And I'm Getting a Ph.D. Because ... ?

(From PostSecret.)

It's the Little Things, Part II

The U.S. Department of Justice recently reported that one in four college women will be victims of sexual assault by the time she graduates, though officials say that statistic might be higher than the reality at USC.

Am I a bad person if I was distracted from the disturbing-ness of this article's topic by the horrendously ungrammatical lede? What if, in the moment, I was maybe more upset by the latter than the former?

One of the occupational hazards of copy editing, I suppose.

It's the Little Things

New highlighters (after years of being a yellow-highlighter purist, I have graduated, or devolved, to colored highlighters), the first pumpkin latte of the season, free coffee, a belated birthday card and gift, two cans of diet coke, and I'm a very happy person. (Or at least a very caffeinated person.) Oh, that and an upcoming visit by my best sister (luckily, I'm pretty sure she's the only sister who reads my blog) for Sukkot. Which reminds me of all those yom tov meals I need to find, which I can't host myself because I don't have a sukkah and my balcony (I have a balcony!) has an overhang (not that I have the technical aptitude to put together a sukkah anyway)... I have too much caffeine in me right now to get nervous quite yet. I'll write "yom tov meal-finding stress" into my calendar for tomorrow.

'Grad Students: They Just Made a Terrible Life Choice'

Disclaimer: I don't think grad school was a terrible life choice. In the throes of stress, I might call it slightly misguided. Though, I also hope I make more than $600 a year when I am 30.

(H/t to two people who have no blogs or MySpace or Twitter to which to link.)

26?

This week has been a crazy one, full of ups and downs and not so much sleep.

I turned 26 and had a significantly better birthday than last year (let's just say, a friend whose birthday is also in August and who also moved to L.A. for a Ph.D. program suggested that there should be a special committee for people like us to make sure our first birthdays here don't suck so much)—with friends and games and cake. I got some great, awesome, thoughtful gifts and cards and phone calls from people I really care about. I successfully facilitated a discussion about organizational culture with 35 students (at which I was told that I had a remarkable amount of energy for 8 in the morning; I was just trying to get to my next cup of coffee). I convinced friends to do what amounted to surgery on my walls to hang up what I thought would be simple shadow boxes (they are beautiful, and I very much appreciated the help). I beat up my feet so badly that even the thought of shoes with backs makes me cringe (which will make Shabbos interesting). I was disappointed by people I didn't even realize I cared that much about. I hurt someone I know I care a lot about by being selfish (combined with a misunderstanding and some niceness but still). I accumulated enough work to last me the entire semester. I got up at 5:30 one morning. I graded 70-some odd papers. I made a fool of myself by not recognizing someone I had spent a significant amount of time with two nights before. I had a crazy shidduch story (that didn't even involve a date). I confirmed plans for six Rosh Hashana meals but started worrying about 12 Sukkot/Shmini Atzeret meals.

But in any case, I am 26 years old. I feel sort of old. And tired.