Occupational Hazards

It is that time of year again. I have been spending so much time typing on my computer and hand grading papers that my wrists are starting to hurt. It's not carpel tunnel, just inflamed tendons in both wrists. I find if I just wrap each wrist in an ace bandage for a day and pop a couple tylenol, the pain goes away for a couple days.

My New Favorite

I just downloaded this wallpaper from interfacelift.com and I love it. It is so beautiful on my laptop.

Some Days

Life is too frustrating for words. Sadly enough, it was only with the last couple hours that I became very pissed off.

Hey Out There in Blogland

Haven't felt like writing anything, which is clearly obvious. Looking forward to going to Vegas in early June and I will NOT be taking my laptop with me for a trip for once. Screw it, it is a celebration and for once, I want it to be a fun time and no work.

Even though I will still not be officially graduated. Long story but suffice it to say, I will be walking in graduation in May but will not be done with the thesis.

Life sucks.

Bombs Away!

Took a bath today and tried a new bath ballistic from Lush.
The bath bomb I used today is Lemon Days and Ginger Beer Bath Bomb. I really wanted to enjoy my bath but I just couldn't.

Maybe this is TMI but I take a multivitamin that contains B and it leaves my urine Chartreuse. That was the color of the bath water.

I really tried. I tried to think,"Hey, today's Easter, it's like a big dye bath for Easter eggs." Yeah that really didn't work. I couldn't get past it and I ended up scrubbing up and getting out.

Nice scent, last for a while and it did condition my skin. If only the bath had been a light yellow instead of Chartreuse.

Good Morning!

Been up since 5:40. Feeling pretty good although that was in question for awhile there around 6. Today is going to be a good day!

Creative Way to Die 2

Counting down the days until the end of the school year.

Head under...

How am I going to do this all?

Changes

I have been reflecting on the nature of money lately. Mainly because my income was basically cut in half in January when I quit my second job.

It is amazing how quickly your money goes when you have to do things like pay taxes or auto repair. The month has barely started and I already feel like I have spent more money that I should.But at the same time, I have a job which will pay me through the summer for work that stops mid-May. And it is enough to make ends meet. Plus, I have a strong support network who can and will assist me should funds get low.

I am counting my blessings. In this economy, even a little is enough.

Here, Here!

Weeeeeee!!!

Spring Break has begun! Bring on the alcohol. Already had one glass tonight and I feel guuuud!

Hasta luego peeps.

Wah!

I miss The Dirt Squirrel!Where are you squirrelio?

We need to hang out soon. We don't even IM anymore. Do I have to put an APB out on you?

New Month

Well, April is finally here. I don't think that I will be posting as much as I did last month, just not feeling it right now. Who knows? Maybe I will post a lot in April, we shall see.

Waiting for feedback from my Thesis Chair on what I wrote. Trying hard to get into the mood to be a teacher for one day. See, I taught last Thursday and then we had Cesar Chavez day off (Random trivia: did you know Cesar Chavez was a vegan?) so I have not had to go to campus in 6 days. So I had a 6 day weekend and next week is spring break. I am feeling a little out of sorts but I will get myself back in action soon. Lots to work on during break.

Ciao for now!

P.S With this post, I have already blogged the same number of posts in 2009 as I did for the entire year of 2008. Weird....

Update 3

Finally finished the chapter I was suppose to. Its not great but that's what rewrites are for. Finally count was 58 pages.

I also exceeded my goal of posting everyday. This is post 35 today.

Writing one small paper today for my Feminist seminar and taking it easy otherwise.

Family News

Rough weekend for both sides of the family.

On dad's side, one of my aunts went into the hospital yesterday for angioplasty. This is the side of the family that my grandmother died when I was 3 from a heart attack. Still waiting to hear an update.

On mom's side, more medical tests were ordered for a family member and we all have our fingers crossed. That's all I can say for now.

***********Update 9:22 pm******************
My aunt is home but only overnight. She is calling the doctors tomorrow morning and agreeing to open heart surgery. The blockage near her heart is such that they need to take a vein from her leg and bypass the block.

Update 2

Finished chapter 1 yesterday (56 pages completed now). Still trying to get up the brain power to tackle Chapter 3. Methodology - kind of makes me throw up a little.

It is so frustrating! Some ideas just write themselves. Other days I stare at the screen and don't know where to begin.

Styling

So I was thinking that I want to cut my hair short. I was looking for pictures of what I wanted and I like this style.My only concern is that with my hair, I would have to spend a lot of time styling my hair and I just don't want to devote that much time to some thing like my hair. I just don't have the patience.

Plus, I am not sure that I could carry this hairstyle off with my face shape.

Any opinions?

One of My Favorite Things

My family likes to go to a local Indian restaurant in town for its buffet every Saturday for lunch. Delicious, not terribly expensive and a nice little family outing. My favorite thing at the restaurant is the dessert:I believe it is called Rasgula. It is these soft doughy discs floating in a yummy light pistachio cream sauce with small pieces of pistachio. I found a recipe online and maybe one day...

That is all, carry on with your Saturday.

Ha Ha!

Okay, this video is so ridiculous, I had to post it.


'Nom' is the mythical sound animals make when eating something. You know my love for the time killing website, icanhascheezeburger so I smiled when I heard the music that accompanies this clip.

Yum

Almost every Monday and Friday, I join my dad, his friend Goyo, and sometimes my brother for lunch atSo yummy. Makes me happy. Sometimes I get root beer soda and add the vanilla soft serve for a root beer float. A great way to end a meal. Oh yeah, the conversation is great too.

Next month they are featuring lemon in their food.

Goal

So in case you have been wondering about the increase in posts, it is not just procrastination, I made a goal for myself to post either once a day for the month of March or the equivalent (31 posts).

Ciao!

Never Enough

Just so you know where I am right now.

I was suppose to get "completed" (as far as I could go at this point) thesis chapters 1-3 to my committee chair on March 18. Well, that didn't happen but I was aiming to get the chapters to her by Wednesday the 25 (umm, 2.5 hours ago technically?) so that she would have the weekend to read them, get me feedback so I could make adjustments in a couple days and get copies to my full committee before spring break (hard deadline April 2).

Well, I have completed chapter 2... have to rewrite about half of chapter 1 and basically write all of chapter 3. I kind of did this to myself, so I am not asking for pity.

Here's the thing. I am astonished to see that I am at 51 pages of text already with all that I still have to write. And that doesn't include my bibliography. That's up to 9 pages so far.

Say it with me, Holy Crap!

I think I have mentioned before how big a project this is but the scope of the project I am undertaking just hit me.

Peace out, I am off to catch 3 hours of sleep before I head back to school.

4 way relationships

Back to Divine Caroline, I found a really cool author on this site called The 4-way. It is a group of for who give relationship advice from four different perspectives, a gay man, a straight man, a gay woman and a straight woman. Pretty cool and sometimes they are pretty funny. I also like the advice they give.

Check out some of their posts here.

New Feature

It is a joke in the office that as the stress of trying to finish the thesis/comps increases, that death is preferable to trying to tackle the overwhelming amount of work before us. In the spirit of this stress reliever, I introduce,

Creative ways to die!
Way #1
Tasteless? You bet! Fun? Mostly. Serious? Not at all.

To be continued...

Reading

Reading the Biography of Frida Kahlo kind of makes me feel insane. It is a series of letters from Frida to other people in her life and she doesn't like to use punctuation. So it is a stream of consciousness style of book and at page 316, which is where I currently am, I feel like my head is about to explode.

LOL - I Found It!

This article explains it all, "Why Being Smart Won't Get You Laid". Check it out.

****Update***
Wait, does this make me sound egotistical? Umm, take it like I mean it....

Today

Overload

Trying to get work done on my thesis. As such, I have entered my thesis bunker. Bombs away.

Tee Hee

New Website

I stumbled across this site called Divine Caroline.It appears to be a website where anyone can submit their articles on numerous topics. I like it. From the name, it appears to be aimed at women but I don't have the same reaction as I do when I look at sites like Shine.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Can You Believe it?

Actress Natasha Richardson passed away today after a skiing accident. She was only 45. This is so sad. For me, she was one of the shining moments in Maid in Manhatten. My heart goes out to her family.

Product Review

As many of you know, I am constantly looking for good hair products to combat the frizz I face as someone with naturally curly - but not super curly - hair. I also don't want to break the bank.

I recently tried John Frieda's complete line of anti-frizz products, from shampoo to styling products.After nearly finishing the shampoo and conditioner (this week I will run out) I now have a product review. The shampoo, conditioner and anti-frizz serum work great. The spray in conditioner and curl activator - not so much. In fact, they both feel like watered down waste of money products. As a whole line from clean to style, not great. Plus, all these are more expensive than I am willing to normally drop on hair care. Not that I don't think it is worth it to pay for a product but for so-so results, I can't afford to spend this much money on a regular basis.

Now, for my money's worth, I like Garnier Fructis products. I previously used the whole line of their Sleek and Shine products - anti-frizz oil, shampoo, conditioner, leave-in conditioner and spray gel to tame my curls. Did I mention I use a lot of products? You would think my hair would look better...but I digress. These products are more modestly priced and I can find a coupon for a dollar off in the Sunday newspaper with enough frequency that I never pay full price for the product.

I am not crazy about their anti-frizz oil but other than that, for what I am getting, I prefer the rest of this line to John Frieda. So from now on, I am going to use John Frieda frizz-ease oil and the rest of the line from Garnier.

My experience/opinion. Do with it what you will.

P.S.

Don't ask me to go out Friday, my butt will be parked in front of the TV watching the series finale of Battlestar Galactica. Don't email, IM, text or even call me.So say we all.

New Project

So, here is the ponder that I have been working on, or at least part of it.

I want to have time off. I really don't want to look for a job that hard. I know this is a horrible thing to say and will probably bite me in the butt when it comes to actually finding a job but... I have been going to school and working for the last three years straight. I do not remember having a real vacation in a long time. Even this last winter break, I was still working at the Union and working on school work. Before then, in the summer, once again I was working at the union and on school work - or at least attempting to study. Even when I took a trip to Vegas to visit a friend, I took school work.I have begun looking. I found a position at a local community college that I am contemplating applying for. A couple positions actually. One is a pool position and the other one is teaching costume and makeup design, believe it or not. That one may be a long shot but hey, I have teaching and design experience. Granted, it has been a few years but why not?

I just kind of want time off to rest and have down time. The problem is, I always have to look ahead to the next thing. If I don't want to have too much time off, I need to plan for the next big adventure in life. For example, I graduate in May and if I want to go to grad school in fall of 2010, I have to start working on applications right away since they are all due in the fall of 2009, some schools begin accepting applications as early as August. So even though my next academic program (and I will get in) won't start until August 2010, I have to start thinking about it at the latest in May of this year, 2009. I should actually start earlier than that with contacting the departments for information and getting to know the faculty so that when I do apply, I am more than just a piece if paper. It never stops. I know I shouldn't complain because I have been very fortunate with the opportunities I have had however, I have worked very hard to reach out for these opportunities and create these opportunities for myself. I'm not saying that I think everything I want should or will be handed to me. I have just been going nonstop for a long time. Even now, I just spent the last two hours on the internet reading about what ever I wanted instead of grading papers that I need to get done or even worse (gasp!) I should have been using this time to work on my homework for class on Tuesday or my thesis! I have been wasting time!

I need the time I took this morning off from all the things I have to do. It just feels like I have so much to do and there is just not enough time. Don't get me wrong, I am generally happy on a daily basis, it is just sometimes when I want this whirlwind I am on to stop. Everyone needs down time. I don't think we get enough of it in this day and age (BTW - the gym was the first thing to go as I try to get myself on track with everything else). I just want more than one day when I can do something mindless like this:I am beginning to believe, even though I am/was extremely disappointed not to get into grad school for the fall, I need the time off from being a student. I need to not be a student for a little while so that I am ready to go and will appreciate the opportunity more when it happens.

eww

This is me lately.I feel like my skin has really been drying out lately. I have been trying to exfoliate and use richer lotions with greater frequency but I still have dry skin flaking off my face. Anyone recommend a good product?

'heM

Oh BTW

I've made a couple decisions. I decided to hold off applying to any more programs this year. I begin job hunting next week. I will look at local community colleges, CSUN, and Kaplan testing services to see if anyone is hiring. What an adventure I am beginning.

Woot!

Big shout out to LA_book_gal. We went to Chili's after attending Gradfest (I now have my cap & gown rented for graduation) and had a fantastic lunch.

We shall have to do that again soon.

Puppy!

This makes me feel better.

The Wait is Over (Rejections 5 & 6)

Well, that's it. I got these in the mail this afternoon.

Dear Ms. _________

I am sorry to inform you that we are unable to admit you to the doctoral program in communication at USC Annenberg School for Communication for fall 2009. Our admissions committee has reviewed your file carefully and has decided not to recommend admission.

Each year we receive many more applications for admission than we can accommodate and, as a result, we mush turn away many fine, well-qualified students. We hope that you will be able to find another graduate program that suits your needs and interests.

Thank you for considering the Annenberg School at USC. we wish you every success in your future studies.

Cordially,

G. Thomas Goodnight
Director of Doctoral Studies


AND

Dear Ms. ________,

The Department's Committee on Graduate Admissions and Financial Aid has reviewed your application for admission to our graduate program. The department is in the enviable but difficult position of receiving applications from many more students than can be accommodated each year. Again this year the competition has been keen, with a very large number of applicants for only a small number of spaces in the incoming graduate class. We are gratified by the large number of well-qualified applicants, but we regret that we are able to offer admission to only a small percentage of those who applied.

I am sorry to have to report that, after careful deliberation, the committee voted not to recommend your admission as a graduate student. The decision not to admit a student is never taken lightly, but the number of applicants forces difficult choices in light of an applicant pool that contains many students with truly outstanding academic records.

I regret that I cannot deliver happier news concerning your application, but we wish you well in your further education.

Sincerely,

David Tewksbury
Associate Professor
and Director of Graduate Study



I actually really appreciate the letter from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the letter listed right above. Form letter or not, it was the only one I received that had an actually pen signature rather than a stamp or computer generated signature. Plus I had the opportunity to meet the professor, so it feels more personal.

Oh-kay, after a little break, I am moving on. So, I found one more program to apply to - although now I am questioning the point of applying for this fall - and I have a game plan for the coming year before I apply again.

Lates!

Useful

I have finally found a use for my insomnia. Stay tuned....

On a Lighter Note

Saw this article on mental Floss called "7 Stories You Haven’t Heard About the Olympics"
by Mangesh & Jason - December 3, 2007. Check it out here.

My favorite part is one of the comments. In response to #7 of the article:

7. And just a word on the Games’ (harsh) origins

The ancient Olympic Games served as the basis for our modern Olympics, and fortunately the whole “competing in the nude” thing wasn’t the only custom left to history. Athletes that arrived late to compete were fined, with the only acceptable excuses being shipwreck, weather or pirates. Athletes that were caught cheating were also fined, but were allowed to keep their winnings. But married women caught watching the Games got it the worst: they were executed. Of course, that probably had something to do with the whole competing in the nude thing.

And let’s not forget three of our favorite Olympic athletes. Swede Oscar Swahn won a silver medal in a deer-shooting event at the 1920 Olympics at the age of 72! In 1904, American gymnast George Eyser won six medals (three gold) despite having a wooden left leg, which is even more amazing. But Hungarian pistol shooter Karoly Takacs taught himself how to shoot left-handed after his right (shooting) hand was shattered by a grenade, and then went on to win the rapid-fire shooting event at the 1948 Olympics. He gets our gold.

One of the readers responded:

If I ever become a teacher, my syllabus is going to read that the only acceptable excuses for being late are shipwreck, weather, or pirates.

I laughed out loud. I am so adding that to my syllabus the next time I teach.

Rejection (4)

Dear M_____,

Thank you for your application for admission to graduate study in the Ph.D. Program in Culture and Theory. After extensive review by our admissions review committee, I must regretfully notify you that your application for admission to the program has not been accepted.

Due to the depth, strength and sheer number of applications we received, our admissions committee must be highly selective in making recommendations. It is not possible to accept all excellent applicants who might thrive in the Culture and Theory program, especially since we are not able to accept more than a very few candidates each year. Your academic preparation and scholarship, letters of recommendation, expressed interests and objectives, writing sample, and other supporting materials have all been taken into consideration during the committee's review process.

Although we are unable to act favorably upon your application, we appreciate your interest in the Culture and Theory program and hope you will be able to take advantage of other opportunities to continue your program.

Sincerely,

Glen Mimura
Director, Pd.D. Program in Culture and Theory

I only need one yes. It is amazing all the different ways people can tell you no.

Cheap Therapy

www.winterrowd.com

Rejection (3)

Dear Ms. ___________:

I regret to inform you that I am unable to approve your application for admission to the Graduate Program in Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Riverside for the Fall 2009 term.

A number of factors are considered in evaluating each applicant, including the following: a student's undergraduate preparation, scholarship average, requisite test scores, whether the research interests of faculty are relevant to those of the applicant, and whether an applicant can be accommodated by the department to which application is made.

Unfortunately, it is not possible for the university to accept all who apply, and each department must screen applications carefully to find the best qualified students. For this reason, many excellent applicants must be denied admission.

If you have questions, the academic department to which you applied may be able to further explain specific reasons for your denial. I sincerely hope that you will be able to pursue your academic training at another institution.

Regards,

Joseph W. Childers
Dean, Graduate Division
University of California, Riverside

Oh my God. They are coming fast and furious now. I trying really hard but I am starting to get freaked out. I know that several friends have told me that not getting admitted this year would not be the end of the world but I would much rather be in school this fall, you know

Rejection (2)

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Dear M________,

After consultation with the Screen Cultures: PHD (S30PH) program and after a thorough evaluation of your credentials by The Graduate School, I regret to inform you that you have been denied admission for graduate study at Northwestern University.

Because your interest in the University is deeply appreciated, this decision is not easy to convey. Though your plans cannot be accommodated at Northwestern University, the faculty and administrators of The Graduate School respect your intellectual ambition and wish you success in attaining your goal of advanced study.

Sincerely yours,



Andrew Wachtel
Dean

Shit......

Heh

So I don't want to have false hopes but both USC and UC Irvine have asked for additional documents to qualify for financial aid. I don't remember that happening with any schools the last time I applied. I don't want to assume but...

Fingers crossed!

******************Update*******************
So I checked with my friend who has applied to both these places too. She got the same emails. It looks like it is a standard practice now. Better to know this now than have false hopes.

Happy March y'all!

Still resting and trying to get well.

Well....

I slept from 9 until 2:30, woke briefly then went back to sleep until my alarm went off at 5:30. However,
I'm sick now. Boooooo! All I want to do is sleep all day and night.

De La Noche

[checking out the clock]

10:31 PM Finally bed time!

12:20 AM

2:11 AM

3:58 AM Fine, I give up. I'm awake.

This sh!t has got to stop. The last three nights have all been like this or worse. I made sure not to take a nap today and will be taking a sleep aid shortly in the hope that I can actually get more than 3 hours of sleep tonight.

So Flippin' Tired

Here is the picture of my world.

Sigh

Can't win for trying. Went and had my taxes done today. For the first time in many, many years, I owe money to both the federal and state. Apparently I made 10,000 more than the year before (go figure) and didn't give the government enough along the way. The funny thing is, even with this increase last year, I still feel really poor. On the bright side, I do have a roof over my head and food in my belly - maybe too much of the latter...
Not what I have been thinking about BTW. Will get to that later.

Sunday

I'll let you in on it later.

Rejection (1)

Dear M________,

We have concluded our review of applications for the Doctoral Media Studies program at The University of Texas at Austin. We regret that we are unable to offer you admission for Fall 2009.

The applicants for our program were exceptionally competitive this year, with over 120 applications for 8 spaces, resulting in many well-qualified applicants being turned away. Our decisions are the result of an extensive review of all the applications and supporting materials, assessing qualifications as well as the fit for our program.

We wish you well in your future pursuits. Thank you again for your interest in our program.

Sincerely,


Joseph Straubhaar
Amon G. Carter, Sr. Centennial Professor of Communications
Graduate Adviser

Damn it - Guess I'm not moving to Texas afterall

On Repeat in iTunes Today

Great song if you have not heard it already. Couldn't embed the video but here is a link to the video if you are interested.

How I Am Feeling About School Right Now

I'm the goldfish.

We Interupt This Program...

Just finished a response paper for my seminar class. Wanted to get more grading done for the classes I am teaching and won't take long to grade but I don't wanna.

I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna!

Okay, I feel better. And since I get more grading tomorrow, I will now buckle down and finish the damn papers tonight before going to bed.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program...

My New Obsession

Beautiful free wallpaper to download. Thanks for showing me this website brother. I love it.

Stuck in My Head

"Say it Ain't So"

I finally figured out why too. Ms. S, the Baker and I played this song in Rock Band when I went to visit them in Vegas this past summer. I am really missing Ms. S and wish I could go hang out with her. That was a great vacation. Good times.

This made me giggle

Super busy working on thesis, will write a real post once I have caught up and am back on schedule.

Oh, and Happy B-day to T3!

Oye

I have had a headache since 1 this afternoon. Mommy! Make it go away.

Drivin'

So I have been seeing a lot of drivers lately that haven't been staying in their lane. At first I always think, "Is that person drunk?"

As it turns out, every time a pass the car weaving in the lane, I see this:
Maybe there should be a mandatory test after a certain age... Stay in your lane!