5 x 5 (balance our your gripes)-

When it hails, there's tornados.

Five things that piss me off right now:

1. I screwed up my financial aid paperwork, and now my loan will be 1/2 what I though, and a week late.

2. Due to the lower loan, I have to cut out some wedding expenses AND ask my mom for help. I don't do well asking her for help with money. Sometime, ask me about how she sold my car to cover credit cards expenses when I left the country. She says I was running away, I said I had it all planned out, with minimum payments covered and everything, until I got back.

3. J earns $66 a day. In asking a raise, he has been forced to leave the place-- on principle. He works for Bif and his gang, who think that insulting a manager will make him stay.

4. My car is screwed up. we spent 236 on 2 tires wednesday. I need 2 more next month. AND brakes. AND a battery.

5. My desktop got a nasty virus, which I spent $150 'fixing' by wiping the harddrive, and as such, all programs and many files are gone, including WORD!. I can't find disks for that. I guess I will no longer type on that computer. Atleast I have a laptop.

6. I need to spend $100 on an external hard drive, so I don't have this happen again.

Five Good Things (must balance karma):

1. We are not angry about J's situation, just dissappointed in the stupidity of said owner. Apparently, when J gives word today, 3 servers, the bar manager, and 2 cooks will put in 2 weeks notice. They can get the same job elsewhere, and don't want to deal with BIF yelling at them without J to intercede. BIF and his gang will finally learn what they need to do to make a good restuarant, alone. (I Hope).

2. Wedding is two months away. If I think about the fun, its exciting. Otherwise, I'm kinda scared. I kinda want to hop on a plane and runaway for a weekend. It's not because of the wedding, I just want to run away from my life for a week, or so. Go 'find' the piece of my soul I left in Africa, and bring her home. Ok, well, I'd leave her there, but I want to go visit.

3. Syllabus is done for summer.

4. I feel hopeful about diss. proprosal.

5. Fancy Women's Studies Journal I was supposed to write article for last year, asked for the article again! (complications with J and life made it impossible for me to finish it last year) So hopefully, I can get a fancy schmancy publication in the fall!!!!!

how to respond

My diss. chair just emailed me that "since I chose to not submit a rough draft of my proposal" she's "very dissappointed" because I "may have to postpone my prelims" because my proposal will not be good enough quality for the exams. It will need multiple revisions, and apparently on HER FREAKING PLANET THEY ALL HAPPEN BEFORE THE DAMN EXAM.

I took thanksgiving to relax, do light studying, and de-stress===== but obviously she doesn't think I need to relax, since I "need to draft a plan B".

How do I tell HER what is expected of me during the freaking exam process? I've been called into the 'principals office' tomorrow at 3pm. Can I just tell her to kiss my ass?

Seriously, what the hell do I say to her? SHe wants to postpone the damn exam because I didn't send her any drafts of the proposal yet, which isn't technically due until the exam! Instead, she wants to make me feel like a failure and a pointless effort in my study. what an asset!

First Day of School

So today it all begins again. I met with The Chair to discuss most recent issues with reading list and its inability to be approved. Hopefully, I will have that paperwork done by next Friday. But when I have an absent committee member who never plans on returning to this state, it makes timeslines a bit hard. I've been working on this damn list since, oh, I don't know, LAST FALL!

Insert buddha belly rubbing moment. ommmmm. OM....

My current plan is to do whatever I am told, so I may get on with it.

On a happier note, we talked about my potential dissertation topic today. On the upside, my ideas are very VERY timely, and if I get my ass in gear I need to get published sooner than later, so that my name is one of the first associated with these ideas and new turns in thinking. On the down side, I need to get published sooner than later, so that my name is one of the first associated with these ideas and new turns in thinking. So my highly irrational plan for the next two years may work out.
December: prelim test
January to March: hit the diss hard
March: I kinda hope I get to go home for a bridal shower/bachelorette party. My ma's friends had offered to throw one (which we all know is really for my ma then me.) but she hasn't heard from them in a few months. Of course, the divorce gets in the way of everything. More on that later.
April-July:Hit Diss again, hard. Try to whip out one chapter for pub. as article
August: I get married. honeymoon. brain turned off.
December: have diss pretty much done, and set up a defense for early spring
May 2009: graduate. and.... maybe be pregnant. If J has a good job.

I know, I know, it's all pipedreams. I'll be here till 2010. sigh.