End of Week One. Head still unexploded.

Whew. What a week. I knew my routine would change significantly after orientation ended and classes began, and I thought I'd prepared adequately. Got all the right programs installed on both my desktop and my laptop, got through all (...okay, most) of the readings and lectures for LIS 500, warned my friends that I'd be getting a little busier for the next couple years, and sat down all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at my computer and waited eagerly for the discussion boards to open. Five days, about a thousand emails, and several minor panic attacks later, I am proud to say that I survived my first week of graduate studies! And my head didn't even blow up!

This week more or less felt like the couple times I've tried to learn how to drive a stick. In theory, I knew what I was getting myself into. In theory, I thought I'd woken my theoretical long-dormant abilities and proficiencies. In theory, I figured I could probably smoothly wing it until I really started to get the hang of it all. In practice, however, I found myself jerking back and forth, sometimes moving ahead and accelerating with ease and perfect aplomb, then almost immediately getting overconfident, destroying my momentum (and probably various important car parts/brain cells), and grinding painfully to a halt.

Despite the stress that comes with any sort of major adjustment to the way I spend each of my days (and now most of my free time), and despite how completely physically and mentally exhausted I am sitting here at my desk with a much-needed beer, I still feel like somehow, I came out on top this week. I successfully completed my first assignment, as small as it was (we had to create a short 3-5 minute intro presentation using the tech tools we were granted access to last week during orientation - here's mine if you're interested!). I successfully reworked my strategy for reading in a more effective way, and the progress I made allowed me to somewhat confidently post comments on the discussion boards for LIS 500. I'm starting to get my schedule under control, and I'm settling into a proactive routine that I actually might want to keep up instead of defaulting to my go-to hard-core procrastination. A bunch of small victories in the face of the beast that will be this degree, but I'll take 'em.

Aaaaand now my apartment is being invaded by some friends, so I'm going to go be social for a while. I feel like I've earned it. :)