Calm before the storm

It's November 11th and Veteran's Day, which means my internship office is closed and I am having a mini-holiday right now. I made it through mid-terms without too much stress. I did however have to run to one class with my just printed mid-term clutched in my hands in order to make it to class on time. I don't want to do that again! I made good grades on them all so I am relatively pleased with myself. Long ago I abandoned my ability to get all A's, for the most part no matter how hard I try it just doesn't happen. So I am thrilled to be getting the A's I have seen and the few B's sprinkled in along the way. I have reconfirmed to myself that I am not a scholar, I just don't get excited about reading and discovering a certain topic. Maybe you could say I once was about the American fast food and food systems, but not as much any more. I am just not one to spout off knowledge about the things I know or believe. I recently felt ashamed when my favorite professor asked me what I was passionate about (trying to get me to focus my research paper) and all I wanted to say was nothing. I know if my dad reads this he can tell me "told ya so" at Christmas, sorry. I am seeing this degree as more as a means to a better job than any other overarching self fulfillment type situation, though I will be proud of myself when this is all said and done.

The end of this semester is approaching and I have two small papers and two large papers left to do. Not so bad except that research eats up a lot of time. One paper is my choosing (that passion one) and I guess I have settled on international cattle trade/industry. Can't say I am super excited or that I have discovered anything really new. It's similar to the American system just in other countries that are poorer. The one for budgeting is this long thing looking at budgets in various states. I picked Georgia. Not super thrilled about this one but it's gotta get done.

Well, that's the state of affairs concerning school right now. I've felt absurdly at peace the past few days even though I know there is more work I should be doing. By the time I get home from class at 9pm I just don't want to do any more work. That will have to change soon even if I don't feel like it.

Last weekend I ran a 10k over the Benjamin Franklin Bridge and around Camden. It was fun, though doing it by yourself isn't really fun. There were over 4,000 other people with me but I didn't know any of them. They had run out of my shirt size but they gave everyone a medal at the end, which made up for it. I wore the thing the rest of that day.