A New Beginning

This blank template is almost as intimidating as the blank Word documents I've been producing all semester.

Three Incompletes, Two A's. This semester, in a word...tough. In more words...really,really tough. I don't know what I expected with five classes, a commute, a new relationship and a full time overnight job. I pretty much stayed in bed for a week after classes were over. The break between semesters was relaxing and fun and productive.

Everything's changed (and changing) for the better.
I moved out of a crappy roommate situation and moved in with Steve.
I got a new job and quit the overnight business for good. Tomorrow is my last thirteen hour shift and the last time I drive down to the South Coast for a long time unless it is to see Megan at school.
I am taking three manageable classes and finishing up my Incompletes, slowly but surely.
I am beginning a new volunteer job as a Citizenship Teacher's Assistant at JVS - a non-profit organization which helps people become employable, get citizenship, learn English and gain financial independence.

Even though school is a week away, today I begin my semester by committing myself to a good sleep schedule, productivity and passion in the coming months.

Being an atheist at a seminary is not so strange after all. I've tried to be as open as I can when I am asked directly. Otherwise, I just listen and speak with respect and an open mind with everyone who breaches the topic of religion. There are of course a couple of people who I just don't care for but such would be the case at any school.

I am excited, I want to build dialogue and get rid of the negative connotation that comes with being an atheist.
By this time a year from now I will most likely know where I am going to be getting my PhD. I would cross my fingers but I think it will be more productive if I use them to type up the paper I've been avoiding for the last hour...

Closer to God.

I didn't lie to get in...

I didn't exactly advertise the atheist part, though.

And every day I think... "Am I going to get kicked out of school when people find out I'm an atheist?"

One of the requirements for first year MA students is to take a "Spiritual Formation" course. It's a once a month meeting for "communal reflection on the intersection of personal faith and spirituality...and for engaging selected devotional practices that may help ground and sustain students..." It sounds like what I imagine AA to be. Except I'm the only one who's not an alcoholic.