sometimes it’s okay not to be strong, I guess

It’s kind of funny–last year I could handle taking three classes, teaching three classes, and doing research during the week while still flying back to California on the weekends to be with my family. Surely I should be able to handle anything that comes my way.

But lately I’ve had family troubles that hit closer to home, and suddenly I am having trouble getting anything done in lab. I slog like a zombie through my classwork. I am barely staying afloat. I can’t talk much about what’s going on right now, at least in a public forum like this. (I do, however, have people I can talk to in real life. And Dr. Hand-Waver is understanding, thank God.) Maybe someday…

My sister Courtney, knowing of my troubles, flew out to spend some time with me. (Thank God for sisters!!) One of the first things she told me was to tell my professors. “Think about your students,” she told me. “There were the people who turned in their assignments late, usually with an excuse. How many of those excuses did you believe? But if someone told you they had something going on before the due date, you were more inclined to believe them.”

She’s right, of course. Dr. Hand-Waver knows that my research has been (and will continue to be, for a while yet) slapdash. But the professors whose classes I’m taking still have no clue. That has to change. I will go in and talk to them. Really, I will. Maybe right after Thanksgiving? *sigh*

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