It feels like summer vacation!

You know how sometimes you don't realize just how stressed out you are until the stress stops? Well, ok, so I knew I was stressed out, I told anyone who would pause for two seconds about how stressed out I was, and I was vaguely aware that for the past few months I've been slowly sliding back toward that ugly place from almost 2 years ago. But then today the clouds parted and it feels just as good as walking out of that last final of the semester! What am I going on and on about? Since January I have perpetually had one poster or presentation or another hanging over my head, and as of this afternoon, that's over! (ok, so it's a temporary reprieve, but still) Part of me feels guilty for complaining, because all of these conferences have been good experiences, and in general, they're good news - they mean I'm making progress on my research and presenting my results to my peers and doing that whole progressing toward graduation thing. But still, holy crap, as I rolled up my last poster this afternoon I realized just how much all this stuff has been gnawing away at me, even when I thought I had successfully pushed it to the back of my mind to enjoy relaxing and hanging out with friends.

Real world events remain tragic and awful and leave me speechless, but in my little microcosm, life is good.