never forget

...it's true.

The heart is the strongest muscle in the body.

Use it.

Hmm...where to begin?

I have here in front of me my favorite mug, full of  perfectly steeped tea:

I just completed my first week of school as a graduate student, during which time I made a friend (Liz), became an independent frequenter of the Pittsburgh Port Authority (thanks to the many nice strangers who patiently answered my silly questions and helped me along the way) whose services I get to use for free when I flash my magical student ID card, and found my new LYS, Knit One, which is generally overwhelming: welcoming, full of nice people, and so well-stocked that I was almost brought to tears when I walked in the door.

My Berly surprised me last weekend. I was sitting in my apartment last Friday night being depressed and lonely after having next to no human interaction for two weeks and was nervous about school starting; Berly was sending me throughout the day seemingly casual gchats wondering what I was up to (which made me feel worse because I had no plans/friends) when finally 8pm rolled around, and I get the last one: "wut're yew dewing?!" I replied something emo and spoiled like "nothing. sitting here being depressed and lonely," when I saw a short blonde figure dart past my window (that was so freaky, especially living alone and on the ground floor) followed immediately by a knock on my back door. I ran to the door, saw her smiling face through the window, and burst into tears before my hand even reached the doorknob. She had had this whole thing planned for a whole month...ever since Paul found out his team would be playing a hockey tournament in Pittsburgh that weekend, kept the whole adventure a secret, and left work early to drive straight to me. We spent the whole weekend together, doing all kinds of things, but mostly eating good food (her "Momberly" side kicked in and was convinced I don't eat well/enough when she's not around), hockey stuff, and lounging around reading/knitting/napping/drinking tea together. Just like when we were together every day.

Her surprise visit changed everything. It gave me the positive energy to start my big adventure on the right foot.

She's the best. Seriously.

I'm all moved and pretty much settled into my new apartment. I love it. It's very homey. And now that I finally have internet, I have fewer (valid) excuses to go on blogging hiatuses...hiati?

So, about my program. I am working towards a MS in Health Information Systems Management and Administration (HIS for short, or HIS-RHIA to be brief and specific). I doubt you care, but I am going to tell you what classes I'm taking anyway because I love all of them and it excites me:

• Medical Terminology (okay, maybe not so exciting...but mandatory and useful)
• Intro to Health Information and the Health Care System
• Intro to Biomedical Informatics
• Telemedicine, Telerehab, and eHealth
• Issues in the Health System

All but two of them have reputations for being really hard, but I have never been so up for a challenge like I am for this one. I'm serious. I got myself here by working hard and being persistent, and I'm going to make it through with flying colors.

Thankfully, I only have school three days per week. At first, I honestly thought I had it pretty easy only having school three days, even though the coursework is going to be rigorous. Well, here I am on Thursday and I am bone tired, with the full realization that there is nothing "easy" about having Thursday and Friday away from campus...it just makes me fortunate, especially since I am at school for roughly 12 hours on Monday and Wednesday. I will definitely need those days, and have already put today to good use. The average full-time student in this program takes 9 credit hours per semester; I will be attempting 13. And I will successfully pass them all. Because I rock.

I'm in the right place at the right time. Finally.

Oh yeah, and here's my GPOYW...a day late, suckas: