Venting Thread- Vent about anything.

[rheya19]

5 minutes ago, angesradieux said:

The heels of my shoes wear unevenly -.- I was out today and we did a lot of walking, and my feet started killing me in shoes that I can usually wander around in without a problem. I had no idea why. Suddenly at the end of the day, I was standing around, and I realized I was having a hard time staying balanced. What do you know? The heels had become uneven, causing my feet to twist with each step. Guess I have to replace them now, because I can't walk very much in them anymore. I'm a bit annoyed. These are my go-to shoes when I need to wear a heel. But I guess it also explains why my hips started hurting. Poor alignment for an extended period of time will do that, I guess.

I can't be too annoyed, though. I got to go to New York to see what was the best performance of The Phantom of the Opera--a musical which literally changed my life and is a big part of the reason I'm where I am, applying for PhD programs--that I've ever had the pleasure of witnessing. So I guess the day was worth the irritation of the pain and ruined shoes, but I'm still a little sad about having to replace them.

Even the best heels wear out. They're not really meant for walking or even standing for long. But at least you always have an excuse to go buy new ones!

[GreenEyedTrombonist]

@angesradieux have you considered getting them repaired? It might be because I'm watching The Cobbler in the background, but if they're your go-to you could always repair instead of replace.  

[angesradieux]

Just now, GreenEyedTrombonist said:

@angesradieux have you considered getting them repaired? It might be because I'm watching The Cobbler in the background, but if they're your go-to you could always repair instead of replace.  

I may look into it. I'm not too sure what the price range is for repairs, though. With all the President's Day sales, I'm not sure if it wouldn't be cheaper to buy a new pair of shoes. Would be nice to get a few more uses out of them before retiring them, though.

[Charlsa]

We have a new-ish mailman for our street and I don't trust him. I realize this is fueled entirely by my impatience regarding admission decisions, but that doesn't soothe my paranoia. Our neighbors sometimes park close enough to our mailbox that it's possible to miss it, causing our mail to be delivered to them instead of us. And we also sometimes get other people's mail, which leads me to believe someone else may be receiving our mail and feels no desire to go through all the extra effort of putting it back in the mailbox. This anxiety is making me cynical.

[SocCog]

 

@Charlsa I know the mailman panic. I usually have a steady mailman, but every once in a while it's a different person. My mom once ordered her arthritis medicine online and put #1 as our apartment address. The site asked if she meant "Apt. 1". Yes. But the post office printed it as "#1-1" for some reason and someone other than our usual mailman delivered it to #11, despite the name not matching. And then #11 didn't give it back for almost a week (opened!). Despite getting a note from my mom and her actually going up to ask in person. People suck when it comes to returning mis-delivered mail. I would hope that someone would return something coming from a university (especially during this time of year), but if people don't even return medicine... Best of luck! 

[BellaAung]

Pissed at my advisor for accusing me of attempting to use her idea in my senior thesis. I have not even started writing the paper. I went into her office (9 in the morning, on my day off, just because she was not free during her office hours that day) to discuss about what I should write based on a collaborative research we have done together. All I wanted to do was expand on OUR old research paper by adding a new dimension (filling a gap) and build my senior paper on it. Yet, she did not even listen to me at all and blatantly accused me of copying "her work" (again, I have not even started writing this senior thesis at all) and told me she was offended. Thinking of how I wrote 2/3 of that paper we submitted together and how she changed the case studies last minute so I had to stay up two days straight to edit the whole darn paper, I am not happy at all. I don't want to see her face anymore but I still have to finish this semester. I am very pissed, and have been for a week.

[spectastic]

7 hours ago, BellaAung said:

Pissed at my advisor for accusing me of attempting to use her idea in my senior thesis. I have not even started writing the paper. I went into her office (9 in the morning, on my day off, just because she was not free during her office hours that day) to discuss about what I should write based on a collaborative research we have done together. All I wanted to do was expand on OUR old research paper by adding a new dimension (filling a gap) and build my senior paper on it. Yet, she did not even listen to me at all and blatantly accused me of copying "her work" (again, I have not even started writing this senior thesis at all) and told me she was offended. Thinking of how I wrote 2/3 of that paper we submitted together and how she changed the case studies last minute so I had to stay up two days straight to edit the whole darn paper, I am not happy at all. I don't want to see her face anymore but I still have to finish this semester. I am very pissed, and have been for a week.

is your adviser an assistant professor who's young and gung ho about proving herself? i would be careful about any letter of recommendations coming from her.

[BellaAung]

15 hours ago, spectastic said:

is your adviser an assistant professor who's young and gung ho about proving herself? i would be careful about any letter of recommendations coming from her.

She sure is not young but very gung ho about herself since she is the only faculty in our department who studies women in politics (well, we have 4 professors altogether so...). I just finished writing an abstract for a completely different topic just to make her realize that I am fully capable of coming up with other ideas that are not about gender politics at all. It's been a week, I am still as pissed and humiliated. Thank goodness, I won't be needing any more recommendation letters. Thanks for letting me vent.

[spectastic]

10 hours ago, BellaAung said:

She sure is not young but very gung ho about herself since she is the only faculty in our department who studies women in politics (well, we have 4 professors altogether so...). I just finished writing an abstract for a completely different topic just to make her realize that I am fully capable of coming up with other ideas that are not about gender politics at all. It's been a week, I am still as pissed and humiliated. Thank goodness, I won't be needing any more recommendation letters. Thanks for letting me vent.

dude cats chill

lady cats fight

[ArtOne]

I am a super stressed post-bac female studying Art somewhere in OR(and have been for most of 4 years)....living currently in a Mission/Shelter. I am not supposed to make it through my entire second BA by the numbers but I believe I actually can(owing the school for a while afterwards due to Aid being exhaused for undergrad 1 term early).

I do not know where to plan to go, or apply for a MA, or MFA in Fine Art GD/Painting/Illustration. *I'd prefer an MA(30 Credits) 1.5 years(with Fibromyalgia), and it all feels up hill. 

I love someone here who won't speak to me. *I know I'm attractive, I know I can get someone else to date, but I'm in my 40's. I don't want to play games. *The area is so rough, I won't consider spending any real time any longer with anyone else living in this COUNTY!

I have 7 months left to Sept. Grad date in Art....

I call the city I am in, "The Armpit of Oregon," after this if CA is really as rough or rougher. I have to walk by multiple piles of VOMIT daily on my way to school, or just in 2 mile walk coming into the downtown area or onto the campus area. I'm continually disgusted and am visually harassed(clothes pealed off) by homeless men in town or on buses. I may completely lose it and never be able to handle life there(first preferences, MA). Currently looking at the Illustration Concentration MA at Fullerton Cal St.

Edited February 20, 2017 by ArtOne
grammar

[Cheshire_Cat]

On 2/18/2017 at 9:10 PM, stereopticons said:

I'd like to vent about how I just found out that I have bronchitis. I probably had it while I was interviewing so now I'm worried I got all of my interviewers and hosts sick and they are going to reject me because of it. 

@Bibica now I want tacos. 

I've had a cold for a month and had to teach students and such with it.  It is misery.  But your interviewers come into contact with 100s of people a day, so they can't really trace it back to you.

That is one of my top dislikes about academia. I am in contact with so many people that it feels like I am sick all of the time.  I rarely got sick when I had my own cube and didn't interact with people most of the day.  Now I get 2 or 3 colds a semester.  My body is making up for never being sick as a child, haha. 

[Sigaba]

On 2/17/2017 at 6:41 PM, angesradieux said:

I guess it's nice that she's taking an interest, but some of the advice is starting to feel like micromanaging, and then she gives me contradictory advice, and it's largely unsolicited. I'm reaching a point where I'd really like to just have some time and space to think about things on my own. On the one hand, I'm glad she's open to talking, because I'm sure after I go on visits there are going to be things I want to talk about. But, I wish that the conversation was less of a one-sided lecture about what I should be doing and more of a dialogue helping me weigh different options and talk through what I want in my future, and I also wish that once in a while she'd wait for me to come to her instead of pouncing on me whenever she sees me.

No disrespect, but even if she is The Give the Funky Drummer Some Professor of Peace Love and Soul at Happyland University, what she's doing isn't nice.

It will take some digging, and if you do, there are some threads in which members talk about relationships with difficult parents. The conversations may help.

[TK2]

Oh my god, can this just end? Planning has a really, really late cycle apparently - nothing form most places until early March. I'd already talked myself into accepting total rejection and calmly moved on to trying for next year when I got an intimation of an informal acceptance from a chat with POI at a mid-ranked program (but I don't really belive it until I see an official letter and all the funding and whathaveyou) and a waitlisting at a hyper-competitive program last week I'd assumed I'd been rejected from, and now everything is up in the air again, and four still to go, and I just saw a project I'd love to work on get underway at a place where aplications are still technically open and contacted the PI, so suddenly I'm all the way back at six months ago and sending out tentative emails with my CV about whether maybe possibly you would have to discuss the possibility...and somehow thats all more stressful than just expecting a series of rejection letters like its a pure formality and getting on with other things. I miss the other things!

[angesradieux]

9 hours ago, Sigaba said:

No disrespect, but even if she is The Give the Funky Drummer Some Professor of Peace Love and Soul at Happyland University, what she's doing isn't nice.

It will take some digging, and if you do, there are some threads in which members talk about relationships with difficult parents. The conversations may help.

I'll look into it. The good thing is once I start going on visits, I'll have time to myself to think about what I want without her input. I'm sure she'll have a million and two things to say when I get back, but at least when I'm actually visiting I won't have anyone influencing my perceptions. Right now, I think I might have started leaning towards the school my mom would least like to see me go to. When I told her about my acceptance there and started talking about planning a visit, she got confused and told me she didn't think that this school was a serious contender and wasn't sure why I was visiting when I had other offers. I only applied to four programs, and she knew that. With a list that small, they were all serious contenders. But, I haven't visited yet, so I'm not totally sold on it. So I suppose I'll cross that bridge if I come to it.

[GreenEyedTrombonist]

Disclaimer: This vent involves gruesome stuff related to medical things. Don't read if you're easily squicked out.

So today my grandpa was sent to the hospital emergency for the I-don't-know-how-many-times in about 2 weeks. At least 4, probably 5. He has a bunch of bladder things happening, had to stay in the hospital for a few days, then was released with a catheter. Well, he's pulled it out at least 3, probably 4, times since being released, going to the ER each time. He has dementia and late-onset Alzheimer's and lives in a facility that caters to people with these conditions. He still managed to tear it out several times and each time the hospital has just patched him up and sent him back. They've finally decided that he needs to have something more, and was sent to ER from his doctor this time, to stay or be remanded to hospice until the catheter is actually supposed to come out. 

I wish they hadn't released him from the hospital the first time. They had to put him in mittens to keep him from pulling out his IV there so I don't understand why they thought they could just send him home with something to pull out. The man's 94 years old, for f's sake.

Long story short, I'm currently an hour early for school (carpooled because there's flooding all around my city today) and my parents are headed to the hospital. I might be taking the bus home (not that big a deal, except for the rain) and have no idea what's going to happen for my grandpa.

[stereopticons]

@GreenEyedTrombonist I'm sorry to hear that all that is going on with your grandfather. I hope they can get his care sorted out soon. Hang in there!

[GreenEyedTrombonist]

@stereopticons Thanks. It sounds like things are shutting down so he'll start hospice within the next day or two and then it's a matter of time. They did remove the catheter though so no more tearing that out...

[DBear]

I'm so sorry @GreenEyedTrombonist, I really hope he'll be as comfortable as possible. You know where to find me of you need to talk!!

[Cheshire_Cat]

The TV shows I watch always kill my favorite characters... probably shouldn't have been watching TV anyway.

Also, students come to me not understanding the questions on my tests.  But it isn't the material, it is just that they really don't have the mathematical/logical background they need in order to do it.  This is after over 14 years of school.  I'm dumbfounded.  I was homeschooled and literally did everything possible to avoid doing anything math related, and I could do the math/logic on the test.

[kimmibeans]

I can't bring myself do Western Blots. It's like I'm allergic to them. If I have to do one I will prolong it and draw it out for as long as I can. It's 9pm and I haven't started mine yet. It's gotten to the point where I will willingly pull an all nigher if it means that I can put it off a little longer. It's insane, and I don't know what to do to get over it.

 

[Le Chat]

My vent (which is a little bit funny):

2 weeks after interviewing with my top choice school, received a rejection letter from my POI basically saying that I wasn't as competitive as other applicants.

3 weeks after interviewing I received a SECOND rejection letter from the admissions office telling me that I wasn't competitive at all. 

I'm starting to think they're trying to tell me something... 

[SocCog]

Can I just vent about the people who come on here, post in a thread that they got accepted to a school that everyone else in the thread is waiting on, and then never come onto this site ever again? Like thanks. One less spot for me, but you didn't give any information about your specific interests (so I don't know if you legitimately took the spot I wanted), and you didn't give me any information about how exceptional you are (so I don't know where I fell short). Like, I almost feel like they're lying. Especially when their posts don't totally make sense (like talking about getting a phone call from their POI at a school that doesn't have mentorship.) 

Other than that. I still don't really sleep at night. My sister has mono so I haven't seen her in forever. My car is in the shop with a faulty intake valve for no reason (I've had it 1.5 years and driven about 1500 miles, and I hadn't driven it in a month when the light came on.) Plus they were kind of jerks. I'm under warranty but I still had to sign a waiver that said I understood that it costs $130 for them to even look at my car. Luckily it's just gonna be "a $50 deductible" (is this a car or a human?!) thanks to my warranty. But it should be free! And they weren't nice about it. I sat for like 20 minutes before they even talked to me. This is my baby. I bought it from them! So, yeah. If I have to get a more substantial car for grad school, I'm definitely NOT getting another from the same maker (even though it's a dream to drive). 

Never got sale Valentines candy since my car's been out of commission. So Hugs and Pink Reese's Hearts are gone for another year. Sigh. Didn't even get hamantaschen at Costco today. Really regretting that. But I'll be back before they're gone probably... Now I'm hungry and it's 5am and I haven't slept... 

[2017 Applicant]

57 minutes ago, SocCog said:

Can I just vent about the people who come on here, post in a thread that they got accepted to a school that everyone else in the thread is waiting on, and then never come onto this site ever again? Like thanks. One less spot for me, but you didn't give any information about your specific interests (so I don't know if you legitimately took the spot I wanted), and you didn't give me any information about how exceptional you are (so I don't know where I fell short). Like, I almost feel like they're lying. Especially when their posts don't totally make sense (like talking about getting a phone call from their POI at a school that doesn't have mentorship.) 

This is a kind of selfish perspective. Of course no one likes a braggart (though it's pretty early in the application season to conclude these people are "never" coming onto the site again and are just here to brag). But at the same time, no one has an obligation to tell you any personal information about themselves or give you proof that they've actually been accepted.

The posters you are talking about probably just want to share their excitement with a lot of people. If your reaction to that is "that's my spot," "I don't believe you," or "how does that information help me" then maybe those threads aren't a place you actually want to hang out.

[C is for Caps Locks]

On 2/22/2017 at 11:58 PM, abnumber5 said:

My vent (which is a little bit funny):

2 weeks after interviewing with my top choice school, received a rejection letter from my POI basically saying that I wasn't as competitive as other applicants.

3 weeks after interviewing I received a SECOND rejection letter from the admissions office telling me that I wasn't competitive at all. 

I'm starting to think they're trying to tell me something... 

I think they're trying to tell you they're bad at coordinating.

Best wishes though, the entire application process is a maze of obscurity and stress.

[SocCog]

7 hours ago, 2017 Applicant said:

This is a kind of selfish perspective. Of course no one likes a braggart (though it's pretty early in the application season to conclude these people are "never" coming onto the site again and are just here to brag). But at the same time, no one has an obligation to tell you any personal information about themselves or give you proof that they've actually been accepted.

The posters you are talking about probably just want to share their excitement with a lot of people. If your reaction to that is "that's my spot," "I don't believe you," or "how does that information help me" then maybe those threads aren't a place you actually want to hang out.

I know. I never said I was in the right. This venting thread HAS, however, been a pretty judgment-free thread thus far. 

My other thread is filled with applicants panicking and discussing their insomnia, so it is a little rough to see someone come in and say "yeah I got in" and then leave (and not even posting to the admission's board.) I don't have to tell you that this is a stressful time. But it is. I've posted in this venting thread five or six times I think, and this was definitely my most lighthearted post.