(no subject)

[exsequar]

Today I spent a lovely Sunday afternoon at the outlets with my roomies! I didn't plan on buying much (lol) but came away with this ridiculous haul:

• Shirt from Banana Republic ($11)
  
• Henley from Old Navy ($12)
  
• Deep purple peacoat from Anne Klein ($99 down from $280, oh my god)
  
• Two pairs of jeans from Aeropostale that actually FIT ($42 on a buy-one-get-one-free deal)
  
• Three bras from Bali ($45)
  
• Five bags of cookies from Pepperidge Farms ($10)

SO BASICALLY I WOULD CALL THAT A WIN. The purple peacoat in particular I am soooooo excited about - it's mid thigh length, with this beautiful tiered collar and a belt and UGH I LOVE IT. :') I was sort of idly wanting a new peacoat because mine is all tattered, but when I put this one on I just fell in love. And how can you argue with that price?

Besides being an entirely successful shopping spree, it was just a lovely day with my girls! The weather was SO BEYOND PERFECT, mid 60s with cotton ball clouds and sunshine, and I loved it to pieces. My roomies were chilly but it was just ideal for me. :) And speaking of roomies, I have two new ones! Our two public health roomies moved out, leaving me, Emily and Nichole, so we chose new roomies over the summer and I must say that once again we hit the jackpot. Alex is starting law school with the intent of working in international conflict resolution. She just finished a masters program in BRUSSELS and once spent a semester in Ireland, omg! AND SHE LOVES ALL THINGS JOSS WHEDON, I MEAN WHAT, HOW IS SHE SO PERFECT. HER FAVORITE CHARACTER IS FAITH!!!! She's beautiful and funny and smart and giggly and assertive and I might have a little girlcrush, LOL. But I really love hanging out with her. And Kortni just graduated from UM and is now working in the UM hospital as a research assistant for a neuropsych prof. She's tall and funny and a little absurdist sometimes - she spent our walk home from drinks tonight PRETENDING TO BE A PTERODACTYL, ahahahaha, Emily and I almost broke something laughing. So obviously she's super fun to have around. :D Basically it's an awesome mix of personalities again and I'm so happy! I love having a fun house of roommates, but also my own awesome room so I can retreat whenever I need to.

Hey, look at me, doing a daily update! I'm going to try to get back into the swing of this because it was SO nice to have LJ comments in my inbox again. I promise it won't be all fussball all the time. *g*

In work related news, I have been.... really stressed out and in a bad place recently. Nothing seems to work at all anymore, and I have a research plan to write from my boss and I'm having a hard time with it, and I read some things in the literature that make me seriously doubt my hypothesis, and I've been seriously doubting whether I even want to be a scientist, and etc etc etc. I honestly think that coming for my PhD was kind of the easy way out of an otherwise grueling job search, but I've never been able to envision myself as a bench scientist or a professor in the long term. I'm not sure what I DO see myself as though, is the problem. I've been looking at all kinds of alternative types of employment, but in the meantime, I've still got 4 years of research to do. I really hope I can find the heart to see me through it. I'm sure I'll feel a bit better once SOME experiments start going well again.

...that's it! I should probably go to sleep!

Comments

[burnishedvictory]

It's good to hear from you again! I'm glad your new roommates are good and that you had so much success shopping. The purple peacoat sounds wonderful - will there be pictures? Also, yay for jeans that actually fit! I gave up the last time I tried shopping for jeans so I understand the thrill of finding ones that fit.

*hugs for work* I hope your experiments start going well again quickly.

[jebbypal]

*huggles you* Sorry the research end of things is going poorly. You know what they say which makes us all want to kill THEM. "that's why there's a re in research".

but anyways, I think you should talk over the new papers with Jason to get his take on it. There is absolutely nothing that says, especially this early, that you are wedded to your exact hypothesis. You have to be able to synthesize in new findings all the time which leads to modifications of your scope and thrust of project directions.

Next, doubts. OMG, so normal. Don't freak out. Have you totally completed your quals? Does Michigan offer the option to petition to get your masters while ocntinuing on in the Ph.D track? If so, going ahead and doing this (I know 2 people at Penn that did) will give you some sort of security blanket that if you decide to call it quits before the phd is over, it's not all for naught and you do have an additional degree. NOt that I'm advocating that, but it is the truth.

The next thing to think of is that generally the phd will benefit you in the long run as far as future pay goes. But if you want to stop, don't let that scare you either, because there is still lots of good work available for those with ba/masters and some grad school experience.

As to what else you want to do, I know for a while you were excited on the medical writing front, no? That's going to always be there and you are lucky to have at least one person on your flist that knows a little about it and how to get into it. first and foremost, ignore all the ads that demand "2-3 years experience" - it's a load of bull especially if you go into pharma medical writing at agencies. Agencies, like mine, are desperate for smart people that understand the intricacies of a field, are capable of learning new fields fast, and know how to or can learn how to put a semi-markety spin on things (I say semi- because most of our work is medical education which means its supposed to be semi-fair and balanced).

So, no worries there. We can always talk more about it. And you can explore your options. There's also copy-editing which I'd say is the easiest thing to do freelance even when you're in grad school if you ever want to get some exposure to it. A coworker of mine I think did it for a while where she was copy-editing for foreign journal authors to make their english better etc.

So, enjoy yourself, lean on your prof and labmates (since it seems like you at least have a very supportive environment compared to my hell lab when I was having the exact same doubts and worries) if you can, and don't worry over much about "omg what am i going to do when I grow up" so much until you are starting to prepare for your final year or so. If possible ;)

[scottsnbritts.livejournal.com]

DUDE. BIRCH RUN OUTLETS?? PEPPERIDGE FARM IS THE GREATEST.
Next time you go, you'll have to let me know! That way I can stock up on unhealthy snacks for studying :)

Also, we should meet up soon!

[exsequar.livejournal.com]

Nope I went to Tanger Outlets in Howell! Is Birch Run better??

We really should! Coffee or lunch perhaps? What's your schedule like?

[scottsnbritts.livejournal.com]

I forget those exists, only because I've never been. I shouldn't forget about them though because there're billboards for them when I go up north. But they're probably pretty equal in terms of what they have.

Either of those would be good! I have classes from 10-1:00 and then from 2:30-4 on Mondays and Wednesdays. And I have class 10-11:30 and 2:30-5 on Tuesdays. From 10-11:30 and 1-4 on Thursdays. So basically, the noon hour is good on Tues & Thurs and 1 is good on Mon & Wed. Fridays I have no classes and weekends just depend on whether I go home or to a football game.

[exsequar.livejournal.com]

What a complicated schedule! Haha. I am down to one class (!) which is 1-2:30 on Tuesday and Thursday, and then lab for the rest of my life. :P How about we do lunch at ~11:45 on Tuesday?

[scottsnbritts.livejournal.com]

sounds like a plan!

[pau494.livejournal.com]

Oh, that peacoat looks AMAZING. That's a great haul, bb! And I'm glad your new roommates are awesome, they both sound like perfect people to hang out with you. \o/

I hope your research experiments start working out soon. I'm having a bit of a 'what do I see myself as' situation as well, so I'm putting out good vibes for both of us. *hugs*

♥♥♥

[exsequar.livejournal.com]

Thank you sweetie! <33 I'm so happy we hit the roommate jackpot again, srsly.

Things are looking much brighter today, thankfully. I'm not sure how much it is mood and how much other things, but I'll take it. Sending you so many good vibes sweetie! We should talk soon - I miss you. ♥

[hernameislara.livejournal.com]

There is nothing better than a great Shopping Spree <3 haha!