Somebody said you gotta get away to wanna go back home again.

I've got at least three papers to write, but instead, I'm writing here. Makes sense. Or something.

The good news is that I've stopped crying every three seconds, but the bad news is that I'm still going to be an orphan for Thanksgiving. I couldn't really afford to fly home, and my dad, who was planning to visit, can't due to some health issues, so I find myself alone in this strange city for the holiday. I'm done complaining about it, I guess. I just find myself feeling slightly homesick on occasion, and it's hard to be so far away for a holiday that has always been family-oriented for me.

It doesn't help that Santa Fe is like bizarro world. I went with my friend from work to a basketball game (her brother's on the team) at the Santa Fe Indian School, and never in my life have I felt so...um, pale. Every day is eye-opening here. I feel like I'm finally waking up in a lot of ways. I'm stepping out of my comfortable bubble of complacency. What's outside of that is bizarro world. But it's ok.

At school we talk a lot about how this people in our (anglo-american, predominant) culture are in a sort of trance. A trance of consumerism, disconnect from family and family history, violence, corruption, and so on. Now, I'm not saying that I'm out of that trance yet, but at least now I see it for what is: just another distraction. And what's on the other side? What happens after one wakes up? I guess that's the tricky part. There's the super cool awareness thingy. There's a tapping into of the bigger than (God or holiness, if you will). But there's also a loneliness, an isolation. There's a "then what?". It's a bit intimidating.

But no one said enlightenment was easy, I guess.

Hello, kitty.

I know, I know, I know. Two months is way too long to go without an update. I doubt anyone is still reading, but here goes nothing.

Grad school keeps me quite busy. This school is unlike any other I've ever attended. It's very Jungian in orientation, which keeps things interesting for this East-coast, cognitive-behavioral kind of girl. They make us work on a lot of our own issues, which is probably good, but it also leads to people being very emotional in class, which is something that just doesn't really happen that often in chemistry classes.

Life in Santa Fe is amazing. It's sunny every day, and at night the sky is so clear that all the stars can be seen. I go hiking at least once a week, usually in the National Forest. It's strange to be so far from the ocean, but the mountains are so beautiful that it almost makes up for it.

Other than that...I'm working full time (sole searching at Payless), I have five papers to write, I never have enough money, I'm going to get a certificate in somatic therapy, and I'm knitting and afghan.

Oh, and I got a kitten.