long nights, hard times

everyone seems to be in a funk lately. i talked to three people today (at least, i know someone else was sick today, but i didn't talk to them) and all three were in the dumps. one person who i hadn't seen in a long time told me of their girl problems, another is depressed about his work and then the last one if just busy getting ready for a upcoming event and he is feeling overwhelmed i guess. most of these conversations (aside from girl problems) were over the phone, so it was even more difficult to try and help them feel better. i don't know. i know that these are the same people who have been helping me with the adjustment to school (i love when people confirm to me that they are also not able to study at home or with people they know around...) so it was nice to hopefully at least convince them a bit that things were going to be ok in the long run....

one subject i have been avoiding writing about is my actual adjustment to being back in pittsburgh. my former boss/ mentor/ guru brought this up the other day. here i was totally convinced that i was just having all this stress coming from school, but the more i thought about it, it is a total change being back here. i used to be alone A LOT and now i am rarely alone. that is taking some getting used to. i used to have a built in group of people at work that i would talk to, i am not at that point at school yet, i guess i have a few people that i chat with, but it is such freaking small talk, it's sad. living in this house again is strange and just seeing people i knew from school or just from being around it also weird. people have changed a lot since before i left and i guess it'll just take some time for me to be used to the changes. it's a strange dichotomy as i am SO used to being in pittsburgh and familiar with my surroundings, but also like this outsider here. and not that i went out much in dc, but i NEVER go out here. it's so weird, there are no big nights out on the horizon, just school and studying. (gosh, do i sound like a belly acher or what....)

so tomorrow is a family day- i am going to see my mom's sister and husband at a family picnic thing. they live in kansas city, mo so they aren't out here too much. also, i haven't seen some of the people who will be there in a long time- i am assuming it will be weird. it is in one of the places where i spent every holiday until probably 17 or so- an island in the ohio river. i am not sure that most pittsburghers even know about that....

michele said she might be coming to visit at the end of the month, yeah!! we (AGAIN) have sworn to go visit svc a lot has changed since we were there....