Hey y'all...
If you go to Julep and use the code COLOR2012, you get the first month of your subscription for A PENNY. DOOOO IT! You know you want to.
Friday, July 13, 2012
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
The Future is So Bright, He has to Wear Shades
Or some such cliched, inspirational nonsense.
Brother graduated from high school this year. It makes me feel old, having a baby brother who will be starting college in the fall.
He wants to major in Special Ed and minor in ASL, because he wants to work with the happiest kids on campus. I feel like this makes him a pretty good (if naive) person. I admire him a lot.
He's been working like a boss lately--he just got a job installing fire alarms in local schools and he has been doing such a great job that he got promoted after like a week. He's one of the hardest workers on the team and consistently gets the most done. He seems to really like it and I'm really proud of him.
I think he's going to do well. I think I will try to convince him to not live with Mom and Dad all 4 years, like I did, because I think I missed out on a lot of the "college experience" that I hope he gets. I want to convince him to do a study abroad, because I didn't, and everyone I know who did, said that it was the best thing they ever tried. I hope he grows. I hope he learns, and doesn't just get an education. I hope that he meets people who will challenge him and change him. I hope that if he meets a girl, that I will like her (don't judge--you all know you want to like your in-laws, too). I hope he will find something that he's looking for. I hope he remembers who he is, even through all of the changes. I hope he has to work hard, but that he finds joy in that. I hope he loves it.
Brother graduated from high school this year. It makes me feel old, having a baby brother who will be starting college in the fall.
He wants to major in Special Ed and minor in ASL, because he wants to work with the happiest kids on campus. I feel like this makes him a pretty good (if naive) person. I admire him a lot.
He's been working like a boss lately--he just got a job installing fire alarms in local schools and he has been doing such a great job that he got promoted after like a week. He's one of the hardest workers on the team and consistently gets the most done. He seems to really like it and I'm really proud of him.
I think he's going to do well. I think I will try to convince him to not live with Mom and Dad all 4 years, like I did, because I think I missed out on a lot of the "college experience" that I hope he gets. I want to convince him to do a study abroad, because I didn't, and everyone I know who did, said that it was the best thing they ever tried. I hope he grows. I hope he learns, and doesn't just get an education. I hope that he meets people who will challenge him and change him. I hope that if he meets a girl, that I will like her (don't judge--you all know you want to like your in-laws, too). I hope he will find something that he's looking for. I hope he remembers who he is, even through all of the changes. I hope he has to work hard, but that he finds joy in that. I hope he loves it.
Monday, June 18, 2012
To Have and to Hold
Although Summer has barely begun, I have already had several adventures, and I have been remiss in documenting them. This is the first of several posts about my recent trip home.
Cupcake recently wed Mr. Cupcake on the beach in sunny Oceanside, CA. It was a lovely ceremony with about 25 people, short, sweet, and beautiful. I think that they are going to be so happy together. They compliment each other well, as Cupcake noted in her vows, and I think that they both have the strong level of commitment necessary to make a marriage work. When they were taking me to the airport after the wedding weekend was over, they were telling me that they had agreed to never mention divorce until and unless every other option had been exhausted.
I think that that is an important agreement to make when you choose to marry someone--you make a vow to your spouse and God and yourself, and you don't break it. Things get hard, life gets messy, but you commit to Making It Work, even when you don't want to, or the dopamine has worn off, or you are so busy that you have to schedule sex (which, you know what, shouldn't be such a bad thing. Anticipation and all that), or when they're being a jerk, or when you're being a jerk. You just do it.
In my role as MOH, I took a minute before we started getting ready to ask Cupcake if she was sure--it was close to wedding time, but there was still more than enough time to bail. She didn't have to do it, but once she said "I Do" there would be no turning back. She looked at me and said "I never had a moment of doubt." Their ceremony was beautiful, despite the fact that the groom was "near death" (his words, not mine--he woke up with quite the cold and Cupcake and I debated taking him to Urgent Care instead of their wedding dinner after taking pictures on the freezing cold beach).
Mr. Cupcake's dad was hysterical and inappropriate. Like a lot. One morning he asked me and a few of the other young people staying in the beach house if we ever "cyber." (As in cyber sex, which he thought was when your brain has sex with someone else's brain over the internet).
Their reception in our hometown was also great--we got to dance and drink and laugh. The Boy let me dress him up in bunny ears, giant sunglasses, and a lei for the guestbook photobooth and danced with me all night, even though he hates dancing, because I love it. He also spent the better part of 2 days helping us to set up for the wedding and didn't even complain. We ate s'mores and drank margaritas until 1 in the morning.
Cupcake recently wed Mr. Cupcake on the beach in sunny Oceanside, CA. It was a lovely ceremony with about 25 people, short, sweet, and beautiful. I think that they are going to be so happy together. They compliment each other well, as Cupcake noted in her vows, and I think that they both have the strong level of commitment necessary to make a marriage work. When they were taking me to the airport after the wedding weekend was over, they were telling me that they had agreed to never mention divorce until and unless every other option had been exhausted.
I think that that is an important agreement to make when you choose to marry someone--you make a vow to your spouse and God and yourself, and you don't break it. Things get hard, life gets messy, but you commit to Making It Work, even when you don't want to, or the dopamine has worn off, or you are so busy that you have to schedule sex (which, you know what, shouldn't be such a bad thing. Anticipation and all that), or when they're being a jerk, or when you're being a jerk. You just do it.
In my role as MOH, I took a minute before we started getting ready to ask Cupcake if she was sure--it was close to wedding time, but there was still more than enough time to bail. She didn't have to do it, but once she said "I Do" there would be no turning back. She looked at me and said "I never had a moment of doubt." Their ceremony was beautiful, despite the fact that the groom was "near death" (his words, not mine--he woke up with quite the cold and Cupcake and I debated taking him to Urgent Care instead of their wedding dinner after taking pictures on the freezing cold beach).
Mr. Cupcake's dad was hysterical and inappropriate. Like a lot. One morning he asked me and a few of the other young people staying in the beach house if we ever "cyber." (As in cyber sex, which he thought was when your brain has sex with someone else's brain over the internet).
Their reception in our hometown was also great--we got to dance and drink and laugh. The Boy let me dress him up in bunny ears, giant sunglasses, and a lei for the guestbook photobooth and danced with me all night, even though he hates dancing, because I love it. He also spent the better part of 2 days helping us to set up for the wedding and didn't even complain. We ate s'mores and drank margaritas until 1 in the morning.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Things that would be more fun than appyling to PhD programs...Again
Readers, this fall will be my third round of PhD. applications. The first time, I was trying to graduate a full year early and had a letter of recommendation from a woman who was going through somewhat of a breakdown that I understand was not very favorable. I did not get any interviews or acceptances. The second time, I had more experience and a new letter and I got 2 interviews (both eventual rejections off the waitlist) and 2 acceptances. One acceptance was to a PhD program, but I ultimately felt that it wasn't the best fit for me. The other was to a Master's program that was perfect for my research interests, which is where I ended up. Unfortunately for me, that means that in order for me to get that ever-elusive "Dr", I need to apply again, so here I sit, with The Boy, researching programs. He is still not quite certain about what he wants to study within clinical psychology and is looking for a heuristic to narrow the field. He asked me, "Is it wrong to judge people based on their pictures? Some of these people look like assholes and bitches." My response, "It's probably bad to do that, yes." His response, "What if they're just hideous and I don't want to look at them every day?" Me: "Yeah, that's probably bad, too. Although, I have occasionally thought to myself, 'These pictures are open for the whole world to see. Couldn't you have used a brush?'" As you can see, we aren't enjoying ourselves.
Also, when looking at US News rankings of the best programs in the country, we discovered that almost all of the schools that we want to apply to are in the top 20. Awesome.
While I'm looking Boston College, he says to me, "Baby, Boston is cold as fuck. You should hear Boss* talk about it. He says it's cold as fuck. It's really, really cold."
Me to him: "Can we just go be beach bums in Hawaii, instead?" His response: "We could be drug dealers. We're probably smarter than most drug dealers."
Him to me: "[Your undergrad, in your hometown] has a really good clinical program." Me: "Yes, I know." Him: "They're nice, but we aren't living with your parents." Me: "Definitely not."
Here is a list of things I would like more than doing this again:
-Being a Vampire and silvering myself a la TrueBlood (season 4--I just watched it. It's the one with the witches)
-Eating habenero peppers straight
-Running
-Zombie Apocalypse (I'm getting to be a pretty good shot)
-Chinese bamboo torture
-Chinese water torture (the Chinese are a cruel folk)
-Watching Golf
-Eating nothing but broccoli for a week
-Drinking black coffee
-Camping
I'm kind of just hoping that my advisor will know someone and they'll just take me. That would be nice. And they they would also just take The Boy, too. And that they give good stipends. And are in one of the three states that we agreed that we want to live in. A girl can dream, right?
*His childhood best friend.
Also, when looking at US News rankings of the best programs in the country, we discovered that almost all of the schools that we want to apply to are in the top 20. Awesome.
While I'm looking Boston College, he says to me, "Baby, Boston is cold as fuck. You should hear Boss* talk about it. He says it's cold as fuck. It's really, really cold."
Me to him: "Can we just go be beach bums in Hawaii, instead?" His response: "We could be drug dealers. We're probably smarter than most drug dealers."
Him to me: "[Your undergrad, in your hometown] has a really good clinical program." Me: "Yes, I know." Him: "They're nice, but we aren't living with your parents." Me: "Definitely not."
Here is a list of things I would like more than doing this again:
-Being a Vampire and silvering myself a la TrueBlood (season 4--I just watched it. It's the one with the witches)
-Eating habenero peppers straight
-Running
-Zombie Apocalypse (I'm getting to be a pretty good shot)
-Chinese bamboo torture
-Chinese water torture (the Chinese are a cruel folk)
-Watching Golf
-Eating nothing but broccoli for a week
-Drinking black coffee
-Camping
I'm kind of just hoping that my advisor will know someone and they'll just take me. That would be nice. And they they would also just take The Boy, too. And that they give good stipends. And are in one of the three states that we agreed that we want to live in. A girl can dream, right?
*His childhood best friend.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Raising our standards
Recently, the Switcher* lost her boyfriend suddenly, tragically, and oh-so-unexpectedly. When I called to offer my condolences, she told me about what a great guy he was, and how he treated her so well, yada, yada.I realize this sounds very blase, but it isn't. I'm really sorry and sad for her and I hope that she's getting through this tough time as well as can be expected.
The things she was telling me were the things that, realistically, shouldn't have been all that special. He did things like actually taking her on dates and calling when he said he would and telling her how much she meant to him.
These things started making me think about The Boy and why I am so fond of him and how well he treats me. Because he does things like picking me up from the airport and refilling my glass without being asked and cooking me dinner and giving me a crapton of music when I want new stuff.
And then I started to think: are The Boy and The Switcher's Boy really that awesome, or have our standards just gotten incredibly low based on our past experiences and the experiences of our friends? (My conclusion: Yes for The Boy and undecided for Switcher's boy, because I never met him). I mean, Bestie's ex, He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, pretty much never did things like that. When she came to visit me, instead of taking her to the airport, he made her take the subway and like 2 bus transfers. Because that was the kind of shitty boyfriend behavior that I had vicariously (and somewhat from my own previous shitty boyfriends and boyfriend-like-things) become accustomed to, when The Boy took me to and picked me up from the airport for Cupcake's bachelorette party, I gushed my thanks. Repeatedly. It was actually pretty ridiculous. Granted, he did have to come get me at midnight, and he had to leave a lab meeting early to take me to the airport, but it wasn't that big a deal, objectively. After the 500th time I told him thank you, he said to me, "I really need you to stop thanking me. It's making me feel like you didn't expect me to do this for you." But to me, it wasn't a small thing. It was a big deal that he wasn't selfish. It was a big deal that he was willing to use his gas to come get me in the middle of the night so that I didn't have to pay for parking and drive home after spending 7+ hours traveling.
But also, I think our standards have just gotten really low. I think it's important to be grateful for and acknowledge when our SOs do selfless things, no matter how small or insignificant, but at the same time, I think that we all need to start expecting a certain degree of selflessness from our partners. I'm not saying that we should all take advantage of the people we're dating or that we should subjugate ourselves, but I think some courtesy on both people's parts is pretty important. It shouldn't be surprising that my boyfriend is willing to pick me up and drop me off, because my boyfriend and all of my friend's boyfriends should just do those sorts of things. And if they don't do those sorts of things, we should kick them to the curb, because their selfish asses do not deserve the lovely, selfless people that we are, and I think that tolerating that sort of behavior not only harms us personally, but harms relationships everywhere. If my boyfriend's friends all treat their girlfriends like crap, and their girlfriends don't leave them, for whatever reasons that girls have for not leaving their shitty boyfriends, eventually my boyfriend might learn that that sort of crap is acceptable, and it so isn't!
/end rant.
*Best friend from Middle School
The things she was telling me were the things that, realistically, shouldn't have been all that special. He did things like actually taking her on dates and calling when he said he would and telling her how much she meant to him.
These things started making me think about The Boy and why I am so fond of him and how well he treats me. Because he does things like picking me up from the airport and refilling my glass without being asked and cooking me dinner and giving me a crapton of music when I want new stuff.
And then I started to think: are The Boy and The Switcher's Boy really that awesome, or have our standards just gotten incredibly low based on our past experiences and the experiences of our friends? (My conclusion: Yes for The Boy and undecided for Switcher's boy, because I never met him). I mean, Bestie's ex, He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, pretty much never did things like that. When she came to visit me, instead of taking her to the airport, he made her take the subway and like 2 bus transfers. Because that was the kind of shitty boyfriend behavior that I had vicariously (and somewhat from my own previous shitty boyfriends and boyfriend-like-things) become accustomed to, when The Boy took me to and picked me up from the airport for Cupcake's bachelorette party, I gushed my thanks. Repeatedly. It was actually pretty ridiculous. Granted, he did have to come get me at midnight, and he had to leave a lab meeting early to take me to the airport, but it wasn't that big a deal, objectively. After the 500th time I told him thank you, he said to me, "I really need you to stop thanking me. It's making me feel like you didn't expect me to do this for you." But to me, it wasn't a small thing. It was a big deal that he wasn't selfish. It was a big deal that he was willing to use his gas to come get me in the middle of the night so that I didn't have to pay for parking and drive home after spending 7+ hours traveling.
But also, I think our standards have just gotten really low. I think it's important to be grateful for and acknowledge when our SOs do selfless things, no matter how small or insignificant, but at the same time, I think that we all need to start expecting a certain degree of selflessness from our partners. I'm not saying that we should all take advantage of the people we're dating or that we should subjugate ourselves, but I think some courtesy on both people's parts is pretty important. It shouldn't be surprising that my boyfriend is willing to pick me up and drop me off, because my boyfriend and all of my friend's boyfriends should just do those sorts of things. And if they don't do those sorts of things, we should kick them to the curb, because their selfish asses do not deserve the lovely, selfless people that we are, and I think that tolerating that sort of behavior not only harms us personally, but harms relationships everywhere. If my boyfriend's friends all treat their girlfriends like crap, and their girlfriends don't leave them, for whatever reasons that girls have for not leaving their shitty boyfriends, eventually my boyfriend might learn that that sort of crap is acceptable, and it so isn't!
/end rant.
*Best friend from Middle School
Friday, April 20, 2012
Things I find douche-tastic
So this girl that I went to undergrad with (and whom I should really just defriend, because she's super annoying and acts like an immature 15 year old (meaning immature for even a typical 15 year old)) posted some nonsense on Facebook about a Vegas weekend, followed with "YOLO", which is quite possibly the douchiest phrase ever invented. Freakin' Drake and Tyga. (I am purposely leaving out the link for the song because I don't want to encourage that crap). So I started complaining about YOLO and douchey people, and my friend, Carp*, who introduces me to all the best shit on the internet (like the hairpin), told me about this video:
Warning: NSFW, but freaking hilarious. If you're reading this at work, email it to yourself and watch it at home. You'll thank me. Also, watch "Pregnant women are smug". I wish I had a closer pregnant friend to whom I could send that video, because I don't think any of my pregnant acquaintances would appreciate it.
And I decided to write a whole post about douchey people/places/things/ideas
-People who complain about how much time they spend on something that is totally voluntary and optional. Yes, I'm talking to you, douchey Wikipedia editor(s). STFU about the DYKs already. If you don't like it, stop doing it.
-The new Prius commercials about the douchey people who drive Prius'. But that's kinda meta-douche, so I don't know if that really counts.
-Academic journal articles that are presented as some sort of meta-analysis or lit review that are really just one or two authors citing the crap out of themselves in order to get their citation indices up.
-People who think The Onion is real news
-People who think that Pintrest is gospel.
-People who get too hung up on details (yes, sometimes I am douchey. Making this list also probably makes me douchey).
-All things Ed Hardy
-Drunkenly yelling out of car windows
-Basically everything from this song:
Also, I am in love with that weird skirt/pants thing they have going on. Especially the futuristic fabric.
-Women who hover when they pee and leave pee all over the seat.
-The women who write Cosmo and who tell me that that effortless-looking Victoria's Secret hair really is effortless, and then proceed to have a multi-step article spelling out how to do it that actually involves several expensive products, a lot of effort and would take approximately an hour and a half.**
-The women who write Cosmo and who tell me that that effortless-looking Victoria's Secret hair really is effortless, and then proceed to have a multi-step article spelling out how to do it that actually involves several expensive products, a lot of effort and would take approximately an hour and a half.**
*As always, names changed to protect the innocent.
**Especially frustrating since the Boy and I recently had a conversation about how he finds me most attractive when it doesn't look like I've put any effort in. What I fail to make him grasp is how much effort it takes to make it look like I haven't made any effort.
**Especially frustrating since the Boy and I recently had a conversation about how he finds me most attractive when it doesn't look like I've put any effort in. What I fail to make him grasp is how much effort it takes to make it look like I haven't made any effort.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Relaxing, Internet Trolls, and Finishing Strong
I've been in a pretty crappy mood since Spring Break. I think the fact that I had such an awesome break is partially to blame--while I was gone, I was fully present in the moment, I got to sleep in, I got to stay up late for fun (and not because I have homework/a paper/an exam the next morning, like I've been doing a lot lately), I was with enjoyable company doing enjoyable things. And then I get back to school and hear the terrible, horrible **SQREEEEEE* of a record stopping.
I was in pretty bad shape for a while, but I think things are starting to turn around a bit. I finally got a weekend where I didn't have to do anything (well, I kinda did, but it wasn't anything super important or pressing, so I didn't do it) or have to be anywhere, which was nice, because it had been 6 weeks since I've really had a low-key weekend. Between Spring Break, Bestie's Visit, Cupcake's Bachelorette Party (and yes, that is a proper noun), Easter (which was at the Boy's family's/the Boy's brother's fiance's house, with a quick detour to the local amusement park for some roller coasters), I am traveled out and pretty exhausted, so it was nice to just relax and lay like broccoli (please, for the love of God, know where that quote is from).* The Boy and I drove out to a nearby city on Saturday to exchange a shirt, because our town is too small to warrant having a J.Crew.** On the way, we stopped at a farmer's market, where we sampled some delicious strawberries and cinnamon honey and bought some even more delicious beef jerky. We shall go back. Sunday, we ate Mexican food and watched Game of Thrones with Superman, which is where we were when we heard about our Wikipedia troll.
So for our Personality class, in lieu of a typical research paper, we have to contribute a new article to Wikipedia. I go back and forth between thinking this is a pretty awesome assignment and thinking it's actually pretty awful. Anyway, part of the assignment was submitting our articles to "Did you know?", which is a feature on Wikipedia's front page that directs you to cool new articles (supposedly. I've never used this feature before), and these submission are then evaluated by outside editors who deem you worthy or unworthy on several levels, including notability, neutral point of view (not arguing for a particular side of one issue), sounding like an encyclopedia instead of a personal reflection/essay, etc. So a bunch of us all submitted our DYKs at the same time because we had a due date, and this one editor lady totally jumped all over us. She nominated Roommate's page for deletion (way harsh and unnecessary, not to mention unwarranted) and called Advisor, the class, and our wiki ambassadors all incompetent. She is being mean and nasty and should really just get a freaking life. We do not like her. Advisor and our class ambassadors are taking care of it, but seriously, this lady needs to chill the eff out.
In other news, there is only about 2 1/2 weeks of school left. I don't know how it's possible that my first year of graduate school is almost over. I can still remember (*vividly*) getting lost the first time I was here alone and ending up sobbing in not the best part of town. I can also vividly remember being incredibly lost with Mom and being 30 minutes late for a lab meeting and being so, so tired, and so, so sick of getting lost, and the two of us having a bit of a nervous breakdown driving around in circles on campus, laughing hysterically (not in a "oh-this-is-so-funny-we're-lost-again-sitcom-type-of-hysterical, but in a "we've-completely-lost-it-and-probably-need-meds-we-sound-like-the-joker-type-of-hysterical), calling the Project Coordinator and having her tell me I just need to turn around, that the building I'm looking for is right there. I still remember the first time I met the other people from the program at trivia night. I was so nervous, and I wore a blue top. I still remember the party Roommate and I had to get to know everyone. We spilled pomegranate martinis on our beige carpet. I still remember my first day of class, where we learned Allport's definition of social psychology (which I still don't remember). I still remember my first not-a-date-date with the Boy, and the first time we had a stats party (note: not an actual party) and my first assignment and my first good grade (which was NOT on my first assignment, just FYI). I just can't believe I'm almost halfway done. I never would have imagined myself here, doing this thing, but I'm doing it. And as much as I consider quitting, I'm going to tough it out. Build character and all that. Learn things, about life, and psychology, and myself. Figure out how to be a grownup.
Anyway, it'll be a stressful couple of weeks, but then it's off to the beach for Cupcake's wedding and back to the hometown for Brother's graduation and Cupcake's hometown reception. The Boy will be joining me and gets the unique pleasure of meeting everyone in my family and most of our family friends all at once at Brother's graduation party. When I asked him if he was sure, he said "If not now, when?" He's braver than I am, but that's ok, because I'm confident that everyone will love him. Bestie did, and I'm pretty sure she's harder to please than even Dad. Or Godfather, who is pretty impossible to impress.
I am so excited to go home. I'll get to see all of the people I love the most, go hiking in the beautiful red rocks with the Boy, eat real Mexican food (and my favorite pizza, and my favorite chicken fingers, and the froyo by my parents' house.... apparently I'm going to gain back all the weight that I still haven't finished losing for the wedding), and just enjoy my family and friends. I can't wait. I don't have a definite departure date yet (if my freaking professors would give us due dates....), but it is definitely in less than 30 days. I can totally make it 30 days, can't I? Dad is always preaching to me about finishing strong around this time of year. The other students and I have been cursing our parents a lot lately for giving us a work ethic. We all need to dgaf a little more. Whatevs, our reward for surviving the next month is milkshakes, which I think is a pretty awesome reward.
*I super need to work on my parenthetical interruptions.
**The Boy spends way too much on his clothes, but he looks damn good in that shirt. It bring out his pretty blue eyes. Also, wearing a $4 t-shirt and $20 jeans and Old Navy flipflops in a J.Crew will make you feel like a hobo next to the girls in their obviously-real-and-not-cultured-pearls, $300 flats, and Chanel purses. True story. Also, I wish I could justify paying $80 for a cotton sundress, but I just can't. I just can't.
I was in pretty bad shape for a while, but I think things are starting to turn around a bit. I finally got a weekend where I didn't have to do anything (well, I kinda did, but it wasn't anything super important or pressing, so I didn't do it) or have to be anywhere, which was nice, because it had been 6 weeks since I've really had a low-key weekend. Between Spring Break, Bestie's Visit, Cupcake's Bachelorette Party (and yes, that is a proper noun), Easter (which was at the Boy's family's/the Boy's brother's fiance's house, with a quick detour to the local amusement park for some roller coasters), I am traveled out and pretty exhausted, so it was nice to just relax and lay like broccoli (please, for the love of God, know where that quote is from).* The Boy and I drove out to a nearby city on Saturday to exchange a shirt, because our town is too small to warrant having a J.Crew.** On the way, we stopped at a farmer's market, where we sampled some delicious strawberries and cinnamon honey and bought some even more delicious beef jerky. We shall go back. Sunday, we ate Mexican food and watched Game of Thrones with Superman, which is where we were when we heard about our Wikipedia troll.
So for our Personality class, in lieu of a typical research paper, we have to contribute a new article to Wikipedia. I go back and forth between thinking this is a pretty awesome assignment and thinking it's actually pretty awful. Anyway, part of the assignment was submitting our articles to "Did you know?", which is a feature on Wikipedia's front page that directs you to cool new articles (supposedly. I've never used this feature before), and these submission are then evaluated by outside editors who deem you worthy or unworthy on several levels, including notability, neutral point of view (not arguing for a particular side of one issue), sounding like an encyclopedia instead of a personal reflection/essay, etc. So a bunch of us all submitted our DYKs at the same time because we had a due date, and this one editor lady totally jumped all over us. She nominated Roommate's page for deletion (way harsh and unnecessary, not to mention unwarranted) and called Advisor, the class, and our wiki ambassadors all incompetent. She is being mean and nasty and should really just get a freaking life. We do not like her. Advisor and our class ambassadors are taking care of it, but seriously, this lady needs to chill the eff out.
In other news, there is only about 2 1/2 weeks of school left. I don't know how it's possible that my first year of graduate school is almost over. I can still remember (*vividly*) getting lost the first time I was here alone and ending up sobbing in not the best part of town. I can also vividly remember being incredibly lost with Mom and being 30 minutes late for a lab meeting and being so, so tired, and so, so sick of getting lost, and the two of us having a bit of a nervous breakdown driving around in circles on campus, laughing hysterically (not in a "oh-this-is-so-funny-we're-lost-again-sitcom-type-of-hysterical, but in a "we've-completely-lost-it-and-probably-need-meds-we-sound-like-the-joker-type-of-hysterical), calling the Project Coordinator and having her tell me I just need to turn around, that the building I'm looking for is right there. I still remember the first time I met the other people from the program at trivia night. I was so nervous, and I wore a blue top. I still remember the party Roommate and I had to get to know everyone. We spilled pomegranate martinis on our beige carpet. I still remember my first day of class, where we learned Allport's definition of social psychology (which I still don't remember). I still remember my first not-a-date-date with the Boy, and the first time we had a stats party (note: not an actual party) and my first assignment and my first good grade (which was NOT on my first assignment, just FYI). I just can't believe I'm almost halfway done. I never would have imagined myself here, doing this thing, but I'm doing it. And as much as I consider quitting, I'm going to tough it out. Build character and all that. Learn things, about life, and psychology, and myself. Figure out how to be a grownup.
Anyway, it'll be a stressful couple of weeks, but then it's off to the beach for Cupcake's wedding and back to the hometown for Brother's graduation and Cupcake's hometown reception. The Boy will be joining me and gets the unique pleasure of meeting everyone in my family and most of our family friends all at once at Brother's graduation party. When I asked him if he was sure, he said "If not now, when?" He's braver than I am, but that's ok, because I'm confident that everyone will love him. Bestie did, and I'm pretty sure she's harder to please than even Dad. Or Godfather, who is pretty impossible to impress.
I am so excited to go home. I'll get to see all of the people I love the most, go hiking in the beautiful red rocks with the Boy, eat real Mexican food (and my favorite pizza, and my favorite chicken fingers, and the froyo by my parents' house.... apparently I'm going to gain back all the weight that I still haven't finished losing for the wedding), and just enjoy my family and friends. I can't wait. I don't have a definite departure date yet (if my freaking professors would give us due dates....), but it is definitely in less than 30 days. I can totally make it 30 days, can't I? Dad is always preaching to me about finishing strong around this time of year. The other students and I have been cursing our parents a lot lately for giving us a work ethic. We all need to dgaf a little more. Whatevs, our reward for surviving the next month is milkshakes, which I think is a pretty awesome reward.
*I super need to work on my parenthetical interruptions.
**The Boy spends way too much on his clothes, but he looks damn good in that shirt. It bring out his pretty blue eyes. Also, wearing a $4 t-shirt and $20 jeans and Old Navy flipflops in a J.Crew will make you feel like a hobo next to the girls in their obviously-real-and-not-cultured-pearls, $300 flats, and Chanel purses. True story. Also, I wish I could justify paying $80 for a cotton sundress, but I just can't. I just can't.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)