[Gabe]

So, I got accepted to grad school, which is absolutely, one hundred percent win. I accidentally applied to the highest-ranked program in my specialty (I'm going for library and information science, emphasis on the latter), so I was really kind of nervous about getting in. Turns out I shouldn't have been.

This part is absolute, unadulterated win. And the prospect of school doesn't really daunt me. At least, the school part doesn't. I might only do so-so at life, but I'm a total ace at school. I've never found it impossible. I've almost always found it enjoyable. The program's online, too, and it seems like the hours I have to be present for my classes are going to be pretty reasonable.

Now, I started a new job a month ago. Part-time. It doesn't have anything to do with library and information science, but it's reasonably enjoyable, has a lot of awesome people, and is something that I enjoy. Well, sort of enjoy. I enjoy = it more than answering phones, and more than the temp work I'd picked up previously.

To top it off, I have a boyfriend. This isn't new; he's been my boyfriend for a pretty long time, and my best friend for some time before that. He lives in Alaska. I live in Illinois. And he works full-time. This means that, on average, he's home between nine and ten at night my time. Right now, I'm handling that by segmenting my sleep, which is less than ideal, but just barely workable.

My personal financial situation is that I live with my mom and have only a few regular expenses (basically, my cell phone bill, my WoW subscription, and my Netflix subscription. Yeah, I'm basically a loser-geek sort).

So, I realized yesterday that, come June? It's going to be something like, "work, school, boyfriend: pick two." I mean, unless I develop a sudden immunity to sleep, which admittedly would be awesome, but simply isn't gonna happen because my life's not a science fiction film. Right now, even "work + boyfriend" is kind of iffy (plan B, if I didn't get into grad school, was for me to find a job up there and move).

Now, my boyfriend's pretty chill about the whole thing. You know those demanding types that demand all of your time and who get passive aggressively pissy about not getting it? He's totally the opposite of that. But I know from my own personal experience that two years of that kind of not seeing each other will basically ruin things. And him coming down here right now isn't an option, for various and sundry reasons that mostly revolve around the fact that we both want to have jobs before relocating to the same place.

So, now I'm super stressing the way that only a slightly mentally off chick can about this. I think I need to leave my job when school starts in June. I don't know if I should do it now or not (I want to be decent for the people I'm working with, who are awesome). I don't know how to bring it up to my mom, who will probably accept it, but who I'll feel horrible for draining from.

I wish I could deal with everything in life like a normal person.

[kateleestar]

First: Congrats on school!!! Second: If BF is that awesome and you know he's the one, and if your Mom is a-okay with you dropping school while she pays for your stuff again, I would totally do away with the job. I would, however, leave on excellent terms if your situation happens to change and you eventually find that you could manage it, you would want to have that bridge fully accessable and not burned out, kwim?

And I think you are dealing with things like a normal person! You are planning things out, thinking about them, and not jumping in without looking. That's very smart and very adult-y-normal person.