Study Break

In the simplest terms in the most convenient definitions of what we found out. That each one of us is a brain, an athlete, a basketcase, a princess, and a criminal.

Sincerely Yours,
The Breakfast Club

But seriously, folks. I'm happy to report that last Sunday I watched the final episode of Buffy. I wasn't disappointed. There were some deaths/survivals I may not agree with, and I wish Willow had a bigger part to play. However, I have to admit that of all the series finales I've seen, this was by far the most recent.

And to answer my own follow-up question, I have no desire to watch Angel. I've had my fill of the Buffyverse, and that was plenty fun by itself. No need for spin-off series or comic book continuations for me. Besides: I really don't like the actor who plays Angel.

I've been hanging out with George and Rob and Raheel a lot lately. Short spurts, mostly. I miss my grad student friends. Nobody tells obscene jokes like kids working for a PhD. I need to make a concerted effort to hang with my Ling and Psych friends more. I'm not being kept up to speed on who is hooking up with who and who we're mad at but still talking to anyway. The problem is that Psych Happy Hour is Thursdays when I have class, and Ling Happy Hour is Fridays when I'm generally exhausted and just want to go home.

Living alone again and being single again means I have a lot of time to myself. Time to myself means I lose track of the time easily. I find a project and dig into it and suddenly I don't know if I should be sleeping or going to class. This is bad, of course. This is also why I'm looking forward to the summer. If I can survive this semester, then I can concentrate on my AI thesis and study for my oral exams. After that, I can full-speed-ahead with my Linguistics degree and get my ducks in a row for PhD applications.

It's all pretty scary. Wherever I go for my PhD, it's going to be a new place, a new department, new faculty, and new friends. It'll be me and my little kitten venturing out into the unknown once again. Spring 2010 is when most decisions and offers will be made. That means, no doubt, that I shall spend at least 3 or 4 months facebook stalking people on my target campus. Fun, yes? Don't judge me!

My hope is that I'll be able to set myself up to live alone again, and this time, I'll start as fresh as possible. I'll be thrilled if I can find another little house, off the beaten path, for me and the Little Miss to live comfortably where the volume of my motorcycle will not disturb the neighbors. Setting up the house will be no problem, I'm certain. Years of moving from place to place have made me an expert in doing this. Socially, however, I just might be forgetting how to make new friends. I may turn into the ultimate loner. A rebel.

Who knows? I still have no idea where I'll be going. I'd be thrilled to get Colorado or Massachusettes or California, etc etc. I got the list widdled down to a whopping 15 target schools! I don't have a CLUE which ones (if any) will take little old me. Every single time I found a new program at another school, I'd look at the school facts, the student organization, and yes, of course, the ratio of guys to girls on campus. HEY. Come on. That stuff is important.

I'm a big fan of looking for houses and apartments online in the places I'd like to live, using Google Maps to estimate a morning commute from a house on the outskirts of town. I love to look at floor plans and imagine my furniture in there.

This is all moot if I don't get my shit done. We'll see how well I do this semester, then this Summer I'll try to put the last nails into my AI degree, and I'll go from there. We'll just see.