OK, since half the people I know seem to be doing this now, I've decided to jump on the bandwagon. I can't guarantee that I'll update this regularly, but I'll try. I may also self-censor a fair amount, as there are some thigns that I don't necessarily want to share with the rest of the world. Anyway...The State of the Berek address:




Life is sort of ok right now. I'm in school, which is cool, and I think I'm doing pretty well. I'm also working as a TA which is an interesting experience. I've been taking a decent mix of courses, and I'm hoping that fairly soon I'll be transferring to UCLA, or another full-fledged university (yes, it's good to be in school, but I don't give myself too much credit for doing well in a community college situation - it's not exactly the same challenge that Brandeis was).




Money, on the other hand is a different situation. My TA position is a paying one, but the money won't even start until probably near the end of February. In the meanwhile, I have no money other than what my father loans me. He doesn't quite seem to get the idea that if I'm doing school full-time, it makes work a little hard to pull off. So I get very little financial help unless I actively bug him. Needless to say, it's a big headache, and it means that there are times that I can't even go out with friends when I want to, because, even though they are often willing to pitch in to make sure I can come along, it makes me feel like a complete and utter jerk.




Lastly, there's my social life. Or, rather, there isn't. All I do is go out with my father and brother, or with Jen and Rob (and maybe a few other people with them). I sinply don't know where to begin when it comes to trying to estabish a social life. I have a terrible time approaching women, for a number of reasons. Sure, I do OK in public situations, where I'm just talking to people, but when I try to interact in a serious way with someone I'm interested in, things head downhill very quickly. It gets to the point where I'm can't even talk to them. In recent memory, I can't think of a time where I've made any kind of first move towards a woman. So, I pretty much see it as a "sucks to be me" situation.




That's pretty much the general update. I know I have friends with far more serious situation than me, and I fully appreciate that. It doesn't mean that I'm terribly happy with my own place in life right now. In fact, about the only thing that really makes me happy right now is that I'm aware of how much my friends say I mean to them. If nothing else, I can take pleasure in the fact that I'm there for my friends when they need me. On the whole, I guess that's not too bad.