Wednesday, March 12, 2008

I like lists

I've made a pretty hefty decision in the last couple of days that I am no longer going to apply to any Master's programs. It would be a silly waste of time and money. I know I want to get my Doctorate eventually, so why would I waste an extra year or two and that money in the pursuit of something I won't really even use?

Good question.

But which leaves me in a bit of a lurch. Due to being an extreme slacker last semester (and being very poor...), I only ended up applying to two doctoral programs. One of which I just interviewed at, and the other I was soundly rejected by. There are at least 4 or 5 other programs out there in which I'm interested, but due to aforementioned items (being a poor slacker), I never got around to applying to them. So if I don't get in to Wright, it looks like I won't be going to grad school until fall of 2009, instead of this year.

Which fucking sucks. But it also probably wouldn't kill me to take a year off and chill out and save some money.

So I've decided to make a short list of things I need to accomplish in the near future, whether I go to grad school or not.

Thus:

1. Graduate. With at least 3 A's this semester. I think it's already too late for my science class, but not the other classes.

2. Find a new job, preferably at some kind of health clinic, Planned Parenthood, someting along those lines (anybody know of anything?).

3. Get my bike fixed up and start using it. Often. Instead of driving whenever possible.

4. Eat only grass-fed beef. It is healthy and good for you. If it's not grass-fed, it kills you and kills the earth.

5. Write. All the time. Every day. Start submitting writing to places that might publish it.

6. Write a novella. I'm not going to be so ambitious as to say a novel, but I think a novella is probably doable. This will have to wait until school's over, but it's going to be my summer project. Even if I go to grad school, I'll have a solid 4 months in which to write it. I've already started the outline.

7. Intensely research grants, scholarships, and fellowships, so as to hopefully alleviate some of the financial pain of grad school. And then actually apply for them.

8. Go back to therapy and really start sorting out my internal shit. I'm getting there anyway, but I need therapy. I do. Seriously.

9. Stop watching 3 back-to-back episodes of Will & Grace every night. It's very entertaining, but it's not that good. Especially now, because I've watched it up to the point that Grace left Leo, and she's all sad, and now she and Will are having a baby together and shit. Who cares. I want them to keep being mean, selfish, neurotic, and drinking too much. Otherwise it's not funny. Homos having babies isn't funny. Well, I mean, it sort of is, but not in an intentional way.

10. Once I get out of school, go swimming at least twice a week. Somewhere lovely. Or at Hippie Hollow.

11. Stop being bitter. (See #8.)

12. Get more sleep.

Maybe that is all.

4 comments:

Mandy said...

My parents will be overjoyed to hear your commitment to grass-fed beef. They've been raising it for years now.

Tom Drew said...

Okay, so 2, 5, 6 (hooray for novellas!), 7, 12, and parts of the others basically constitute the bulk of the list I was going to make anyway, so if you don't mind, I'll just be copying this. Thanks. I mean, I'll give you credit and stuff, too.

bh said...

In addition to being better for you, I'm told grass-fed beef tastes much better. Don't grill it, though. Somehow grilling meat causes cancer. I don't remember where I saw that, though.

Mandy said...

Bryan, it depends... some of the grass-fed beef I've had is pretty tough/yucky. I wonder if it has anything to do with the type of grass the cow eats. On the other hand, the beef in Argentina is the best I've ever had (by a long shot!), and it's grass-fed.

I wish we could ever make it to the Dallas Farmers Market early enough to get some of the local beef they sell there. They sell out early, and we're always too late.