Halelluia, summer session is done. Yes, yes, technically it's not quite August, but school's over and I have my life back so I want to start writing again. Cultural Anthropology was a great class, but it was awfully intense being in school for four hours a night twice a week on top of a 40 hour work week. It was sometimes hard not writing here, but I'm glad I took the hiatus. It paid off. I got top marks on all the tests including the dreaded in-class essays, and I feel pretty good about the final so I'm sure of an A for the semester. My teacher was entertaining and inspiring; if you ever take anthropology at City College in San Francisco, try to get Matthew Kennedy.
Remember a couple of months ago when I wondered if I'd ever be the top student in any class? I was definitely Miss Thing in this course. It surprised me, frankly, but I enjoyed it. I was thrilled when my teacher complimented me on my original, interesting comments and said he worried that I would find the material too easy. Several people thought I must be an anthropology major, which I thought was pretty funny. I kept explaining it was simply a matter of reading the chapters before going to class, and taking good notes. I don't think anyone believed me.
By the way, WHCC finally did change the mistaken B in Biology to the A I earned and it's reflected on the school website. Vindication feels pretty good.
As far as the health issues I was facing when last we met, I tried taking Celexa and had such a violent, psychotic reaction to it that I went off it immediately. It was a phenomenally unpleasant experience. The theory is that my brain chemistry is not, in fact, messed up and so what should have normalized it threw it into total disarray. That's actually good to know, though I really wish I hadn't had to find out the hard way. My doctors and I agree I should be able to address and halt the panic attacks through therapy alone, so although I started out thinking I didn't need that kind of help it seems it's actually the best way to come to terms with the overall problem. It might be a long process, seeing as the problem is a bit broader than grief over my dog's death -- think of it as my mid-life crisis. I'm working on it. Although I feel just fine now I'm continuing to keep my social obligations at a minimum and doing everything I can to cut down on stress. Having a month off from school will be nice. I plan to finally finish making my bathroom curtains, and pay attention to my garden.
You want to know a weird side effect of all that stress? I lost 10 pounds in 10 days. Not a happy way to do it, but it did change my eating habits and I've been exercising like crazy so I am trying to keep up the new regime instead of regressing to my former slothful ways. It's not hard since I can't eat much at one time. Oddly, none of my former favorite foods sound good. Pizza? Ugh. Meat? No thanks. Fried anything? Ew. The bummer of it is some of the good foods don't appeal to me, either. I can't stand the thought of sushi right now, and that's just wrong. My stomach has gotten very, very finicky. I'm living on fruit, cottage cheese, tuna, crackers, salad and water. Oh, yeah, that's another thing. I gave up caffeine. I hardly recognise myself.
Work has been pleasantly busy for me as a leisure agent, but there's been a definite drop in business overall because of the high tech industry's troubles. I've got some good client stories for you, but I think I'll save them for another entry. I don't want to overwhelm you with a month's worth of gossip right away. The main thing is I did really well in a class which taught me a lot of interesting things, I am on the road to solving my fundamental questions about life, the universe and everything, and it's ever so nice to be back.
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