Grad school is different. It isn't just the reading load changes since we are now responsible for well over 1000 pages each week or the expectations of paper writing increases since 15 pages become the minimum. There is support for that stuff. For me the big chance has come that it is a fact that to survive you have to do the communal thing and trust your study group partners. You really can't do it alone. I have always been a loner when it comes to studying. I will help everyone and anyone with any knowledge I might have but when it is my turn it doesn't even occur to me that maybe I should ask for help. This has necessitated a rather big change in my cognitive behavior as it relates to studying. One I wasn't really prepared for.

Other than that school is like school usually is - busy and fun. Classes are mostly amazing and occasionally boring. Homework is now an ever present issue on my to do list. It is amazing at how quickly I got used to being able to knock off a major amount of my to do list this summer. Ah well, whatever, that was so a month a go - right?

For this quarter we are doing ethics, which has been an interesting class. The prof is a lawyer and a psychologist so that gives an interesting perspective. So the professor has this dry way of lecturing that after a few lectures I am finding pretty enjoyable. Although I could of totally skipped the plagiarism movie. It was a bit too simplistic - hey guess what kids - students cheat and that's bad - duh. Sigh...

History & systems, which is a repeat for me (yawn). It's a half quarter class that I think has been put together to given the admin an opportunity to give the student a shot at writing an APA style paper without worry over the contents. More on that in a moment.

Child development, after raising 5 kids (practical experience) and taken a class (repeat anyone?) this class has been interesting only in take they take the theory and relate to adult behavior in therapy - so overall this one surprised me. This one is another 6 week class - it's partner is Adult development, which will start when Child devo finishes.

Research methods - lecture and lab, I get the feeling this class is a review for most in the class - the prof moves fast, sometimes so fast it can be confusing both to the prof and to us I feel. I hate when example gets confused. If your going to use apples to explain something it has to stay apples throughout the explanation - not morph into an orange half way through. Sigh. Lab has been a wash so far - Next week starts the real intro to SPSS. Shudder.

Psychopathology and psychodiagnosis has both been my favorite class and most hated. I am not a memorizer (is that even a word?) but on the other hand once it is both very interesting and, yes I have to admit it enjoyable to make a diagnosis in the weekly case studies. I hate the memorization - I have always found that you lose the richness of understanding the material when you straight up memorize it.

And last but not least is the Professional Issues class - 0 units. So far just one class. We went over the student handbook - the important parts. The prof is a dry humored, old guy who has forgotten more than I'll ever see. I kinda like him. =)

So I will be around here hopefully once a week or so. Usually, you'll see me most when I am finding everything and anything to do but the work I have to...<laughing>. So I am off to make Endnote Libraries for the three papers that will soon be due. Yea...APA format!

So my dog died tonight. He went peaceful into the night, my husband sitting next to him. He was a good dog. Now that I've taken care of the kids and took the dog's body to the humane society I am going to find a quiet corner and be pretty sad for while.

15 years is a long time to hang out with someone. He'll be missed.

Hmmmm...so it is the middle of the first week of grad school, and it has been interesting. Slightly overwhelming but so far it's been doable. Tons of reading to do, totally acceptable and so far three papers to do in 6 weeks. I still have Thursday's classes to do. I haven't had to use my new skill of meditative breathing yet but I am sure that time is coming. More later after I finish the week.

So onto other stuff - has anyone else noticed that no matter whether it's the Republicans or Democrats everybody is talking about Palin? Really, I know whether or not she is fit to be possibly our next president is important (hey McCain is old, and the potential job is stressful) but isn't it just as important to find out how the hell either side is planning to deal with the multitude of issues that we are dealing with in this country? Isn't that more important than whether the woman chooses to wear skirts over pantsuits? Seriously now folks, I don't care whether Palin's baby is hers or her daughters, I really don't care whether she grabbed pork for her state or not (isn't that a governor's job anyway?). What I really want to know is how McCain / Palin and Obama / Biden are planning to deal with issues like the unbelievably high National Debt or the fact we are expecting tons from our soldiers and yet skimping on services when they eventually find themselves home. What about a serious long term energy plan? Don't hand me the simplistic 'drill for more oil'. I want to know their plan to make us less dependent on fossil fuels so we are never put in the position of going to war for oil. What about health care? Sure if you have enough money you don't have to worry but how is our country going to deal with everyone else? Plus so many more issues that all need addressing...

Gods there is so much we should be talking about and the worse thing about it is that the best our national news can do is create bs chatter about Palin the great hunter or Palin the liar or whether female candidates should wear skirts and look pretty or pantsuits - whatever! Who the hell cares?

I'm back again. I'm starting grad school and thought that actually writing my thoughts down would be an interesting trip. We'll see if I got the time. I actually missed blogging. I tried a couple of places but bleh... they just didn't feel the same. Ah well, guess everybody I used to know is gone.

So in the paperwork I got at student orientation they called us the class of 2013. =) Weird, still getting used to the idea I actually did this. Although it was amazingly cool to be called a PhD student and get my very own mailbox. Got homework already (reading - a ton of it for Child Development) and classes don't even start till Monday. So far the reading is nothing new and I am feeling very well prepared. Well, so far at least....



I got two - count em two - part time jobs plus full time school and full time parent to 5 kids. Peeps think I am crazy, maybe I am but what the hell at least I am doing something, possibly maybe even something that might earn me enough to pay back all of these loans? LOL Maybe.

BTW, the comic above is from http://www.phdcomics.com/ Go and read - you'll laugh long and hard, especially if you have any connection with academia. Or you can wait and watch this space because I am sure you will be seeing more from Piled Higher and Deeper!