i had a discussion with paul near the end of last semester, discussing the transition from student to professional, where he told me that it's actually less work to be a professional than a student. you leave your work at the office, you don't have a million different responsibilities and different obligations, etc.

i acknowledge that this is true in many respects. i do get to leave my work at the office, i do get to have a few hours each night to do whatever it is that i want to do.

but i'll say this: this whole 9-5 (or in my case, 9-6) thing is kicking my ass! i'm amazed by how tiring it is and how i feel as if there really aren't enough hours in the day for everything i might like to do. let's take my 9-6 day (twice a week it's actually 8-5): i wake up around 6, get ready, eat some breakfast and walk out the door by 8, take the metro into the city and walk a couple of blocks to work. work until 6 with my hour lunch break, then walk back to the metro station and head home. a run follows (whether around my neighborhood or in the fitness room in my apartment building's sister buidling), then dinner followed by relaxation. i've been here for two and a half weeks and they've gone by pretty quickly because you get into the grind and just go go go...by the end of the week, i'm worn out! i know it's just a process of getting into the routine, but it's hard when you're first starting such a different schedule. after all, i've always been a night owl and have never needed a signficiant amount of sleep (although i've always enjoyed oversleeping from time to time), and now 11 rolls around and i'm getting ready to head to bed.

!?!??!?

but it's another monday, a new week. the weekend was pretty decent: got out of work around 4:30 and headed down to red river grill for a drink with a bunch of coworkers. then five of us headed somewhere in adams morgan, where we stayed for awhile before moving to the front page. met up with carrie and kelly (carrie's friend from undergrad) and tried to meet up with a group of carrie's friends at a place in dupont, but that kind of fell through, so we then went to the lucky bar, where we stayed for about five minutes before going to the citron cafe (a latin club slightly on the swanky side). i never barhopped before coming here, and it's an interesting experience. i know that, right now, i'd love the opportunity to just be able to sit down with some good friends and share some laughs over drinks or meet someone interesting. let's face it, i've always preferred taking it a little easy to being the wild and crazy type...but i know that doing all this now will (hopefully) pay off and i'll be able to have those chats down the road somewhere...

i decided to spend my saturday recharging the batteries and stayed in and relaxed by myself and had a nice evening of it. i had picked up a dvd at blockbuster when grocery shopping, so that night i curled up in my room and watched "the cat's meow", which i had wanted to see when it was in theaters, but couldn't find a place around home where it played. i recommend it--pretty decent film.

it was nice to relax and not run out and do anything--i have to keep in mind that there's no way i should feel as if i have to do something every weekend night. if i do, not only will i be exhausted, i will also have no money and will depress myself because i will feel compelled to be Out and With People and feel like there is something wrong if i'm not out. so i'm a fan of, unless there's something wildly exciting or somone asks me to hang out with them, spending one weekend night out and spending one weekend night relaxing and doing whatever.

i think it works out well...or at least i hope it does!

this morning is stressful...not a good start to the week!!!