I still can't title my posts, and it's really annoying. It's annoying enough to keep me from blogging as often as I usual do/would like to. Geez.

I'm in the middle of my first semester of my graduate program (how's that for embedding?) and it's cah-stinkin-razy! The reading is endless, the assignments (not listed in the syllabus, might I add) keep piling up, all of my pre-reqs to work in the clinic and/or be certified to actually be a graduate student keep getting mixed up into one hot mess (and turns out some of BYU's classes don't transfer to the U's graduate program so...here I come online classes), and to top it all off...I forgot to put on a regular bra today. Yes, I'm sporting a sports bra.

But through all of this chaos, I'm loving it. I finally get to put to use what I've been studying over the past four years...even if I'm not very good at remembering it. I'm meeting a lot of people my own age who are interested in the exact same things I'm interested in. My professors are very different from the BYU faculty, but only in the best ways. I'm starting to work with real people who have real speech or language problems and it feels great to see the sorts of progress they're making. I'm beginning to feel like a real adult with purpose and direction and use. I'm really starting to grow up...and, surprisingly, I love it.

I highly recommend it.

For some reason, I haven't been able to title my blogs for a while. Really. The little box that's supposed to exist above the area to type the body of the blog? Yeah, it's not there. I'm frustrated. I have some pretty clever titles too.

Can you fix it for me?

Graduate School

How did this happen?!

Oh yeah, I chose to do my undergrad in a field that requires a masters. Duh.

I'm never doing that again.

Last night, I made these.


Snickerdoodles.

A bit crunchy on the outside (darn it) but deliciously soft and snickerdoodle-y on the inside.

If you would like the recipe, I don't have it. Sorry.

I like to make goals. A lot of them.

Accomplishing them is a different story.

Here's my latest goal:
No caffeine. For a year.

This means no Diet Coke. For a year.

I have 362 days left. Wish me luck.

Oh hey, my name’s Kat. I’m a recently unemployed college graduate who lives at home with her parents. Oh, and I’m single.

Go figure.

I have absolutely no idea why I was dealt the cards I’m holding, but I’m beginning to understand how the game of Texas Hold ‘Em (aka Life) is played.

Or maybe it’s Black Jack.

Anyway, I like where I’m at. I don’t love it, but I like it. These aren’t the cards I had planned on getting, but I’m learning to use them to my advantage. I’ve learned how to make a mean poker face and not let the opposition know what my next move is going to be. I like the suspense and tension...I like the unknown.

Hurray for breaking the mold. Hurray for being scared out of my mind. Hurray for something new.

Hurray for life.

Books

I miss books. I miss reading them. I miss flipping the pages back and forth trying to figure out where I last stopped reading. I miss smelling them...haha just kidding, I can't smell. I miss reading the ending first so I know if I want to continue reading it. I miss reading old favorites over and over again. I miss riding the bus for an hour and a half to work every day so I could take the time to read. I miss having any time to read. I miss having the desire to read.

Missing books stops today.

A couple of weeks ago during my break from work, I had an extra half an hour before I had to head to a bridal shower (which, by the way, ended up being seriously awkward). I was already at Target, and since there was a Barnes and Noble in the same strip mall, I decided to wander on over and get a drink from Starbucks. While I didn't actually make it to Starbucks, I did make it to the fiction and literature section of the store where I re-discovered some of my favorite authors: Virginia Woolf, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Charles Dickens. I decided to venture out of the so-called classics written by these authors and pick up some new titles I hadn't previously heard of.

The Beautiful and Damned by Fitzgerald is a tale similar to that of The Great Gatsby, but with a twist. It parallels his own life when, after his success of This Side of Paradise, Fitzgerald squandered his ambition and talent. I am thrilled to be reading this book because I feel that so many young people squander their ambition and talent today; I feel that it will relate well to any time period, and that's what will make this book a great read.

Night and Day by Woolf contrasts the lives of two friends--one lives with her parents and is engaged to a "prig" while the other is an independent woman working for the womens' rights movement after attending college. I think it will be interesting to see how Woolf deals with the marriage v. independent woman debate from the early 1900s as she incorporates the nature of romance and love.

I didn't end up getting a Dickens, but that's next on my list. Stay tuned for a full update on both of these books as they will surely prove to be entertaining...and probably misunderstood greatly.