The Glamorous Life of a Grad Student

Friday, September 30, 2005

Drunken Musings

Well I had an interesting night. After indulging in my new obsession with Sean Paul (a great way to pass the time at the library), I decided to have an entertaining night out with the I.O. psych ppl. Thank goodness Derek drove last night, cuz I was loopy. So Derek, Gaird and I met up with Lauren, Darcee, Mario, and Amy (forgive me if I forgot anyone). I played pool for a while, but soon decided that I needed some booze. So I ordered a Pineappletini, and the fun times began. Downed the drink in 10 minutes (that is realllly good for me, hehe) and Brad, Daniela, Norm and Nitin strolled in. The more the merrier, I like to say, lol. So Lauren and I were talking, and she let me try her drink. I was hooked. So I bought this delicious drink, a Tom Collins, and it was over for me. I bought like two of them, and the bartender was mixing extremely strong drinks, so I was quite tipsy. It was nice though. I think that I'm becoming a lush, and I've only been in grad school for three weeks! I've bought alcohol at least 3 times in the past week, and of course I've drank more times than that in the past week. And it's so bad being tipsy, cuz I feel like I'm going to blurt something out that should never fall from my lips.

Of course in my tipsy state, I had an epiphany. I realized last night that I'm still on a spiritual and emotional journey that began about a year ago, when I let a certain person go. I'm still going through my stage of not desiring to be emotionally attached to someone specifically, but empathizing with those who truly care and want to be in that type of relationship. I thought that maybe I've just been fickle in the past year, not wanting to be tied down, but still needing attention. And then, it all came to me: clearly, I just want it all. I've never had to make choices about stuff that I want. For example, you can either get this toy or the other one, you can't have both. But you see, I always did get both, so I'm in the mindset that you can have everything that you want, as long as you put a little work into it, lol. But enough about that.

I'm bored out of my mind today, since I woke up late, dashing all hopes of going to Boston or New York. I even looked for cool places to go in CT (like a dairy farm!), but I don't feel like driving for a long distance. I suppose that the outlet mall is calling my name, lol. That's the problem with grad school, you never have any money, yet you end up spending it during your free time. Like I'm about to drop more than half a grand on my rent today, and it's my day off. See what I mean? Spending money during my free time. Then, the shopping experience here kinda sucks. All they have is J Crew. Now I did utilize the wonderful perk of getting 15% off at the J Crew store by opening up an account, but there's only so much J Crew I can stand. Mostly, I spend money on food. I must be a real FA cuz I have to go grocery shopping once a week, and I only live with one other person! Vanessa and I seriously spend around $100 on groceries each week. I've tried to cut down, but I'm hooked on grocery shopping. Sigh, maybe I need to seek professional help so I can conquer my grocery addiction, lol.

Or maybe I should seek professional help about my strange dreams. I had some dream about the freakin big chicken that Vanessa fixed last week. Well my dream was about us cooking another chicken, but somehow, the chicken shrank after I soaked it in water. I mean it shrank to the point that it was perhaps as small as a quail. I was really freaked out about the chicken, and somehow, I ended up having 2 fractured wrists and a broken leg. Maybe the shrunken chicken decided to perform some voodoo on me, I don't know. But bad stuff started happening to Vanessa and me, and it all seemed to be linked to the shrunken chicken. Yeah, I definitely need a professional.

Thursday, September 29, 2005

New Beginnings

Ahh, freedom. I've finally moved out of my parents' house in MD to pursue a Masters degree in Industrial Organizational Psychology at the University of New Haven. Earlier this month, I moved into my luxury New Haven, CT apartment with my fabulous roommate, Vanessa. The series of escapades that have occurred since that fateful move has inspired me to actually create a blog on my crazy life as a grad student.

In my first week as a grad student, Vanessa and I were getting used to New Haven life. We realized that we live in a retirement home that also happens to be a drop off complex for people that get tired of their mentally challeged kids. Let's face it, the people that live in my apartment building are just plain weird. I heard a guy outside a couple of days ago yelling about how some girl wasn't worth it, and how he was going to kill himself. But I digress. So, Vanessa and I were cut off from the world in our sprawling apartment (cuz Comcast wouldn't get their act together). So the first thing we did was call for cable. So the cable guy comes to our place and sets everything up. I thought that he was alright, but then he proceeded to tell Vanessa and me about how his apartment has a dog AND he gets free HBO, so we should definitely take advantage and come over. Needless to say, we didn't take him up on his offer. Yet he still called Vanessa that weekend. Anyways, so along with the cable guy, we also have an interesting relationship with our apartment's office manager. Basically, she hates me, lol, so I try to make her life a living hell. She has attempted to steal my packages, and we had a parking space ordeal. I decided to pay for covered parking for my hot sexy Jetta, but evil Courtney gave me the parking space REALLY far away from the door. So I asked her if there were any other spaces, and at first she was reluctant and she vigorously nodded her head no. Then, I had to pry out of her the fact that there were indeed two other spaces, and she gave me the space numbers. So Vanessa and I go check them out, and I'll be damned, the spaces were right next to the door. So I told Courtney that I wanted the space by the door. But sometimes, her silly friends at work try to park in my space, which is annoying. Oh well. Along with getting to know the area and apartment, Vanessa and I also went to meet the other students in our program, at a place called Bar ( so catchy, right???). And that was just so interesting. Basically, our ride was going to leave our asses, but we caught her so we'd get a ride home, hehe.

The second week in New Haven, I started classes. I'm taking Stats, Organizational Behavior, and Small Groups. Classes on Tuesday and Wedsnesday! I also work as a library assistant for 15 hours a week. So it was quite an interesting week. My classes are alright, and it's not nearly as much work as undergrad, which is nice. My teachers are sweet, sweet enough to host drunken parties at their houses on Sunday nights (oh, I'll elaborate in a minute). I kinda like my job as library assistant. I get to see lots of undergrads, and understand more of the dynamics of the school. One thing I forgot to add is that New Haven is a school for attractive men. The city of New Haven in general is just all eyecandy. All Vanessa and I do is scope out the hotties, joking. But everyone is so much easier on the eyes. Anyways, so I still don't truly understand the significance of my library job, cuz my boss told me that I could just do my homework, and surf the web. I'm supposed to help people when they have questions, and I wear a dorky nametag, but I inevitably end up internet shopping and typing up notes for class.

Probably one of the craziest things that happened was when Vanessa and I were unfairly treated at Walgreens. Since the Walgreens cashier was rude, slow, and blind, Vanessa and I had to put equity theory to some good use. So Vanessa was like fuck your store, and took a shopping basket, and I took one too. They now are our Walgreens souvenirs on display for all of our guests to see.


So that we wouldn't be cut off from the rest of the world, Vanessa and I got Comcast internet on that Thursday. That was interesting. Another cable guy, another interesting day. The cable guy basically gave us a list of all the hotspots/clubs in New Haven and Hartford, and also wrote his number down. We posted this list up on the fridge, for future reference.

By the end of the second week in New Haven, I was gearing up for a party at my stats professor's house. I had heard wild tales about her parties, where she'd get so drunk that she'd grab people's booties. Nevertheless, I was ready to have some fun. So my new crew, Gaird, Derek, Vanessa, and I got to the party, and everyone was out on the deck. Just drinking wine/ beer and eating appetizers. Tell me why the food basically consisted of dessert and appetizers. I had like 5 desserts, felt so FA. And I made a lot of new friends too, which was nice.

Third and fourth weeks seemed to blend together. Third week in New Haven was my second week in school. I called in sick on that Monday, cuz I was really sick (not from drinking too much at the prof's party, mind you!). Classes were the usual, but I actually did fun things for 3 consecutive nights of that week! I went over to a second year student's place after my Wednesday night class. Unfortunately, I had to drive home, so I couldn't drink too much, but it was still fun. We played drinking games, and tell me why I was the one who was picked on the most? Then, that Thursday night, Vanessa cooked our big ass chicken, and we had a cute little dinner with Gaird and Derek. I felt like such a little homemaker. Then, on Friday night, Vanessa and I went to Olive Garden, where we pissed the waitress off cuz we only ordered breadsticks, soup, and salad (yet the bill still came up to be $30). We also went to the liquor store, bought some Smirnoff, and proceeded to drink and have a dance party at the apartment. I was even going to make an attempt to have a 4th consecutive fun night, but my car's battery wouldn't start on Saturday (oh the humanity). Had to call roadside assistance to get it jumpstarted. Then, I called work on Monday to tell them I'd be late, cuz I was taking the car to the VW dealership. I woke up at 6:00 AM on Monday, and left the apt at 7:15, to get to get to the North Haven dealership at 7:30. Should've only taken 15 minutes. In reality, it took 2 hours for me to get to the place. I won't lie, I was soo lost. So, I got there around 9, and they checked the car. Apparently, there was nothing wrong with the battery, I must've left a light on... ok. At least my baby is alright. So I went back to the school, not even caring about work, and went straight to the bursar's to get my refund check. Raced to Wachovia to cash that thing, hehe. Then I finally strolled in at 12:20, and my boss put on my timesheet that I came in at 12:00. That's hot. So that was basically my first few weeks of school.