So, after a rough first semester of grad school, it seems that my second will be much better. I still have lots of reading, but not so much that I’ve completely lost the will to live and start wondering why I ever thought it would be a good idea to go back to school. I’m taking phonology and sociolinguistics right now, both of which are subjects I enjoy, and I like my professors.

I’m also taking advanced first-year German (which covers both 101 and 102 in a single semester), and I’m already liking it more than any other language I’ve taken (which really isn’t that many—a few years of French, a semester of Welsh, and two weeks with a “Teach Yourself Scottish Gaelic” book and tape). I thought French was fairly easy to learn because of all the cognates, but it’s got nothing on German. It especially helps that I’ve taken both Old and Middle English, so I already recognize and understand quite a bit (well, considering that it’s only my second week, that is).

I’m also sleeping better than I have in quite a while. I finally broke down and went to the doctor after one night where I was awake until about five in the morning. The doctor gave me prescriptions for a couple different antidepressants—one to knock me out at night and one to counteract the grogginess caused by the first. It took a little getting used to, but it seems to be working pretty well. I’m usually asleep a little after 11:00, and I’ve had a few nights where I’ve been awake until about 1:00, but it’s not every other night anymore.

All in all, I’m feeling a lot better about things (though that could be the antidepressants talking), except for that whole wrecked car and general lack of money. I’m thinking that maybe this whole grad school thing will be good after all, especially since now’s a bad time to be working as a corporate production editor anyway—just a few weeks ago I got word that my old job is being outsourced to the Philippines. Ouch. Let’s just hope that grad school shields me somewhat from the oncoming economic crapstorm.