Righty-o.
This is merely a duty post, seeing as the last time I posted was 20 days ago.
The party is going ahead as scheduled, so show up some time after 7. Just make sure you have a ride home.
As for pictures, they're still on my camera. I'm posting my entire Christmas extravaganza AFTER New Year's, when everyone goes home and I have a moment to myself.
So be patient.
And if I don't see you, have a safe and smashing New Year's Eve!
So I cut all my hair off . . . shocking, I know. It was time. I was getting sick of it - and what's the point of having long hair if you always tie it back, right?
Besides, it's nice to have a change for Christmas. And Andy likes it, so all is good.
I had a very stressful conversation with one of my professors yesterday, who told me I was screwed because of who my advisor was (his exact words were, "fuck, you're up shit creek, my dear"), but also told me that the paper I gave him (for which he gave me an A+) was PhD quality stuff, and that, if I had to, I could defend just that as my MA and do pretty okay.
So that's something. It just sucks that I'm all stressed out now, when I have so much stuff to do before Christmas. And I basically have to have a first draft of the damned thing by the end of February. I can write 150 pages in two months, no problem, but my research won't be done before then. I'm reading a hella lot these days, but I'm not really writing any of it down. I need some underling to take my notes for me. Any takers?
I guess I'll just have to start writing before I've really got it all researched. Flesh out my opinions and then fill in the facts later, right?
This prof also got me pretty much convinced that I wasn't going to get into grad school. PhDs are pretty hard to come by these days. Something like only 10% of applicants make it through. And I have that fucking B+ on my record from the prof that hated me. AND I have the weirdest topic on the planet, which, as my prof said, nobody, and that means NOBODY is doing right now, so I'm out in the big world entirely on my own here.
So my plan B for next year is to get some lucrative and mindless job, and then work super hard on getting some serious research in, so that when the time comes, it'll all be done, and I can focus on my fieldwork, and then I could be one of those special, magic few who finishes her doctorate in less than three years. Universities love those people because it means they're super-organized (brilliant, of course), and they don't require all five years' worth of funding.
The only problem with applying to grad school after being out of school for a year is that your profs don't remember you and it's wicked hard to get a good reference letter. And reference letters are super important in terms of applications.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
So that's what's on my mind these days. AAAAAAAAAAAA . . .
That said, I'm super-stoked for Christmas these days. My brother and his lady friend are coming home on Friday, and I think that will be awesome fun (I really like this chick). Chel's coming home late Friday night, and we're going to do our crazy thing Saturday afternoon. Lisa's in late Saturday night, and she'll be around past New Year's. So it's party party party.
Which means I will probably have the New Year's party at my house again, seeing as it was such a roaring success last year. Thoughts?
If anyone ever needed further proof that I have a learning disability, this is it:
I got my GRE scores back in the mail today. The verbal skills and the quantitative skills are marked on a range of 200 to 800, and the analytical writing is scored on a .5 basis out of 6.
So on the analytical writing, I got 5.5 out of 6, which puts me in the 87th percentile. Not as good as I'd hoped, but the essay questions were lame.
On the verbal skills I got 650, which puts me in the 92nd percentile. Again, not as high as I was looking for, but what can you do with computer exams, eh?
On the quantitative skills, I got 560. The percentile? Thirty-eighth. Yeah.
I can't do math.
No suprises there, however.
What I'm trying to do these days is get over this wicked bad cold I seem to have acquired from no one in particular. I did bupkiss last week and I'm super behind, but this is the first time I've used my computer to do anything other than watch movies in like three days.
(Chel I got your email - will respond when I have a brain.)
So I'm hoping I'll be coherent enough to get some work done tomorrow, because I'm way behind. Cross your fingers.
p.s. Got some photos up on Flickr from my dogsitting saga last week.
That was the title of an email the leader of my hockey group sent out, confirming we had enough people to play.
It's my word of the day, and, according to Dictionary.com, means thus:
quo‧rum /ˈkwɔrəm, ˈkwoʊr-/ [kwawr-uhm, kwohr-]
–noun
1. the number of members of a group or organization required to be present to transact business legally, usually a majority.
2. a particularly chosen group.
[Origin: 1425–75; < L quōrum of whom; from a use of the word in commissions written in Latin specifying a quorum]
Man.
I've been dog-sitting for my neighbour. She has two Scotties, one who's 4 and the other, who's just a puppy. They're great, but they drive me nuts. And the older one has an ear infection, so before I figured that out, he kept me up all night on Wednesday.
I probably had about three hours' sleep, all interrupted. So yesterday was one of those days, because I was cranky, where it felt like the world was against me. Everything was too slow, too loud, or too friendly for my taste. I would pick something up, and drop something else. Pick that up, drop another thing. Which would break. And then as I stood from picking that up I would knock something off the wall and then stub my toe.
Yeah. THAT kind of a day.
So that's why I didn't check on my current financial situation until today - although I still wish I hadn't.
My current paycheque is already gone, and I only got it yesterday. I love being in debt. Funny thing is, people also owe ME money. Weird, I know. I am collectively owed by three people the sum of $575. Most of that is my mother, who wanted to buy my dad Christmas presents online and didn't want him to see them on the joint credit card statement. So that will take a relatively decent sized chunk out of my debt - which I hope to have paid off by September, which means I need to think about getting myself a summer job.
Strange . . . I haven't had a summer job since grade ten.
Although maybe my transcription job will continue. She wants me to keep working after Christmas, which I'm not sure I can do, what with the thesis and all. But perhaps we can swing something over the summer . . .
p.s. Sheri: NO FUCKING WAY. I know what you're thinking, and the answer is NO. :P
*goes off to make spaghetti sauce while thinking*