Big changes

I finally did it. Last week, I moved out on my own. Moving out and getting my own place is something I have dreamed about for the last ten years, and it's finally happened. It's a lot to deal with. I'm learning a lot because I'm quite literally on my own, and the majority of the time, I really don't have anyone to talk to, so my days are quiet. I've done things like change my address, pick up the key to my mailbox, clean up every day, laundry, dishes, grocery shopping. I'm figuring out who I am bit by bit, and it's doing a world of good.
Today, some friends of mine and I cleaned out the storage unit I've had since 2012. Now my apartment is full of more junk then it was when I moved in, and I'm going through it box by box. It's made me realize I have serious hoarding problems, and I guess this realization came with getting older and learning to view the world differently. I'm more interested now in what I can put into this life, and what I can give to others, rather than taking. Also, the idea of having to keep up with things I haven't used in God knows how long is not one I want to explore. I told my sister I'm getting rid of the majority of this stuff. I'm keeping photographs of course, but most of the clothing is going, as is most of the paper stuff. The old textbooks I'm not sure about. There is still useful information in there, but they're no longer being used in the courses I took and wouldn't be relevant to today's students anyway.
Grad school is going well. It's a far cry from when I was working on my bachelors' degree. Now classes are eight weeks long, and the research is extensive. Thankfully I like research because we as people are truly life-long learners and there is so much information out there waiting to be discovered. There also seems to be more freedom in what we research. Last week I did a presentation on gainful employment for one of my courses. Gainful employment means graduates are able to find jobs in their chosen career fields, and one of the big concepts was that the career fields would enable them to pay off student debts. This week, I'm doing another one on community colleges, and I'm tempted to just profile Howard College, since it's here in San Angelo, but after interviewing the assistant director for admissions last week, branching out and finding one outside of San Angelo feels more appropriate. She said not to limit oneself to ASU or Howard, and there are a lot of schools to choose from. I'm also doing a group project on nature vs. nurture for the other course. All of this reminds me I need to look for a job on either campus to get my foot in the door. I graduate in eight months, and my current job barely pays for groceries and the bare basics.