Weekend Update

This was a nice weekend. Last night I hit International Cinema with some friends to see The Counterfeiters and The Band's Visit, both of which were excellent, and I went again tonight (no one took me up on the Morning Benders concert - oh well) to see 'Round Midnight. All of them were excellent, but by the end of the third one I was really sick of sitting in the uncomfortable theater. Sometimes I miss the days when it was in the Varsity and smelled like Jamba Juice. 

Today, my mom and I went to the ballet to see Madama Butterfly. It was interesting to hear the music without the singing, but it was truly excellent. I don't know when I've enjoyed a ballet so much, and I even got some souvenir chopsticks. 

I've been missing people lately - people I talk to but don't get to see, like Miri, Lindsey, and Jonathan, people I neither talk to nor see, like Jennie and most of my married friends. It's part of the reason that moving so far away for grad school seems bearable - I'm really feeling the need for a change for awhile so that I can feel out of place for real reasons (like the fact that I'm new) rather than because I feel like I've outgrown my place here. I love my roommates and the friends I still see, but I'm looking forward to something completely different - even though I feel homesick already. 

I think I'm getting good at my job, and I'm enjoying it more as I'm finding new things to do, like rewriting Conrad's articles for the newsletter, and learning how to import contacts into Outlook from Excel. It's more fulfilling to actually feel like I'm doing something besides answering phones. 

Today one of my former students commented on the blog. We used to have philosophical chats after school while she waited to talk to my cooperating teacher. Hearing from her reminded me of the things I loved about teaching - talking to people who were figuring things out, getting new perspectives on life, building relationships with really special people. It's so strange to think about where I was last year and what my plans were then in light of how drastically they've changed now. It's comforting to have a great big envelope with my Michigan acceptance in it to help me feel like all of this is a good idea. 

This is a very random post. Happy weekend, and be sure to check out my new playlist in progress, which is going to be music for spring - light, cheerful, springy stuff. It's going to be good.