Trying to build a balance

For the first time in memory, I did no journal writing this weekend.  By writing I do mean "writing", putting a pen to paper and watching the scrawl decode my thoughts.  Every little thing takes time, but building in time for things like that will keep the stress level at a productive level.  I'll keep this blog up for myself and the handful of people that I know in the States who check in from time to time, as it's a great (and free) way to broadcast a small part of myself and my new experiences.

I've always believed in productive stress, but it has been years since I actually experienced such a concept.  Probably the last time was when I was still playing with In Defence, where the creative and energetic effort has to hold together, which was always my responsibility as the bass player with the thundering rig and solid tempo (which I still have despite hardly playing for months, and I'm proud of that).  The gigs themselves never lasted long, but the sweat output confirmed the work put into the performance every time.

The schoolwork is already rolling at a rapid pace, which I like and don't find intimidating.  I get the feeling that the professors want people not to memorize the material, but to be able to dig into it enough to enable a level of mastery, as neither of the two Monday classes (dealing with management and organizational behavior, which is "behaviour" here) spent a lot of time referencing the first-week materials - they helped more to frame the discussion.

Then again, with my entire section-cohort of 55-60 people taking all of the same classes, maybe it was by design to put the qualitative material first (even though the two classes are back-to-back and each three hours long), then drop the quant-bombs the rest of the week (as I have accounting on Wednesday, information systems/statistics on Thursday, and Economics on Friday).  But I only have class from 8:30-11:30 on those days, so I can keep my new routine of getting up at 6am and getting to school before 8am to get my bearings before each class.

Jen was very happy to learn that I have the flexibility to not be gone until 7pm every single weekday, and I was glad to have that news to give.  Hopefully she'll have her own routine soon, too, so that I don't feel like I'm leapfrogging too far ahead in making this city feel like home.  Everything is a balance, but no matter how much work I have to do or how many places I have to be, she'll stay right where she is at the top of the pyramid.  For I haven't been a student in fifteen years and it's entirely different this time around - the support of my best girl plays a huge role in how strongly I'm feeling with this start, as we work through money and adjustment tensions as best we can.