ewurgler Posted January 27, 2009 Posted January 27, 2009 I am curious to know what other peoples' days look like during this waiting period? Me: I am on gradcafe pretty much 24/7 at work, only occasionally actually working. I refresh the results page every 10 mins or so, refresh my email about every five minutes, have my phone right in front on me, and word document open with all of the area codes of schools I am waiting on. Anyone else?
CAPoliSciPhD Posted January 27, 2009 Posted January 27, 2009 I am curious to know what other peoples' days look like during this waiting period? Me: I am on gradcafe pretty much 24/7 at work, only occasionally actually working. I refresh the results page every 10 mins or so, refresh my email about every five minutes, have my phone right in front on me, and word document open with all of the area codes of schools I am waiting on. Anyone else? Wow, that's intense. Except that I'm pretty much just like you except for list of area codes. About 5 minutes ago I got a call from a number I didn't recognize, and it was automated telling me that my car warranty was about to expire. My hands were shaking when I hung up. Isn't that dumb? Anyway, I'm on here all day plus hitting refresh every 5 minutes on the results page hoping (or not hoping?) that political science results will FINALLY start going out. I should be doing work, but for some reason I just cannot focus - not for the life of me. And it's getting to the point now where I realize my days are becoming a waste! On that note - maybe I should actually get off of here for at least 30 minutes to get myself together!
synthla Posted January 27, 2009 Posted January 27, 2009 I am curious to know what other peoples' days look like during this waiting period? Me: I am on gradcafe pretty much 24/7 at work, only occasionally actually working. I refresh the results page every 10 mins or so, refresh my email about every five minutes, have my phone right in front on me, and word document open with all of the area codes of schools I am waiting on. Anyone else? Other than the area code list, I'm pretty much in the same spot, even though realistically I won't hear anything for a couple of weeks. It helps that work is really slow right now. Or doesn't help at all, depending on how you look at it. I'd feel worse about it if I had anything else to take up my time, but that's not really the case at this point.
CAPoliSciPhD Posted January 27, 2009 Posted January 27, 2009 Yeah, well...we both have already acknowledged that...
ewurgler Posted January 27, 2009 Author Posted January 27, 2009 CApolisciPhD: I got that car warranty thing too, and I was shaking and had that "i'm going to throw up" feeling. It sucked. Those bastards.
t_ruth Posted January 27, 2009 Posted January 27, 2009 I need to get me an area code list! While I'm holding the fussy baby, I watch TV off the DVR w/the laptop nearby. I make myself wait until the commercials before refreshing everything and only give myself as long as the commercial lasts to read the boards. I work about 2 hours a day away from all other stimulus. The only other time I'm not near the laptop is when I'm changing diapers or feeding children...well, that and stories, 'airplane' rides, etc..
socialpsych Posted January 27, 2009 Posted January 27, 2009 I am hitting 'refresh' much of each day too, but surprisingly my nerves have calmed down a bit ever since I found out that some of my schools notify later than I thought and I'm not actually likely to hear anything for a few weeks. I didn't think this would make a difference, but it has. I feel just a little less like jumping out of my skin. PS, I would recommend getting an email client if you know how to set one up. I use Thunderbird and it saves me from having to "refresh" my email, because it checks automatically for me and makes a noise every time I get one.
cardnav Posted January 27, 2009 Posted January 27, 2009 Pretty much the same. I just wait for my Outlook to refresh itself (set to do so every minute) only to be disappointed when I get spam.
limeinthecoconut Posted January 27, 2009 Posted January 27, 2009 Well, I used to refresh grad cafe at an insane frequency, until I found it was self-destructive. Hence, I found myself a place that had no internet connection to write the T*****, limiting my obsessing to "off work" hours. (but really, what's "off work" hours when I don't have "work hours"?) Anyway, public holidays and weekends are bad for me. Need to get off this addiction!
linden Posted January 27, 2009 Posted January 27, 2009 I'm just having a lot of trouble getting things accomplished. It's really hard to concentrate right now. 47 days to go.
Tonights Posted January 27, 2009 Posted January 27, 2009 I'm on gradcafe whenever I'm at the computer, which is most of the day since I'm on it at work as well. I go between checking for new messages and checking the results page. I look at my Gmail every couple of minutes. I've been baking a lot. In the past week I've made chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cupcakes, sugar cookies, soft pretzels and homemade rye bread. It's a wonder I still fit into my pants, but I find the mechanisms of baking very soothing, so it really helps me keep calm. Otherwise I ruminate on what I could have done to make my applications suck less. Oh! And horror movies, I've been watching a lot of foreign horror movies.
cardnav Posted January 27, 2009 Posted January 27, 2009 I'm on gradcafe whenever I'm at the computer, which is most of the day since I'm on it at work as well. I go between checking for new messages and checking the results page. I look at my Gmail every couple of minutes. I've been baking a lot. In the past week I've made chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cupcakes, sugar cookies, soft pretzels and homemade rye bread. It's a wonder I still fit into my pants, but I find the mechanisms of baking very soothing, so it really helps me keep calm. Otherwise I ruminate on what I could have done to make my applications suck less. Oh! And horror movies, I've been watching a lot of foreign horror movies. Remember the first rule of baking - share with everyone!
ewurgler Posted January 27, 2009 Author Posted January 27, 2009 I'm on gradcafe whenever I'm at the computer, which is most of the day since I'm on it at work as well. I go between checking for new messages and checking the results page. I look at my Gmail every couple of minutes. I've been baking a lot. In the past week I've made chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cupcakes, sugar cookies, soft pretzels and homemade rye bread. It's a wonder I still fit into my pants, but I find the mechanisms of baking very soothing, so it really helps me keep calm. Otherwise I ruminate on what I could have done to make my applications suck less. Oh! And horror movies, I've been watching a lot of foreign horror movies. I too have been cooking, but making TONS of soups and trying to perfect a french baguette with my pizza/bread stone. But, I don't end up eating very much as I feel really anxious/sick ALL the time. My pants are starting to hang off of me and my faced has thinned making my emerging wrinkles pretty apparent. Does anyone else feel like this process has caused them wrinkles? I'm 22 and I have seriously been noticing wrinkles in the past 6 months. Perhaps it is my stupid wrinkly anglo-saxon roots. I have also been going to the movies like CRAZY!! For an escape film: definitely slumdog millionaire. For a sad and heart-wrenching film: THe Reader.
t_ruth Posted January 27, 2009 Posted January 27, 2009 ooh, to fill the days I can recommend using netflix to watch back-to-back seasons of HBO or Showtime shows like Big Love or Dexter. Totally takes you away from it all!
Tonights Posted January 27, 2009 Posted January 27, 2009 Remember the first rule of baking - share with everyone! If only there was some sort of technology to distribute cupcakes via the internet, we'd be all set. :wink: I also have a countdown widget to March 1 on my mac's dashboard, since that's the first day I'm going to realistically expect anything. No wrinkles yet, but grey hairs at 23! I am a horror film aficionado, and there's a whole bunch of 'em coming up this month and next, so I'm all set for distracting myself. Also, the new season of Lost sure helps!
deianira Posted January 27, 2009 Posted January 27, 2009 Wake up, change kid diaper, dress kid, feed kid, take kid to daycare, drive to work. At work it's probably a 70%/30% mix of work-related/web-surfing-and-emailing activity. Then...drive to daycare, pick up kid, go grocery shopping (gym if I'm lucky), entertain kid, bathe kid, feed self and kid, watch kid TV with kid, put kid to bed, clean, read/watch TV/get some work done. So, my mind is too occupied with other things to obsess over grad school too much
anythingtwice Posted January 27, 2009 Posted January 27, 2009 I'm still in school, but I only have two courses and a supervised study at the moment. Class is just on Wednesday and Thursday and right now I'm waiting on ethics clearance for my project before I can actually do anything. So things *seem* pretty chill. But I still have tons of reading to do for class (most of it terribly boring, ugh), I sit on three committees (two university governance, one academic petitions) that each meet about once a month and have a lot of documents I need to read as well, I work for the health centre as a peer educator and we're planning a big awareness week so I have that to do - scheduling, getting participants, coordinating ten volunteers - as well as our regular outreach, I'm applying for summer jobs, I also work as an exam invigilator for the disability office so next month when midterms really get going I'll have more hours there, I go to fitness and yoga classes at the gym three times a week, and in the next little while I'm going to be assisting in opening up a can of whoop-ass on the student union for their most recent fuck up. Whew! I bake (fresh bread every week!) and watch ER and Lost as well. It seems like I'm doing a lot but honestly... it's a lot less than what I've been doing the past three years of undergrad!
Dreams Posted January 27, 2009 Posted January 27, 2009 I fill my time at work to keep from coming on here. I goto classes, teach classes, and meet students. In my down I lurk here.
girlseekingphd Posted January 27, 2009 Posted January 27, 2009 I graduated with my B.A. last semester and have been working for my former college as an administrative assistant. It's a fairly relaxed environment and I get to be around professors all day which keeps me in a "collegiate" frame of mind. Unfortunately, I no longer have rehearsals to keep me occupied in the evening so it's easy to start worrying. I've picked up creative writing again, something I haven't had time to do in awhile. Working on some original fiction, something light and fluffy that keeps me mind off of, oh, you know, my FUTURE. My husband and I have started reading together after he comes home. I'm keeping a blog of books I finish. I've been trying to take walks in the park after work (it really, really minimizes the stress). And like a lot of other people, I've been cooking a great deal. If anyone wants to trade recipes, let me know! My roommates (including husband) still have one more semester of undergrad so I end up making dinner a lot more.
gadhelyn Posted January 27, 2009 Posted January 27, 2009 I graduated with my B.A. last semester and have been working for my former college as an administrative assistant. It's a fairly relaxed environment and I get to be around professors all day which keeps me in a "collegiate" frame of mind. Unfortunately, I no longer have rehearsals to keep me occupied in the evening so it's easy to start worrying. I've picked up creative writing again, something I haven't had time to do in awhile. Working on some original fiction, something light and fluffy that keeps me mind off of, oh, you know, my FUTURE. My husband and I have started reading together after he comes home. I'm keeping a blog of books I finish. I've been trying to take walks in the park after work (it really, really minimizes the stress). And like a lot of other people, I've been cooking a great deal. If anyone wants to trade recipes, let me know! My roommates (including husband) still have one more semester of undergrad so I end up making dinner a lot more. Got anything good for dinner? I need something new! And preferably quick. I bake a lot, so I can trade something there! My usual day involves getting up, going to work, spend 9 hours in the lab (while checking email as often as I can), then going home, checking the mail, cooking dinner, and exercise (got the goal of losing 60 lbs by qualification exams!)
Dreams Posted January 27, 2009 Posted January 27, 2009 If anyone wants to trade recipes, let me know! My roommates (including husband) still have one more semester of undergrad so I end up making dinner a lot more. Mmmmm. Got any recipes involving eggplant, tuna/salmon, and or curry? Just typing that made my stomach grumble from hunger
Tonights Posted January 27, 2009 Posted January 27, 2009 I make a great cold curry dipping sauce that I like with broiled chicken and seared tuna (and hell, pretzels and fresh veggies too). A cup of plain yogurt, three tablespoons of mayo, and three to four teaspoons of yellow curry powder. Mix well, stash in fridge. So easy and so delicious. No news for me today. Sigh.
Rutabaga Posted January 27, 2009 Posted January 27, 2009 I spend my day at work checking gradcafe every half an hour or so (or more). Then run to the mailbox at home. When I'm not at work I'm in class, which is probably the one point of the day I'm not freaking out about acceptances. Although I do find myself daydreaming about various outcomes though!
miratrix Posted January 27, 2009 Posted January 27, 2009 I check my email between zero and two times a day at work, since I don't work on a computer. When I get home I waste some time on the internet, and grad cafe is one of my longest but last stops. Procrastinating on my last application is no longer part of the routine, since I sent it in yesterday! I'm DONE! Now I can watch movies with my roommates guilt-free. I've been cooking a lot too, but this is nothing unusual or anxiety related! I'm just craving vegetables this week, so I'm using them in simple ways like pasta casserole or stir fry. I'm the "make sure everyone eats a balanced meal" type of cook most of the time, rather than the "bake a cake" type, just because you HAVE to eat dinner every day. If anyone has any fantastic dessert or vegetarian meal recipes, do share!
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