I Don't Think I'm Dead

Sometimes it's hard to tell, but fear not gentle readers, I'm still here. This has been the most exhausting week in quite awhile. I've been coming home and climbing into bed at night. Tonight would be no exception, but I hate to leave people thinking I may be a pile of jello somewhere. I think another reason I haven't written is that I have no idea where to start. The week was bound to be crappy since this is the first week back to classes. Just getting back into the swing of things is always a bit tough. Planning a conference, running your own grant project, and being the leader of your school's student organization tend to compound the problem.

So, the big horrible news for the week involved my conference. (By the way, go and register to attend the conference!! Especially if you're from Alabama. It's going to be great!! $10 registration before February 1st includes the conference, breakfast, lunch, and a year-long membership to Physicians for Human Rights!) The keynote speaker for the conference, Dr. Paul Farmer, backed out. 2 months before the conference and our rock star speaker is gone. I had a major meltdown. Luckily my friend Carolyn called for some commiseration. She picked me up from my apartment and took me out for some "Cheesecake Factory." There's nothing like calories to drown your sorrows....except maybe alcohol, but I have too much to do to start a drinking habit. Plus I'm already running on a limited supply of brain cells- better not push my luck. We have a replacement speaker who will be great, possibly even more fabulous. The only difference is that she's not as famous so our recruitment is going to be more challenging. Really the reason behind my breakdown was my fear of telling the planning committee about our loss. They were really stoked about Paul. But, they ended up taking it much better than I thought they would, which was awesome. They're a really great group. Really if you care about global AIDS, the speaker won't matter. Especially when you consider the credentials of the replacement.

This week really hasn't been that horrible, I've just been running myself ragged trying to get stuff done. I had a PHSA meeting right before the PHR meeting, and I had people missing both meetings. So not only did I have to lead both meetings, I then had to go home and email people with a recap of everything that happened. That wouldn't be such a big deal if Yahoo! mail wasn't such a bitch. I swear, it deleted the world's longest email that I'd taken about 30 minutes to compose. I almost threw my monitor out the window. I eventually got it sent though.

Now, I have to head to bed because I have to be at the HUC to go to a Habitat for Humanity workday at 7:30 AM. Woohoo! Oh, also, now you guys see why I don't write when I get stressed out. There was nothing remotely funny in this whole post. I don't want to bring you guys down with me!!! I'll make it up to you soon though :)