poco_puffs

I know the added luggage situation might make this seem like a less attractive option, but hear me out: California has a hell of a sales tax, and while you might find some good sales here and there, it probably will cost you a pretty penny to start from scratch stateside. I've heard from MANY sources that China has some great prices on clothing, if you can find something that's close to your size, and the tailoring options in most Asian cities are very economical and quick. That might be a generalization, since I'm sure it varies by region, but I have many friends who visit family and friends in some of the big cities over there, and they specifically buy bigger luggage at their destination so they'll have room for all the clothes they're bringing back. I know you probably have a busy week ahead of you, but it really might be a favor to your wallet for you to look at some of the clothing options in your current region before you find yourself in California and groaning at the price of clothing. All the points made so far about thrift shopping DO hold true, however. If you come to California needing an entirely new wardrobe, I'd hit the thrift stores near nice neighborhoods first. Goodwill, Salvation Army etc in the Bay Area will probably have some primo designer-type clothes at a great discount, but you still might be investing quite a chunk of change into the whole deal. Just a thought.

I'm just looking forward to wearing some of the jewelry I've been obsessively accumulating over the last few years. My restaurant job didn't allow for much creativity, especially in that department, so now I get to rock out with scarves and brooches and all sorts of other schtuff. If I'm going to be sporting some very basic and interchangeable "professional" pieces, I at least need to be able to accessorize and not feel like I'm wearing the same thing every damn day. On that note, I just bought two very simple and flattering fitted blazers (one grey, one medium brown, both with a nice tweedy pattern) that were originally $60 apiece and I got them for $24 instead at s 60% discount. Kohl's has had amazing sales lately, and they're becoming my new go-to place for that lower to middle price range of clothing that is still made well enough to hold up for a few years. I find that Ross and TJ Maxx have some very reasonably priced knit tops that will last for a few years if you check the quality in-store and don't pay for something with pulled seams or whatever. This is my opinion, and maybe it's just in my area, but I find that the button-up and otherwise fitted woven shirts in those particular stores are extremely hit or miss. Woven fabrics and fitted styles are so much less forgiving when you're not paying outright for quality, and I've only had a few lucky finds in that department. I still haven't found a place with pants that I like-- hence my frequent use of skirts-- but I need to head up to the outlet malls soon and see if I can find SOME sort of dress pants that fit. I gotta say, I've seen a lot of those "7 essential closet must-haves" articles with the "black/navy blazer, white button-up, black/navy skirt, black/navy pant, black shoes, cashmere sweater and a trenchcoat" type lists. While I agree that those ARE good staples for many women, I've always thought outside of that list and still been able to do a lot of mixing and matching. I can find just as versatile of a wardrobe with colors and earth-tone neutrals as I can with the white/black/navy palette that is just so unflattering on my coloring. Besides, that combo always reminded me of either school uniforms or stewardesses. Find the flattering fits, find the flattering colors, and question the hell out of the purchase if you're breaking some of your own shopping rules. That's my method of getting my money's worth.

Agreeing with Armadillo on most points. Is there a way you could contact some graduate students at the program to ask where they recommend picking up some of those basics? If that seems a little too personal or embarrassing, you could always track down the emails of students who are in a similar program but NOT your department, and the chances of them recognizing you on campus later are very slim. Ask them what they're wearing, general prices, good locations etc. Also, I'd argue that some people's coloring doesn't lend itself to the "one black one blue" argument for basic dress stuff. I've been helping my boyfriend build up a wardrobe that bounces between brown and black, because it fits his style. Grey blazers/slacks also can be very versatile, which is code for "worth the investment." Is there anyone you can take shopping with you? It speeds up the process because you have another set of eyes and hands looking for finds in the store, and they can tell you more about the fit and appearance of an outfit than the mirror can. If you're going for academic but not formal, avoid the matchy-matchy look with jackets and pants. You'll have to try a lot of stuff on, but eventually you should get a feel for what color/texture combinations work together. There are a lot of different colors of khaki, and brown, and grey, and they all look different when combined with your basic black or navy. It may sound daunting, but I suppose my point is this: Don't be discouraged, keep trying things on until something looks right. For the non-neutral basics, find the 2-4 colors that look the absolute best on you (For my guy that's a few particular shades of blue, plus some muted gray-greens) and the colors that just will never work in a million years (For him: anything red), and then REMEMBER those when you're buying. A shirt is only a good investment when you know that you'll wear it and you know that you'll look like a million bucks. Even if something is a great deal, or you think it's so cool that you just need to try something new, remember the colors that you should avoid-- it makes shopping faster, because you can walk straight to the colors (and eventually fabrics and fits) that you know will work and that will be worth your money. I know that store chains vary across the country, but Kohl's is all over the place from Chicago to here on the West Coast, and they have good prices in general and GREAT sale prices right now. Buy one get one free suit separates, and a lot of their button-ups and polos are on sale. If you do end up going retail, try your best to find a non-busy time at that particular store (in my experience, that's before 6 on weekdays). If you find a salesperson who seems bored and eager to help, they might be able to give you a good opinion on the stuff you're going for. Of course, they're salespeople, so they might love everything on you, but more often than not you can find at least one person who will give you an honest opinion and say "This one, not that one." Also, salespeople know the stock of their store, and if you're getting overwhelmed by selection, they can help you find the sections and sizes you need.

I'm left-handed too, and I never thought about it being a reason why I didn't like spirals. It's funny--I disliked kitschy stuff like "The Left-Handed Store," because I just learned to deal or adapt to living in a right-handed world. There were some things I was just never good at, and it took some more thought to realize that it was often a directional thing that tied back to being a lefty. For instance, I always thought I was just really bad at using the simple hinge-style corkscrews for opening wines, and then I realized that the direction of the spiral was opposite what it should have been, so where I'm holding and turning the bottle with my dominant/nondominant hands has always looked wrong and been a little less efficient. I can't tell you how many customers tried to teach me how to use a corkscrew, because they didn't like the way I was handling the bottle. Bah. Your other reasons are also true for me, and well-stated. Vive le binder!

Well, you've had some people argue for spiral notebooks, and now I'll make an argument for some ringed binders: I take a LOT of notes. Copious amounts. Buckets. I've never had a laptop to bring to class, moleskine and other bound books feel too formal (like I am writing something in stone and can't change it or move it around), and spiral notebooks stack up in a really unattractive way while also presenting problems with reorganization for studying or storage. I prefer loose-leaf paper held in a binder, organized by tabs if necessary. Before class, I take out 10-15 sheets, depending on what kind of day it's going to be, and then I use the closed binder as my space-saving writing surface. I can tilt it up against the desk, so I'm not killing my shoulders and neck writing at a completely flat angle, and I can lean back into the chair while keeping an eye on professors and overhead projectors without doing the bobblehead move as much. After class, I put the new notes after the old notes in the binder, so things stay organized by lecture date. The advantage to this system, in my mind, is that I can easily re-organize the notes by topic for studying. There are always those throw-away pages from the less important lectures, or my pages of to-do lists, etc etc-- the stuff I don't really need as a distraction when I'm pulling information into something compact, organized, and informative. That stuff gets set aside, obviously, and I have a nice clean set of notes that are always in order. After the test, I can keep them organized by subject or reorganize them chronologically, and then they easily fit into a hanging folder in my files for later references. The binder can be re-used until it's falling apart, and I don't have to worry about boxes or shelves full of bound notes. That being said, I'm thinking about investing in a new kind of loose-leaf system. The only bummer about using the binder as a writing surface is that a binder that is big enough to hold all of my notes, around 2", is so tilted from the spine that finding the right writing angles can be awkward at times. I'm going to look for some other options before this fall, but at least I know I have a cheap fall-back that has worked for 6 years now.

I'll admit, I was more sad when I closed it than I thought I would be. I carted that thing around with me everywhere, and it seemed like it would never end. The characters develop verrry slowly, and there's a political subplot that drags especially, but it did a good job of making me care about a few of the people. If you do end up reading it, I almost think it would be helpful to read some more Jane Austen first. Her style is lighter, which might make Middlemarch seem unfair when you do start it, but the novels share themes of country/town life, webs of social interactions, propriety etc. It would be a good introduction to some of the larger ideas in Middlemarch that sort of rumble and groan under the weight of those 800+ pages.

I hear ya, Diehtc0ke. a.) Netflix streaming has been an obsession of mine for ages. It helps me cope with all this excess time out of school, and I'm sure I'll become even more dependent now that I've quit my job. Probably the most cost-effective way of legally watching movies that I've found. b.) Amen on getting out of jobs that make you ill. For me, it was serving cocktails at the same restaurant. I just did a shift of that for the first time in two years and I was visibly shaking from the nerves. Lets hope grad school treats us better! c.) I lol'd at the "overwrought Victorians." I just finished Middlemarch. Only took about three or four months of reading twenty pages at a time, but I'm happy I finally got that monolith out of the way. I just can't imagine buying all new furniture! I know so many people move across the country with just their clothes and one or two items like the lamp and the clock. I've always been attached to the physical bits and pieces that make up my immediate environment. I'd make a terrible Buddhist

For starters, tonight was my last night of work at the restaurant where I've been gritting my teeth at customers for five years. This is big news for me, since this particular pizza place has consumed my life for the majority of my undergrad, and the year that I took off following graduation. I'll miss all the folks that really have become my second and very large family in all that time, but I'm gradually bringing my mind around to the fact that I am moving on to something that could eventually resemble a career. About half of the people I work with at that restaurant have college degrees-- forestry, agriculture, physics, music, art, political science, history, and literature, to name a few-- but the sad thing is that I'm the only one who made it into grad school this round. Several of them left to find other jobs, and came back to work at the restaurant again because the businesses they left for ended up tanking. I feel extraordinarily lucky to be getting out of food service and into grad school. Moving-wise, my boyfriend and I are waiting for approval on the apartment that we really want. I've already started cleaning, sorting, and recycling/trashing things, but nothing has been packed yet. I've been obsessively hoarding boxes from work and from friends for a few weeks now to minimize on any I'll have to buy from U-haul. We've already done one epic Goodwill trip, and I'm thinking another is imminent. The new city is only 45 minutes away, so I have the luxury of making a few trips before the big one. I'm kind of treading middle ground on the reading thing. Even though my passion for my very specific field/topic has been stoked in the last few weeks, I'm forcing/allowing myself to read some books that are still exercising my LitCrit muscles without overloading me on Victorian England and theory. I'd say every other book is something I should read for that big "should-read" list, and then I alternate that with stuff that I might not get to for a few years, which ranges from Willa Cather frontier type stuff to the more airport/supermarket novel. School doesn't start until late September for me, which means I have approximately two and a half months to explore a new city, arrange my new home, do lots of yoga and biking, and get my life and brain and body in the best working condition I can before I start this next big phase.

<br /><br /><br /> Happy to apologize for that. I wasn't in the best mood, and my net-lexia means that I confuse dry humor, sarcasm, and rhetorical hyperbole as trolling.

Thrifting is a very big obsession of both my hometown and the city where I'll be relocating, and I wholeheartedly embrace thrift finds-- when I can find them. In many cases, however, my body type is so odd to fit that I very rarely find sort of blazer, even moderately structured dress, or pants that fit me and look professional. I do keep an eye out for neat skirts, since pants in general are hard to find in my case, and I have bought some blouses or dressy tanks where I don't have to worry about the sleeves. Long torso and long arms do not mesh well with the thrift store items that, when washed and worn, tend to shrink lengthwise before anything else. My favorite thrifting buddy is built like a waif from the 1940s, so she has no trouble finding all sorts of clothing. I'm also facing that seemingly inevitable mid-20s slowdown of metabolism and the body changes that come with it. As a result, I'm having trouble even finding new clothing to fit my body appropriately. Redefining my wardrobe in terms of professionalism and good fit will be a big challenge this summer and fall.

Another humanities nerd chiming in here: I'd take some school-provided "business" cards if they offered, or perhaps I'll print some up eventually, but I would be pretty circumspect on how often I handed them out. I completely understand the impression some people might get of handing out business cards as off-putting and overly self-promotional. In my case, it's tied up with impostor-syndrome. I wonder if I am really going to belong to this ivory tower, and then someone at my same level walks through handing out business cards? It's just a little bewildering at first glance. In the wrong situations, it would be "putting on airs" in much the same way as completely over-dressing in a semi-casual environment could be interpreted as putting on airs. Nothing is wrong with dressing nicely, especially in the right situations, but if someone shows up in a three-piece suit to a department happy hour where everyone is dressed in their street clothes, eyebrows might raise. That being said, I *really* hate writing my name and email on scraps of paper. I wouldn't want a completely official-looking card-- just something that provides information. That mention about the name cards of the 19th century reminded me of the Little House on the Prairie books, where Laura wants name cards because the snotty girl in class has some very fancy cards to hand out. It was in one of the later books. Now I have a mash-up of the Little House name-card scene and the American Psycho business card lunch scene playing in my head. Wow.

Of course work would take priority over wardrobe, but I don't think anyone here was suggesting a wardrobe improvement as some kind of shortcut to success-- some "blind them with your clothing so they won't notice you slacking off" sort of thing. We're talking about how to dress in certain situations to meet the expectations of social and professional roles that are very new to the majority of us. Who mentioned Prada and Armani? Who can AFFORD Prada and Armani? I can barely afford to buy shit at Target, let alone a nice store, let alone anything designer. I seriously hope your post was meant with less condescension or---god, whatever that was-- than it appears.

The town and university where I'll be relocating is known for it's counterculture element, so most of my friends and family keep assuring me "Don't worry, you won't have to trade in your nose ring for loafers." I wasn't so sure, so I dressed up fairly nice for the visiting week in March. Also, I think there is a more forgiving middle ground between too casual and too formal for women, so maybe I was a little bit lucky. Anyway, one portion of the visit was having five grad students present an overview of their dissertation and how they worked within the school to get to that point. Two of the guys were in polo/blazer/slack mode, one of the girls was wearing slacks (I think) and a vintage shawl/sweater, one of the girls was in something along the lines of a t-shirt and jeans, and the last guy had dreadlocks, a nose-ring, torn jeans, a puffy vest like Marty from Back to the Future and some truly awesome sneakers. I wore a lot of cardigans and plain tanks and long-sleeved tees at my undergrad, and I don't see that changing all that much for grad school now that I know how casual the university is in general. The jeans will get nicer, I'll bring some more slacks and skirts into the mix, but I'm not worried at this point. The biggest improvement needs to be the shoes, since I never got out of converse/sneaker mode. Then again, all that isn't stopping me from picking up some great blazers and whatnot on sale. I don't even teach my first year, but I'm starting to buy some quality pieces early on so I can space out the wardrobe buying over a year. I do plan on looking like a professional when I start leading recitations-- without that blazer I'll look the same age as my students.

So so so so true. However, my current goal before I move is to continue making epic trips to Goodwill and recycling whatever old papers I can stand to get rid of. I got rid of 60 books, a gigantic box of clothing, and lots of odds and ends last week. Even though we'll be in a bigger place in the new town, I really am not looking forward to carting any more junk between cities than I absolutely must.

I just spent this morning sorting through some of those very plastic hanging-file boxes that Riotbeard mentioned, with the hopes of getting rid of some of the stuff I've accumulated during my undergrad (with the hopes of referencing it in grad school and career later on). Alas, I didn't get rid of very much, but I did have a chance to review my system and make some changes. I'll keep boxes for things organized by subject (grouped in kind, probably, but maybe alphabetized) and separate boxes for things organized by period (chronological, methinks). It's a modified system of how I organize my books in their shelves, and I'm silly proud of how organized my books are. I'm also thinking of keeping handwritten (thus easily changed) summary sheets for each large folder or an entire box so I can pull it out and easily reference whether what I need will be in that folder or box. Authors or subjects that have an obvious need for placement in one or more boxes could just get a note on that summary sheet. I'm an English Lit gal, though, so I don't know how a system like that would work for something outside of the humanities. I also struggle with reading PDFs. I'm a very visual person, but I think the physical act of handling the page and writing notes, as opposed to just typing them in a margin box, helps tack the information into my brain. Of course keeping all my books and notes has created a huge quantity of heavy, flammable, dusty material that I have to move from apartment to apartment, but there's something comforting about, say, remembering an article that might be helpful and being able to find it in my own archives as opposed to just finding a copy online or borrowing through the library.

I'm not a big sports fan in general, but the situation is of interest to me since I'm going to grad school at my undergrads state rival about 45 minutes away. At my current restaurant job, where football fever is a big thing, there have been some lively debates about which team I'll hold dearest to my heart. I don't think it will ever be about sports as much for me as it will be school pride, but those dang mascots are just such a convenient symbol/label when identifying with the group.

I got to register May 17th, but I got my hands on the seminar list a month earlier. No REAL reading list, but some detective work has revealed at least some of the stuff I'll have to read for my Medieval Romance class, and I need to get started on that soonish-- it's all in Middle English and it's gonna take me forever. How late are schools making you guys wait to register? Do you have lists of classes available yet? When does your term start? I think my first class is in the last week of September, but I know some people start as early as August.

I was having problems with both types, unfortunately. I had a smalllll latte the other day, the first in a long while, and it didn't cause any trouble-- probably because I've been so good about avoiding it. I'm making some other diet changes that will probably allow me to indulge once in a while, but I think regular coffee is a thing of the past for me.

Yeah, the soy milk does tend to separate. I just keep my spoon in the coffee to keep stirring it. It freaked me out at first, since I thought it was curdling somehow, but at this point I realize that there isn't a whole lot that makes soy milk spoil besides leaving it on the counter. I learned the hot chocolate trick from jury duty, and I'm always thrilled when places have coffee and hot chocolate available! I got my oil changed before I drove to one of my campus visits, they had the coffee/cocoa available, and I drank four or five cups before I hit the road. My brain was jazzzzzzzed up.

Yeah, cutting coffee is a tough one. I'm not a huge coffee drinker in general, but that was my study/read beverage. I would leave the house and go to a coffee shop (actually, there's one on the mezzanine of the grocery store near my house, and the background noise is the perfect level). Being the routine person that I am, I started associating productive reading with both that setting and the coffee I was drinking. Cue the worst bout of acid reflux I've had in years, and I haven't had real coffee in a month. A MONTH. Needless to say, my reading/study habits have gone out the window. Sidenote, if the coffee-problem is a stomach-problem: I'm trying this acid-reduced Kava-brand coffee, but I'm struggling with the flavor. It's an instant coffee, which is already a mark against it, but there's something really strange and almost muddy about the flavor even. The caffeine helps, but I've had to do some creative doctoring to make it drinkable. Currently, adding pure cocoa, brown sugar and soy milk turns it into a decent mocha, but I really don't recommend it.

I make to-do lists. If something is big and vague a la "Write paper," I break it up into as many small parts as possible. It's all about inertia-- a student at rest tends to stay at rest. A student in motion tends to stay in motion. If I can get started on the smallest and easiest parts of my list, the tiny victory of seeing a few tasks crossed off makes me feel more like finishing the whole thing. It can also help me plan things more effectively, and remember things that might have been forgotten until the very last minute. Also, I try to limit myself to breaks of 25 minutes or less. That allows for a snack or a cup of coffee, and maybe one short episode of something on Netflix or Hulu. Keep an eye on the clock, and set limits for yourself. "I will start work again at 4" or "I will only watch this one clip." The more you honor your own limits, the easier it will be to believe yourself as a self-disciplining authority figure. (I, for one, can't force myself to get up at a certain time unless I have a concrete reason to get up. I just can't do the "I'm going to be an early bird and wake up at 8 today because it's good for me!")

I'm going through the same hunt. If you want close to campus, you'll want south or west of it, and I *think* that the area to the south gets less "woohoo college!" sooner/closer than the area to the west, where the party atmosphere extends six or seven blocks past campus in several places. Craigslist and Forrent.com have both been recommended to me as fairly reliable for the area, especially since you can find independently owned properties instead of the big companies. Expect to pay $500-600 for your average one bedroom, and $700+ for a two bedroom. If the price is much cheaper than either of those fields, double check to make sure the address is not one of the Eugene bedroom communities or some neighborhood that is very far away--- both of those cases will drop your rent, but make commuting more complicated. If you are just moving by yourself and without pets, have you considered the grad student housing? They sent us a packet a while back, but there should be information on the school website under "housing" or some such. Also, there is some more information on Eugene in the forum category for cities on Gradcafe. It's older, but not entirely dated in terms of the advice it provides. Edit: That pricing I quoted was for apartments, sorry. Houses are going to start around 1k/month at the very low end.

Although the school I'm going to is only 45 minutes away from my current town, I mostly applied to places across the country with the knowledge that moving would be an utter bitch. Everyone told me that it was easier to sell off furniture in town A and buy new used furniture in town B, part of me believed that I would just lose a lot of money in the long run of moving around and selling all of my furniture each time. I never did the real math of it, but I know that, at least in the case of about half of my furniture right now, it's "investment" furniture that I put a little more money into than I should have. Plus, I'm really attached to a few of the pieces. The other issue is the cat. The idea of checking him like baggage in order to fly with him across the country bothered me more than I'd like to say. I was prepared to make the epic journey across this great country-- yowling cat and all-- just to make sure he wasn't shivering and freaked out in the cargo hold.

Have you tried the "Meet and Greet" board listed above this one? It might yield more results. I'm excited to meet my cohort as well, but I haven't seen much of them on here...

Talk about a great point. Can you imagine how much better America might get along if we were forced to get to know each other on a case by case basis, without the "aid" of polarizing labels and unfair characterizations (of both sides) by the mainstream media?