This weekend I had a freak-out moment over infectious disease therapeutics. By the time my thoughts post Monday morning, I will be sitting at a desk swearing under my breath, wondering what I spent so much time studying, because it sure doesn’t match up with the multiple choice items I’ve been given.

All degree programs have that one class;  the PowerPoint slides are a mess;  the professor reads blindly from the slides;  the class average is horribly horribly low.

Frustrated, I stepped away from my desk to decompress.  My wife is lying in bed next to me as I write this, lamenting having finished every cooking show on Netflix, competitive or otherwise.  My son is asleep in his room dreaming of Pokemon cards.  Tonight’s bedtime story is closing in on the end of the Deathly Hallows, and Harry and his friends just escaped from a room full of FiendFyre!  And speaking of burned, I’ve just burned the my wife’s popcorn trying to type this out while monitoring the microwave.  Time to hide the evidence.  Also, there’s only one bag left in the box, so I’ve got to make this one count.

My point is that all this studying has a an endgame.  Having come back from Thanksgiving break, and with the winter holidays upon us, it’s important to remember to appreciate things in your life outside of school. Things such as the smell of popcorn.  It put me in a good mood, but as I finish this post, my wife has eaten the entire bag without me.  You win some, you lose some.  I think I’m coming to terms with the idea of getting a C for the semester.  It’s just one class, and a C means I passed.  No employer is going to ask, “So, John, what’s with that C you got in IDT in your Fall semester of 2015?”

There’s a sign around campus, Pause for Paws.  Tomorrow from 12:30 to 2pm outside the SG-III rec center, you will get to see dogs.  And who doesn’t like dogs? I think I’ll pop on over and engage in some de-stressing therapy. This reminds me of a recent article released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which found a possible association between pets and animals and childhood anxiety.  All the more reason to pop on by and see some dogs. 😀

Alright, I lied.  Often times, that one class has a part two, the evil conspiring cousin.

That, however, is a problem for next semester, and I’m not going to let that thought ruin my winter break.