Delicate cross-platform surgery was performed on the softer aspects of a few million dollars worth of hardware last night. Amazing the power that has been granted to me. The maternal and surgical responsibilities, however, often mean my nights are occupied babysitting these machines that will never cry, never learn to walk, and never attend an educational institution. But when they are injured or are seeking sustenance, they turn to me. And tonight they turned to me, and it was 5:30am before I turned in for the night.
This weekend will be spent with a close female friend, one who I have not seen in some time, travelling through a part of the country that I have not yet been. Intermingled feelings of delight arise from the thought of spending time with her and the meta-notion that anticipation has once again entered my life. A wise friend once said that a life without anticipation is a life of forlorn desperation.
Last night, after work, the team celebrated on account of our project. I am not certain exactly what it was that we were celebrating, but each person seemed to have at least something to celebrate. For me, it was a chance to unwind and look back at the past two years that I have been on this project, recalling the faces that have come and gone and the daunting tasks now accomplished that somehow seem even more daunting in retrospect.
Following the after-work party, I returned to the hotel, realizing that I was completely exhausted. Determined not to let tomorrow be a 5-hour-sleep day, I rested, passing up a few tasks that I had hoped to complete, and awoke following a wonderfully slumber.
Despite the extensive 8 hour rest, I found myself needing to tackle an urgent task, and was unable to muster the comprehension necessary to figure out. I was able to find a temporary solution, but one that only buys me about 16 hours of time to truly complete the task. I hope that some heavenly understanding will magically bestow itself upon me.
With the task hanging over me, I also found it necessary to make some extensive changes to my travel schedule for the following week. I often think of myself as a master of travel - with an ability to get to any place, any time, cheaply, and having made the arrangements quickly and spoken in the same language of travel agents in order to get it done. This afternoon, however, I found myself struggling to make some rather complex changes. But with a little help from some ingenuity and a friend, I was able to accomplish the changes.
Tonight, I expect to rest very little. It is a good thing that I depart from the metro Detroit area tomorrow, and can nap on the plane. The tasks that I should have done last night must be completed tonight, and I will hope to complete them all. Certainly not all people my age work this hard? But then, it is certainly true that not all people my age are paid a third as well as I am.
Quite early it was when I awoke this morning. A necessary event, and much easier to do when there is some external motivation present. I find it to be so much nicer to be able to get into work early, and accomplish a number of tasks before being completely awake.
My progress towards my eventual goal of going to law school has advanced well as of early this week. Aside from ravenously devouring a few tomes covering students' experience ("One L" by Turow, and a few others), introductions to law, and beginning more realistic preparation for the LSAT, I registered for a class at the University of Texas. The class is called "Making Justice, Using Rules (Justice & Model of Legal Rules)" and cost me a fraction of what it would have cost to take any course at my former university.
My plan is to do the following:
a) give myself some exposure to the academic setting once again.
b) examine coursework that is relevent to Law to give myself a chance to confirm my interest, or alternatively, prevent myself from entering into greater debt.
c) boost my slightly lackluster undergraduate GPA.
In regard to a), I worry that my time in the corporate world may have either eroded my higher mental faculties and that I will need some time to recover them. As for b), I think it is a wise move to try out my future field before going headfirst into it. And lastly, in regard to c), I realize now that it might have been better to have attempted less in my undergraduate years. Despite the fact that most students take 66% of the coursework that I took in four years and still graduate, I did not excel, grade-wise, and am afraid this might hold me back from getting into a reasonably decent law school.
Speaking of law school- with an above average LSAT (I am thinking I can hit mid-to-high 160's) and a boosted GPA, I might be able to pull a middle-first-tier school (according to the us news and world report listing. Only time will tell.