaphorical)wall and its going to hurt like hell(Ok there is a chance at a real one too). But it is a risk worth taking. And hopefully I will leave a "Mike" shaped hole in the wall. And I and the world will be better for it.


One of my all time favorite quotes:
On croit aire un voyage, mais c'est le voyage qui nous fait...
(We think that we are making a journey, but it is the journey that makes us...)
-Nicolas Bouvier-