At it again

By the time I get back to my desk, coffee in hand, Sharky McSharkface is shaking his hips and shoulders to whatever song he hears when the sun's radiation hits his stand. He makes me smile even though I've been going full speed since 5 am and have just discovered my underwear is inside out.

I'm tired.

This is to be expected. As hopefully a last year grad student, I'm working part time remotely for San Diego, teaching an undergraduate class, taking two classes, (supposedly) working on my thesis, and training for one triathlon, one half marathon, and one full marathon.

This morning was my first day back at the gym in a couple weeks and I didn't have any energy to spare. I did my best. I faded hard at the end. As I rotated between squats and pull-ups, I visualized the swim portion of my upcoming triathlon. I kept going.

As I was leaving, I ran into one of the trainers and realized now would be a good time to learn his name since we've been saying hello to each other every morning for a couple years now. While we were talking, he told me how one of the guys at the gym told him that he's inspired by me even though he doesn't know me. "You're inspiring people, just so you know. You work your butt off and people see it."

I left feeling slightly recharged.

I ate, showered, bought bar tape on my way to school from the local bike shop, signed my contract, got my teaching ID and my teaching parking permit (yay employee parking!), bought a coffee, and made my way back to my office on the 8th floor.

I pulled out my to-do list and only got to check off one item. I felt slighted. In the process of getting settled, I pulled out my second to-do list in hopes of merging them. Four items got to be checked off!! I thought about merging the lists and decided I should get on Facebook instead.

Thesis (Theo for short) sits on top of my books on my desk, serving as my muse and confidant for the remainder of my master's degree.

The fact that he's a sloth hopefully speaks very little about the time remaining until the completion of my thesis. You can't judge your muse by his appearance, or even his animal species. What really matters is that he (or she) speaks to you, and Theo did speak to me...at least when I passed by him at Barnes and Noble. He's been fairly silent lately, but he's knows I've been busy and overwhelmed. I'm planning a little chat with him later though. He looks to be ready.