I get to meet my mentee today! It's taken a long time (well over a month) going through the process and training to become a mentor, but finally the real fun is about to start, and I am soooo excited. I've been looking forward to this for weeks now, and I'm almost giddy about it. From what I've been told she's a very bright, opinionated little girl. I hope she likes me!

My students this semester are awesome. I love teaching the supplemental for non-science majors, always have, and I can't honestly say I've ever had a bad group, but I'm really enjoying the people this semester. They have a good sense of humor for my silliness, and I have a really good time there teaching them. It never feels like work or an obligation because I've always had fun with them. I'm really going to miss them at the end of the semester.

The meds are really working for me. I've been having a lot less physical pain now that I'm on them, and mentally I just feel like the normal me, the one who can handle stress and not freak out and make herself sick. The doctor I've been seeing for the anxiety is awesome too. It helps me not feel like a deffective when she treats it just like any other physical medical problem. It also helps when I think of it as a seratonin imbalance... maybe thats why I've been in more pain for the last few years? It's hard to say whether the pain caused the depression or vice versa, either one could really be possible, I'm just glad that both are improving. Another benefit, I've had even less of an appetite than usual, which makes sense because seratonin is one of the brain signals that tells you you're full. The doctor also told me that exercise is doubly important right now because studies have actually shown that the neurons in your brain that deteriorate when you have depression can be regrown or repaired with more exercise, so I guess I'll be hitting the gym soon.

Thanksgiving is soon, and I'm having people over for dinner. So excited! I'm going to make my world famouse turkey, mashed potatos, homemade rolls, and prolly some other stuff too. Then after Christmas the mamma and Amie and Arnold, and god I love the holidays! Can't wait!