from the desk of stinkpot

chris brought to my attention today that i poured the cynicism on a little thick in my earlier post. fair enough – i did feel like a brooding bessy that day. but, i didn’t intend for that post to belie just how happy i am with how things are going right now.

basically, i feel like life is about as good as schwarzenegger is hard to spell. (and yes, i did steal that line from teenage mutant ninja turtles ii: the secret of the ooze, which we just watched this evening. [and yes]^2 that was the one featuring vanilla ice.) let’s see:

• i actually get paid a pleasant sum of money to get a degree in something i find terribly interesting from mit.  i don’t feel like i’m going to work in the morning; i’m doing something much more pleasant than that.
• my job affords me enough freedom to take long vacations at will as well as work from home at my leisure.
• my research is progressing splendidly (knock on wood). i find it stimulating, i’m making good progress, and i feel like it’s of scientific import.
• both my lab and adviser are terrific: i’m surrounded by cool, thoughtful people who love science the way fat kids love cake (also, sadly, stolen).
• home life is wonderful – my girlfriend and i finally cohabitate. icing on the fat kids’ cake: we can afford a 2BR apartment, something unheard of for students our age back home in NYC. and, we even had enough money left over to spring for a sweet tv. (no cable though – my self-discipline is already lost beyond youtube’s event horizon.)
• all sorts of other little things that i’ll never remember more than 4 hours after they happen. luckily, this one occurred only 2 hours ago: the decemberists concert at avalon. chris (dressed in a black long-sleeve & skirt like she was “going to a hipster funeral”) and i got to stand in about the third row from the stage at a relatively small venue and watch probably the best live act either of us has ever seen play. the decemberists are at this perfect phase for concert-going: popular & talented enough that they’ve got loads of adoring, mildly fanatical fans, yet not so mainstream or snooty to be playing in arenas. they played a bunch of their singles: 16 military wives, sons & daughters, o valencia!. but, what nearly gave me a brain aneurysm was seeing them perform one of my all time favorite epic ballads: the mariner’s revenge song. hearing perhaps my favorite band play my favorite song as a laughing christina and i danced right beneath them on a snowy night – that was sheer joy and exactly what i want to remember about grad school in boston. sheesh, enough mush, here’s a video i took of some slimy whale on decemberists action:

so in short, i’m having the time of my life here in grad school. odd how people usually describe grad degrees as the crap you need to wade through in order to reach a good job + happiness. here i am worried that having fun and doing well to get my phd is leading me towards a lifetime of discontent.

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full decemberists disclosure: i’ve got an aching 2nd grade crush on decemberist jenny conlee. something about seeing a shy, slightly clumsy girl rock without abandon has me moonstruck. and come on, she can play both the accordion and xylophone – what’s not to love?!

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