Classes and Studies and Mountains, Ohm My!

This Friday, T and I will pack up the car and start driving north.

I'm heading to one of my biannual Ph.D. seminars up in Los Gatos, here.
(T will be using the time to study for his LSAT, coming up next month.)

The place is run by nuns and it's halfway up a steep mountain (yeah...I let T drive for that part. I don't do mountains if I can help it, and his growing up in PA was more mountain-driving-friendly than my upbringing in rural farmland Virginia...) We constantly see deer, mountain lions are around, and there are tons of birds and other such tiny awesome creatures that you never see in the city. Not that I'm hating on squirrels, but you know.

I'm excited! I'll get to see my classmates who I only run into at these things (there's a reason they call mine the "Global program", that's right, we've got folks from nearly every continent coming in), and there will be fresh clean air, dangerous hiking trails (I'm serious. There are warning signs that are moderately disconcerting posted at each entrance), and new-agey/slash/conventional psychological coursework and discussion. Right up my alley.

I may or may not be blogging, depending on two things:
1) how strong my wireless signal is in the main room where we'll be meeting
2) whether I'm interested or not in what's going on. Sometimes it's super duper boring, not gonna lie. Once they start talking about research paradigms I start snoring. Or playing minesweeper. Or writing in my journal. Or blogging. So it could happen.

This is almost my last seminar - you're not required to go in your last year (at least not to both seminars. Hmm, I'm not sure whether it's one or none. I think I should find that out). I'm starting year 4 this go-round and the program is 5 years long.

Not bad, considering you get a master's and a Ph.D. along the way.

The fact that the school's unconventional teaching styles make it not as well respected as others isn't as great, but that doesn't matter much for me. I'm already doing what I'll be doing after graduation (not to mention the fact that I have more credentials than 90% of other life coaches that you'll find out there...) Boy oh boy was it a shock when I discovered nearly a year ago that, when it came to my area (working with people, not so much research and academia), that I already knew all I ever would from this school. The last few years are all dissertation-based, really. The fact that I actually had that much in m'noggin was scary, and awesome to figure out. That's why A Luminous Life is up and running already...

Anywhoo.

So I'm apologizing in advance for my (possible) absence. I'll miss you!

Today's whiteboard quote:
"Ideas are a dime a dozen. People who implement them are priceless."
~Mary Kay Ash