I go when all I want to do is stay.

shaughnessy.revisited

Looking back over my blog at Livejournal (shaughnessy), I've decided that I don't really know how or where to pick up from where that journal left off. It's not that I can't still relate to it; rather, I feel like making a clean break...like, starting fresh. So, here goes nothing.

Tomorrow sees the beginning of a new semester in my graduate career at the University of Minnesota. It's hard to believe that my first year is already over. Last year I focused on survival. This year, somehow, I have to be ready for my Master's exams by the end of the spring semester. Go figure. I can already feel that this is going to be somewhat of a whirlwind year. Already, I can foresee that a great deal of craziness will most likely ensue, but in a strange way I'm excited about it. Kinda.

One of my most recent preoccupations has been the simple fact that I don't know what I want to do with myself after this academic year. Although I haven't divulged this information to a large number of people, I'm thinking about leaving graduate studies after finishing my Master's degree. For a number of reasons (which I'm sure I'll detail at some point in a future post), I'm just not sure that a life in academia is right for me.

That whole concept comes as a pretty big change for me. For at least the last eight or nine years, I've been certain that I wanted to pursue an academic career. And now, that's all changed. I'm still trying to get used to the idea, actually. Maybe I was just in love with the idea of all of it--that is, with the intellectual prestige associated with academic work. I'm giving lots of thought to my options, but currently leaning away from pursuing my Ph.D.

Anyone who I've been keeping in touch with recently will know that another big thing on my mind lately has been my new relationship. Aaron and I just sort of happened into each other's lives, and now, he's on my mind so much that I can't imagine what would be filling my thoughts if not for him. I'm hopeful that things between us will last.

I'm not much of one for abrupt conclusions, but I should finish getting ready for school tomorrow. I need to finish my lesson plan and then think about sleep at some point.