rockhopper

To the OP- Unfortunately it's a hard situation when you're seeing this person every day. I had a situation in my department where I was originally good friends with another grad student who started my program when I did (not with the same adviser). We got along great first year, then did fieldwork together that summer for a month, and all of the sudden he hated me when we returned in Fall semester. To the point where the other grad students in the department would constantly come to me telling me he was speaking rudely about me behind my back. It hurt at first but then after a few months I decided to just stop caring, because I had literally done nothing to this person. He was acting like a child and I just didn't want to put in the energy to be upset anymore. It was difficult, though, because it was obvious to the other students that we did not get along. He eventually apologized (this year) after going through a bad breakup, but I told him I was too busy preparing for my defense to really get into it with him. 
 
My advice is to do you- and not worry for a second why she's being such an a**. It may be hard but don't give her the satisfaction of letting her bad juju get to you. You don't have time to deal with that negativity, you've got actual work to do, unlike her, when all she seems to do is be rude and immature.

I am a TA in an Oceanography department and I make a stipent $2000/month for 9 months and $1750/months for 3 months of summer. Total $23,250 (this does not include tuition, which is waived)

I go home and clean the shit out my apartment, because then I feel like I accomplished something. Sad, but it works. 
 
I'm also a fan of going on a weekend trip somewhere to get out of your current environment. 

To the OP- Unfortunately it's a hard situation when you're seeing this person every day. I had a situation in my department where I was originally good friends with another grad student who started my program when I did (not with the same adviser). We got along great first year, then did fieldwork together that summer for a month, and all of the sudden he hated me when we returned in Fall semester. To the point where the other grad students in the department would constantly come to me telling me he was speaking rudely about me behind my back. It hurt at first but then after a few months I decided to just stop caring, because I had literally done nothing to this person. He was acting like a child and I just didn't want to put in the energy to be upset anymore. It was difficult, though, because it was obvious to the other students that we did not get along. He eventually apologized (this year) after going through a bad breakup, but I told him I was too busy preparing for my defense to really get into it with him. 
 
My advice is to do you- and not worry for a second why she's being such an a**. It may be hard but don't give her the satisfaction of letting her bad juju get to you. You don't have time to deal with that negativity, you've got actual work to do, unlike her, when all she seems to do is be rude and immature.

To the OP- Unfortunately it's a hard situation when you're seeing this person every day. I had a situation in my department where I was originally good friends with another grad student who started my program when I did (not with the same adviser). We got along great first year, then did fieldwork together that summer for a month, and all of the sudden he hated me when we returned in Fall semester. To the point where the other grad students in the department would constantly come to me telling me he was speaking rudely about me behind my back. It hurt at first but then after a few months I decided to just stop caring, because I had literally done nothing to this person. He was acting like a child and I just didn't want to put in the energy to be upset anymore. It was difficult, though, because it was obvious to the other students that we did not get along. He eventually apologized (this year) after going through a bad breakup, but I told him I was too busy preparing for my defense to really get into it with him. 
 
My advice is to do you- and not worry for a second why she's being such an a**. It may be hard but don't give her the satisfaction of letting her bad juju get to you. You don't have time to deal with that negativity, you've got actual work to do, unlike her, when all she seems to do is be rude and immature.

I sympathize with you.  Disorganized professors are annoying.
 
But the first thing I will say is that I think you have to stop thinking about your program as whether you are "under contract" or not.  There's contract and then there's the actual work and reputation you build.  I completely agree with setting boundaries.  But at the same time, you don't want to become known as the student who always mentions whether or not she's "under contract" wrt when you respond to your professors or do work.  There are a variety of reasons for that, but generally speaking academia is one of those fields in which you often work even when you're not technically at work.
 
Generally speaking, my perception of breaks has shrunk a lot since being a grad student.  Yes, technically the day before or after (or both) Thanksgiving may be a university holiday, but a lot of academics do at least some light work those days, and checking through emails and selectively responding to ones that seem pressing (even if it is just to say "I got your email, and I can't do this right now - I will get to it on Monday") is probably a good idea on one or both of those days.  Obviously if you are in the wilderness with no email access that can't be helped, but when you're not, even just a glance on your smartphone if you have one is probably good.
 
It's also probably a good idea to let your PI know when you'll be out for breaks.  Since this one is disorganized, you can send it in writing.  That way she knows ahead of time that you won't be back until Monday evening, and knows not to expect work or immediate responses from you.  But I wouldn't even mention the contract - I would just say you were going to be out of town with family and only on email intermittently (or not at all), but you'll be back by Monday evening at 4 pm.
 
Another thing I got real good at in grad school was telling people no, I couldn't do that.  Unless absolutely necessary (or I'm returning a favor or being nice to someone, or I have literally nothing else to do) I don't do any last minute work for other people.  I don't like it; it's stressful, and it's not fair to me to be super stressed out because you waited until the last minute.  This of course depends on your relationship with your advisor - but could you start pushing back a little?  Like if she tells you Monday morning she needs something for Tuesday morning, as you say she does often, could you say something like "I don't think that I'll be able to get it done by then.  How does Wednesday evening sound?" or however long you think it will take you.  On my part, when people asked me how long it would take me to do something, I would calculate the time and then add an extra day or two just in case something came up.  There are rarely emergencies in academia, honestly.  The time crunches that come up are often the result of poor planning.

Honestly, I have this same issue. My work is computational so its not an "in the lab" sort of issue but I really love it too and prefer it to just about everything else. I have found that I really enjoy meeting up with people to do work. I go to the coffee shop with another student to study a couple times a week. This is a great way to combine the two. We both sit at a table and work adn chat about things in between. This has become a really important part of my social life. Even if most of you work needs to happen in the lab, Im sure you have to read papers or analyze data and stuff that could be done while studying with someone else.
 
It is also worth mentioning that most people have those big idea moments when they arent working. Talking to others about your work is a really important part of coming up with new ideas. Im sure there are other grad students who love their work as much as you do. Why not grab a drink with them and talk work? Is there another lab that does sort of similar stuff? There is one other lab at my school in the same subfield as mine and I love talking to the students in that lab. It is different enough that I learn alot but similar enough that we can understand eachothers work well. I make an effort to talk to those students alot and bounce ideas off of eachother. Their work comes from a slightly different perspective and looking at my work from their perspective gives me alot of those big idea moments.
 
I have also found that making plans and sticking to them is important to get me to get out of house. I have a hard time putting down my work and going out but if I committed to doing something Friday at 8pm then I make myself to do it. Once I am out, I always enjoy myself and I gad that I did. I am sure there are other things that you like as much or nearly as much as work? Possibly things you have been neglecting due to work? For example, maybe it would be really good for you to get back into a sport that you used to enjoy or something. Maybe join some sort of sport club after school which would force you to get out of the lab and workout and be social once a week. These are the kinds of things that I do that basically form my social life!

Part of bring an adult in a job is that occasionally you have to do stuff you would rather not, at times you consider inconvenient but are without your contracted hours.
Unless your career plan is to become a hobo under a bridge.
Starting work at 8.30am for one quiet tutorial near the end of term is not a violation of your basic human rights. 
If you don't have a genuine excuse then there is no way you'll get out of this without sounding whiney, lazy and unprofessional. 
Just bring your laptop, spend an hour doing work/playing games then go back to bed if you wish once it's done. 

The GRE is a standardized exam. There is no qualification process to take it, you simply register at a local office to take the test. Preparation varies from person to person. Some like to take special prep courses, others just study out of books. You're probably set for the math, given your background, but may need to spend extra time with the verbal components, since English seems to be your second language. 
 
Competitive scores vary from university to university, and aren't always public knowledge. If you think you have scored poorly, you can always take the test again.

For interview invites:  I got mostly emails, and some phone calls.
For acceptances/offers: I got mostly emails and some phone calls with an official letter either via mail or for download electronically.
 
However I did not apply to any of the institutions that you are applying to and I am in a different field.   I would expect most of it will be via email.
 
Rejects of course also will come almost exclusively by e-mail.

You don't get a 3rd chance to apply. You can only apply twice, and like vertices said, the second time must be while you have taken less than 12 months of graduate school credit, if I remember correctly.

Personally, moving to a place where I will not know anyone, I really want to live with someone else to form new friendships and connections within the department. I also lived with a roommate all four years in undergrad so I think living along would get lonely, but that is just a personal preference! I've heard of people moving in by themselves and searching for others so I think it just depends!

Wow thanks for the link and for all of the information! Sounds like A&M will be very different from my small, private undergrad school but I'm looking forward to it!

I hate to jump in on this and make you feel worse but I agree with the above... Just got out of a +3 year long distance relationship and while I was always happy with the relationship, the distance really did us in (400 miles apart). It is just so hard to depend on someone to be there for you when they're not physically with you. And when you're really stressed out that unfortunately can manifest itself in the relationship via way of small fights, snippy comments, etc. It was a huge learning experience for me and I was very, very happy most of the time but I wouldn't recommend it to others to embark on