Thursday, November 20, 2008

one foot in front of the other

My ability to accurately judge the passage of time is quickly flying out the window. This can be a good thing, like when I glanced at the calendar last night and was astonished that Daniel's already been gone for nearly a month...it seems like he just left yesterday. This can also be a bad thing, like when I logged in to my CourseCompass account this afternoon to submit an assignment for my math class, and discovered that today is, in fact, Thursday, and the assignment was actually due by midnight last night. Oops. This is also why I've gotten bad about updating this damn thing..."I'll write something tomorrow" turns into the next day and then the next, and suddenly I guiltily realize that it's been quite a few more "tomorrows" than I care to admit.

I also have been in kind of a funk lately, with everything that's going on, and don't really feel like churning out whiny rants every couple of days. I mean, I'd like you to enjoy reading this blog, instead of groaning inwardly every time you see a new post.

So let me get you all up to speed on everything that's been going on in good ol' San Diego since we chatted last...

Oh, the command Family Readiness Group hosted a Thanksgiving potluck last Sunday at our ombudsman's house. Awilda deserves to be awarded some sort of commendation for having dozens of wives armed with bottles of wine swarming through her house for hours! It was so much fun, though...everybody had a really great time. Everybody has such incredibly busy lives, between work or school or children, and I relish the rare opportunities we are given to get together in one big group. And it's so nice to touch base with the other wives in person: to touch Holly's pregnant belly, to see Lisa's cute new haircut, to give old friends warm hugs. I talked to Cynthia, the new XO's wife, for quite a while, and she seems to be a genuinely nice person. I'm looking forward to getting to know her better! A representative from the command attended the potluck with a video camera, and all of us took turns stepping outside to record video messages to send to our husbands. While Daniel and I are lucky enough to be able to talk on the phone fairly regularly, I think he'll enjoy watching my silly recording on his laptop. Rumor has it that the guys in the desert either have the same video capabilities, or they will be getting them shortly, so here's hoping I get my own silly video from Daniel.

I can't believe that the holidays are upon us already...like I said earlier, I just can't comprehend how fast time is really going by! Daisy and I are taking a road trip up to Oakdale next Tuesday, where we'll spend Thanksgiving surrounded by family and friends before returning to San Diego on Sunday. Once I get back to school, I'll have only a week and a half until final exams start...this semester can't possibly be over already, can it? I'm so glad that time is moving along so quickly, though...I'm ready for June to hurry up and get here!

Sunday, November 9, 2008

apologies...

Some things came up this evening, and I'm now WAY behind on studying for tomorrow's math test. Let me just make it through that, and then I'll update tomorrow. I promise. Thanks for understanding!

Sunday, November 2, 2008

this post is brought to you by the letter aaaaaaargh


Can you believe it's November already? Time flies when you're having fun...which, of course, is all I ever do. Or, you know, something like that.

So we've all made it through the first week...and, wow, I don't think this week could have gone by any slower. I really hope time starts speeding up again soon, because I'm not thrilled at the thought of going through so many more months of this. Sigh.

I'm feeling kind of sorry for myself tonight. I'll snap out of it, I promise, but I figure I've earned the right to be cranky for a little while. I really miss my husband. I mean, I know that, in the overall scheme of things, this deployment really isn't that long...but I also know that, as I'm actually going through it, each day seems longer than the day before it. No matter how many deployments we do, I can't imagine them ever being "easy." I'm just working on the whole "one day at a time" thing. Adapt and overcome, right? Right.

I'm keeping busy with school...the student loan fiasco is turning into a full time job, on top of the 18 credits I'm taking this semester. When I accepted USD's offer of admission, I based my acceptance on the terrific financial aid package they offered. USD is an outrageously expensive, prestigious, private Catholic school, and we never could have afforded it on our own. My combination of scholarships, grants, and federal loans covered all but $900 of the annual tuition, which we easily could pay out of pocket over the course of the year. All was fine...until I actually started classes. Then, they started asking for all sorts of additional "verification" paperwork...I'd submit one piece, and they'd decide they needed two more, and so on. After I finally finished submitting the piles of forms they requested, they dropped a bombshell: we just make "too much money" and they were retracting most of my offered aid. Now, I don't know about you, but when you think of military paychecks, you don't exactly think of heaps of cash. In fact, the reason that there are countless aid socities providing financial support to military personnel and their families is because we really aren't paid very much. USD doesn't care, though, and has changed our "expected contribution" from $900 to over $12,000. Yes, that would be out-of-pocket expenses. I am so butthurt. I guess I'll just have to stop blowing my lavish piles of money on frivolous things, like gas for my economy car and store-brand food from the commissary, and funnel it towards my silly little Catholic education. Argh.

On a brighter note, my favorite uncle is on a business trip in southern California this week. He drove out to San Diego today, and took me out for lunch at Oggi's, one of our favorite pizza-and-beer joints. They brew the best IPA, and make great pizza. Plus, since it was a Sunday afternoon, we kept an eye on all the football games. It was just what I needed: a nice distraction from today's pity party.

Okay, well, I'll stop whining now. Thanks for putting up with me. :)