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Wednesday 7 November 2001 // 1444 EST Seeing: Sunlight creeping through windowblinds Hearing: A cat meowing at all times of the day for attention Touching: My backup watch, because my real one is lost somewhere.. Tasting: Leftover halloween candy Thinking: It's like this. I'm not taking the GREs. I don't want to, and to tell the truth, I don't want a career in research physics or astronomy, although I might like to keep up with such things. I wouldn't mind working on some projects or anything like that, but I'll say this much, maybe in a year when I'm thinking a bit harder about graduate school I'll think about taking the GREs, I'll go buy a book and study and take the exams later. Not really in the mood to do it, and to tell you the truth I'm not trying to go to graduate school immediately, and I'm not trying to go to graduate school right now to further study astronomy or physics in the raw experimental or theoretical sense...it's been a nagging thing at the back of my mind for a while...I love having my physics degree and my astronomy degree, but if I wind up doing research for the rest of my life or if I wind up doing something uninteresting, then I promise I'll be completely miserable. Right now, here's the plan. Mom and Dad signed on the new house they're having built for them up in York, PA this past weekend. It's all in writing and stone now, our lease here in Columbia is up in April, and they're closing out the housing complex up there in April as well. Apparently we'll be the last people to move in to the new area. This means I'll be moving in April. I don't really want to move, to tell the truth, especially since I'll be graduating here in May...somehow I'll have to get back and forth to classes and whatnot, and there are a ton of options-Mom and Dad suggested that I commute to and from York, they say the drive isn't that bad and plenty of people do it...but I don't want to be those people, I don't want to have to make a 2 hour or more drive to and from class and work every day of the week. I barely get from campus to columbia without falling asleep at the wheel, how the hell am I supposed to get to and from York? But anyway-the other option is to find someone who's willing to let me sleep on their couch for the last month, someplace I can crash and study and finish up the semester...but honestly... So what I want to do is get an apartment. My own place, somewhere between Columbia and Baltimore or Columbia and Washington, DC where the rent doesn't suck ass...someplace where it won't cost me an arm and a leg to live there...and to be honest, I don't want to crash on someone's couch, I don't want to drive over 2 hours to and from class or to and from werk. Then I have to worry about a job-I'd like to have a job right out of undergraduate school, something making a decent amount of money where I can afford a nice place to live and support myself. That's something I'll have to get cracking on now, the apartment and the job, both...I'd better start looking around. Anyway. Then Mom and Dad are looking around for a car-the question exists whether or not I'll keep the car I've been driving, but the little 86 Volvo can make it to and from York or something too often. I don't think my car can handle running to and from there too often. So my parents are talking about getting a new car for themselves and getting one for me....they wanted something light, cheap, and sturdy to get my dad from York to Baltimore and back every day, and then something other than my car for me if I'm going to be making that trip at all often...another interesting thing...maybe I'll get a used car, who knows. Anyway, all of these things are things I'll have to look into pretty soon, like, today or tomorrow and start really thinking about what I'm going to do. It's kind of creepy actually that all of these things are right in front of my face and I have to actively do something about it. Who knows... Anyway-if anyone has any great ideas of places to werk or jobs to get, someone please tell me and I'll get right on it. If anyone's selling a nice used car, I'll get right on that too. Who knows. But most importantly, I need to find a cheap place to live that I can get into by April, and I need to find a decent job that'll pay for that place to live, you know? Shouldn't be too hard, I'm a nice guy with many marketable skills...shouldn't be a problem! In the meantime, it looks like everything involved with my family is going to make my days and nights harder to deal with. It's a pain in the butt to do what I have to do now, commuting to school and all, but now on top of it all my mother decided to take a job, and she's starting early in the morning, so I have to get up early to take her to werk and then I get to make the run to class. So mom's due at werk and then I have to run to werk. Lovely....which means I have to get out of bed earlier, and I don't get as much sleep. The best part is that she starts werk on Friday. ::sigh:: So much for me actually sleeping...everything that's been happening lately all seems to point in the direction of my life getting way more complicated than it needs to. I haven't even discussed how my classes are gearing up and I have papers and reports to do and I haven't really started anything...I really need to do research for all of my papers and projects...sometimes I feel like if I didn't go to class I'd get more stuff done...I need to research the Great Attractor, I need to research cloning, I need to write another paper on media coverage, I have homework sets to do, and I need to collect and process data on call volume and other information around extending customer support at the helpdesk...I really need to get cracking on these things I suppose. Look at that, an internet todo list. But like I said...everything is so much more complicated that I enjoy those moments where I can just lay down and do nothing...relax, do things that I know make me happy-do things that aren't really stressful...like go out to dinner with friends or help fix someone's computer-those are the things that aren't a pain in the ass. Speaking of computers, all my toys are here and happily installed in my computer, and I threw away a couple of bucks and bought myself another 256MB stick of memory for my PC...considering it was about 20 bucks it wasn't a horrible waste, but now my computer has a new CD burner in it, maxed out RAM, and a happy new harddrive all fat and waiting to be filled. I don't really think there's anything else I can do with my computer save buy a new monitor, but that'll have to wait until Christmas, I think. In the meantime, I'll have to save money, try and guy my car stereo, and try and pay off my credit card. Woo-muthaf'n-hoo. So wish me luck, I'll see if I can get some of this stuff werked out. Maybe if I get home and I'm not horribly tired I can take a look at some of these things accomplished...::sigh:: I just hope something yummy is for dinner. Maybe tonight I'll bake something yummy, do some laundry, and get some research done on housing and whatnot done...maybe even polish up my resume. This is all assuming I have the same energy when I get home that I have now. Enterprise is on tonight, so at least I'll be amused. |