spasticlitotes

*HUG* times a million. Plus chocolate covered coffee beans and my usual flask of Crown. <3

So, basically, no one has really decided yet?

I missed you guys. Hello.

Okay, so, I thought it might be a good-ish time to start a topic where we can start posting final decisions. I know most people will be a few weeks out with this, but at least this way, we know if anyone else will be attending the same programs and can build support systems. (I realize I make it sound like we're going to war...) (Well... I mean...) I have nine more programs I'm waiting to hear from, so I won't be the first decisive poster, but I thought this should be a thing.

Trader Joe's also has chocolate covered potato chips... I want to skip the classes I'm teaching. It says a great deal about my lack of humanity that I can't even muster up the energy to go teach these poor kids to communicate clearly through complete sentences. :-/ Have fun, Dorinda!!!!

I like cake. And I spent the day reading trashy murder-mysteries. Ha. I'm weaning myself off the fora. Aren't you guys proud? (Also, side note: did anyone else watch NC State get their collective ass handed to them last night by Carolina? Yeah, we roll deep.)

OH HEY also, I know these are kinda dorky and sorta corny, but I saved up for them as my "thank you" presents (which I went ahead and wrote out thank you notes for and distributed around mid Jan)- http://www.thingsremembered.com/product/Administrative-Professionals/Paperweights-Bookmarks/Crystal-Apple-Paperweight/c/2937/sc/2692/157538.uts You know, like apples for teachers when we were kids...

It's not pathetic. I've been avoiding people like the plague for the last six to eight months. I get it. This is me, holding your hand and handing you a bottle of wine and a cupcake, simultaneously. (Yes, I have three arm-pendages. Did that help me get into more programs? Hell no.) I'll give you my soul for NYU. And maybe some of my students' souls (although they're not worth much ). I'll also throw in a pony, a barbie dream house, a bakers' dozen of chocolate chip cookies (each equivalent to my weight in cookie dough and chocolate chips [and given how much I've been eating, that's a LOT][yes, I know a LOT is something you park your car in, bite me]), a Carolina blue bicycle, and my entire life's salary. Trade?

Does that mean no one heard anything back today? Why do you think they do this in waves? Wouldn't it be easier for all the universities to pick a day and let the wailing permeate the air at the same time? I would feel so much better just grieving at the same time for all my rejections. + deluge of tears

First, I'd like to point out that I managed to stay off of these fora ALL DAY. Cookie for me. It signifies nothing that I consumed calories in the millions to steel myself to do this. Eff it. Second, Marlowe, we are going to be very, very good friends should we ever meet. I have choice words for all the things Duke-related. Thanks, Bayo! I was actually a pre-dental English major/comp lit minor. I think I was about two classes away from a bio and chem minor, as well. I LOVED my English and Comp Lit classes, when I finally stopped screwing around and pretending to be pre-dental. bdon - it's glorious as an undergrad. I hear it's different for the grads, though, so I would really try to contact a current grad to see what that's like. It's a town overrun by frat boys and sorority girls, and while that's desirable and amusing as an undergrad, I feel that it might get a little old when you're actually serious about education? also, Please share more links. These are AWESOME. I found some Midsummer Night's wall-paper, and I seriously almost caved. All things literary are fun! If I surround myself with them, I can almost see myself being slowly engulfed in a book.

ARE YOU KIDDING!??!?!?!? YOU GOT IN TO NYU!!!!! YOU MUST GO!!! YOU MUST!!!!! It was my dream school. I would have killed and slept my way there. *sigh* Seriously, NYU has an amazing program with amazing funding and amazing opportunities. Also, it's in New York. = AMAZING. Congrats for getting in - I think it's pretty impressive.

This. And this. And this. And definitely fucking this. If it helps, any of the people on this thread, yes, I have one acceptance. And I spoke with a delightful professor from that school who seemed happy that we were becoming friends. However... Six rejections. Four implicit rejections. And guess how many I have left? No, really, guess. Seriously, GUESS. Yeah, you can't. Know why? I HAVE NINE SCHOOLS LEFT TO HEAR FROM. So I understand. Each rejection, each letter, each status change online, is a little knife to various places on my body. It makes me question the one acceptance I did get (btw, I won't find out about funding from that place until March 12...), and I question myself. I went through four years of undergrad screwing around, and then wanted to go to grad school for English instead of dental school, and thought to myself: hey, I'm a minority, I can do whatever the hell I want! And obviously, did not get in ANYWHERE. So, I paid my dues and spent two years in a decent, non-ranked, local MA program where I really learned stuff (don't ask me what it is right now). Then, I spent a year (said year is currently being unfolded, feels like purgatory) teaching composition, making me realize that yes, I want to teach literature. So, DESPERATE, I stalked about forty programs and the professors in them, and finally decided to apply to thirty. After I hit twenty applications, I died a little inside and stopped. So, here I am. Waiting. Waiting for validation. And it came in the form of ONE acceptance letter. I just... thought I'd get a few more. And Dorinda - I did my undergrad at Chapel Hill. Pick Chicago. Sleep with whomever you need to in order to get that additional funding. Because honestly, and college rivalry aside, I hear Duke is a cut-throat, painful program, and while it will churn you out to be cut-throat and amazing, will also take your soul. TripWillis - YOU CAN DO IT. If I were Harvard, I would TOTALLY want you.

Thanks for being honest - I'm there. Just to make sure I didn't want to, I DID work in retail. I just annoy the hell out of myself when I'm not doing something related to reading and writing. It's like I turn into Superficial Barbie.

... you just made my day. (This is actually the only thing that happened so far... oh, wait for it! WAIT FOR IT! Yep, another speck of dust just floated across my field of vision.) I know people have said this before, and I realize I'm being cliche and repetitive (isn't that a symptom of some kind of psychiatric disorder?), but this blog really helps keep me going. Thanks, guys.

"...the poor beast dons flannel pajamas and pulls close his/her sustenance, usually an alcoholic brew, sometimes in a sippy cup, and curls up onto the sofa or bed with his/her laptop. The creature gathers small comforts about it, including fuzzy socks, a remote control, an iPod, and bags of unnatural, corn-syrup filled snacks. Dehydrated and desperate, the creature attempts to validate itself with its own community, forming bonds with those who have the same unstable mental state. Clustering together, shivering and huddling in their own living spaces, these animals are reduced to piles of clothes, empty food containers, and drained bottles until they begin to emerge at the end of March..."

HOW DID YOU KNOW?

Netflix! I think they're up, as is the first season of Downton Abbey. There are a whole bunch of really random older movies on there, as well, and I was pleasantly surprised. Also, random note, I'm a huge fan of Romola Garai. She's in the most random movies, but she was great in Daniel Deronda. Has anyone read/seen The Crimson Petal and the White?

Haha, I think I'm really looking forward to this, and I'm hoping it won't take twenty years. I wonder, sometimes, if pretension is in the eye of the beholder. Doesn't everyone think that what they do is important? Otherwise, why would you do it? It's up to us to take something and put value in it - I value the changing world, and the way it manifests in narrative and hybridized literatures in English. I'm sure, however, there are plenty of people out there who would say, Really? Is that worth throwing around a hundred thousand dollars at? And at this point, at the risk of sounding pretentious, I would throw a copy of Atlas Shrugged at them.

Are we that bad? This seems like a legitimate condition to me. What's the alternative? Sitting around, sending resumes to jobs we know we don't want? What's the most pathetic thing anyone has done so far?

I JUST HAD THE BEST IDEA EVER. So, I was thinking, we should all meet each other. I've never felt connected to people who quite understand this part of my life like this. But then, I realized, hey, we're all creepy strangers, and that would be super not safe. BUT THEN... this BRILLIANT idea came to me like a unicorn in a rainbow haze of dissertation pages... We should all spend this waiting time coordinating a flash-mob that will be unmasked at the next MLA conference in Boston. WHO'S IN?!?!?!?!

Wanna come over? I'll have a bottle of Crown ready. You can even have your own bottle.

Thanks for biting... I left the house yesterday to go to Trader Joe's and today to go to the mall. I'm TiVo-ing random things and sitting in one spot, eating and watching. MAKE THE PAIN END! *sigh*

Does anyone else feel really vulnerable and needy right now?

Lovely. I'll keep watching re-runs of The Librarian and Downton Abbey until then. No more coffee.

Thanks, jma! I think you're the only other person who seems to have applied to as many places as I did. Was it as painful for you as it was for me?