Back to the Grind

Well, Spring Break was a welcome change from IUB and the humdrum life of sus the grad student. Instead I was Sus the traveler, Sus the MLS student with librarians to interview, Sus the friend back from out of town (this last one I find especially appealing).
So the first is great because well, let's face it, I LOVE to travel, and also, I'm fortunate enough that for xmas my parents bought me a ticket to visit Steve in San Fran (and they came along which meant things got paid for not out of my own pocket...hooray) Can I just say how great my parents are? I love them so much, and not because they pay for me to take exciting vacations, but because they are actually *gasp* quite cool to hang out with and converse with. I think even if I had to pay for my own ticket i would have jumped at the chance to spend some quality time with the rents. For that matter, I'd say the same about Steve now to. We've worked hard on our relationship over the past years, alot of growing up and communication, and now I"m happy to say I would even enjoy spending time visiting him regardless of the parents being along, or probably even the awesome locations he seems to pick to live in :) And let me say San Fran was an awesome choice for living - Well done Steve :) I had a BLAST out there...and enjoyed pretty much every minute of my journey out there. (plane flights not withstanding) Saw the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay, the SFMOMA (see below), Yeurba Buena Gardens (our hotel was right near it), the SF Aquarium, Hard Rock Cafe, tall ships, Monteray Bay, the M. Bay Aquarium, Seaside, Calif., Carmel, Calif, San Jose, some of Stanford Campus, Sunnyvale (and YES< it made me think of Sunnydale and Buffy the V.Slayer.) and the PACIFIC Ocean - both in San Fran side, and also from the 17 mile drive - which kicked, and also means I saw spy glass, pebble beach and some other golf courses, and houses I can hope to dream to own someday!
The SFMOMA provided me the op to be studious and a good student and inquisitive and interview the librarian at the SFMOMA about her position, library etc etc, it was well worth the time and will hopefully also help w. the paper i'm writing (ACK!) Plus the exhibitions were way cool,a nd I felt all professional and grown-up for setting up the tour/interview and exploring.
But, let me tell you why this last is the best. Now that I am no longer in Iowa City, I have gained this awesome status as the out-of-town friend that all of the IC friends should make it a priority to see while she's back. This is a great thing to me. Because I absolutely adore my friends back home, and love them to death, so it is only natural that when I am back in town I want to see all of them that I can and spend as much time as possible hanging out with them. I am happy to report that it was reciprical in most cases. Dude, totally just spelled that wrong - spell check didn't rescue me there. So first, thanks to all of you who made yourselves available to me, even for the smallest amount of time, it was much appreciated and I will see you all again soon (ACK!!! not much time left before I finish the first year of grad school - well hopefully finish)
Speaking of friends....secondly, SOOO many upcoming birthdays to send shout outs. Christa and Traci, this month, Rena, Q and Becks next month...happy birthdays folks!
all right, that said, I really should get a move on...I am wet from soaking rain, and soaked from wet rain..(and kickboxing) so must dry off and begin the process of trying to get ALL these things done...ACK! (back to the stress!)