Adventures and Orientation

Whew.  It's been a few weeks.  A few weeks full of packing, moving, visiting, flying, driving, navigating, worrying, laughing, crying, unpacking, and getting "oriented".

The idea of "orientation" conjures up so many things right now. So many things are new that I sometimes feel like I deserve a little one on one orientation for each aspect of life that presents me with a new challenge. Sometimes, there are little orientation sessions that happen by accident while others are actually planned and happen intentionally.

I'm in my last official day of orientation as a graduate student at Harvard.  I'm not feeling any more ready or prepared for classes or the actual workload, but at least I know where classes are, where the library is, where to get some food, where to avoid hanging out if I really need to get work done, who my advisor is, and what my course schedule is.  I also have a much better sense of who I'm on this little adventure WITH and, so far, my cohort is fascinating, hysterically amusing, and serving as a nice, calm, rational touchstone.

There are other things that I would like to request some dedicated orientation time regarding. I shall list them here:

• the city, the T, the freeways, and systems of Cambridge and Boston - in particular this whole "toll" nonsense and the annoying need for parking permits and registrations that double insurance costs.
• unpacking and organizing a small one bedroom apartment without jeopardizing your relationship because you realize how much you'll be on top of one another - in the unpleasant way.
• grocery shopping and food preparation - we seem to have forgotten a LOT in transit and, somehow, I feel like I'm doing this for the first time on my own. It's silly. 
• why is everything in e-format these days?  How am I supposed to highlight and take notes on a PDF? I'm not sure that the technology is helping my situation as a student. 
• Local TV stations and how to use the new cable remote
• abbreviations that show up on my lab results because i'm just naturally curious about that kind of thing. I know most people just stop reading and smile after the word "normal", but not me. 
• how to pick a boy's name.  We had the girl's name all dialed in. Now this is unnecessary and we need to start over and have decided that boy's names are harder.
• how to successfully keep up with the blog you started.

I was just going to save this and finish later...my mother just called and needs an update, too.  However, I think one of the first bits of the blog orientation might be to post when you can...and since I might not get back to this for a little bit, a little something will at least be...something.

Coming Soon:

Adventures in Seattle
Driving to Boston
Peanut Pops
I'm Where? Harvard?
Ikea
I'm Old
Peanut is a Boy