Working hard and hardly working

Last night in New Orleans the boyfriend and I were treated to dinner at Emeril's French Quarter restaurant Nola, which very much "kicked it up a notch" in my belly! AHAHAHAH. Seriously though: ridiculously delicious. We all said "kick it up a notch" and "Bam!" about 47 times during the meal. Then we saw the end of the Liars' set followed by Interpol at House of Blues. I'm such an oldy that I couldn't stop yawning and couldn't wait to sit down, but felt I had zero right to feel that way, because our dinner friends had been quite drained from being on tour, not to mention my boyfriend who's been running on fumes all month. (In an entirely different way than I was running on fumes much later on.)

The bf has been working more hours than anyone I've ever seen this close up; between class and the studio he's putting in 20 hour days or close to it, every day of the week. I see him and his classmates doing it and still can't even imagine. Last night was only our third night out in over a month of being here, I think, and he couldn't help thinking how he had to get back. This morning he was beating himself up for "sleeping in" til 6:30. On his birthday.

Part of what's making this possible for him is a competitive drive to rank in the top of the small class. I find myself rather lacking in this helpful drive. The only thing I was really good and/or the best at in my classes as a kid was reading, writing, and art, and look where that's gotten me--the rewarding world of publishing! You might die of starvation, but look at how clever you are!™ Also, your pay breaks down to about $9/hour, but here's some free CDs!™ I wonder if there's some magical pill I could take to install a competitive drive this late in life. Possibly my namesake drug, but I'm going to pass on that.

Supposedly this is the worst semester for the program so my old man just has to power through two and a half more months or so before things return to a slightly more sane skedj. I'm inspired by how determined and dedicated he is, and the hope is that this difficult stretch will lead to much better, more fulfilling futures for us both.

In further navel-gazing news, it's also our one-year anniversary. It's been a big year, I must say. Here's the partial story of our first date.