Around this time last week I went to visit my future graduate school. I hadn't talked much about it before, just in case I went to visit and did something that made them change their minds (like mentioning about my life-long struggle with procrastination) or they did something that made me change my mind (like bad-mouthing Hugh Laurie). Luckily, the visit went well, I sent in my deposit, and now here I am, stuck wondering what I'll worry about now that that's taken care of.
After work on Tuesday I loaded up my car with half my wardrobe (because, as you may recall, I still had no idea what I was going to wear) and headed out of town. I stayed at Lee's place that night, and after we had hung out for a little while I decided it was time to subject him to a fashion show so that I could figure out once and for all what to wear the next day. After several costume changes, we had decided on an acceptable outfit. We high-fived, I checked the outfit out in the mirror, and promptly had a nervous breakdown. These STUPID PANTS were tooooo biiiiiiiig and whyyyyy couldn't I find something better to wear and OH GOD this was going to go horribly. Or something like that, I'm not sure, I couldn't really hear what I was whining about over the sound of a door slamming in my head as the calm, cool, professional part of my mind just up and left me.
Once I'd dried my tears (because OF COURSE their were tears), I decided that I would feel better if I got out of the apartment for a few minutes, so we headed to the grocery store to get an Apartment Guide. At 11pm. (For the record, I told Lee he could stay behind, but he insisted on coming with me, because he's a trooper. See also: dating me in the first place.) So we went to the grocery store and got the Apartment Guide (for future apartment-searching reference). Then I decided to go on and drive out to the Super Target (by the way: SUPER TARGET!!) because I was convinced that they were open 24 hours, and what better time to go looking for a new outfit for a grad school visit than at midnight the night before? Super Target, in spite of being Super, closes at 10pm, so we had to go back home. Nevertheless, I felt soothed by all the needless driving around.
This is my brain under stress. Look on in awe.
In answer to my previous question (What better time to go looking for a new outfit?), let me tell you this: Super Target may close at 10, but it OPENS at 8am. So, since I didn't have to be at the school until 11, I went ahead and got up at 7:15, got showered and dressed, and went shopping. For some reason, even though Ordinary Target didn't have anything to offer me three days prior, SUPER Target made my dreams come true with the first outfit I tried on. (Also, if you want to get you a pair of those paint-splattered shoes I was flashing around the other day, they still have some at the Super Target. Check it out.)
Also, I bought some earrings and a purse. Because if you're panic-shopping at 8:30 in the morning, why not?
Ok, so what else? The visit! Right. I had meetings with two different professors first. They were very cool. Then I had lunch with two students. They were also outstanding. My only complaint about lunch was that we walked a pretty good distance to where we were eating, and my shoes (just about the only thing I was wearing that I hadn't bought that morning) were mangling my feet the whole way. But no matter! Lunch was delightful. Then I met with the chair of the program and talked about how hard grad school is. (She might have said some other things, but "grad school is hard" is the main message I got there.) THEN I sat in on a class, and the professor was a really nice, intelligent, thoughtful man who looked a little like Henry Winkler. I got to hang around and talk with him after class, but by that time I was a little brain-damaged from all of the thoughtful question-asking and attentive listening, so the conversation wasn't as rewarding as it could have been. And then I was done so I went home and celebrated by eating fried chicken.
And that is my story! Things went so well that I went 4 whole days without worrying about the future... until Monday morning, when I realized that I may end up being the youngest person in my cohort, and/or the only person who doesn't already have some kind of master's degree. So if you need me I'll be over here, concerned about that.
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