Upon ending my MA program - a reflective MMP

[HazelNutCoffee]

Wow. It's been an intense year.

When I first started applying to grad schools, I was completely in the dark. All I knew was that I loved English literature and that I wanted the opportunity to properly study it. I always felt that my undergrad courses had been a joke (well, all but a few) because a) undergrad in Korea is ridiculously easy to compensate for the hell we go through in high school, and b) in Korea, English literature is always studied from the perspective of a foreign language - which it wasn't, to me. I aced my literature courses mostly because I was fluent in English. I also wanted to get the hell out of Korea - my family moved there when I was 13, and while I grew to have a kind of grudging affection for the place I always felt like an outsider. I knew that a student visa was probably the easiest way for me to start settling down in the US. After that, all I would need was an American husband.

I ended up in the MA in Humanities program here at UChicago mostly because this was the only program I'd been accepted to. I had no idea how competitive graduate programs in the US were; I'd originally applied to the PhD program at UChicago, but they recommended me for the MA program because I lacked research experience. And it was a good thing they did, because once I got here I realized that grad school is no joke. The amount of work they expected us to do for one course was almost as much as I was used to doing for an entire semester of undergrad. I was also enourmously intimidated by my peers - not necessarily because they were smarter than me (although many of them are) but because they had the advantage of a "proper" undergrad education in the US, which covered a hell of a lot more material than I'd learned in Korea. I was a pretty studious student in undergrad - did a lot of extra reading for my classes in addition to what was required - but here, I felt woefully inadequate. My first quarter here gave me serious doubts as to whether I wanted to continue on as a scholar, or find something else to do while it wasn't too late. Even now, I'm stil dithering, but I have realized that I really do like academia, despite the fact that it's more of a lifestyle than an occupation. I think I'd be happy doing this for the rest of my life.

Our program is unique in that it compresses into 1 year what normally takes 2. In most MA programs you do a year of coursework and then a year of thesis work. For us, we wrote our theses while doing coursework. It's a very tight program, which starts two weeks before the actual school year, and they have numerous deadlines for each step of the thesis writing process. That helped a lot. Plus, you end up becoming very close with the other people in your program, in the way that people who go through extreme situations tend to bond quickly over their shared experiences.

Of course, such situations breed plenty of scandal as well. Of which I have had more than my share of involvement. Scottish Darling and I are a rumored lesbian couple. We find this very amusing and take every possibly opportunity to encourage this rumor. Apparently it's even been a subject of gossip among the office staff. I had no idea how seriously people were taking this until a secret admirer of Scottish Darling's asked me point-blank if we were dating. Funnily enough, my whole thing with That Guy was less well-known, although by now most of the people in our social circle are aware to varying degrees of what's happened. Although after the boat party last night, I think more tongues have been sent wagging (we kissed on the upper deck, standing on the dance floor, and apparently a few of our mutual friends were questioned about what the hell was going on between us). Ah, well. Graduation is only a week away.

I've made several close friends, but two stand out. Scottish Darling is one, of course. We initially did not know each other very well. Both of us are quite shy, but we deal with in opposite ways - I tend to stay silent, while she tends to chatter incessantly. As a result I thought she was annoying and she thought I was pretentious. It wasn't until at least a couple months into the program that we actually started hanging out together. I don't know what this year would have been like without her. We spend so much time together, we might as well be dating.

That Guy is the other. In hindsight, not a good choice, it seems. I really don't know what attracted me to him initially, but we had a spark, for the lack of a better word. A spark that's kind of gotten out of control. If I had to cite my greatest mistake this year, it would be him. My feelings for him, whatever they are, have overridden my good sense so many times this year, and even yesterday I ended up going home with him instead of staying with my other friends. Scottish Darling was furious at the fact that I decided to let this jerk (in her eyes) be so important to me after he'd treated me basically like dirt. (We've just had a cry together. And ate chocolate.) She wants to know what exactly I see in him. I don't know. I wish I did. The best way this can end is for me to come to my senses and learn my lesson from this torturous ordeal.

So it's been an eventful nine months. It seems like only yesterday that we were sitting awkwardly at our welcoming dinner party, looking around and feeling lost. I met none of my future close friends at that first event - it wasn't until at least the second to third week that I started talking to the people I'd end up bonding with the most. It's amazing how close we've grown over the past year. And how quickly it's all gone by. I welcome a respite from papers and research, but I dread the thought of closing another chapter in my life. People you've grown to love have to leave, and we all have to figure out what we're going to do with our lives. And this year will soon be a distant memory. But hopefully we've all grown a little, learned a little, lived a little.

[bbs2k]

First post (I always wanted to do that!).

[bbs2k]

Okay, now I sat down and read it. And I must say, that MMP was lovely. Adventure, thrills, romance, and friendship... I pop in and out of the MMP's in phases, and I remember once day I came in and saw you talking about "Scottish Darling", and I was very confused. Was this a new member of the boards? A romantic interest? Or just a good buddy. I seemingly assumed the latter, until it has now been explained by you more clearly. But in case those lesbian rumors ever escalate and leads to a night of drunken making out, remember, we need pics!

Oh, and if you need help with that husband thing too, I'd love to help.

[Heffalump and Roo]

Wow, Haze, that was fabulous! You're clearly a writer as that was engrossing from beginning to end. What are your plans for the future? Just wondering as you mentioned that at the end.

My life at the moment is quite a bit more mundane. I have a leak in my washing machine and the repair guy comes tomorrow to hopefully fix it. And I'm meeting with someone I met at church tomorrow night. And my plans for the future are to get there. Your life sounds much more exciting.

And speaking of good writing, I just read "Kite Runner" and liked it. Anyone else read it?

[Noone Special]

Haze -- YOU CHEATED!! It was still Sunday (where you are) when you wrote that!

Beautiful OP, however. I have to say, having read perhaps two handfulls of MMP OPs, I'm starting to be intimidated by the idea I'll have to come up with something that good someday!

And don't worry too much about your "life choices" this year -- nice thing about being young and footloose is they still don't have to "affect you for life," yet. And if you're looking for an American husband, I've got an American passport.
Just sayin' is all.
Yeah, I'm also (roughly) twice your age, married with children and living half the world away from the US -- so? This is a problem how?
(You'll find the right guy. Just stop looking so g**d**n hard all the time!)

H&R -- You "met someone at church tomorrow night"? I want a trip around the block in your time machine, too!

This morning as I was taking the Special Teen to school, we discussed her teachers -- she mentioned her English and Math teachers as being good but tough. To which I reacted -- "The Witch of the East and The Witch of the West, huh?" And she said, no, they're good teachers -- but the Math teacher is kind of catty, so it's "The Witch of the North and The Bitch of the South" (this part was in English, doesn't work in Hebrew! Yup, that English teacher is good )
I've never been so close to driving right off the road, laughing!

[tarragon918]

Wow, great OP, Haze! I learned more about you, about school in Korea, about grad school in the US - in particular about UChicago's accelerated Eng. Lit. MA program. Now that's -a lot- of work! It's been so long since I was in classes ('74), I seriously doubt I could keep up with college work today. And congratulations on the completion of your MA in English Lit! Job well done!

Can't believe I'm actually posting this at 2 AM, but I'm up ... for a bit; back to bed soon, as I should be getting up @ 5 am. Happy MMP all!

[brendon_small]

I've never posted to the MMP before, but congratulations on the finishing of a Master's. My wife is doing it right now, and it is harder than I expected for her, even though she blew through undergrad work here in Ohio like it was nothing. I had been wrestling with the decision, and pretty much still have no idea, but it is no small feat.

Good on you for sticking through it. Also, for coming from a foreign country - extra good on you. I thought the OP was wonderful, made me smile, and think about a lot of things. I appreciate it.

Brendon Small

[bbs2k]

Originally Posted by Heffalump and Roo

And speaking of good writing, I just read "Kite Runner" and liked it. Anyone else read it?

One of the best books I read last year. When I read "A Million Little Pieces" I thought it was a great story but didn't believe a lick of it. Two weeks later James Frey was outed as a fraud and the book was shown to be more fiction than fact. I had the opposite problem with "Kite Runner", where you had to hit me over the head with the book until I was dizzy to convince me that it was a fictional novel. That same author, his name escapes me now, is coming out with a new novel sometime this summer I believe.

Oh, and Hank, I forgot to add "congrats" in my two other posts.

[ScareyFaerie]

Excellent OP, Haze - you've obviously adapted well to life outside Korea, must be the Scottish influence! See, those woad-wearing numpites have so much to answer for and I speak from experience as I live with a Weegie.

I remember my first year of Uni studies, I was doing distance learning and it felt so strange to be sitting at home working my way through books when all my friends were out doing other things. I suppose it didn't help that I was a mature student so the people I met for tutorials were a bit of a mixed bag - the age range was from early 20s to mid 70s! Even now, I still wonder how much different life would be if I'd gone to Uni straight from school and where perhaps that might have taken me. But I wasn't prepared for it then, and although I'd be more willing to do it now, it's kind of too late.

So it's back to Monday again, and I'm at work with a heap of things to do and no motivation for it. Where's Swampy when I need him?

My Sunday was completely wasted though, and I loved it! Got up late after my night out, faffed about on t'interweb for a while, and basically spent the rest of the day lounging on the sofa watching Season One of 24. I never watched 24 when it was on television because I didn't have time for it amongst all the other things I was doing - I have enough trouble keeping up with life, never mind TV as well! I decided to start watching it a while ago when I was at home sick and couldn't be bothered to do anything much. Now I have times when I'll watch three or four episodes and then not watch any more for weeks. One day I'll get to the end of it!

Tonight my Run For Home team are meeting at our place so I have to do a bit of cleaning and tidying when I get home. I vacuumed the floors on Friday evening but the cats have been scrapping since then and there's clumps of Ophelia's fur everywhere. That means vacuuming again tonight because Adrian is allergic to animals (actually he seems to be allergic to pretty much everything) so I'll have another clean up later and have some Piriton on hand.

[Nava]

Excelent OP, Haze!

I find it funny that for you, Grad School was a lot harder than Undergrad, which was a lot easier than High School. For myself and at least one of my Korean co-grad-students, Grad School was booooooooooringly low level. He ended up getting an MS without thesis instead of a PhD and shuffling over to a PhD in math; I ended up dropping out with an MS without thesis. Both of us had problems with grad advisors who wanted to keep us forever and a day, hence the "without thesis."

Apparently we were vewwy, vewwy bad. You see, in that school a lot of things were declared "of interest" or "acceptable" if two students asked for them. I was the only one to ask for permission to take a course in Treatment of Industrial Waste, so my request was rejected on grounds of "the course not being of interest to a chemist" But during my first term, when I asked to be allowed to take the three 40X courses available, the Korean guy had made the same request. So we were warned that it was a huge lot of work and if we flunked any of the courses we'd be in probation, we said yeah yeah, they let us do it. And we got three As each... so the Uni went and changed the program.

Where taking three courses at the same time had been "unthinkable" until two people thought of it at the same time, now it was required of all first-term students I sure hope that other US institutions are less stupid than that one.



I'm in the process of going nukular on my agent. They sent me the new contract mid-April, I sent it, scanned it and sent it back. Then they said the client now wanted to pay in CHF instead of €, so did I mind...? Signed, scanned, sent back. Now they're asking for a new one which they hadn't sent before, and I don't see any difference with number two. So I'm asking things like "what's the difference", "should I put today's date or 6 weeks ago", "do I correct the spelling mistakes", "do I correct the location, which is way wrong"...

They can't be bothered help me find a flat, a doctor, medical insurance or a translator, but they're sure fast yelling at me for not having sent back a document they hadn't sent forth in the first place.

If you hear that a Spanish chick has managed to go postal in her employers' London office, while actually being seated in Switzerland, it's me and having my office just across the street from Die Post has no causation effect.

[gardentraveler]

Wow, Hank, that's an amazing summary of a year! You're an excellent writer.

Congrats on making it through. Sounds like a very challenging program. You should be proud to have survived. Took me right back to grad school as well (which took up a larger part of my adult life than I care to think about). Far-away Best Friend and I met in my second year of grad school (her first year) when we wound up as roommates. We've been best friends ever since (23 years...wow!).

Seems like good Masters programs tend to be a career decision point for a lot of people. In my program at Ohio State, there were several people every year who came in thinking they'd leave with a Ph.D. and left with Masters degrees at best and after one or two quarters at worst.

Welcome brendon and welcome back, bbs2k.

Liked your witch anecdote, SO. Do you speak more Hebrew or English at home? How about at work? Don't worry about OPs, though. All we require is something that says MMP in the title. It's been as short as a couple of sentences. And hey, I've been allowed to write them....

Dunno how you survive as a consultant, Nava. I would have zero patience with goofy stuff like the current contract stuff.

It actually rained last night and it looks like it'll rain some more today! Yay!

I need to go put yard waste and recycling out then get ready for work...

Happy Monday!!! (Why do I feel like I need a weekend already?)

GT

[anyrose]

'mrnrng
grmblgrmbl
no sleep
back to bed
later

[swampbear]

Good mornin' y'all!

Haze that was one fantastic OP. Like others said I feel like I've learned a whole lot about you. You really do write well. So, any ideas on what's next? I know, I know, get through graduation first. Plus you have an upcomin' visit from the 'rents to get ready for. Whatever you do, I know you'll do well. Oh and stay away from trouble guy. That's become an obligatory thing for us MMPers to say.

BooFae, young lady, quit your slackin' off right now and get busy! That stuff sittin' on your desk waitin' for you to do it is not goin' to do itself or just disappear so you might as well get to work. I mean NOW! Don't look at me like that! It won't do you any good. Now march right in there and get to work. I mean it! Don't you stomp your foot at me! Get. To. Work. NOW!

Howzat?

I want, ok, need, to mow my yard, especially the back but it's so damp outside right now I can't. On top of that it may rain early this afternoon which means just as soon as the dew dries it could start to rain. I ain't complainin' cause we need the rain sump'n fierce but I also need to mow! Oh well. I got job stuff to work on too so it ain't like I'm hardup for stuff to occupy my time. Oh and I need to clean the pool. It's cleared up now, so the supershock did it's thing. There's a whole lot of ICK! on the bottom.

Ok, I can go ahead and clean the pool, so, get busy, young man! No more goofin' off on that computer, you hear me! March out there and get that pool cleaned! I mean NOW!

[TokyoBayer]

Listening to the Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Band as I post. Happy 40th!

Congrats Hazel! That's really great. I'm aware of the differences in levels between US and Japanese universities, so I'm sure of how much of a shock it could be.

My wife went in for a job interview on Friday. Her previous think tank lost funding at the end of March and she's been looking for another post since then. She teaches part time at two universities, so she's not being a bum. She's also had a part time research grant as a part of a research team studying issues regarding surrogate mothers which will be used in a report for the Japanese parliament. She is studying what’s happening in Taiwan.

She thinks the interview went well, but the foundation she interviewed with has a different focus than her specialty. It’s a waiting game now.

[welby]

Great OP Haze. Girl kissing. Can't beat girl kissing in an OP.

Oh yeah, and all the other stuff was interesting too.

[Dolores Reborn]

Wonderful OP, Haze! You do have a way with words. It's nice to learn so much about you, too.

Welby - I think Haze was kissing THAT GUY, not Scottish Darling...

Not much happenin' yet. Trying to get into what I'm s'posed to do today, but I have to wait for people to get here. That's the biggest problem with flex time, I think.

Happy Monday, folks!

[Man With a Cat]

Cool OP haze, and - gentlemen if I may add, as the only surviving male MMP'er to have actually had the pleasure, I gotta say that when she decides to find someone to settle down with, there's going to be line a mile long.

I mean I'm a married, bald old fart and I briefly considered helping the Wife pack as I was driving home.

Speaking of Wife - she stayed home today. Claims a headache (sinus) but I'm thinking several mojitos, followed by a few Heinekens helped the situation along. Ah, well - she can finish cleaning the kitchen after last night's festivities.

It's summer route selection day - drivers and monitors are picking their summer school work assignments. It'll be over quickly, we only have 22 routes to assign.

Other than that, just the usual mundane, end of the year drivel. Thursday is a half day, and the last day of school. Kids will go insane this week, they always do. I can't believe this morning we got a call from a parent complaining her idiot kid missed the bus, and was arguing with me about what time the bus makes her stop. ON THE 4TH FROM THE LAST DAY OF THE YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!

Christ on a stick lady, you mean all FRIGGING year you didn't know what time the bus came? What was it, luck that your kid made it out there every day? Shut up, hang up the phone, whip your bathrobe on and drive the kid to school.

There I'm done.

Tplay good wishes to your wife on getting a job that fits her.

Nava, if you make the news, as they haul you away to the hoosegow, yell something like "that's for the MMP!!". That would be cool.

Just sayin'

[Nava]

The reason they need a new contract?

The contract is originally two documents: one that has most of the stuff, and one which indicates the actual client, rate and location. Turns out that for the previous one, the page number for the "meat" page didn't match the rest. Pass the can of rolleyes, willya?

Gratz, TPlay; best wishes to your wife on her job search. I usually sing to Bday people but it's been looking rainy here all morning, do you mind if I skip it?

[Tupug Anachi]

\\\\\\ ////// (That's me clapping.) Great job, haze! My neice is getting ready to start her Master's program. The Princess^TM isn't interested. She's sick of school. Anyway, she's fast-tracking with her new job at FDLE. Ahem! Back on track. Anyhoo, you deserved major kudos!

Well, we had us some rain from Friday night into Saturday afternoon. Then it got real windy. Thank you Barry. swampus, sounds like you got some too? I also heard that it went well for saturating that big ol fahr straddling GA/FL.

Mr. Anachi and I went to Pebble Junction on Saturday morning to look at stone for the maybe pool. We are thinking of maybe bluestone flags filled in with some kind of smooth pebbles but that may be way out of our budget. While there, I fell in love with this boulder. The stone is called Rainbow Sunshine which very aptly describes it. Booful!

That's about all I got for now. Back to work.

Tupug

[VunderBob]

Puggy and Swampus: are the fires finally out?

[Draelin]

Congrats, Haze! Wonderful OP. And you and Scottish Darling should come hang out with me and Roomie sometimes--everyone can think we're all lesbians.

We had a wonderful surprise this weekend in the form of Roomie's severance pay. She had assumed that since she hadn't been paid in over a month, she'd be getting nothing until she found out if she qualified for unemployment. Well, as it turned out, she did qualify, but we also found two weeks' worth of pay in our bank account on Saturday night (which made us wish we'd checked the bank on Friday). So not only were we able to pay all our bills, we will have enough to make our Midsummer camping trip and maybe buy some shoes because we're women and we like shoes.

It's cold and rainy here today, which is an improvement over the hot and sticky we've had for the last week or so. I had pretty much vowed to clean the house today, so I'm off to empty the dishwasher. Woohoo.

[dogbutler]

Mornin everybody! Another Monday, I sure I'll get screamed at by the boss(es). I'm having browser trouble, I keep having to re-install IE to get it to work, and when Firefox installs 2.0.0.4, it stops working. Grrrr.

Great OPHaze! I'm glad you survived Korean schools.

MBG, happy summertime. Do you have any year round schools up there?

SO, don't let Haze's well written OP scare you. You can do someting like this or this

Good luck on the wife's job hunt, TPlay!

swampy, iRobot makes a pool Roomba, too.

Morning Rosie!

Welcome brendon! Be sure to give the chocolatre offering to FairyChatMom, and remember that the safe word for the squid is "wasabi".

Hi Drae!

[Nava]

Originally Posted by dogbutler

SO, don't let Haze's well written OP scare you. You can do someting like this or this

Speaking of which, I'm thinking of printing the stalking picture and slapping it on the bookshelves above Mom's computer as motivation for Grabbing The Damn Mouse It Doesn't Bite...

I just love that pic.

[Telperien]

People are so stupid. Argh!

Also, good morning.

[Mindfield]

Wonderful OP, Hank. Having never been the academic type, I can only imagine the sort of work a two year course would take, never mind packing all of that into one year. I did take a fairly fast-tracked course in my college years, but it was in a field that I already had a pretty solid foundation in (programming), so I found the work quite easy and was frequently done the material before everyone else. Except the Clipper portion of the program. I hate Clipper. I barely passed that test, and I am convinced that Hell is being forced to sit at a desk and program in Clipper 24/7. Still, I'm sure that if it was in a field that I wasn't already familiar with (but at least had a significant enough interest) I'd find the whole thing pretty intimidating. But I do like a challenge. Just remember after the graduation, though: The amount that you drink should be inversely proportional to your proximity to That Guy. Perhaps you should glue yourself to Scottish Darling for the evening. Either that or start conditioning yourself to envision That Guy in drag and with a feather boa draped over comically large fake breastseses whenever you see him. Perhaps then you will be too busy laughing to experience any further lapses in otherwise perfectly good judgment.

Nava - You know, given your post, and taking its name at face English value, Die Post seems to have new meaning.

BusDude - Oh, I'm sure she knew. Or at least her son knew. Like most parents, apparently, she just wanted to blame someone other than herself, personal responsibility being so last century and all.

So it's Monday once again. A drizzly and overcast Monday at that, but at least it has started off as an entertaining one. I get in this morning, and an E-Mail we received this morning from an end-user is making the rounds on paper. I work for a small engine and parts distributor, and we service the dealers and provide technical support. We can also provide technical support for end users, though we don't like doing more than the basics ("What kind of oil..." or "How do I prime..." kind of questions)) because there aren't very many than know what they're doing. For anything else we herd them off to a dealer. We don't get too many E-Mails because most prefer to call, but once in a while one appears in the inbox. This one is probably one of the most ... interesting we have received so far. Quoth the user (my own annotations in superscript):

I have a craftsman lawn mower that no start¹. I pull and pull my arm get sore². every day it a no go³. I give it big kick and now my foot sore too⁴. Still just pppbbblluuu pppbbblluuu pppbbblluuu⁵.
My neighbor he tell me to prime it. I ask him to show me and what he see? The carburetor and the incase manifold have fall off and gone?⁶

He says for you to send me the parts picture for 143955502. We can then make it work like charm⁷.

I bet that boy he play with it. His momma she no watch him all the time. Do you think this is the problem no?⁸

^{1: No?
2: I'm told you'll go blind, too, if you keep it up.
3: Perhaps your lawnmower is incontinent.
4: Well that's truly strange. It always worked for The Fonz.
5: Based on your most excellent onomatopoeia skills, I'd say your lawnmower has a nasty stomach bug.
6: You're not sure? Well, don't worry about the incase manifold. It's only there for emergency purposes -- you know, just in case.
7: No. No charm. Lawnmower. Charm no cut grass.
8: Yeah, I bet it's that no good kid next door, always on your damn lawn, tromping your daisies, stealing parts off your lawn equipment. I bet he's the one that took the clutch ring out of your drill, too. You should go over and give that punk a little what for.}

[Mama Tiger]

Morning, all. Great OP, Haze! I fourteenth the vote to stay away from That Guy, but otherwise it sounds like things have gone well for you. And I hope you and Scottish Darling stay friends for life. I have a college friend I met orientation week of freshman year who's still a close friend to this day, and there's just no substitute for old friends who knew you when.

I think I'm feeling a bit better today. I'm not quite sure, but at least the head is no longer throbbing like Ginger Baker's bass drums have taken up residence in it. (For those who are too young to remember, Ginger Baker was the drummer for the '60s rock group Cream, and his drum set had two bass drums. I was once the victim in the audience when he played a 20-minute drum solo. The tortures of the damned have nothing on sitting through a 20-minute Ginger Baker drum solo. Trust me.)

Anyway, I have a doctor's appointment later this morning, so I'm going to manage to move enough to get there and get back home. Other than that, I plan to have a very quiet day. Or as quiet as a day can be with a mountain of work that I got behind on while I lay in bed and watched Babylon 5 (third season, six episodes). Which I'd rather be doing today, but I think I'm going to have to get caught up on work first. Plus Alice has been separately rewatching it and I'm about three episodes further than her, so after she catches up we can start watching it together on the great big TV in the living room.

Anyway, enough drivel from me. Have a good day, everybody!

[Ellen Cherry]

Nice rock puggy!

I gotta agree, Haze: lovely, engrossing OP. Beauty, brains and an unmistakable gift for writing! But wait -- we were talking about you ...

Not much brewing in the Cherry Abode. I finally planted the rest of my flowers yesterday and didn't sneeze my face off. And, it finally rained! I was so shocked when something ... is that wet? ... started falling from the sky ... what on earth could THAT be ... It was water! From above! What a concept!

[SnakesCatLady]

Great OP!

Puggy, I want that rock. I am not sure where I would put it, but I want it.

I've already glazed a batch of beads this morning and made two bracelets and a pair of earrings. I need more elastic, beading wire and crimp beads, but that may wait until tomorrow.

I'm thinking about going back to bed. I went to bed at 12 last night, was up at 1:30, 3:30, 5 and finally gave up at 7:30. I need more sleep. I've been trying to stay up once I get up to train myself to sleep at night, but if I can't sleep at night I'll just have to take it when I can get it.

[HazelNutCoffee]

Quick post before I go to class - thank you all for your lovely compliments and encouragment! Must go teach grammar now. Yay. Proper responses to be posted later.

[Lissla Lissar]

That was lovely, Haze. Excellent writing!


Ooof. I haven't thrown up yet today, but I have Mr. Lissar's Very Nasty Cold. I ache all over, I'm stuffed up, my throat hurts, and I feel miserable. Oo the bright side (see above) I haven't thrown up yet. I'm not sure if I should be nervous or not. I'm thinking about calling work and saying I won't come in, rather than take this nasty virus and spread it around.

I'm going to crawl back to my couch.

[Tupug Anachi]

Originally Posted by VunderBob

Puggy and Swampus: are the fires finally out?

Our news is reporting that the rain helped so that fire fighters can concentrate on the areas that are really burning...whatever that means.

scl, that's exactly how I felt about that boulder. It's so odd for me because I spent so much of my life up nawth where you pay people to get RID of your rocks. Flawduh, on the other hand builds razor wire enclosures around the places where you go to buy them. Supply and demand, folks...supply and demand.

{{{{li-li}}}}

[eleanorigby]

Girls kisses, rock love, lawnmower indiscretions (?), sleepy posters and sick people--typical MMP.

gotta go. Ciao!

[Ellen Cherry]

You know, I think there's something right with the world today. Paris Hilton is apparently in jail Her existence irritates me irrationally.

[swampbear]

Yeah, that's what they're sayin' here too Puggy. I think it means they're having less trouble with hot spots in already burned out areas, which is good. We're promised good chances of rain over the next couple of days and the early part of next week, so maybe that'll do the trick. At least it ain't smokey today.

Nava, TPlayer was referring to the 40th anniversary of the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band which was last Friday. Which reminds me, I need to give it a listen to myself.

Ok, pool is clean and yard is mown (mowed?). It quit sprinklin' rain and the sun came out so I decided to get it all done. Yay! It smells good out on my back porch. I love the smell of fresh mown (mowed?) grass.

Puggy, that rock looks jake but I still don't want it. Instead I had a big cee-ment hole dug in my backyard and filled it with water.

Feel better LiLi!

ETA: welby boy kissin' can be a good thing too.

[The Blue-Sighted Shadow]

Congrats, Haze! Great OP. Now stay away from That Guy.

I have a summer cold. Groan. I have to work on Thursday. Why didn't I get this last week? Temps who get sick get replaced. So I need to run out and pick up some Theraflu and orange juice. Then go back to bed and hope it passes quickly.

[ScareyFaerie]

My reports are done, all exported from access to excel (biggest faff on in history) and looking pretty. I have to make them look pretty 'cos my line manager missed her vocation as a schoolma'am and she'll just bring them back covered in red biro if she's not happy.

Just to prove how much of a pedant she can be - she gave me a report to correct, it was about 250 entries in excel with about a dozen columns. She wanted the columns to be equally-sized, she wanted "&" replaced with "and", she wanted all the cells aligned vertically to the top and the smaller columns centred. She also wanted all the gaps filled in etc....which was probably quite reasonable except for these few things:

1. I didn't prepare the report in the first place, it came from another department so they should have done the corrections.

2. She wanted a corrected copy for her committee records (even though she's not committee secretary) which someone else suggested was wrong because the committee saw and approved the scruffy version.

3. The committee had already met, seen the report, approved the report and moved on - she just wanted a file copy. But they'd already met. How bonkers is that?

Bah! This is the level of idiocy I have to put up with.

Can I go out to play now?

[Nava]

Originally Posted by swampbear

Nava, TPlayer was referring to the 40th anniversary of the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band which was last Friday. Which reminds me, I need to give it a listen to myself.



ETA: welby boy kissin' can be a good thing too.

Aaaah. That record is older than me or not depending of whether you count in-womb age, gosh.

I thought you were into man kissin'?


BooFae, does she do that color thing, where any Excel file that doesn't include some salmon and peach isn't complete?

[anyrose]

My terrorist is here. I don't want to work today - my stomach hurts and so does my back (but not in the same way) boo.
later

[HazelNutCoffee]

Okay, classes are over and done with. Whew.

bigbabysweet, you and everyone else in our program is waiting for the day when Scottish Darling and I make out in public. Considering we've both been quite drunk numerous times during the year, I'd say you wait in vain.

H&R, I'll be teaching at community colleges for a year, at least. I'm not sure what I'll be doing after that. I might apply for PhD programs this winter, depending on how much I like teaching at the community colleges.

Yes, yes, I'm trying to stay away from That Guy. Gah, you have no idea how terrible I feel, especially about abandoning my friends on Saturday night to leave early with him. When all is said and done, that's the part I feel worst about, which has given me a lot to think about, actually. I had my priorities scrambled for a moment, which I truly, truly regret. Thankfully Scottish Darling is much more forgiving than I deserve!

Sympathies to those having to deal with idiots at work. :: muah ::

[taxi78cab]

Originally Posted by gardentraveler

Seems like good Masters programs tend to be a career decision point for a lot of people. In my program at Ohio State, there were several people every year who came in thinking they'd leave with a Ph.D. and left with Masters degrees at best and after one or two quarters at worst.

I'm one of the ones who started out thinking I'd get a Ph.D. and managed to leave with a Master's and the remnants of my self worth. I'd like to think that I'll never let anyone make me feel that bad about myself ever again, but... well, it kinda sneaks up on you.

In any case, congrats Haze! It's a big accomplishment, especially doing the classes and a thesis in a year. My school does it that way too, but I didn't do a thesis so I didn't have it as bad as some of my classmates.

Has anyone seen kai lately? Where'd she disappear to?

I'm training our new teammate today so it's hard to find time to keep up with everyone. But it's good to have another person working with us. Gotta run!

[swampbear]

BooFae I'm glad I could be of help in gettin' you to finish your work.

Haze seein' you graduate is well worth all the agonizin' ummm.... minutes of naggin' you to get your thesis etc. done. Now, aren't you glad you had me around to do that?

It gets all cloudy, then the sun comes out. Then it gets all cloudy, then the sun comes out. Then it gets all cloudy... wash, rinse, repeat. On the plus side it's nice and warm but not unogly hyooooooooo-mid like it can be down here. Still, the rain that's supposed to be comin' on in, well, come on!

Supper tonight is BLTs and french fries. I'm just in the mood for that. I don't feel bad cause I sent ACBG home yesterday with leftover chicken spaghetti and a nice green sallit for his lunch today. I'm such a good boyfriend!

Nava man kissin' is indeed a fine, fine thing. However, we are wont to refer to ourselves as boys and girls up in here, so I did that just for welby. Notice he has not responded. Perhaps I oogied him.

[FairyChatMom]

Just one more "Great OP!!" Ya done good, Haze, and congrats on that MA thing...

I know no one will care, but I correctly programmed my kiln to start around noon today. It's in the middle of its preheat cycle, just as I'd hoped it would be. So yay!

I'm about to run to the grocery store. It's been a while since I've gone, so I'll tend to it now. Mebbe I can find something good for supper, too. In a grocery store - ya think??

Welcome, mini-brendon! Welcome back, bbs2k! SpecialOne - pfffft - when you figure you've got something to share, just go ahead and volunteer to start the MMP. Except next Monday - that's my turn. It's not like it matters how you start it, you know.

And on that note, I'm off to McKay's. Sure hope ice cream is on sale!!!

[anyrose]

I wanna a fresh, crisp BLT. swampy - send me one thru the CD drive, k?

so did I mention I am walking without the crutch now?

[Lissla Lissar]

Woo-hoo rosie! That's awesome! Soon you'll be going on hikes, volunteering to walk dogs, and generating power by treadmill! How close are you to being able to leave your house and use the car and all that?




Bugger. They've turned the water off in our building. That means that we, well, don't have water. They were supposed to turn it off at midnight tonight, and I don't have any buckets filled or anything. Drat them.

[swampbear]

BioRosie yay on the walkin' without a crutch! WOOHOO!!! GO BIOROSIE! GO BIOROSIE!

Ok, nix the BLTs. A friend called right after I posted and invited us for supper. She's doin' a roast beast, fried okra, corn, butter beans, cornbread and a banana puddin'! One cannot turn down such fine southern cuisine! Yay for friends who cook big ol' suppers and share!

[Tupug Anachi]

\\\\\ ///// (Me clapping for rosie)

fcm reminded me of this cool new tool Mr. Anachi and I saw a commercial for yesterday. I can the Tim Allen man grunts from here. Will the wonders of science never cease?

[anyrose]

Originally Posted by Lissla Lissar

Woo-hoo rosie! That's awesome! Soon you'll be going on hikes, volunteering to walk dogs, and generating power by treadmill! How close are you to being able to leave your house and use the car and all that?

We were going to go outside today and try the car thing, but I looked out the window and saw pairs of animals parading towards a huge wooden boat at the end of the street, so we decided to hold off until Wednesday. I see the doc on Thursday - I'll know then about driving and going back to work.

[Mama Tiger]

Yay for no crutch, Rosie! Liberation from walking support devices is a wonderful feeling, isn't it?

And just so you know progress does indeed happen, today for probably the very first time since my surgery (without the benefit of drugs, that is) I walked down two flights of stairs with almost no discomfort at all! It didn't even begin to rise to the level of actual pain, just a bit of ouchy here and there! Upstairs has been completely normal and 100% pain/discomfort-free for some weeks now, but downstairs takes a lot longer, as I'm sure you've noticed. At least these days when the bionic knee hurts, I can feel specifically where around the knee it's ouchying instead of it just being an all-over pain nerves yelling at me. I think all that soft tissue stuff is finally really healing! Yay!

I really need to go run a couple errands this afternoon, but after my trip to the doctor's office this morning, I have no more energy. Oh well, I can do it tomorrow before Alice leaves for work, since the weather is a touch iffy and we don't want to leave Rusty the thunderstorm-phobe home along till all the storms have disappeared.

Today they're just widely scattered bits of rain, none of which appear to be headed our way, but we had a lovely 1.5" soaking rain yesterday that has probably made the farmers around here very happy. The fields were looking decidedly parched. So Barry done good all along the east coast! And I'm really glad the fires have mostly been knocked down; that's obviously been a big problem.

How long is your water supposed to be off for, LiLi? I hope not for too long. Do you have any bottled water supply? We used to always have bunches when we lived in hurricane country, but as we learned last winter when our well stopped pumping when the power went out, we weren't as well prepared up here as we were down there. It's something we need to be more diligent about since You Never Know!

Back to work. I've got 12 minutes left of this deeply annoying witness. Which still feels like an eternity, but at least the end is in sight.

[Mindfield]

Rosie - Congrats! Did you give a big, Braveheart-inspired "FREEEEEDOOOOOOOMM!" when you chucked the crutch?

Puggy - Hey! That's cheating! Computer controlled woodworking, indeed. Tim Taylor wouldn't be caught dead gripping a mouse instead of a router! For shame.

Shame!

_{Unfortunately I have no shame, so I think that thing's pretty damn cool. It's like CAD/CAM for wood.}

LiLi - The water in our building gets turned off at least once a month due to one thing or another. I'm not really surprised, though, considering how the old maintenance guys tended to treat problems. (Clogged drain? No worries! Nothing a little HYDROCHLORIC ACID won't fix! Wait, what? Now the P trap is leaking? Huh. Wonder how that happened.)

[Lissla Lissar]

The water was supposed to be turned off from midnight tonight until three p.m. tomorrow. Now I have no idea how long it will be off, or when they're turning it back on, or anything. We were going to fill the bathtub and kettle and everything this evening, but since they weren't supposed to turn it off yet, I have half a case of ginger ale and some ice cubes.

If it's off until tomorrow afternoon I'm going to be very angry.