2010 so far

As some have noticed (and cajoled me about), it has been a little while since I last posted a blog entry. So here it is, and I suppose I have some catching up to do with where I am in life. So here is what 2010 has brought so far as we approach the halfway point of the year:

1) I have completed one whole year of graduate school. Before I started this year, I didn't fully buy in to all the warnings of how the first year of econ grad school is "the worst year of your life," "miserable," "the end of your life," or any other such dire description. That said, I still enjoyed the last year and was far from miserable, however, I've never studied so hard in my life. The closest comparison I have to the workload was when I was a missionary and working hard 24/7. But work is not without its rewards, and I really do feel that I have learned a ton in this past year, more than I had ever learned about economics before. So I felt like it was a very fulfilling year, if not intense and stressful much of the time. But I passed my exams and I'm moving on to year two, to bigger and tougher exams and more stress, I suppose, which means I should probably be taking a break right now, but no, instead...

2) I'm working as a research assistant this summer. Many people I know (including my sisters) seem to do various exciting and thrilling things with their summers and time off, like traveling to distant places to do humanitarian work, biking across the country, going on cruises, doing study abroads and the like. For me, I seem to always end up continuing to work from where I left off at the end of the school. I do take breaks at the holidays and for parts of the summer, but I am one who likes to be actively engaged in productive activities and that often results in more studying and more work. I think that's actually kind of boring, but it's very productive and I like getting things done, so I keep doing it. And I have felt very productive as a research assistant and it's only been a few weeks! I have a really good relationship with my professor (David Lee) and I feel like I'm treated as much more of an equal than I would have expected. We're working on projects that I find interesting (unemployment, job search, research design) and I'm getting to contribute significant portions of the research and learn quite a bit about the whole process. I think it's been a great experience, and I'm really not bummed about traveling somewhere exotic, especially since...

3) I am a proud home-owner*, the emphasis being more on the proud and less on the owner part. My parents contributed most (i.e. all) of the downpayment and I still have a mortgage I'm paying off, but hey, I'm very excited about a place of my own. My dad has been coming down quite a bit lately to help do work to make it more livable and nicer too. I'm still without most of the major furniture, but I now have a working kitchen and the fundamentals I need to get by. The process has been great to see so one day when I'm on my own and buying a house myself, I will have a feel for how to go about it. And it's exciting to have so much control over the layout and look and be able to find furniture that I like and a layout that fits well. And the tax credit from being a first time home buyer hasn't been too bad either. And it's really fun for me to get to see my dad more often with him coming and visiting here. I don't often get many chances to visit home, mostly because

4) I'm staying plenty busy with other service, interests and activities. I continue to serve in the ward as a ward clerk and I've been recently called to work with the Stake Young Single Adults too. These are great callings which allow me to really serve in the Church and gain valuable experience while contributing in meaningful ways. I really love serving as the clerk and being able to spend time with the Bishopric and be very engaged with the whole ward membership. I'm still playing my fair share of basketball, although often at the somewhat unseemly hour of 6:30am on Saturdays. And I'm still working on a number of music arrangements and compositions for solo voice or quartet. It's interesting - for all the time I spent doing music and drama throughout my high school and early college years, it seems that people seem to identify me most with academics or athletics. I enjoy those too and invest quite a bit there, and although most of my outlets for music are through Church right now, it is still very important to me. I'm hoping to publish an arrangement I wrote of the primary song, "My Heavenly Father Loves Me," sometime in the next year and I'm working on several other arrangements, as well as organizing several musical numbers for Church. In fact, I'm attaching a link to a demo of aforementioned arrangement here (to view you'll need to download the mp3 file) - it's crudely recorded and I don't know that it's perfectly in tune either, but it's a flavor of what I've been working on.

http://www.box.net/shared/3qqrvuxj4s

Well, that's life right now! Hopefully I can find more time to keep this better updated!