I’ve been feeling pensive for a while and wanted to write a blog post. Honestly, this is going to be a bit of a brain dump. Potential topics might include: depression, grad school, 2020, career, family, farm.
I start my second semester of grad school on Tuesday. I survived my first full time semester while working 32 hours a week. This semester should be tough with intermediate biostat 2, SAS programming, and a handful of public health courses. Pray for me. I hope I don’t lose my mind!
In a way, I wish I’d gone to grad school earlier. I wanted to, but in my twenties, I was a bit of a mess. Poorly treated depression, lots of moving around the country, and bouts of insomnia made it hard for me to even function, let alone decide what I wanted to be when I grew up. I think in my late thirties, I’ve finally figured it out. I’m still tweaking the details, but I’m on a path—hopefully, the right one!
2020, for all its trials, has jettisoned me on this path. I want to track diseases and hunt for the location of the first outbreak; these are mysteries I want to solve.
I’m starting a newish job in February. I will still be working at the cancer center I currently work in, but I will be at a different cancer center 3 days a week or so. I’m excited to learn some new stuff and meet some new people.
We have our first goat babies coming soon! Our human boys are pretty excited. The caprine boys couldn’t care less. The caprine girls aren’t quite sure what’s going on. They chew at their sides because the babies are kicking and mah at me constantly for food. The goat barn is finished and we’ll start locking them up at night soon so we can monitor them overnight.
I have plans for raising some more chickens from babies for laying and selling. I’m hoping once it warms up some I can start ordering them.
The human boys are doing a good job of handling the pandemic. They go to school, wear their masks and don’t really ask a lot of questions. The only thing they don’t like is not being able to visit family as often. There’s a lot of self-quarantining when someone has a cold or questionable symptoms. All in all, they are handling it well. They are young so they kind of accept most things at face value. I know this year may have been tougher on older kids.
Brain dump, mostly accomplished. Stay safe and healthy!
