Digging Through Life

As if graduate school is not bad enough on its own, I have chosen to bear this torture in what feels like the hottest place on the Earth.  If you have never endured a day over 110 degrees Fahrenheit, you do not know what it feels like to have your brain cook inside your skull and actually think there is a possibility that you might die of dehydration at any moment.  I can now say that I have felt this lovely sensation multiple times in my life and owe it all to the delight of living in Tempe, Arizona in July and August.  Let me tell you a little something about what it's like to live here in the summer....  I'll start by saying that the next person to say, "well, it's a dry heat," will be left outside here in the middle of the day without water and then punched in the face.  What you don't know is that July and August are during Monsoon Season.  This means that AZ gets the majority of its rain during these months, but most importantly it also means that whe

If you are any kind of introspective or thinking person, you are thankful for so many things on this Thanksgiving day. Of course, you list among them family, friends and good health. As I get older I realize that everyone is blessed in some kind of way whether we choose to see it and believe it or not. On this Thanksgiving, I realize there are things beyond the usual I am thankful for; however snarky they may seem, I think it is important to move beyond the usual. This is in no way intended to be negative: 1- I am thankful for really truly assy people in the world. Every time I interact with one of these assy people, I think to myself, "thank you, I now know how not to act." This pearl of wisdom came down to me from Peter, an older man who I worked with at Borders when I was finishing my master's degree and was unbelievably broke. We had an absolutely horrible customer one morning and Peter said to me, "Laura, don't get upset. Use this as an opportunity t

I am a graduate student at a public university. I spend an incredible amount of time every week teaching students and counseling them on how to be better students and feel good about their decision to come to college and learn for the sake of learning. I make less than $20K/year to do this and am not guaranteed that little bit of money. I am not just a student myself; I am a teacher, a counselor and often, I am just a friend to undergraduate students who are scared to death by what the next stage in life will be. I tell them it will all work out, when I know from my own experience, that that is not often true. I am currently over $100K in debt from student loans. I drive a 12 year old car that will likely die at any moment. I have almost no luxuries in my life, because I can't afford them. I can't afford these luxuries, because I have chosen to better the world through science and education rather than only serving my own needs through a high paying job. I am getting a P

Today is probably the 23 first day of school I have experienced in my life. It may even be the 24th or 25th if you want to count nursery/preschool. That is a scary number- almost the whole of my life can be counted in first days of school. While that number alone is scary, what is even worse is that I still get nervous when I have to walk into that classroom on the first day. I am instantly whisked back to standing at the bus stop as a first grader telling my grandmother that I have butterflies in my stomach, holding my new backpack and lunchbox, hoping that the other kids in my class like me. Why does that feeling never go away? I must admit that I do love the preparation for the first day of school! I love going to the store and picking out my new notebooks and choosing which kind of pens to buy (I only use one kind, so I don't know why I bother to look anymore). I can remember standing in the office supply store with my mom as a kid, looking up at all the different k