Relationships in Doc School = Unlikely

I have already fallen behind... so let's take some time to catch up, shall we? :) This is what I would have wrote on the 11th.

***

So today was relatively uneventful until this evening. I spent a little bit of time tidying up the apartment, watching some more episodes of Vampire Diaries (I have to fit it in now while I still have the time!), and getting ready for my DATE. :) Yup. You read correctly. I had a date tonight.

Before you get all excited for me, let me preface this by saying it was just a little mediocre.

So I met this guy... we'll call him Mike... online. I'm not going to say I knew it was going to be a flop before we met tonight, but I kinda had this feeling like it wasn't going to be the best social excursion of my life. And I was right. Chalk it up to intuition.

Anywho... so we meet outside my office on campus - which I felt was a little weird, but it was a central location so I guess it worked - and then went to dinner at some place called Casa Nueva. It's this neat little Mexican restaurant, but what's so cool about it is that it's a co-op, meaning everyone who works there has a chance to be a partial owner of the restaurant. I don't remember ever being at a place like that and being conscious of that fact, so this was kinda neat. Anyways, we order a couple drinks (we had a 30 minute wait before being seated), get dinner, and just talk. And the talking wasn't even bad... he just seemed to be the LEAST interested in getting to know me! :\ And I'm a lot of fun to get to know!

This is where I feel like my training in Communication and Forensics has spoiled me (or just increased my expectations). I will be the first to admit that I'm an introvert by nature, but over the past few years I've worked really hard to push myself out of my bubble and be a bigger personality. And I will give it a solid try, always... until you give me nothing to work with. This guy just didn't give me anything to work with. I learned all about his weird falling outs with past friends, all the drama that caused said falling outs, the weird history with his abusive biological father and his husband-hopping mother, and I even met a friend of his who I knew nothing about, other than that I'd supposedly love him (which I cannot speak to). I mean, the guy didn't ask me anything about myself, and offered little about him when I asked... so the whole information-seeking thing didn't really happen.

In addition to the weird interpersonal funk we had going on, I sensed very little chemistry between the two of us romantically (and by that I mean physically and emotionally). I think a big part of this had to do with his inability to maintain eye contact with me - which is a HUGE turnoff for me - and the fact that he didn't compliment me at all except to feel like he could get touchy with me after he'd had a few. Now, anyone who knows me knows I'm not much of a physical person, especially not right from the get-go. I refuse to separate emotional intimacy from physical closeness because it feels weird to me (I have no issue with other people separating the two, I just don't), so this Mike guy super violated my space bubbles without having earned the right to do so.

Thank the goddess one of my fellow classmates showed up to save the night. Jen (who's quickly becoming one of my favorite people in the world) showed up early to Court Street (where most of the bars are) because our cohort was going to meet up for a few drinks tonight. Well, no one else showed up, and Jen was friendless, so I decided it would be a lot of fun to have her tag along with us. It saved me from an awkward date that had no apparent end in sight, and I got to know her a little better. Needless to say, we had a ton of fun together and she totally saved my night.

Now... all I need is a cute, smart, driven, ambitious, and caring boy to find me and get me to fall in like with him. Any takers? :P Not sure I'll have the time to search for this guy once things start getting chaotic... so this whole relationship thing might be on hiatus for a few months.

Ugh.



Time To Get Settled

So... I started writing this yesterday... and then my battery died, and I was too lazy to walk over to my desk and plug it in. So it's still written like I did it yesterday. :P Just kind of ignore the date and time.

***

Today was an eventful day. I went to Applebees for lunch to meet some of my cohort this afternoon. :) It was my first encounter with Jen, Peter, and Andrea. So far, I think we're going to be a great group! Everyone was really fun and had such fascinating interests, it was really cool to get to chat with them. I'm really excited to meet everyone else!

I also got settled in my office. Thank god Jessica and Dan came and cleaned some of their stuff out of it. The first time I went in, there were all kinds of crap in the office that didn't need to be there, so it was really overwhelming trying to figure out where "my space" would be. Today I got to move in a little more officially. I cleaned up quite a bit, moved some things around, and I'm quite happy with the end result. Thankfully, Jordan (whom I'll be sharing the office with) chose the desk behind the door, so my desk is right in front of the window that overlooks Union St. :) I have a perfect view of the Union Street Diner... which I haven't been to yet, but will probably frequent quite a bit considering it's literally right across the street from my office.

Oh... I also cleaned out the fridge a little bit. It was disgusting. The little tray thing that catches the water from the freezer part was full... and moldy. I tried cleaning it as best I could in the bathroom down the hall... but ended up bringing it home to spray with bleach and whatnot. :\ Doesn't look like it's been touched in a REALLY long time... but once I'm done with it, I might just feel comfortable putting food in the fridge!

Welcome to PhD school

So... some of my friends back in Mankato decided it would be a neat idea to blog every day while in grad school. This isn't a new idea to me... another of my friends tried to get me to do the same thing once before, and it was an epic fail. However... for some reason, I feel motivated to try for real this time. Hence, the blog: My Life as a Doc Student. Consider this post 1.

I'll be starting the PhD program in Communication Studies at Ohio University this fall. It's kind of a big deal for me, because it represents beginnings and endings. Beginnings in that this is kind of the first real step toward securing the career I want. Also, for some reason I feel more pride and ownership of this accomplishment. Getting into an MA program was easy... but I really didn't think I was good enough to get where I am today. I won't doubt this anymore... but it was a big to-do when I got my acceptance. As for endings, well... let's just say I'm REALLY excited to be done with school. :) Only four more years, and I'll finally get to do what I was meant to do (I think): teach.

As for this blog, the idea is to write something every day. Doesn't have to be significant; to quote my friend:

The entries can be short as one word. A drawing. A scribble. About absolutely anything going on in your life. Whether it is related to grad school/teaching or whatever.

The only requirements are that you do something everyday and include the date and time of entry. 

So... my only goal is to actually get on here and post something every day. Day 1 is a success... let's see how the rest works out.