Back To School

It's time for back to school. In my world, it means that the days at the lab grow longer and quieter. I'm actually the only one here right now. I also find myself daydreaming about fresh school supplies. I'm a post-it junkie. I also like new pens, graph paper, fresh spiral notebooks and sharpies that still have their points. I have a plethora of school supplies and no need for new ones. Usually, I still end up with new school supplies. This year, I (gasp!) organized what I had and chose from that stash.

Enough about school supplies. It's an interesting year. I'm the chief of staff for graduate student government. This means I sit there and look pretty. I am also on the library committee. This exciting committee meets once a year. The job also includes legal aid, meaning I hand out forms to the handful of students who request legal aid each year. And then I sit in senate meetings and cabinet meetings and steering meetings. For the record, I get paid for this glamorous job. On paper, my primary job is to keep Erin sane. Have to earn my keep somehow, right?

My research is moving forward nicely. I'm at a bit of a turning point, where I'm no longer working toward the same outcome as before. Same materials, different goal. If you want the whole story, let me know and I'll explain it as soon as I understand it myself. I swear I've been reading the same page for days. But the quiet at the lab is killing me. The summer students are gone. The undergrads are back in classes and only here two days a week. Courtney is working every other day at Tetramer. Tiffany is writing at home. Alex is in classes. Steph is here most days, but is fostering a dog who requires attention, so I am actually completely alone today.

I've turned into the local go-to poster child for "took medication for my ADD and I turned out fine". Mom works with a lady who asked to talk to me about my experience with it. Apparently, this worked out so well for her that she told friends about it and they want to meet with me too. I've come to a conclusion that this is for the kids, and someone who knows (ie: not Tom Cruise) should share what they can. It doesn't mean I've got the right answer or the wrong answer. It just means that I'm not crazy and talking about things I don't know anything about. I've actually got the experience with it and want to help the kids. I'm such a sucker for kids.

Speaking of kids, I'm still mentoring Ozaria, who will be starting 4th grade this year, hopefully at a new school where she can be better understood. I'm also working with a team to revive the mentor program at church and hopefully get more of the kids in her neighborhood connected with their own mentors. It's going to be a lot of work, but we have a team of four who all care deeply about those kids. Can't wait to see things moving forward!

Our house is like home base for every sort of strange bug known to mankind. We had the war on the black widows. Then there are these two enormous writing spiders in the bushes. I like those. Scratch that, I TOLERATE those. They are both interesting and docile, so I let them make their home in my bushes. Their full width (legs and all) probably is the size of my hand. They are both named Charlotte. Yesterday, a boatload of ants made it into my kitchen. I never figured out what drew them there, but I found where they came in outside, so they're all taken care of. Then there are these long skinny bugs that I've been calling devil bugs because their tails look like forked tongues. Creepy bugs. We also have animals. Bunnies like the cherries in our yard. So they're always out there. The squirrels like them too. And the birds. There was a dog who sleeps on our porch every once in a while. And I saw a garden snake once. On another note, we have a pecan tree in our yard. I hope our neighbors don't get any ideas. They're already creepy enough without them walking around in our yard stealing pecans. Plus. I have every intention of picking them up myself. We're gonna have a bucket.

Chris is working hard, as always. Harder than ever, in fact. He's got added hours so he's been getting home later. And more tired. We've decided to change small groups. The group we're in is intended for young singles, so we decided to visit a few other groups and see what comes of it. Tonight we're visiting a group whose leader Chris has played softball with for years.

We went to Asheville on Saturday. I bought yarn for our Christmas stockings and am already 2/3 done with Chris'. I may have also bought some red cashmere for myself. I'm thinking gloves. I'm working on a gray sweater that will be so comfy when it's done. And I'm almost done with Christmas presents. Also managed to make myself a blue shawl and finish my purple sweater in there too. I just have to finish Amy's (and yes, it will be finished this year).

This weekend is the first Clemson game. Chris has an autocross that day, so I'm going up to Greenville to watch the game on the enormous screen at Chateau Burka. Apparently Mo will be there too, so it's a party!

And that's all the news that's fit to print!