Energy from Balmy Weather

I think the weather befits my mood today. I'm finding myself excited for this next semester because I'm going to be extremely busy. The weather today is a balmy, windy 62 degrees here in SCT, and it feels like spring even though it's early January. In spite of the date, I always get energized by the spring-like weather, especially when it's not too warm. It's like everything outside is about to start growing again, and my energy level usually increases in anticipation for an exciting time in nature.

I know, I know...it's probably going to snow again before long, and I don't mind that. But I'm savoring this nice weather nonetheless.

This sort of weather reminds me of a time during my master's degree that I felt like I had finally arrived as a graduate student, and perhaps as an "adult." It was the winter-into-spring before I finished up in 1996, and no longer was I making a transition from undergraduate work to graduate school. I was finally feeling like I was a "good" student. I knew who my friends were, and also those from whom I should maintain a distance. I lived alone and truly enjoyed the experience. I was very productive that spring, on many levels: it was the spring in which I proposed to Wife, found my first full-time job, and successfully finished the master's degree. I was confident that I was entering a profession to which I was well-suited and well-prepared. That spring was a very exciting time in my life.

So, I'm getting the same sort of feelings of excitement today, on the Sunday before the new semester begins. To be honest, in past years I've dreaded this Sunday, and now I'm just ready. In the first paragraph I mentioned I was excited because I am going to be very busy. I think I did not take advantage of the unplanned time as well as I could have, so this upcoming term is an opportunity to fix that and move onward. I will take a class for fun (multivariate statistics in educational research - FUN??), and I will help my dissertation chair to teach the capstone course for my department's master's program. My assistantship will continue as planned, and I am feeling good about the schedule/battle I've won with when I'm going to work and when I'm going to study.

Mentally, I'm in a good place at the beginning of what should, hopefully, prove to be a productive semester. Perhaps I've arrived in a new stage of my life? Well, I don't know if it's that deep. I prefer to just blame it on the weather!