I kind of want to get the rest of it now. I only have 4 quarters left and I was working full time and getting a 3.8 or so when I did the first two terms. I should have just finished at the time, but alas, I have never gotten from point a to point b in quite the same fashion as most. So I'm thinking that assuming law school is a full time 40-hour a week job, then I should be able to squeeze in those four terms sometime over the next 3 years. More and more I think I want to go in to health law in some way, and finishing my MPH would make me just that much more qualified. Hmm. I guess we'll see how law school is going first. (un)Fortunately I won't have many distractions down in Portland.
Okay, my new fast smart PC is nearly incapable of browsing the internet. It's taking more than a full minute to open most pages, and then a third of the time they come back Page Not Found. WTF? Do I have some kind of SuperStupidUser setting enabled that is assuming I won't be comfortable with anything faster than dial-up? I'm typing this from my iBook, and about to pay some bills from this machine, because the Dell is being unusably slow. Any thoughts?
I am now the proud owner of $41,000 in loans and a brand new Lewis & Clark-compatible Dell laptop.
I have about four weeks left here and I'm profoundly sad about it. I do feel it's a) currently the only decision, and b) the right decision, but I'm still sad. I've never had so many friends in my life and I've never felt as comfortable as I do here. But I'm leaving this. The big loans and the big discomfort probably would have remained just scary enough that I would have looked in other directions had I not gotten a new job and been reminded just where it is that I might end up - forever - if I don't act. So I'm acting. I'm terrified, excited, sad, and hopeful . . . I didn't move to Seattle to leave after a year and some months, but I also didn't come with any plan for a career and now that I have one it's leading me back to Portland.
I worry that Nick and I will survive the three years and then end up one of those couples who are each so invested in their career that neither will move. He said that if I get a job that gets me on C-Span he'll move anywhere, so I guess I'll just have to set my sights high.
*failing to find closure*
To be on the other side of the desk and give the rude butt heads who are condescending and pissy with the receptionists a piece of my mind.
For about two weeks a year (the two weeks before the MSIG) Nick has permanent PMS. However, he's pretty even keel the rest of the year, even when I'm not, so I figure it's fair in the end.
It puzzles, fascinates, and occasionally irritates me that so many adults (21 and over, approximately) are so oblivious to the quantity of social cultures that exist in the world. It's as though it never occurred to them that there are happenings or lifestyles outside of their own. A few examples:
-When I tell people about Nick playing Magic. Many don't know what it is - they think I'm saying that he makes bunnies come out of hats. That's fine, but then when I explain it they are just SO confused; it's like they can't grasp why *anyone* *anywhere* would be interested in some complicated card game, let alone dedicate many days a year to said card game. Why is this? Why is it so incomprehensible that there are hobbies other than "hanging with friends and going to movies."?
-When I tell people I have pet rats. "Eww!" They often ask if they make good pets . . . when I say yes, and that they are really quite intelligent and fun and have different personalities (Nick: And they're soooooooooo cute!), these people laugh. Are you a zoologist? An animal behaviorist? A rodent expert? Then why the hell are you laughing at me? What in god's name makes you think that you know a damn thing about rats, or especially rats as pets? I've had them, you haven't, yet you laugh as though you know more than I do. It's one thing to be ignorant, it's wholly another to be ignorant and decide that you're an expert.
-When people ask me what I do for fun, or in my free time. This is possibly the most frustrating. Depending on what kind of cycle I'm in my answer may be any of the following a) write and solve puzzles -not the jigsaw kind, b) nothing, c) play this little Tetris-y game (Luminesce) d) play poker online or on the x-box, e) talk to people on line, f) entertain and be entertained with a group of friends (think reality TV). F seems to be the only answer that satisfies people. All the others get me that same puzzled look that explaining Magic invokes. Why? Why is it so hard to believe that I could sit on my couch and think for a few hours and be happy with that? What is so preposterous about being part of an online community and having a bunch of friends I've never met in person? What the hell makes "hanging with friends and going to movies" so goddamn superior to the things I do? Because they understand it, I guess. Because it's within the itty bitty bubble that they grew up and now operate in. If said I liked to garden that wouldn't warrant funny looks, but I like to play Luminesce, so clearly I'm a social outcast.
Anytime I hear someone say "I just don't get how people can be so into ____" they immediately lose a bit of my respect. I hate spiders, but I don't think it's *so* weird that people keep tarantulas for pets. I don't like clubbing, but I don't think it's at all strange that other people get a lot of pleasure out of it. I'm not into miniatures or model airplanes, but I don't feel threatened because other people are.
I guess it all boils down to a lot of ignorance and small mindedness, like so many other larger problems in the world. I suppose I should consider myself lucky that these people aren't in a position of any power over me . . . yet sometimes I still want to smack them upside the head.