Rising Costs

Not groceries or gas but school.

I started looking into PhD programs this month, seriously looking into them and I know I shouldn't, but I keep looking at what it is going to cost me. California has one of the lowest costs to attend college and since I am a residence, I am in an even lower cost bracket.

By attending Cal State Universities for both my B.A. and M.A., I figure that each of my degrees cost about $10,000.

Now in contrast, for one year at a couple of the universities I have been looking at:

$9,481 UC Irvine
$9,670 UCLA
$10,178/$14,336 UT Austin (depends on number of units)
$11,198 UC Santa Cruz
$21,714 Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
$29,661 Northwestern University
$33,836 USC

Most PhD programs offer full funding for their students, which is part of the reason it is so competitive but still....jeez a lou!

So that is part of the reason I have been so distracted and not posting lately. I have a lot on my mind.

How I Have Been Spending My Time

I am having a blast in NV. Here is what the last few days have been like, in no particular order:Lots of Napping
A trip to Sonic
Slowly, very slowly reading for my class this summer. Should finish article #3 tonight and that means I have to/want to finish 4 tomorrow. I plan to get up at my regular time and read my heart out. It is getting a little better with each article. Now I just have to write up everything I have read as well...
An afternoon movie
Rock Band! My new obsession! For this game alone I would buy a playstation 3.
I sang, played the drums (horribly - not my strong suit) and played the bass guitar.
No actual pics from our game but the above one is a bit like our drummer, Quinn. My bass player had a bright pink Joan jet cut for the majority of the game until I mixed it up and ended up with a shag cut that was half bright teal and half moss green, very fetching. So much fun and so much harder than it looks. Especially when I realize that I don't know the majority of the songs and the ones I do know, I don't know as well as I think I did. although I have to say, this game is easier than the Magic mic that I used Wednesday night at work.

Speaking of, I better get to bed, er...read some more before I settle in for the night. One more day, que triste! I am a little nervous about the flight home but bought some less drowsy(WTF!) Dramamine to be on the safe side. Fingers Crossed!

Nevada

Well, I made it to sin city to visit with Ms S. The flight was horrible, I got sick as we were descending but they didn't have any airsickness bags so, well.... let's just say that it was an unpleasant flight. I felt like crap when I finally got off the plane but was soon cheered up by the sight of my dear friend heading towards me.

Long story short cuz it is time for me to go to bed, the last 24 hours have been filled with new friends - finally met Titan, good food, Mr S(for lack of a better name) is a fantastic cook and we hit a great Indian buffet for lunch, (and Sonic! it did not disappoint for a great drink damn it!). I also slept like a log last night, slept in this morning and took a long nap this afternoon. I think I am making up for entire past semester. I am also getting homework done, believe it or not. I am finally on page 20 of 24 for my second article. Also reading Nickle and Dimed since the author will be speaking on campus this coming semester.

Life is good. I am enjoying this trip and may even return feeling refreshed, a change from my usual out of town sojourns. Helps that I am not running between lectures like at conferences. Any who, will hopefully get some pictures to post, got to get to be so I can go out on the town manana.

Bon Noche!

WooHoo!

With 30+ days to my B-day, I got to pick out the below item. I had just put it on my Amazon wish list but on a Costco run, they had it for less. So on August 24, I get to open my very first food processor!



Counting down the days.

Soundtrack of my life

So, here's how it works:

1. Open your music library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool

1. Opening Credits: Rehab/ Amy Winehouse

2. Waking Up: mother Revolution/ Tori Amos

3.First Day At School: Then We Are Decided/ Jesus Chris Superstar Soundtrack

4.Falling In Love: Blue Skies/ BT feat. ori Amos

5.Fight Song: Bullets/ Creed

6.Breaking Up: Jarhead/ Immaculate Machine

7.Prom: Agent Orange/ Tori Amos

8.Life: Fotografia/ Juanes & Nelly Furtado

9.Mental breakdown: Both Hands/ Ani DiFranco

10.Driving: Let It Roll/ Train

11.Flashback: GirlTalk/ TLC

12.Getting back together: O Morro Nao Tem Vez/ Stan Getz

13.Wedding: Waiting for You/ Seal

14.Birth of Child: General Joy/ Tori Amos

15.Final Battle: Complication/ NIN

16.Death Scene: Scarlet’s Walk/ Tori Amos

17.Funeral Song: Break It Down Again/ Tears for Fears

18.End Credits: I Like Dirt/ Red Hot Chili Peppers

Mood buttons You Can’t Wear To Work: Part 5 (last Installment)

that's all the button fit to wear peeps. Write you in July.

Ahhh HA HA H AH AH HAHAH

I love my friends. Received in the mail from Tombstone.

Thanks Ms. B.

Craft Corner

Hey, sorry I have not been posting lately, very tired. As promised, here are the pictures from the graduation bears I made for my classmates. Before: After: (Lisa)
(Jeremy)
(Adam)
All

Will write more later. Ciao!

Swimming in Pesticides

"Swimming In The Canal"

"Tomato Pickers"

The children of the Pérez family and their pet chicken bathe daily in this irrigation canal next to where their father, Maxim, picks oranges. No signage is posted. When the parents were asked if they were concerned with the possibility of pesticides in the water, the children's mother, who works in a local packing plant, shrugged a simple, "No." Migrant workers have a 59 percent higher risk of contracting leukemia, and a 69 percent higher risk for stomach cancer than other Hispanics living in California - rates that have been directly attributed to their exposure to pesticides and other chemicals used in their work.

The photographs and text are by Rick Nahmias, from his book The Migrant Project: Contemporary California Farm Workers, published by the University of New Mexico Press. For a gallery of images and more information, see http://themigrantproject.com

This story was sent to me through one of the news groups that I subscribe to. It made me think back to when we were young and my brother, sister and I swam in the drainage ditch across from our house in Dinuba, a small farming community North of Bakersfield. It was only for three years but it makes me think. Something so small can make a difference in your life.

I Feel Good...

I feel really good. I took today and tomorrow off of work and it had been a great day so far. Let me back up.

Last week was finals week. I gave a final presentation in my Performance Studies Class on Tuesday night and took a two-hour essay exam on Thursday night, late (It was bad but it is done, so thats okay - I passed the class). On Wednesday I gave both of my finals to my classes and was able to grade the exams, finalize their semester grades and post them to the school website. I then make a copy of the posted grades, my grade book and the final exam and turned them in to both the department office and my advisor. By Friday, all I had to do was work at my other job and get really for graduation.

You see, a lot of the other TAs I teach with are graduating this year. In fact, there are only three of us returned to teach, the other 9 will be new to the program. So I went to a department graduation party on Friday night at Skinny’s in NoHo and a friend’s party on Saturday night. Monday I went back to work but only for three days. Tuesday night I spent making graduation gifts for some of my fellow students (I’ll post pictures a little later on). Wednesday was the actual graduation. After work, one the returning TAs, Nicole, picked me up from work and we went and had an early dinner. It was nice, we talked about school, both as professors and students – we have not had the chance to talk this year and it was nice to feel like we were creating a bond. Then we went to school and joined the other TA, Christa in the department library and put the finishing touches on our gifts, gift wrapped them and signed all the cards. We put the gifts in the TA office at each person’s desk and waited for them all to arrive and graduate.

There was a lot of picture taking, lots of visiting and they all loved their gifts. We walked with the graduates to the lawn where graduate was taking place, waited until they started heading towards the stage and then headed back to the department office to hang out until graduation was over and we could have fun. the three of us played around on the computers and talked until graduation was over and we all headed home since all the graduates were doing things with their families.

Today, I slept in and have been straightening up at home. It is so nice to do everything at my own pace, no rushing out the door for something or having to make sure that I left enough time for me to do my homework. I finally get to do all the things I have been wanting to do but haven’t had time for. You know, really exciting things like filing my receipts, reorganizing my sock drawer, ,my t-shirt drawer, my PJ drawer…you get the picture. I’ve also been slowly dusting my room and taking breaks whenever I want to, to read my new book.

Every semester, as I get near the end, I go on to Amazon.com and order myself a mindless novel as a reward for finishing the semester and so that I can read a new book that has nothing to do with school, I usually order 1 or 2 and make sure that they will arrive after I have finished my last assignment. This semester has been so rough that I ordered 4 books. 1 arrived Tuesday and the other 3 arrived yesterday. So I have already finished one of the short story collections and have worked my way though about half of the other one.

Ah, this is the life…I have thrown out clothes that are long past their prime, pulled stuff from my closet to donate because it is in really good shape but I’ve worn it once or never (a lot of stuff still has tags on it) and set aside a couple tops that I think a friend of mine will like. I had a good lunch that I had the time to prepare for myself and have been sure to drink enough liquids as well.

A good, good day. And I feel very good. This is the life…

Thursday

I have lost the will to live. I have a final at 8 and no desire to study for it. I have 5 questions to answer and am still on number 1. Kill me now.

Stuck

For claiming that I would be off the face of the earth for the month,I sure blogged a lot for the month of April. If I think back on it, I realize that I would post when I was taking a break from the ridiculous amount of work I had while at school.

Any who... Short post today. I published a line of a poem constructed from magnet poetry a while ago here. I have added some random lines since then but have been unable to complete the last line.

I don't claim to be a prolific poet like Christa, after all these are magnets that catch my fancy as I am staring at the metal filing cabinet that my desk faces at work. Here it is, leave your suggestions in the comment section to fill in the blank:

they wax and shine the red sky yet cannot take it with them,
raw power & beauty a thousand purple winters,
ask to use delicate fiddle behind the moment,
we think she could watch through diamond vision,
languid shadows scream of _________,

So just for fun....

Mood buttons You Can’t Wear To Work: Part 4

Mood buttons You Can’t Wear To Work: Part 3

I should be writing a paper but...



And yeah, I just returned to campus to finish writing the damn paper.

Ugh!

Isn't this semester over yet? Too much crap to do and not enough time. Especially when all I want to do is sleep.

Worked the late night program on Friday, spent Saturday making up for it. Fun times, drunk girl arrested, drunk guy got on the roof of a building and passed out..no kidding. Wonder if that will make the school newspaper....

Peace ya'll.

Stood Up

I am beginning to feel like the ugly prom date. In the last two days, I have been stood up four times by other people for set appointments. One person missed a business meeting with me, twice! The other two were both interviews I had arranged for my class project. I spoke to one of them and have still not heard from the other but am trying to reschedule all three.

So frustrating!

From Crib to Cubicle, A Familiar Voice -- Our Own -- Reassures

(This article was on the intranet at work and a co-worker pointed it out to me...one who sits shares a cubicle wall with me. I wonder why..)


When a voice rises from a nearby cubicle, a better question than "You talking to me?" may be "You talking to you?"

Susan Shapiro, a business-technology consultant, talks to herself constantly in what amounts to auditory to-do lists and step-by-step instructions. She calls herself an "idiot" at times, "brilliant" at others and occasionally says things out loud such as, "I can't believe I'm talking to myself out loud." She once discovered a colleague hovering behind her, waiting for her and her cubemate to finish their conversation. "We weren't talking to each other," she says. "We were each talking to ourselves."

Self-talking starts early, beginning as crib speech for the fun of it and becoming toddlers' repetition of rules they're learning to live by, researchers say. Late in life, you might say to yourself, "Why am I looking for my eyeglasses in the refrigerator?" only to discover -- holy cow! -- that's where you left them.

In between, in your cubicle-bound life, researchers say as many as 96% of people talk to themselves aloud, and deaf people have been observed signing to themselves while answering test questions. It's believed that people primarily blather to themselves when alone so as not to appear nuts. But those of us in the cube farm know better.


The irony is that self-chatter, like sharp objects, is both most suited and least suited to the workplace. "At work where we would most benefit from talking out loud is also the place we are least likely to do so for social reasons," says Alain Morin, a professor of psychology at the Mount Royal College in Calgary, Alberta.

Among the things it's useful for is what's called self-regulation: goal-setting, problem-solving, decision-making and planning ("When she says, 'You already got a raise,' I'll say, 'Which didn't keep pace with inflation' "). These conversations with one's self tend to increase, research shows, with the complexity of tasks and when someone's having a bad day.

"There's not a lot you can say when things are going really well: 'I want to keep things as they are,' " notes Tom Brinthaupt, professor of psychology at Middle Tennessee State University. Self-talk is "not that different from a thermostat. It's one of the ways we monitor ourselves, control impulses and guide actions."

The downside: "It can very much be disruptive."

Self-talk, unscientifically, also seems to be the stuff in the noisy maelstrom of the mind that slips out. It's also ensures that at least one person is listening to you.

When the pressure's on before, say, a big presentation, there's a lot of anticipatory conversation -- a stress rehearsal. Evan Steingart, former head of sales at a consumer-products company, worked with a salesman who rehearsed his entire pitch the day before he met with clients, including their objections in a different voice.

"It was an extreme distraction to the rest of the group," says Mr. Steingart. "People were so mesmerized by it."

They couldn't stop themselves from secretly dialing into the conference-room phone and listening in whenever he went there to practice. "Fortunately, he would always make the sale, and he never got into an argument with himself," adds Mr. Steingart.

For some, talking to oneself is a way to reach group consensus, sans group. Chris Weyers, who works for a financial-services company, talks himself up all day, he says, "as if someone is helping you get the day organized, urging you on to get things done faster, telling you not to check email when you hear the ping."

He's more efficient, he adds, because "two heads are better than one." The problem is his assistant, whose hearing isn't what it once was, rushes in throughout the day, asking, "Are you talking to me?"

Many of us are as used to someone's self-chatter as we are to people with invisible cellphone headsets seemingly blathering on to themselves. J.P. Tristani, a former commercial-airline pilot, flew with a DC-8 captain who, whenever faced with bad weather on radar, would "consult" aloud with an Indian chief he pretended sat in the jump seat behind him.

"I didn't care who he was talking to back there," he says, "as long as I didn't hear a voice coming out of that black void."

Self-talk can be both a cause of distraction in the office and its cure. After a while, you listen to yourself think aloud so you don't have to listen to the soliloquy next to you.

"Talking to yourself eliminates some other distractions," says J.J. Stives, who sat next to an incessant self-talker. His partner, Christine Ascherman, a commercial photographer, talks to herself about exposure and aperture before and during her shoots. "It wards off conversation," she says.

Carli Entin, an associate magazine editor, loves talking to herself whether it's "appearing" as a panelist on "Meet the Press," narrating her imaginary cooking show ("replace some of the water with coffee for a tastier cupcake"), or blogging.

At work, even when a colleague told her she stopped listening, that didn't stop Ms. Entin's side of the conversation or the fun she had engaging in it. Besides, her self-chatter can be efficient. "By acting out the conversation," she says, "I no longer need to have it."

• By JARED SANDBERG.

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120640272238360897.html

Fantastic!

I highly recommend renting this movie.

Mood buttons You Can’t Wear To Work: Part 2

Mood buttons You Can’t Wear To Work: Part 1