-Me: I want to go home for about 2 weeks when classes are done, I only get to go once or twice a year and these are the only vacations I take during the year.
-Advisor: Well, you are only supposed to get about 4 weeks of vacation a year and you've already taken over three weeks during Xmas and J-term. Plus, you're behind in your research.
-Me: But I didn't join the group until after J-term was over!
-Advisor: I don't care. You should also consider that there are some international students who spend years without going home at all.
So basically she took away vacation time from before I even started working for her. How does that make any sense at all? She hasn't even paid me for any of my work yet! (the school is)
And I'm also behind in my research. It's not enough that I go a couple of times a week to do experiments, even though I'm taking 2 advanced classes and I teach for roughly 15 hours a week. Let's not mention that I also want to have some spare time for a personal life.
No matter what she says, I'm taking vacation time to go home and visit my family. I'm burned out enough from the semester that I'll go crazy if I start her 50+ hours a week summer schedule right after classes end. To tell the truth, I had been considering the idea of switching advisors for a while, and now I'm seriously thinking about it...I don't care if it somewhat backtracks my progress, I'm not happy working there as it is, and this will pay off in the long run.
Nothing like a little grad school drama to end the semester with. The question is, what group can I/do I want to join now?
No se por qué se me dió por escribir en español esta vez, no escribo hace tanto que me da no se que.
Por suerte se terminó esta semana horrible. Espero que me haya ido bien en mis dos exámenes, aunque no importa, lo mejor de esta semana es que al fin me curé de este refrio/tos/malestar que me fastidiaba desde hace dos semanas. Hace rato que no me enfermaba por tanto tiempo. Este viernes volví a pisar el gimnasio y me encantó.
Mañana a lo mejor tengo una cita, jaja. Veremos como va eso, aunque a decir verdad no estoy tan excitado.
Justo ahora me puse a pensar en una de las pocas cosas que aprendí/recuerdo de mi clase de español de secundaria. Cuando leí este poema por primera vez me maté de la risa, y después de tantos años me sigue gustando....al fin y al cabo soy un cínico empedernido de vez en cuando.
Nunca estamos conformes del quehacer de los demás
y vivimos a solas sin pensar en los demás,
como lobos hambrientos, acechando a los demás,
convencidos que son nuestro alimento, los demás.
Los errores son tiestos que tirar a los demás;
los aciertos son nuestros y jamás de los demás;
cada paso un intento de pisar a los demás,
cada vez mas violento es el portazo a los demás.
Las verdades ofenden si las dicen los demás,
las mentiras se venden, cuando compran los demás;
somos jueces mezquinos del valor de los demás
pero no permitimos que nos juzguen los demás.
Nuestro tiempo es valioso, pero no el de los demás;
nuestro espacio, precioso, pero no el de lo demás,
nos pensamos pilotos del andar de los demás;
donde estemos nosotros que se jodan los demás.
Condenamos la envidia, cuando envidian los demás,
más lo nuestro es desidia, que no entienden los demás.
Nos creemos selectos entre todos los demás;
seres pluscuamperfectos, con respecto a los demás.
Y olvidando que somos los demás de los demás,
nos hacemos los sordos, cuando llaman los demás
porque son tonterías escuchar a los demás,
lo tildamos de manía al amor por los demás.
4/02/06 - PS: Meh, no me gustó tanto mi cita...cuando voy a encontrar a alguien interesante?
Eh, it's been quite a while since I've updated anything on my blog.
This semester's been way busier than what I had planned it to be, although it's not as insane as the last one. Still, I think I've reached the point where I'm just burned out of school, this is the fifth year I'm taking classes since undergrad and it's just too much. On the positive end, it's also the last semester ever with classes, so starting from the next one I should be able to concentrate completely on research.
Oh yeah, so my 23rd birthday came and went. It was certainly good times, and even better timing since spring break started the day before. It was great to hear from family and good friends (and weird not to hear from some others...hmph, what's up with that).
Other than that, spring break turned out to be a mixed bag. I ended up working way too many days in lab, and I also got sick relatively early into the week. On the other hand I was able to sleep in almost every day, go shopping to MOA with Tim, go out clubbing a few times, and (finally!) play a bunch of rounds of Smash with some great players, Erick, Kim and Louis.
And now back to school again. At least the professors were nice enough not to have welcome back exams, although they're coming up real soon. Last weekend was a blast though, I went to the awesome Krave party on friday night and then spent saturday with a friend in one of those 'pool and videogames' sessions.
Nothing big planned for the next few weeks, although I should really start looking into my plane ticket for home this coming May. I really want to go for a few days again!
I can see how this is turning to be one of those really crazy semesters already. Supposedly it was gonna be more relaxed than the last one since I'm taking one less class, but with research, group meetings, the gym, annoying homework sets and random happenings I haven't had too much time to spare as of lately. Ah well, it's grad school after all.
The good thing is that I'm making relatively good progress towards a couple of my new year's resolutions - it always feels great to know you're accomplishing something.
Oh yeah, the house party this week turned out to be awesome, I think we should start having them more often. My 23rd birthday is on the horizon, and I still haven't decided what I feel like doing for it. On the other hand, it's kinda weird turning 23...leaving the early 20's for sure, I wish I could stop there.
Next week is gonna be really hectic with a big test and a couple of important meetings, we'll see how things go. The semester's barely started but for some reason I feel like time is running out, weird huh?
I went clubbing with some friends last Sunday, and instead of coming back with a hot one I caught a cold. Urgh. Dunno what's going on but I keep sneezing so hard it feels I'm soon gonna sneeze my lungs out....maybe I caught a supervirus or something? Let's see if my overdoses of vitamin C help alleviate this.
It's been a little over a week since I came back from home - it was such a grea trip! I had the most fun ever of all the times I visited PY and I really miss my family already. We'll see how things go and if it's possible to go back in May for a few days (this, despite that I absolutely abhor the almost 24 hour trip it takes to get there).
Classes started a bit slow this semester, which is really good. Having one less class helps a whole lot, although I'm supposed to start doing research several times a week and my advisor is pressing me hard. Ah well. I'm just glad this semester is not as hectic as last one and I don't have to wake up too early either. TAing this semester is going really smoothly since I've done it once already, so that means a bit less work too.
Oh yeah, last week was a blast - I actually managed to go out every night except Wednesday. I totally outdrank myself, and I really shouldn't overdo it. I also went to the gym a couple of times after being absent althogether last semester, it felt nice and I'm totally going there more often now.
Things are off to a good start. We're throwing our semester house party soon so I'm really excited.