Is it spring yet?

Tunes:"down on cripple creek"// the band

Is it me or does winter just drag. on. forever? Maybe I have forgotten what real winter is like, but this is just...old. Old and played out and I'm sick of it. The last few days have been stuffed to the brim with sunshine and blue skies and powder-puff clouds and frankly, it's enough to drive a girl bananas because- lets be honest- in a week or so, there will likely be another big snowstorm and I will be stuck once again in the grey, leafless, Blackstone Valley, wishing for nothing more than a tinge of spring to creep into my life. And that'll suck. Big time.

Alright. Enough with the dramatics.

It's been (most of) a winter since I wrote in here last. The cold months keep me like a grizzly bear, hulled up in my apartment with little energy to do more than bake a batch of cookies here and there, or do a load of laundry once and a while. With the last few days being so gosh-darn beautiful, I figured it's high time I updated this dang blog. But what to write?! I suppose it's been an eventful-enough winter. I saw a lot of old friends the past few months, had some fun with them as well as my family, dealt with some terrible things...but all-in-all, I've made it to March and it's been no great feat, but no small one either. It seems futile to summarize everything. Know that I have been pleasantly surprised at how old friends can find their way back into your life, how new friends can make you wonder how you ever got on without them and how collegiate folk can be absolutely ridiculous and I am counting down the days till spring (then summer!) break.

Whew.

There's no amount of preparation that can fully ready someone for their first year as a student affairs professional. I suppose that this could be said for anyone working their first year in their professional field, but I realize now that I had little-to-no idea as to what I was in for when I took this job. Not in a bad way. Just in a holy-moly, 'whodathunkit?!' way. I know many of you don't really get what it is that I do, but please trust: as a live-in, I work my tail off for a bunch of younger individuals who often don't see the value or the point of what it is that I do, and that I must continue to do. Ha. Every weekend there's something broken, someone punched in the face, somebody in trouble who I thought would know better. It's been a real labor of love to keep trying to think of ways to reach the students here. While the business mindset is still one that I don't quite understand myself, I am feeling much better about working with this population in that I feel confident in my ability to do so. I need to figure out more effective methods, though. In time, I suppose. I will be here another year to hone in on my craft. Haha, 'craft.'

I wish I had more to say here about my life besides work. With all of the things going on this spring at Nichols, there really is little else going on in my life. I have found lots of little things keeping me going through the day-to-day like... buying new sheets for my bed and cooking things that Mum or Mémère P. used to make...meeting up with friends whenever possible, turning the music up loud...doodling and laughing and singing...brewing strong pots of coffee...trying to forget certain boys, looking into other boys. Basically I'm Just trying to keep on keeping on. Not much more to say than that.

This weekend I felt so much older than I know I am--I went to a show in Worcester, The Ataris, and saw students of mine there who didn't know who they are. If you're reading this, you probably don't know who they are either. But when I was in highschool-- Sophomore year, to be specific-- Liam lent me their cd "End is Forever" and I never gave it back to him. I loved that album. I still love that album. I know every word. And when I saw them, after seeing them 2 times prior (in 2002 & 2004), it felt like no time had really passed. The singer's voice was still exactly how I remembered it, the melodies and guitar riffs just the same, too. And it was awesome. Then I looked around the community center and saw so many blank faces. What had happened? When did I become so old? When did pop-punk-rock kids stop caring about The Ataris?!

Likely a long time ago.

But still! It was just so weird. Regardless, I loved every second of their performance and was glad I had decided to stop in on my way home from NH. The company was good, too.

And there you have it. March. 2010. I'm here. I'm alive & well.
Anxiously awaiting spring and hopeful of what it has in store.

Much love,
Leigh