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. :)