Gold old days

Dear blog,

It's good to me home in salt lake. I've really enjoyed seeing all the friends and family. Not too much has changed. I guess I have only been away for 4 months. But it still felt like a while.

For now, it's just been moving moving moving. My dad is hard at work getting everything together with the new home. And we have a lot of people moved in right now. But I've been occupied every night with visiting peeps.

First I got to see Charlie before he left for Oregon. Then I went over to Kelli's new house in Sugarhouse. The place is beautiful!! I just adore Kelli, and I have missed her so much.

I got to see my favorite people! I went out clubbing with Max and Jose just like good old times. And I realized how much a really miss Max. He's really been doing well and I just love his guts! We hung out at Sig Ep and just talked about the good times while drinking his signature wine. Then we went out to Sound. Gold old club Sound never changes.

I also got to spend time with my girl Ruby!! After so long, we finally got together, and reminisced like we'd never had been apart. I will always love that girl. She's had such an impact to my life. We got take out from our traditional restaurant Wingers and went to her grandmas house (very close the new home in Cottonwood) and just talked, laughed, and reflected back to the good times.

It's been a great week. The best Christmas I could ever have spending time with good friends and family. As I look forward to a new year 2012. I realize this has been a very good year for Cameron.

Smiling as always,
-Cameron

Home!!

Dear blog,

I just arrived home in salt lake city. I finished up my last HESA assignment and now I'm home for the holidays in my dads new house in Cottonwood Heights! It's so pretty. I can't wait to see everyone. I got in late last night do now I'm just relaxing until my plans unfold.

I'm going to the university to finish some stuff up for work and my y-520 class. Maybe I'll meet up with some friends :-)

Anyway it's good to be back home for a while knowing I survived the semester.

Smiling as always!
-Cameron :-)

Nightlife

Dear blog,

Right now I'm waiting to be picked up to have a night out in Indy. The first night where I get to see the true gay nightlife in the big city. I finished the bulk of my work and am so close to officially saying I survived my first semester of graduate school. But I got another haircut as I do every 9th of the month, and they cut it way too short again. It always sucks when I can't look the best I can be. The stress of school has escalated these past couple weeks and I'm pretty sure I've lost weight again. I really wanted to come home to Utah with a good fresh look, like I was well put together. But I fear I won't be looking all that good when I come home. But this winter break is my chance to recover and focus on my health.

Anyway... I'm still looking forward I going out. I've been to Indy maybe 3 times this whole semester. I've been making some social progress here . I've been hanging out with friends outside HESA and seeing the artistic scene of Bloomington. For example, I went to a one man show at a cute coffee shop called Rachel's cafe. I even bumped into my boss Darrell.

So the semester is almost done. I pretty much only have a creative podcast to do and I'm actually really looking forward to it. Then I fly home in 3 days!

Over my head

Dear blog,

I'm writing on my way to the office after having class in the education building. Except, it wasn't class today. I, however, thought we did have class as usual in Briscoe, but when I arrived at 1pm, no one was there. I was so confused. Then I come to find out that they were having faculty interviews and class was technically moved to 2pm to participate in the interviews.
It wasnt that I was frustrated... I mean the communication could have been more clear... But it was that I just felt clueless. Like everyone else knew what was going on and I just didn't. In addition to the confusion, it's raining pretty hard outside and the mood is dark.

After attending the interview and research presentation from the faculty candidate, I just feel... like it's all just above my head. I see all these scholars, professors, even some of my cohort colleagues engaging in research ... They totally get it. But me... Its totally not my thing. I look at it like its a completely different language.

I'm 7 pages into my create your own theory paper and as I read through it all sometimes I feel like none of it is making sense. Especially after watching a research presentation like the one I saw today. I feel kinda lost in this academic world. And all I can think about is how much more rewarding the artistic world was. And how little creativity exists in academia. It's all structure and tradition. No wiggle room. At least after I finish this paper, I only have the podcast left to do, and that will be my chance to unleash my creative juices.

For now... I'm just feeling a little burnt out. I have a little more to get through and then I can go home and see the family and friends from Utah, who I haven't seen in 4 months.

Smiling as always,
-Cameron :-)

Managing the stress

So I know I said I would include what's happened so far in my life. But I thought I'd just do a current update and save the reflection for later.

I'm just finishing up my Friday before the last week of school. I can't believe the time is really winding down. I realized last week that I have a lot to do and finish before I can tell myself I'm close to being done with the semester. But I'm handling the stress well... I'm taking it step by step.

Last night me and some HESA friends got together to take our IRB test for Y520. We got it done and had some wine to celebrate. The night was so much fun. You could tell we were all stressed and busy, but this was the first time we had a social get together where we just let loose and talked about everything that was on our mind I felt so connected with my cohort and I knew we were all in this together. It was nice to see that we all had the same concerns. Talking about it helped to much to take away the stress.

Anyway, today was the last COMU meeting of the semester. Work is finally coming together. More projects are in the works. I'm now spending all my time at the SLL office now that the GLBT center is under renovation for a new 2nd floor!

I'll write more later, but I gotta keep moving..

Smiling as always,
Cameron :-)