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How are you coping with waiting?


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Because I'm not. I'd planned to celebrate being done with apps and not having anything to worry about except my relatively easy courseload by being a typical undergrad for the last time in my life. But that hasn't happened. Instead, I find myself wanting to shut everyone out of my life. All I ever want to do is read for my classes, talk to my mom, and watch reruns of Teen Mom. I've never been so cranky in my life.

I know this is some sort of post-application slump I'm in, and my worry about the coming news is manifesting itself in weird-ass crabbiness. It doesn't help that I went from finishing up apps in Austin, Texas, where it was 68 and sunny every day to the frozen tundra that is Wisconsin. And this is a mild winter!!! Thank goodness I'm not in typical WI winter right now. I wouldn't be able to handle it.

So, how are y'all coping with waiting? Does anyone else feel as awful as I do?

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I think I feel as awful as you do. I am anxious, and I cannot seem to settle down to anything wholeheartedly. I have been moody with friends and family in the past two weeks because I am on edge and pre-occupied with worry over this process about 90% of my waking hours. My moodiness only makes me feel worse, because I do not like being a jerk to people. But I have tried to distract myself and stop thinking about the wait with no success. I think it's because most of my close friends and family are relatively stable right now; they know where they are going to be living next year, whereas I have no clue.

If I just knew for certain I would have at least one option to choose from come March, I would be happy. But the appalling possibility that I may have no options and have to go through this same rodeo again next year makes me want to vomit.

I did not feel any of this restless tension before I finished submitting applications. But the moment the control was out of my hands, I crumpled. I do not like wishing my life away, but boy do I hope these next couple of months go by quickly....

Edited by Mr Grimwig
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Ayup. Today was supposed to be my first day back on my game for the final semester of my MA program. No biggie, just prep for thesis and teaching and coursework and conference papers to take care of. Instead? I've been sharking around this site, checking the results board, surfing the internet uselessly in my pjs all day.

I just want to mentally divorce myself from the process and forget I even applied until the results come in. I dread how antsy and cranky I might be when classes start on Monday.

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I had gotten into such a strict routine these past few months--get out of work at 6, race home, quickly devour some microwaveable dinner, and then work on apps until 1 am--that now I find myself at a loss. What to do with all this free time? Other than, as you pointed out, watch Teen Mom. Although Toddlers and Tiaras is my drug of choice.

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my drug(s) of choice: Skyrim, Game of Thrones, working on poems until I want to throw up at the sight of them. I don't have cable or I'd probably be watching Teen Mom, too (I always watched that show on airplanes, and it is so addictive when you have nothing else to do! Sometimes I feel bad for Janelle -- she seems so lost and her mom isn't helping.). I just finished Battlestar Galactica and am at a loss -- what drama series should I watch next? I do think about rewatching Buffy for the third time...but I want a new show to keep me hooked until mid-February.

I'm not doing especially well with the waiting, in that I am worried all the time, but I am enjoying my freedom all the same. Around the same time I finished applying, work cut my hours. This is bad because I make significantly less money, but not totally bad in that I'm not working 40 hour weeks + working on applications in my off hours. My hours are "mine" and it feels good. I still feel guilty when I am not using those hours to do something grand and/or productive, but the pressure to do so is less, since I have more of them.

Edited by poeteer
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I just finished Battlestar Galactica and am at a loss -- what drama series should I watch next? I do think about rewatching Buffy for the third time...but I want a new show to keep me hooked until mid-February.

Since it sounds like you have tastes similar to mine, I'm gonna suggest Veronica Mars, Fringe, Supernatural, Dollhouse, or The Dead Zone (and of course Firefly and Angel, but I'm sure you've seen those already). I also just finished watching Buffy all the way through for the third time.

:D

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Since it sounds like you have tastes similar to mine, I'm gonna suggest Veronica Mars, Fringe, Supernatural, Dollhouse, or The Dead Zone (and of course Firefly and Angel, but I'm sure you've seen those already). I also just finished watching Buffy all the way through for the third time.

:D

I am not really into this genre (although one of my roommates is making us watch Firefly), but Veronica Mars is a freaking awesome show (and not really sci-fi either).

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Reading lots of books, working my regular (lame) job, United States of Tara, Top Chef, and Prime Suspect (Helen Mirren version, not the new one). I was relying on American Horror Story until it ended. Alas...

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I am not really into this genre (although one of my roommates is making us watch Firefly), but Veronica Mars is a freaking awesome show (and not really sci-fi either).

Completely unrelated to your post, but:

I kept thinking I was imagining a Hammers crest on this board out of some strangely manifested home sickness... but no... you actually do have a West Ham avatar. Where are you from?!

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BSG and Gilmore Girls (though that addiction will be over if I get rejected from Yale :( )

I feel really lost, though, and need to stop thinking about it. I keep checking my emails at work then remembering that I won't hear anything for maybe 2 months :wacko:

How can you guys freak out about this? It's done. Just sit back, relax, drink a beer, and wait four weeks. This is the least stressful part of the whole process. There is literally nothing to do

come on, you must understand why this is an anxious time. I'd love to have that attitude, but it's impossible to switch off the nerves. Actually, I think it was easier when it was still within my control, when I was still writing the applications!

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I can't watch House Hunters anymore, ever since I learned that the whole act of them "choosing" a house is a sham and that they already chose the house well before the show was shot.

Wait- nooooo! Really? Oh please say it isn't the same way with House Hunters International. I'm devastated- I love that show!

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Completely unrelated to your post, but:

I kept thinking I was imagining a Hammers crest on this board out of some strangely manifested home sickness... but no... you actually do have a West Ham avatar. Where are you from?!

From North Carolina, but I am a die-hard supporter. I spent a couple years living in London and spent a fortune on match tickets. This season has been tough - primarily because the fizzypop is a very strong league top to bottom, but also because I have to listen to every match on the radio.

Which club do you support?

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Wait- nooooo! Really? Oh please say it isn't the same way with House Hunters International. I'm devastated- I love that show!

It is not quite a sham, but it's not quite as live-action as you would suppose. I did have a couple of friends on the show: An American guy and a Swedish girl buying their first home in Stockholm - I think they had already purchased the house, but went and filmed as if they were checking out the others.

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From North Carolina, but I am a die-hard supporter. I spent a couple years living in London and spent a fortune on match tickets. This season has been tough - primarily because the fizzypop is a very strong league top to bottom, but also because I have to listen to every match on the radio.

Which club do you support?

I'm not a big football supporter... but I come from North East London where The Hammers are omnipresent, so I suppose I'm a supporter by default... supporting anyone else (except maybe Leyton Orient) would be unconscionable!

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I'm not a big football supporter... but I come from North East London where The Hammers are omnipresent, so I suppose I'm a supporter by default... supporting anyone else (except maybe Leyton Orient) would be unconscionable!

What about the Daggers? It's a good time to support the Hammers; we are really on the up! Joint top of the league, as of last weekend!

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I'm coping by teaching a course on the American West to college juniors and seniors. Nothing like getting paid to talk about a little Sergio Leone, Cormac McCarthy, Annie Proulx, and others to brighten the disposition. :)

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I am currently trying REALLY, REALLY hard not to read too much into the fact that the DGS at one of my schools e-mailed me back within minutes of asking him about having received my GRE scores...on a Saturday evening. Either he's really into his job, or he's familiar with my file... Must. Not. Freak. Out. So. Early.

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I enrolled in some art courses that are unrelated to my area of study: stuff I won't be able to do whether I get in or not.

All the same, my stomanch is in knots. I don't have a job (or the hope of getting one), so if I don't get in, I am really, really screwed. And I already applied last year and didn't get in.

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