On Being Away

I’ve been away (thank the earth for winter break). Somehow, time has snuck by, and I find myself in the third week of my second — and last — semester of grad school. So, I’m super amped to be back in school, right? I mean, absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?

Right. Well, sort of. And sort of not so much.

Last semester was incredibly exciting. I had gotten into a program that I had looked at longingly for a long time from a distance as I was in a job that I made me unequal parts happy and miserable (mostly miserable). In school, I was doing two of my favorite things constantly — learning and making. And I was doing something as a student that I was incredibly excited to be able to do eventually and — gasp! — get paid for.

Last semester was also incredibly exhausting. In addition to taking 14 hours of masters credits, let’s just say I was working a bit more than I should have been. I live down in south Denver and was commuting up to Boulder to attend class. I was able to get all of my schoolwork done, but I had no time to do much of anything else, like personal projects that would allow me to explore my interests in design and that could be a part of my portfolio.

The lead up to break was intense. Getting all my projects done plus putting together a UX portfolio site for the first time resulted in what seemed like countless hours with my head down and tapping away at a keyboard. Having no class for a month was definitely a luxury. And it was also much-needed and much-appreciated.

Over break, I was able to, for the first time, work on things that I wanted to do because I was interested in them. I took a bunch of tutorials on Git, HTML, CSS, Javascript, and jQuery. I coded some stuff THAT ACTUALLY WORKED! I started a project with my significant other that you can read about here and that is still ongoing. I messed around with Arduino boards and made LEDs blink.

It was lovely to have a break, to be away. Eating a lot, sleeping in, and generally doing what I want is nothing to shake a stick at.

On the other hand, I was also excited to go back. I was excited to work on new projects and move further down the road toward graduation. Somehow, being assigned projects that I may or may not be excited about and having constant looming deadlines became attractive once I was away from it for long enough.

Those oft-mentioned phrases — “The grass is always greener on the other side”, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” — they ring true. Even for 16 hours of an intensive masters program.