Wake Me Up...[finish with whatever song lyric you deem appropriate]

I should be doing a myriad of other things (especially since it is my lunch hour), but I just feel like I really don't have a place to vent so much aside from the poor souls who happen to catch me at a moment where I just unload on them. If you're one of those people, thank you for listening, and I'm very very sorry you fell victim of such a thing.

Well then. It seems that this month is yet another September to put in the books as a "Slump" month.

Not familiar with The Slump?
September Slump is a concept stemming from students who are a part of the public university system on a quarter system. When a good number of their friends are already gone and away to their semester colleges, these Uni kids are left with not much else to do but nothing for the month of September. It's something that Jackie and I (being Bruins) suffered from many, many times (especially since we kinda were the ones who penned the term), and even when we got out of the school system, the whole slump stuck.

This month definitely had a slump.

I am lucky to have survived the summer session at work, especially after all the warnings and wailings about how horrible it would be with screaming, manipulative mothers who will do and say practically anything to get their child in a class, evil children who are sent to the front office when they're misbehaving, and just the shear physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion one experiences during this grueling 8 week period. I didn't get much of that. It might have been my own mental preparation, knowing how horrible this would be even before I was offered the position, but people who has experience going though a summer like that have claimed that this time around wasn't as harrowing as the past. I would like to think that I helped out with that in some way, especially since I pretty much sacrificed my summer by doing so.

This is to say, I knew I wasn't in the clear once September hit. I had a month to prepare for our next session, and my other job was shifting into high gear as we prepared for not one, but three brand new exhibits, one being part of a city-wide festival.

Needless to say, it was a very stressful time. So stressful, in fact, on top of the fact that I was stressed and burnt out, it was also affecting my health. This all came to a head last week when it was time to ride the Crimson Tide while dealing with a sore throat, preparation of classes and gallery openings, and I just lost it. My poor boyfriend, who had to deal with me from afar (which was good for him that I wasn't so close by and have to see how big a mess I was during the week). I'm lucky to have him around who's there to take care of me. This isn't to say, there aren't others who also do, I think without the people in my immediate vicinity I would have really lost it. I'm glad that did not happen.

It seems (I hope) the worst is over and I'm just dealing with everything as it comes. I have to say, I'm not in the best shape right now in a few facets, particularly in the Professional/Grown-up/I Have Responsibilities and Must Attend to Them departments. I really need to get my act together and pick myself up and point my life down the happy road again. This is not to say things aren't happy with me, for I am very grateful to have many things going for me right now, but what's miserably the most vital aforementioned aspect that keeps a roof over my head, gas in my financed car and bread at the table needs a major re-haul.

Thankfully enough, I've finally taken the initiative to remedy that.

Wish me luck.