Gardening is Not News

I don't know why I'm updating, because I have pretty much nothing to update about. The nice thing about that is that my life is incredibly easy right now. I'm trying to enjoy this lazy feeling while I can since I know pretty soon I'm going to be dealing with moving stress, and before too long I'm going to be dealing with the whole Ph.D. thing, which, as much as I know I want to do it, is probably going to be 4 years of lots and lots of stress.
So what's up? Well, my thesis went up to the grad college last Thursday and it's not quite approved yet because of a few minor formatting things (the formatting of this thing is killing me, they could not possibly be more nitpicky about things and I don't understand why most of this stuff-like the font of the damn page numbers-makes any difference at all whatsoever). I made the necessary edits and am having another meeting about it tomorrow morning and hopefully it will get the final approval and then I can make copies of it, get it bound at the library, and finally be done with it already. Still, I'm more or less done with that and have been for weeks.
I did my final play report in class on Tuesday night, and now the only thing I have left to do is take my final exam on May 1st and I'm totally finished. Next week I just have to show up and watch other play reports. And since I think my grade in that class is a pretty solid A, I don't think I even need to study for the final all that much. I also finish managing the box office FOREVER on Saturday! In other words, I'm basically done with school.
So what else am I doing since I'm not busy with school anymore? I'm still working at the restaurant, but only for another month since I decided yesterday that May 18th will be my last day of work. I'd like to say that it will be my last day of waiting tables ever, but it so won't be. In fact, I was talking to Dad today about maybe working at his restaurant as well as his bar this summer. I don't want people being bitchy about me swinging into town for just a couple of months and taking shifts away from them, especially since I know that I can live without the money and it's very different to work like I do (to be able to sometimes buy an $8.00 drink without worrying about it and to save up some money for leaner times) and to work like so many other waiters and bartenders do (to pay their rent and buy groceries). So while part of me wants to go, "Chill out, it's two months!" I also understand their point and I figure if I divide my time between the restaurant and the bar (possibly bars, plural, since Dad has a new place on the other side of town) I'll be able to work plenty of shifts and save up some money but I also won't be invading too much on other people's turf. And for the record, I realize that I am about to have two degrees and I still have to wait tables and yes, sometimes I find that annoying. But I figure I can justify it as long as I'm still a student and living on stipends. Sure, it's enough to live on, but barely. And having the extra income from waiting tables really has given me the chance to spend money on pretty much whatever I feel like spending money on and also be able to put some money into savings, so I can't really complain. And the fact is I do need the extra income in the summers, since a 9-month paycheck just doesn't stretch a whole year. So yeah, I'll be waiting tables for the near future, but at least I'll only be at Applebees for the next month!
I figure the 18th is a good day to quit. My family comes to town that weekend for Chelsea's graduation and I'd like to be able to spend time with them, and then on the 20th my Mom is flying with me to the east coast so I can hopefully sign a lease on an apartment and actually see the D.C. metro area and my new school for myself. I still can't believe that I chose a school and a city to live in without ever having been there before in my life, but I'm trying to convince myself that it was a brave move and not a stupid one and I'd rather you not tell me otherwise, even if you disagree. And technically I did the same thing when I moved down here, although at least I'd been to Austin many times and driven through this little town so it's not like it was the Great Unknown. Oh well. It's going to be an adventure!
Figuring out what to do with all of my stuff over the summer and planning a 2,000 mile move is also turning out to be...well, I could be optimistic and call it an adventure, or I could be honest and say it's a huge pain in the ass. But it's all going to work itself out somehow, especially since I have several weeks to kill until graduation and nothing to do in the meantime except finish catching up on The Sopranos so I can watch the finale with everyone else. That should give me plenty of time to figure out a plan.