Weekender

So tonight was the Weekender, the annual trek of USC folks up to Northern California to watch our Trojans take on either the Stanford Trees or the California Bears (Side note: who gave them the right to go by the nickname California? Like they're the only university in the state? I think there are hundreds of other colleges and universities that would like nothing more than for Berkeley to start being called Berkeley. Because really, that's their name.)

We've now successfully trounced Cal every year I've been at USC, save for the pretty awesome game my first year in which we lost in triple overtime. That was a crazy good game. Like the LSU-Kentucky game this year, but way more stressful because my team was playing.

It was pouring down rain in Berkeley tonight though. And I know that there are going to be several of my friends who come home tomorrow and develop colds. Because they spent all day wandering about San Francisco in the rain and then several hours sitting in the rain during the game. Having been fighting off what appears to be a nasty sinus infection for the last week myself...I'd like to stay as far away from the sickies as possible. So I'm going to travel across the country!

Haha...not really. I'm travelling for more interviews. I have to say, when I finally do sign an offer, my first purchase is going to be a half-day spa treatment for myself. Because really...after all of this, I deserve a massage. That is, of course, assuming that Matt doesn't have me on the way to the travel agent's office before the ink is dry.

I Can Has Cheezburger

This site has some of the funniest pictures on the web. Seriously, they will make you laugh (or at least smile!) even during the hardest day.

Nashville Nonsense

In yet another attempt to avoid doing homework or study (why don't I just go to bed, you ask? too easy), I have a few observations from my recent trip to Nashville, TN.

There are live bands there. Really, there was a live band in every bar down the street (we walked past) and it was around 3pm! So very different from LA, and very much more enjoyable.

All downtowns look pretty much the same. At least at these conferences...or maybe I just think Kansas City and Nashville look similar. Cold, gray, concrete, and somewhat deserted.

How many interviews can a person squeeze into their day? I'm not sure what the record is, but I'm pretty sure I was trying to reach it...6 interviews last Thursday. I about died when I got back to our hotel room that night, but went and had 4 on Friday. Too bad most of the jobs they were hiring for are no where near Matt.

Bedtime.

Moments before Midterms

There are two different moments that I'm talking about here: the moments leading up to a midterm, where you're either madly rushing to cram as much information into your head and onto your crib sheet as possible, and the moments leading up to getting a midterm back from your professor and seeing how you did in comparison to the curve.

I'm experiencing both at the moment (hah!). I get a midterm back in about 30 minutes, and I take a midterm in about 2 hours. This being my third, and final, midterm of the semester, I have given up on the last minute studying and have instead spent several minutes in random click-age of facebook. Because, quite honestly, I can't bring myself to care to study for another minute.

How different than my undergrad years, when I would have 5-6 classes and 2 midterms in each class! I seemed to always be up for studying for each of those, diligently staying up all night if it was needed to learn as much as I could to beat the curve. Somewhere between there and here I must have decided that it is not worth it. It is not worth the absolute misery that comes from pulling an all-nighter. It is not worth the headaches and backaches and neckaches that inevitably arise from being hunched over a book and papers for hours on end. It's just....not worth it. If I don't know the information at this point, then I don't know if I ever will.

I think being a grad student has made me lazier. 3 classes and two jobs and I whine about not wanting to do anything...so very different from undergrad!

Grad School...blah

I wish someone had told me how much grad school is NOT like undergrad.

I wish someone had told me that I would be happy to finish 1/2 of a homework assignment...and get 1/2 of the point for those problems.

I wish someone had told me how much I would hate listening to lectures online. And how much the knowledge that those lectures exist online would make me not want to be in lecture.

I wish someone had told me that it's not worth it at first...because what you think you're interested in enough to take in grad school will quickly become what you hate the most.