one small misplacement crisis, one enormous development crisis

so yesterday was pretty much the best day i've had in boston so far. the night before, i'd gone out with some of the other people in my program and had a rad time. it feels good to make friends, even if you know that one day you might be competing with them. while i've always felt myself to be the kind of person who rises above that kind of stuff - turning back and giving up the prize to help a comrade with a wounded ankle, copying my notes for someone i found crying in the bathroom because they just can't keep it together - i've been pretty furtive about my study habits and practices lately. for instance, in visual studies on thursday, the professor told us that the signup sheet for presentations was on her office door - when class got out at 9, i went straight to her office while everyone else went to the bus stop together to head home so i could have my pick of topics. granted, i took a friend with me, but her interests are so different from mine that i don't see us competing over much in the future. i have a feeling that in the end it will be worth having ridden the train home alone. but still, it felt pretty good to make friends, especially after i got a couple beers in me and we all admitted to being scared of competition. we may or may not have even made a little pact to be nice together. who knows.

then, in the morning, feeling great because i'd remembered to have dinner, drink water, and take ibuprofen the night before, i went over to my aunt's house to get my bed. it's terrific! the headboard is beautiful, and the mattress is a posturepedic! my grandpa helped me set it up, then took me out to lunch, then took me over to my other aunt's house where we went shopping for dinner, swam at the pool across the street, cooked dinner using a ton of freshy fresh vegetables and some of the most delicious corn i've had not just all summer but ever, and watched two movies and had ice cream. taking the day off from work was completely worth it.

then this morning i woke up and my wallet was missing for the second time in two weeks. i was so mad at myself for misplacing it that i couldn't even sleep in and enjoy my new awesome bed, maybe the most comfortable bed i've ever slept in. but, after a couple hours of freaking out, it turned up in my grandparents' car, although not until i had really, existentially questioned my ability to keep it together and be a real person, not even a grownup but just a person in the world. so that's about where i'm at, listening to air and gearing up for about six more hours of work on top of the four or five i've already put in today. i've always been pretty good at buckling down to write a paper or study for a test, but this is just regular homework for a grad student i guess. we'll see how brutal it gets pretty soon.