leSpyFox

Please don't tell me anyone here takes this "personality test" that seriously.

Hi everyone. An update on the status of cat identification: I have adopted a cat from a local rescue group! According to her foster mom, she is a very calm kitty who enjoys cuddling every evening. Sounds perfect to me! 

So I got back my advisor's comments for my dissertation proposal...

Ugh, is this a trick question instead of the answer just being you reply with both or specify what you're referring to?

I must now save up my meager stipend and accumulate hours in my part-time job to get this bag. 

You can block people?! I'll get to that in a minute...
 
I'm turning 26 next week and my biological clock has not started ticking. I've never felt the desire to be a mother, have never wanted to pick out names... I'm worried I won't ever want to be a mother. I love people who are child-free and content with their choice, but I'm so comfortable in the "you're still young enough to be childless" category and I'm worried that rude comments are just around the corner.

Haters gon hate haha and you can't even see that lol

Guys give it a rest. Please.

Yeah I see "child" or "marriage" and it is my kryptonite! Anyways thank you, I can't wait to use all these lovely baby names:) maybe you will stop tracking all my posts now? I know that's too much to ask. You love to attack me. It's evident in every single post I have made or any response, it's fine I'm a big girl I can handle it, if that makes you feel good about yourself then hey.. More power to you dude. I will continue to post what I want where I want to, you can ignore it or go on the attack against me... No sweat off my balls.

To be fair, I was hoping that people that are child free by choice (and will most likely never ever ever have/want kids) would post here. Child free is a 'movement' if you will.

Childless and child free are very different things, and I for one find it grating how you are making this thread about yourself and how a thread about people who have no desire for children has been hijacked about somebody here who is all but lamenting about not having any kids.

If you've always wanted to be a mom, why are you posting on a child-free thread? I've never wanted to be a mon, and never will. If I ever had a biological clock, it has never started ticking. I'm hopelessly in love with my husband, and ridiculously happy with our life, but we don't want children, and never have.

I don't need to reproduce. No desire to do so. There are already too many human beings populating this planet. I have no need to stroke my ego through reproduction.

You always find a way to shit on something huh? If I wanted to be pregnant right now I could be. It isn't hard to find someone to do that. I still pick out baby names, and will continue to until I have a baby. Actually you're going to love this I started talking to this really amazing guy and we were talking about babies... I didn't bring it up he did. The OP didn't say "only people who don't have children by choice answer" so suck it:)
Oh and btw I actually pick out baby names during work not on my lunch break:)

"PhD Student". Like Eigen said, "Candidate" usually means you've passed comps and had your dissertation proposal approved.

So, should first or second years just not say anything? Or is there another term to use? Just curious; thanks!

Hi all!
 
PhD comics, reading forums and watching funny videos got me through the long and often dark days of graduate school, and so I took to contributing back to help others by making science parodies.
 
I wanted to share my latest creation, about the frustrations of getting funding, and hope that you may find some comic relief through it!  Please share if you enjoyed it; there is no motive behind this video besides pure creative fun, and it was done completely on a volunteer basis.  I'd love for it to brighten up someone's day!
 
Also, I'd like to solicit those who have interesting or informative thoughts or stories about grad school life and are willing to share.  I'll be writing up some pieces on what it's really like to do research, behind the publications and lab coats, to the depression and personality conflicts and backstabbing, to the struggles of balancing a love life while doing research, the thrill of getting data, the stresses of managing lab relationships and finding jobs after graduation.  I myself benefited a lot from the stories and advice of others, and I would like to share these more broadly to those who may not have the luxury of having strong supporters and allies during times of need during graduate school.
 

 
--V

Wow how about trying to be a good PhD student instead of wasting time? You are not good at singing anyway.

No offense, but getting a kitten if you have ZERO cat experience and not much time is terrible advice. Like any baby, kittens need lots of attention and care. You are much better served by getting an adult cat. Don't get a kitten. My friends work in rescue and fostering and kittens take a lot of work. Kittens are needy and want attention and some shelters insist upon adopting kittens in pairs because they NEED company and socialization. 
 
I strongly recommend adopting an adult cat. Two will keep each other entertained, especially if you look or ask for a "bonded pair" of cats who keep each other plenty of company. If you never want two, or think this is too much, look for one cat, or a cat who wants to live in a single cat household. They need food, water, attention, and love - cats aren't houseplants - but you can ask shelters for independent cats, cats who aren't highly needy, but perhaps older and calmer. Ask for a calm, independent, adult cat. 
 
Also if cats are kept indoors all their live they A.) live longer and B.) don't tend to be as needy about missing the outside. 

I sleep with all my roommates, male and female so it doesn't matter.

No surprise - if you're as hot as you are modest!

When pizza hut used to have the built your own pizza for 10 dollars deal, I would like once a week order a large pizza and shamelessly select every possible topping that would fit on one pizza. too bad they got rid of that.

I felt this way, even though the choice I made was pretty clearly the correct choice.
 
The admissions office was incredibly nice and personable throughout the whole process. The POI during the interview was very flattering, and the grad students I talked to the POI's groups were extemely friendly (I insisted on talking to his older grad students).
 
Another part of me kept asking "what if". The road not taken etc etc. Eventually my sibling (currently a first year grad student), had to knock some sense into me before the feeling would go away.
 
If you truly made the best decision you could, given the information made available to you, then there is nothing truly to feel guilty about, and the feeling will pass.
 
Congrats on your offers (and having options)!

This is typically just a formality, unless your application has some oddity.  For example, if the graduate school has a "cut off" of a minimum 3.5 GPA, and you've got a 3.0 this has the potential to pose a problem.  This situation is pretty rare, though.
 
Sounds very likely you'll get an official offer pretty soon!

Hi there fellow male!
 
My experience with roommates of a different gender are exactly the same as every experience I've had living with a roommate of the same gender, surprisingly. The only difference is that she sometimes locks the door to change in the room. But I'm pretty sure I have done that and many male roommates would do the same whenever we have locks. It turns out that women are people with individuality and agency and varying personalities. Shocker, I know.
 
You know how they say that girls tend to be cleaner than guys? HA. Yeah, that stereotype could not be further from the truth. From what I've seen it varies. Currently I live with... less than hygenic girls. Then awhile back I had a psuedo-roommate (a roommate's significant other who was also a good friend of mine who stayed over at our place more than she did at her own) who was fairly clean, fun to hang out with, and I had no issues with (she was my friend, after all). Then I've also had female roommates that were in the same apartment number, but different rooms. Also fine. When my roommates were more or less strangers, we generally kept to ourselves and within our social circles, no matter what gender. I found female roommates easier to talk to, but mostly because of my own personal tastes. There were varying levels of PDA/significant other-ship for either gender, but not much of a difference, really between genders. For both girls and guys, it varied between never really seeing the significant other and occasional to frequent sex, where I would sometimes be sexiled.
 
My parents warned me when I told them I would have female roommates that they might falsely accuse me of sexual assault, but I think that's kinda bullshit (and a harmful assumption, given how unlikely people who are actually sexually assaulted end up being believed). For me, roommates of either the male or female gender turn out to be decent people with their own lives who are only sometimes casually racist or sexist. But that's from my personal experience (did not include non-cisgendered experiences because I do not have any, but I expect it to be more or less the same).