So, as you probably already know, last Sunday the date was 10-10-10. Math grad students don’t really need any more reason than that to have a party, let me tell you. (Actually, the idea is stolen from The Office. There’s an episode in season 1 when a 05-05-05 party is referenced.) It was an all-out themed party (theme was the number ten). Costumes, decorations, foods, the whole thing. It was a lot of fun, and it was nice to hang out with my fellow nerds outside of school for a generally relaxed night. FYI – my “costume” was wearing my Santonio Holmes Steelers jersey – he was #10. (Now he’s a NY Jet…)

As far as school stuff goes, BLAH. I’m in the thick of the semester now, almost halfway through. My first analysis exam did not go as well as I would have liked, my first graded assignments in analysis and algebra each were less than perfect (which is therefore less than acceptable), and I have a midterm in algebra on Monday that I used to be really excited for until I started getting graded homework back and my professor’s guidance to the class for what to study was “oh, just study all your handouts and all the homework problems and your notes.” Yeah, that’s EVERYTHING we’ve done so far this semester. Thanks for narrowing that down… Luckily I have a strong background in abstract algebra from my undergrad days or else I’d be screwed. But I fear even that will not help me since my homeworks aren’t as solid as I want them to be. I guess this is my wake up call to buckle down and live and breathe math for a while without allowing myself too many distractions.

As an adjustment, I’m being more engaged during class. Now I just have to translate all that to more effort when I’m at home: of course I’d rather just curl up in a chair or in bed and watch TV on DVD or Netflix, but no – I should do math instead.

On a lighter note, I did get paid (finally) and all my bills are paid (goody! no getting evicted or getting utilities shut off or anything!). So I think I’m going to be just fine financially now that the paydays have started back up. I ended up splurging a bit on some presents TO me FROM me from NFL.com. Got myself a super awesome, super sexy ladies-fitted throwback Mean Joe Greene Steelers jersey. And then I got a new Steelers t-shirt too. Actually, NFL Shop disappointed me this time around. Usually I visit there and I see hundreds of dollars worth of stuff I want and I have to narrow it down considerably to what I can afford. But this time, I knew I wanted the jersey, but I really only found 2 or 3 shirts I wanted and those were either too expensive or designed for really cold weather or really warm weather (neither of which we’re experiencing right now). Anyway, I can’t wait to wear the new jersey for Ben’s return following his rape-related suspension on Sunday. With our starting QB back, the Steelers will be even better! 🙂

The apartment is still awesome. I am loving living alone. Maybe after a few years or decades it would get lonely, but for now I’m really liking it. I don’t know how to explain it. I feel very accomplished. I can kind of understand now why people have referred to owning your own house as “the American dream.” I feel proud of my apartment, like it is a space that is my own. It’s something I shape, but also something that reflects who I am. It’s an interesting phenomenon that I’m experiencing for the first time.

Hmmm. What else is going on? Not a whole lot. I’m going to be buying plane tickets soon (probably today) for my trip home to Pennsylvania over Christmas break. I’ll be spending approx 40% of break in PA and 60% in TX. (That’s 2 weeks and 3 weeks, respectively.) This will be my longest continuous stay in SW PA since freshman year of college. And I’ll be without my own car. This could go really well, or horribly, horribly wrong. Spending time with my siblings definitely makes it all worth it though. And I’ll have time to actually see friends as well (which I didn’t really have time to do when I was there for 25 hours two weeks ago). So yay for friends!

Oh, and after all my whining above about my algebra assignments, my prof just walked into my office as I was typing this to give me more assignments back and the rest weren’t so bad. Just have some studying to do, but I’m not feeling nearly as dramatic as I was before. Fabulous!