Grad School

I haven’t blogged in two weeks because I have been knee-deep in my application for Grad School.  I was supposed to submit a sample of my writing from college but my college papers are long gone.  So I decided to write a research paper (which I will tell you, was NOT easy).  It is one thing to write a research paper when you are in school and others around you are doing the same, and the library has good resources.  It is entirely another when you are working a full time job, several part time jobs, and you live on an island the size of a kitchen table.  Nonetheless, I threw myself into that paper with abandon, as if it was the only thing that could possibly get me accepted into grad school, and the result is something I’m very proud of.  All of my application materials were submitted on Monday, leaving me in an exhausted yet happy daze.

The best part of all that is that now I have time to get back to the business of swimming, cycling, and running.  So I was back in that ocean water yesterday morning without a wetsuit and truthfully, not that cold.  I will say though, that the biggest deterrent by far for a non-wetsuit winter is the jellyfish.  I’m not sure what is going on in that water.  Some kind of global warming over-spawning or something.  There are places where it feels like swimming through tapioca which is totally disgusting.  And the larvae continue to get stuck down my suit and sting the heck out of me.  I wore a two-piece yesterday hoping that would at least bring a reprieve to my midsection, which it did. However, any part previously covered by my swim top is now red and itchy as if covered in mosquito bites.  I know it will go away in a few days, but it’s annoying nonetheless.  Besides, it’s just not socially acceptable to be scratching at your chest all day long.  I guess this is the tradeoff for swimming in a nearly-enclosed, calm body of water.  Tomorrow I’m going to try vaseline and see if that keeps the stingers out.  If not, I may reneage on my no-wetsuit challenge because this itchiness is not cool.

In other news, there are only three more sleeps until I see GB since I am flying to Minnesota this weekend.  We have rented a cabin in the Northwoods during the second week of the break so we can get some much-needed time alone.  We’re taking the dogs and our cross country skis, and are looking forward to a fun week.

In the meantime, I get to enjoy all the fun things about being a Catholic school teacher at Christmas.  Namely, excited children, Christmas concerts, and all the in-school Christmas celebrations.