Monday, September 29, 2008

The good news: I have moved out of my parents' house.

The bad news: For some reason, I feel nauseated by the mere thought of food and haven't had more than a bite or two to eat for several days. I don't seem to have any other symptoms of illness, though the lack of food is causing symptoms of its own.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

The "Real World"

A suggestion to all of my friends currently in their 4th year at UChicago (or anyone who is coming to an end of their college career):

Go straight to grad school.

Stay in academia. The "real world" is a pretty shitty place, filled with bizarre social restrictions and general unpleasantness and unfriendliness. I wish so much that I had just gone directly to grad school... I was just so hoping that Peace Corps would pan out. I still am, really. But if it looks like Peace Corps isn't going to happen... straight back to university for me. And if Peace Corps does happen, afterwards, I'm going back to university.

I'm not cut out for anything else; academia is the only place where someone like me can succeed: smart, but not a natural leader, not someone who naturally puts herself forward. You need to be aggressive and a leader to make it in the real world; all you need in academia is intelligence and some discipline.

Almost as important are the social differences of the "real world" versus university. As I said earlier, there are so many bizarre social restrictions and "rules" about how you can interact with people in the real world that I don't see how anybody can make close friends there-- and indeed it seems that generally, they don't. On the other hand, when you're in a university setting, all of those codes of conduct are relaxed, and you can just do what you want without people pigeonholing you into one specific mode of behavior. Your action is seen for what it is, not for what it's expected to be. I hadn't really appreciated the degree to which people in university are socially free in a way that the rest of the population just... aren't. (Excepting, of course, one or two specific populations that unfortunately do not have enough of a presence in Philadelphia to solve my problem. You know who you are.)

And so, after my 3 months in the real world, I can say with confidence: I am going to spend my life in that ivory tower. It's where I belong.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Note: This post is cross-posted on both my Writer's Blog and my Travel Blog.

So, I just recently started thinking about trying my hand at blogging for real this time-- partly inspired by Kat, partly by Spider, and partly just because the idea had already been percolating in my head for a little while. I created a Writer's Blog about nine months ago, then a Travel Blog about five months ago, but didn't do much with either of them. With the Travel Blog, it's understandable; I haven't gotten to travel much recently (though I'm still considering transferring my travel posts from Livejournal and backdating them. Unfortunately a lot of the stuff from the Thai/Burmese border can't be publicly posted because it could incriminate people, but at least there'd be SOMETHING travel-y). With the Writer's Blog, I just don't know... maybe if other people were reading it I'd find it useful, but I have to write first, then people will read... shocking, I know.

So mostly what I'm wondering about (and it's not like people will be reading this and answering, because neither of these blogs has been used enough to have readers) is this: How should I work this blogging thing?


I could:

A) Merge the Writer's and Travel Blogs together, and just make it one general blog, meant to relate to all parts of my life and my observations of the world around me.

B) Keep one of the two blogs as it is, and then take the other and make it more of a “general blog.”

C) Create a third blog to have my general rants and observations about the world and the universe, separate from my other two blogs, and try to keep up with all three (or whichever seem the most relevant to my life and interesting to me at the time).


I'm really not sure which one of these to do... I suppose I shall have to continue thinking.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Pondering

So, I've been stuck in Philadelphia for the past nearly-three months, so I really haven't had anything much to talk about on a travel blog. Considering that originally, my graduation plan was to immediately hitchhike to Miami, then finagle a job as a boat hand on any boat headed to another country, this is something of a disappointment.

Travel is still going to be a huge priority in my life, but I do need to save up some money first, and I'm strongly hoping that the Peace Corps thing will come through-- because that really is what I want to do more than anything. I think I started saying that I wanted to join Peace Corps when I was 12 or 13, and still, at 21, I truly believe that is what will make me the happiest, the most fulfilled.

But I'm still going through the damned medical clearance.

All I have to do, though, is get two more shots, and get a wisdom tooth out, and then I'll be ready to send in all the materials for medical clearance. It'll be in by the end of this month... then I just have to pray they'll clear me, because if they don't, there will be a huge, almost certainly annoying appeals process through which I'll have to go. Eugh.


Anyway, enough with the whining. What I was pondering is this: I still have a lot of entries on Livejournal from my travels. I was wondering if I should transfer them over to this blog, so that it is at least something of a proper travel blog and not just a "this will become a travel blog soon, I promise!"

Is there a way to backdate posts on blogger? I have to admit, I really haven't used it much... was still in that "Livejournal" phase of my life. ;) I'll still have to use Livejournal for now, I'm sure, for my non-work-friendly activities.