whoa.

I love a little g-chat from time to time-- Gmail, I'm still not over your snooping, but I do appreciate your instant messaging feature-- and I've spent the last little bit chatting it up with one of the bests. He happened to be online at the same time as me, so off we went into full-blown catch up mode.

Par for the course, one of the usual questions asked was: so, Linds, when do you graduate?

May 2012 seems like an eternity from now, but when I started laying it out on g-chat, my mind nearly exploded. My class schedule is brutal this semester-- unlike last semester though, it's not because the work load is going to kill me-- because of the extracurricular requirements (counseling sessions, case notes, etc) and my GA hours, but I kind of like it this way because I feel productive at the end of the day. This summer, though, will be a totally different ballgame.

I'm taking two classes this summer: group therapy and stats. I know that statistics is offered online in a minimester, but I don't love numbers so much so I'm not sure that I won't opt to take it in a classroom... although, the thought of the walk to class in the Tuscaloosa heat may change my mind. I'm not sure how group therapy is taught, but I think it's a safe bet that it's an in-class course (I also know that I'm required to attend an actual group therapy of my choice, like AA...).

After this semester and last, I'm having a hard time feeling like those two classes will be overwhelming, if not exactly thrilling. And in the fall-- this is where it gets exciting-- I have one class. Just one.

It's required that I take this course before I start my internship-- as in, I can't do both at once, which would be entirely too ideal for the university to allow-- so I'll be splitting time between a mini-internship at a middle school and doing counseling in a free clinic. This does mean that I have to drive to Tuscaloosa once a week, but the gas money and the hassle are considerably less to deal with than renting an apartment and paying bills for class one night a week.

And then, in the spring-- more excitement-- I'll start my internship. Sure, it's technically a class, but this is the part of the program that I've been waiting for, the part that feels like real life. My internship hours are split between a high school and elementary school, so that between fall and spring I will have experience at all levels. Guidance lessons, individual counseling, program development-- oh my!

As of May 2012, I'll be a grown-up. A bona-fide, master's level grown up. Possibly an unemployeed, homeless grown-up... but a well-educated one at least. It will only have taken me 3.5 years at Auburn and 2.5 years at Alabama to decide I'm finally eligible to grow up. And let's be honest, by May 2012, a doctorate will be looking like a mighty fine alternative to growing up... I have a weird, unhealthy addiction to schoolin'.

But whoa-- there's a light at the end of my tunnel, and it's getting brighter as we speak. Right now it's just a delightful, warm glow... on the brink of adulthood, it may turn into a blinding, glaring light... but at the moment, I'm excited about this whole grown-up, that's-Miss Hays-to-you-young-man thing.

New thought: if I had a doctorate, I'd be Dr. Hays, right? Follow my logic people: if I have a master's degree, shouldn't I be Master Hays? or maybe Mistress Hays? Good morning, students, I'm your new counselor... Mistress Hays.

Turning the page, there's been a new development in my g-chat: making plans for Mardi Gras. I've never been, and I'm thinking Mardi Gras 2011 with the bests sounds pretty promising.

Good things are happening, people. Good, good things.