I had a meeting with the director of graduate studies for the film studies program today, and he mentioned twice during the meeting that he had been on leave in the spring and hadn't been connected to the selection of the incoming class. I'm pretty sure he was trying to explain why he wasn't thoroughly familiar with my history and interests, but I was like, "Hey, Dudley Andrew [hereafter: D.Andy], you wanna stop distancing yourself from the process that put me in this chair? Thanks."
I think that after the second time, he realized how terrible that sounded, which is why he explained that Charlie Musser was way excited about me, and that they're working to deal with my course conflicts in the least stressful way. Maybe I hadn't mentioned that the two required courses for my two programs both meet on Thursday at 1:30? Hence the meeting with D.Andy? Yes, it's so.
Off to bed -- the grad school matriculation ceremony, complete with both pomp and circumstance, is way early in the morning. They are providing breakfast. As they damn well should.
8.27.2008
8.26.2008
Today, Yale and I are fighting less. The American Studies dinner was cool -- the cohort seems to just get along, which is nice. And nobody else knows any more about what we're doing than I do, which is comforting.
I have also now spent time with my film studies cohort (save one who couldn't make it): I used my orientation-leader skills and pulled together the team this evening. So I now know where we're from, where we went to undergrad, what we're studying at Yale, and what kind of movies we like to watch. Because that's what you're supposed to learn during orientation. It's sometimes hard to tell at first meeting, but no one showed any immediate signs of suckage. Awesome.
Today was otherwise productive, too -- there was an information fair, one of those where organizations from all over the place come, armed with unnecessary marketing devices, and throw keychains and stress balls around. I've been cutting tchotchkes out of my life, so I dodged the stress balls, but I picked up every flyer about gym classes and checking accounts. So I went and got a bank account today, and I know when I can take hip-hop dance. Sorted, as the Brits would say.
Tomorrow, there's a brunch for HGS residents. Now, we know that the week's track record for such get-togethers is not good, but I'm going, so here's to hoping that there will be some mechanism to prevent me from staring awkwardly into my pancakes underneath the courtyard tent. If I'm super lucky, I'll meet someone in the morning who is also going to the game night at the Grad Students' pub later that evening. I'm gonna work hard toward making that happen.
I have also now spent time with my film studies cohort (save one who couldn't make it): I used my orientation-leader skills and pulled together the team this evening. So I now know where we're from, where we went to undergrad, what we're studying at Yale, and what kind of movies we like to watch. Because that's what you're supposed to learn during orientation. It's sometimes hard to tell at first meeting, but no one showed any immediate signs of suckage. Awesome.
Today was otherwise productive, too -- there was an information fair, one of those where organizations from all over the place come, armed with unnecessary marketing devices, and throw keychains and stress balls around. I've been cutting tchotchkes out of my life, so I dodged the stress balls, but I picked up every flyer about gym classes and checking accounts. So I went and got a bank account today, and I know when I can take hip-hop dance. Sorted, as the Brits would say.
Tomorrow, there's a brunch for HGS residents. Now, we know that the week's track record for such get-togethers is not good, but I'm going, so here's to hoping that there will be some mechanism to prevent me from staring awkwardly into my pancakes underneath the courtyard tent. If I'm super lucky, I'll meet someone in the morning who is also going to the game night at the Grad Students' pub later that evening. I'm gonna work hard toward making that happen.
8.25.2008
I probably shouldn't make my first post from Yale while I'm in a heinous mood, but I've been in a heinous mood about Yale for a few days, so it's pretty much inescapable.
Yale and I are fighting because, basically, this is the stupidest orientation ever.
1. I arrived two weeks before classes start, and I have about two days' worth of activities. I've spend the last few days trying to figure out why I am here, and I still don't have a good answer for that.
2. Since Wednesday night, I have met all of three people, because the social get-togethers include no purposeful engagements. Listen, I get that we're all graduate and professional students, so maybe we don't need to grasp hands in the middle of a circle and step over and through each other until we untie our group knot and make a circle. But you can't just throw 200 of us in a room with an insufficient amount of ice cream. It would be incredibly helpful if we broke off into smaller groups based on interest. Or graduate school. Or something. So I've stopped going to those things, because I'm not comfortable with staring into my bagel and feeling pathetic because I can't figure out who I can talk to.
3.There's nothing that's department-specific, so the only time I'm going to see my cohort groups (American studies and film studies) are during the get-togethers that we organized for and amongst ourselves.
4. And best of all: I'm in a graduate dorm -- it's really quite nice -- but the dining halls don't open until September 2. And no, there aren't that many opportunities for free food. And no, I wasn't given enough advance warning about that. So no, I didn't really budget for it. And yes, that is a lot of money.
This is all terribly disappointing, especially because I love orientations. I was an orientation volunteer at Mount Holyoke, and I even considered (briefly) not going abroad for a full year, so that I could volunteer that fall. I was super-excited about meeting people and doing getting-to-know-you activities. Because I thought, since orientation is so long, there must be plenty of such things going on. Boy, was I wrong.
The major thing that's been good about the past several days is that (New Haven native) Kim came in from New York to visit and run errands with me. And her parents are great -- her mom spent a good deal of time searching through their basement/attic to find things to give me for my room, including: fabric to cover my desk and lounge chair, two small floor rugs, a blanket, a flannel throw, and dishware. So because of the Bakers, my dorm room is full and comfortable, even if the rest of this experience is a hot mess.
Also good was the tour led by '08 graduate and incoming PhD history student Max Schultz (who may just be Jewish). Informative and entertaining -- good job, Max. And I took a tour of the library (really 2 of the 22 libraries) with a guy who happened to be the librarian for American history. (There is a librarian for American history.) He went to Rice, so we talked about Houston. And he explained to me that as a grad student at Yale, the library can get me stuff. Like, send him an email, that book'll be in the library in two weeks. Sweet.
I'll be back in a day or so to provide an update on my fight with Yale -- I'm hoping I'll be less pissed after the American Studies folks and I bond over Thai food this evening. Maybe I'll start up a game of Two Truths and a Lie. Since nobody else is planning to.
Yale and I are fighting because, basically, this is the stupidest orientation ever.
1. I arrived two weeks before classes start, and I have about two days' worth of activities. I've spend the last few days trying to figure out why I am here, and I still don't have a good answer for that.
2. Since Wednesday night, I have met all of three people, because the social get-togethers include no purposeful engagements. Listen, I get that we're all graduate and professional students, so maybe we don't need to grasp hands in the middle of a circle and step over and through each other until we untie our group knot and make a circle. But you can't just throw 200 of us in a room with an insufficient amount of ice cream. It would be incredibly helpful if we broke off into smaller groups based on interest. Or graduate school. Or something. So I've stopped going to those things, because I'm not comfortable with staring into my bagel and feeling pathetic because I can't figure out who I can talk to.
3.There's nothing that's department-specific, so the only time I'm going to see my cohort groups (American studies and film studies) are during the get-togethers that we organized for and amongst ourselves.
4. And best of all: I'm in a graduate dorm -- it's really quite nice -- but the dining halls don't open until September 2. And no, there aren't that many opportunities for free food. And no, I wasn't given enough advance warning about that. So no, I didn't really budget for it. And yes, that is a lot of money.
This is all terribly disappointing, especially because I love orientations. I was an orientation volunteer at Mount Holyoke, and I even considered (briefly) not going abroad for a full year, so that I could volunteer that fall. I was super-excited about meeting people and doing getting-to-know-you activities. Because I thought, since orientation is so long, there must be plenty of such things going on. Boy, was I wrong.
The major thing that's been good about the past several days is that (New Haven native) Kim came in from New York to visit and run errands with me. And her parents are great -- her mom spent a good deal of time searching through their basement/attic to find things to give me for my room, including: fabric to cover my desk and lounge chair, two small floor rugs, a blanket, a flannel throw, and dishware. So because of the Bakers, my dorm room is full and comfortable, even if the rest of this experience is a hot mess.
Also good was the tour led by '08 graduate and incoming PhD history student Max Schultz (who may just be Jewish). Informative and entertaining -- good job, Max. And I took a tour of the library (really 2 of the 22 libraries) with a guy who happened to be the librarian for American history. (There is a librarian for American history.) He went to Rice, so we talked about Houston. And he explained to me that as a grad student at Yale, the library can get me stuff. Like, send him an email, that book'll be in the library in two weeks. Sweet.
I'll be back in a day or so to provide an update on my fight with Yale -- I'm hoping I'll be less pissed after the American Studies folks and I bond over Thai food this evening. Maybe I'll start up a game of Two Truths and a Lie. Since nobody else is planning to.
8.19.2008
I fly out in the morning (22 hours and counting...), and am I ready to go? Indeed, I am not. I had high hopes for my spacious luggage, but as I try to stuff everything I want inside the bags, it appears clearer and clearer that any item outside of drawers and toothpaste is negotiable.
I must now go run a series of errands I should have completed days ago, then return to banging my head against the soft vinyl exterior of my suitcases.
I'm not feeling the butterflies yet, but within twenty-four hours I expect that I will be excited enough to puke. Dude, I'm going to YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALE! Out of control.
I must now go run a series of errands I should have completed days ago, then return to banging my head against the soft vinyl exterior of my suitcases.
I'm not feeling the butterflies yet, but within twenty-four hours I expect that I will be excited enough to puke. Dude, I'm going to YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALE! Out of control.
8.08.2008
Summer is ending soon! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I know for sure that it's about that time because someone asked me today if I was packing. And I was like, "Do I have to think about that already?" Well, maybe not *right now*, but darned soon, yes.
At the same time, though, I know that I only have a little while left because I've been counting down the days left at the Gap. Working there this summmer has been cool enough, and I've gotten several pairs of pants at 50+ percent off, but I'm kind of over it right now. This week's been one of those where I only work twenty hours, but I've been at the store almost every day with no consecutive days off, which means that I still am making zero dollars, but I also get my potentially productive errand-running hours taken away from me. Bright spot: I've been scheduled with my #1 favorite a lot this week, which makes things easier and more fun, but I've also spent a lot of time on the floor alone, which isn't that much fun. Not to be a whiney-poo -- life can get much worse, and almost certainly will. But this week, I'm tired of folding sweaters, and that's the way it goes.
Now, onto THE BEST THING THAT HAS EVER COME INTO MY LIFE.
My laptop arrived last Friday. It is a Dell XPS 1530 in midnight blue, which I bought with all applicable Yale discounts, and hooray for saving hundreds of dollars. You may not know what all of this means, but: 2.4GH Intel Duo processor, 4GB RAM, 220G hard drive, 256K nVidia graphics card. In short: This is the best laptop on Mother Earth, and make sure you keep your grubby hands away, because you cannot handle all this speed and power.
It took me a few days to get the computadora set up -- interrupted by spells of sweater-folding, obv -- because I had to re-install all my programs and transfer a lot of data from the desktop Galatea -- music, documents, etc. And the most important thing of all was to get the Sims 2 up and running, which took a lot of trips to Maxis Arts' TS2 message boards and more trouble-shooting that I want to talk about. Thank heaven for online communities. I would otherwise be weeping into my laptop now, with the Sims 2 being all kinds of broken, all my saved games lost, and also an increased possibility of having my saline short-circuit the machine. But don't worry. We're doing very well together now.
The laptop has a name, of course, because all my best friends have names. Hers is Eve, as in sassy character actress Eve Arden. You can call her Evie.
At the same time, though, I know that I only have a little while left because I've been counting down the days left at the Gap. Working there this summmer has been cool enough, and I've gotten several pairs of pants at 50+ percent off, but I'm kind of over it right now. This week's been one of those where I only work twenty hours, but I've been at the store almost every day with no consecutive days off, which means that I still am making zero dollars, but I also get my potentially productive errand-running hours taken away from me. Bright spot: I've been scheduled with my #1 favorite a lot this week, which makes things easier and more fun, but I've also spent a lot of time on the floor alone, which isn't that much fun. Not to be a whiney-poo -- life can get much worse, and almost certainly will. But this week, I'm tired of folding sweaters, and that's the way it goes.
Now, onto THE BEST THING THAT HAS EVER COME INTO MY LIFE.
My laptop arrived last Friday. It is a Dell XPS 1530 in midnight blue, which I bought with all applicable Yale discounts, and hooray for saving hundreds of dollars. You may not know what all of this means, but: 2.4GH Intel Duo processor, 4GB RAM, 220G hard drive, 256K nVidia graphics card. In short: This is the best laptop on Mother Earth, and make sure you keep your grubby hands away, because you cannot handle all this speed and power.
It took me a few days to get the computadora set up -- interrupted by spells of sweater-folding, obv -- because I had to re-install all my programs and transfer a lot of data from the desktop Galatea -- music, documents, etc. And the most important thing of all was to get the Sims 2 up and running, which took a lot of trips to Maxis Arts' TS2 message boards and more trouble-shooting that I want to talk about. Thank heaven for online communities. I would otherwise be weeping into my laptop now, with the Sims 2 being all kinds of broken, all my saved games lost, and also an increased possibility of having my saline short-circuit the machine. But don't worry. We're doing very well together now.
The laptop has a name, of course, because all my best friends have names. Hers is Eve, as in sassy character actress Eve Arden. You can call her Evie.
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