sjoh197

BEND AND SNAP BEND AND SNAP

So let me get this straight. You hate your parents and wish to sever all ties with them... yet you have an umbilical cord attached to their wishes? Why continue on a path that makes you miserable in order to please people that you want nothing to do with and supposedly hate? If you are funding your own life, you are under no obligation to live it in a way that pleases only them. This is where adulting becomes really hard for some people. I was told by a very wise man a long time ago that there are three "S's" that you have in college... sleep, success, and social life. You only get to pick 2. You have obviously chosen success, and probably a little sleep . The main thing here though... is that you are doing something that you really don't want to do for people that you don't want to do it for... and you have no real justification as to why. Either finish your program, and hope that you find some satisfaction... or put your big boy pants on and move to the career path that you actually want. Its a lot easier to cope with a lack of social life and money when you are working towards a personal goal and are filled with self-satisfaction. You will become a much happier person when you finally start doing things because YOU want to do them, not because someone else tells you to. If at the end of the day, you decide that YOU want to finish your grad school career, then do it. Otherwise, figure out what it is that YOU want to do, and do that instead. Also, wanting to beat up someone you don't know because they have things that you want is a serious sign of mental health problem that you really really need to get checked out. Pathological envy can be a sign of multiple disorders, many of which can bring you down in life for a very very long time.

@rhombusbombus Lol. My partner and I would be getting married now if it weren't for us trying to get our finances in a better spot. His father absolutely adores me... and I think he is anxious for us to get married so that he can keep me around I've been thinking that I might just hyphenate my last name when we get married. If I've already published, I'll just keep my publishing name as sjoh, but if I haven't published yet, I will use my hyphenated name in the future. I don't really see a reason to abandon my name completely when its a part of who I am. We haven't broken it to his parents that we have no plans on having children.

Part of a phone conversation between SO and his father yesterday... His father: "So, you're going to marry her soon right?" Him: "Yeah, I figure I've got 5 more years to tie her down." His father: "Well you better do it sooner than that... otherwise she'll be Dr. sjoh, not Dr. Boley, and we need all the Dr. Boley's we can get." Him: "Ok dad." insert eye roll. His father: "Besides... you're too old to be starting over if she leaves you. Nobody wants to be starting over at 30" Insert me eye rolling. At least we avoided the "so have you decided to get pregnant yet?" conversation that we'll not be having when we visit in 2 weeks.

Are your feminine hygiene products taxed as "luxury" items?

Nah... It just goes into the connective tissue and stuff. Still hurts like a bitch though. I rarely pay for medication. My insurance covers almost all medication in full, and if not its never more than 10-20 bucks.

Oh god... Me too. And i take so much of it right now. My doc has got me on this nerve pain med whose main side effect is "extreme drowsiness". I wake up at like 4 or 5 in the morning because it wears off, and then spend the rest of the day super groggy. And the steroid shot directly into my ankle hurt like hell. If that I what I'm going to have to do for the rest of my life.. I don't wanna. Lol. I don't like doctors after I went through thousands of dollars of tests and a god damn colonoscopy at 19 just to find out I can't eat wheat, alcohol sugars, and some other stuff.

I'm worried that will still be me lol. Earlier today I got a reminder email about my partner's company BBQ tomorrow (which we're attending)... with a flyer talking about all their volleyball and tug of war and relay races and stuff. My legit response was "I don't want to play games." I think I am starting to understand why I have no friends.

I would apply this year... and if you don't get in, you can always try again next year.

Also... not exactly related to your experience... but there is a sub-3.0 acceptance thread in the lobby. And while you have a 3.2 gpa, that thread has a lot of great advice on how to accentuate certain parts of your profile, and overcome a lower gpa for your field.

I was sitting at the pool yesterday and there were some people out there chatting and having a good time and I realized that I've been in Houston for over a year now and I don't know anyone. In a month I will have been with my partner for 4 years and in that time I've never made an actual friend. On a different note, I learned that UH has a pretty cool rock wall for students. I'm definitely into that... Because the rock gyms here are really really expensive.

Made a 97 on my Calc 1 final. 1 of the 3 points I missed was at the end of a problem where i had 4*4= 12.

If you are looking for advice on whether those programs are attainable/good for you... you will probably have more luck posting this down in your field's sub-forum. You're more likely to get views from people with the same degrees or career paths as you.

I've been in a medicated induced sleep for the last 10 hours lol. My Dr. put me on some pain med whose main side effect is "extreme drowsiness". Take before bed. Lol. At this rate, I will never have jet lag problems ever again.

While it could certainly help to have some undergrad research experience in whatever you want to research in grad school... it's not entirely necessary. What would be beneficial to you would be taking what you have researched, and showing how it has improved your ability to research in general. Research skills are learned and many of them are transferable. The way that you approach a problem, understand errors, collaborate with people, and write are all different in research than say... a class. When you present the research you've done in your SOP, highlight the transferable skills that you learned. For example, when I first started undergrad research, I was doing some basic lab work... crushing samples, centrifuging, etc. But I presented it as having learned about all of the basic errors that can occur in a lab, and how that can affect data and results. When I worked on figures, maps, photos etc... I presented it as increasing my ability to convey results to the scientific community. When I actually conducted analyses I presented it as learning the importance of documenting and following certain procedures, but also being able to distinguish between normal errors and machine malfunctions. I'm sure that you will be able to do this with your research as well.

@hippyscientist Hahaha. IDK why I thought you were Pink Fuzzy. I guess I had just read the Whine and Wait thread. Lol. It's too early. I'm only on coffee #1.

Fuzzy had some great advice... but if you're already past the point of no return, go to the local drug store, pick up a pack of 10mg diphenhydramine sleeping tablets, take just one about a half hour before you want to sleep. Do this 2 or 3 nights in a row and you'll be back on schedule. This obviously isn't a good long term solution, as sleep aids can be addictive long term, but I find that it really helps when I shift more than 2-3 hours in any direction.

It I difficult to work full time and get a PhD. It I difficult to have a baby and get a PhD. It is difficult to work 50 hours a week and take care of a newborn. You are trying to do 3 difficult things all at the same time, and while I really wish you the best, I think there will be a fast burnout in your future if one of the above 3 things doesn't change. When I was in college with my daughter, I was only working part time. My days were stretched very very thin and I always felt guilty in one way or another. There's no way I could have even fit another 25 hours of work time in there. And she wasn't even a newborn.

I've almost hit lots of bicyclists not following traffic laws. Sucks that you got a ticket man, but you probably wont get out of that fine lol.

I just watched my boyfriend's cat intentionally and maliciously push my cat into the toilet.

Probably seems common sense- but if you and a roomie do go all HGTV, make sure that you split costs by buying equal amounts of things, not by purchasing half of an item. For example... I knew people who would split the cost of a couch and table, and then fight over who got the couch and who got the table when they parted ways. If you're going to pay for part of something, pay for the whole thing to keep it, and let the roomie pay for something else communal.

Half of the value of our entire household is probably sitting on three stupid bookshelves full of stupid $400 manuals and $100 textbooks. Got at least a few thousand dollars worth of books in there between the 2 of us.

Adulting is hard. I almost shit myself yesterday when I found out that my partner couldn't reach me last year when he signed up for his life insurance policy through work... so he ended up putting his brother as his beneficiary and then forgot to change it, but had told me I was the beneficiary. We spent an entire god-damn year where if he died I would get stuck with his bills and not get a single penny to pay them off. I told him it was the stupidest thing I had ever seen him do in the 4 years we were together. I was sooo righteously pissed. I'm already in charge of all his bills and bank accounts and stuff...but Jesus, I didn't realize that I also need to comb over all of his benefits and enrollments too. :/

Our current apt and the apt we're moving to in August both require a minimum 100,000 renter's insurance policy. It costs about $200 a year, but covers any kind of fire, theft, whatever. It's definitely worth having... even if you're not required to. Not all policies cover flood... so getting one that does is pretty good if you live in a place that floods.

If you're not moving an actual household... like furniture and stuff... I would just fly there and buy stuff once you get there. That 26 hour drive becomes a whole lot longer if you're moving furniture and household items. I personally am a long haul driver... and have moved whole households more than once. But if it's a hassle that you don't have to deal with, then don't. I'm assuming that the car isn't yours and that you would have to rent one? Otherwise, driving is really kinda the only option lol.