once a month?

life has been in overdrive for the past month. it actually seems like longer. i am struggling to keep on top of my classes and preparing for the dissertation defense in november. it's coming at me faster and faster. i'm managing. i certainly am not complaining. i love the challenging pace. i take a mini-break for myself on the weekends to watch a movie or take a walk with ainsley or just flip through magazines. that's all i really need right now.
i go to new mexico next week for a conference. i will be conducting a presentation at the conference so i'm pretty stoked about that. the hot air balloon festival will be taking place while i am there, so i hope to see some pretty sights.
i'm enjoying classes very much. i'm learning things every day. some things work and some things don't. i certainly learned not to assign papers in four classes with the same due date. talk about a headache!
i'm learning just HOW the absent minded professor became absent minded in the first place. i'm so mentally busy that i'm making some really stupid mistakes in the rest of my life. i have left my keys in stores at the check out counter too many times to count just in the past month. i have lost my digital camera. i left a $200 cookware set on the shopping cart in the parking lot of Target instead of putting it in my vehicle with the other purchases. lucky for me, i went back a couple of hours later and someone had taken it inside to the customer service desk.
i'm looking forward to next semester because i know that it will be "easier" in the sense that only two classes will be "new" to me and i'll be done with the dissertation work.
oh and did i forget to mention that i'm getting ready to start the whole job application thing again? this job is only contractual for the academic year. i will be sending out my vita for tenure track positions that begin next fall. i love it here so i am hoping that i end up with a regular position here, but who knows what will happen. regardless of what does happen, i know that things will work out the way they are meant to. my job is to just do my very best no matter what.