This past weekend, @catsonroombasalsosharks went to visit @mandatorymanda and her slightly-less-awesome other half. They showed him a wonderful time, which included a trip to an arcade full of amazing treasures set to freeplay.
Upon entering, @catsonroombasalsosharks immediately noticed where two gold standards of our childhood (“Turtles in Time” and “The Simpsons”) stood back to back in solidarity. My beloved little brother then did the following:
1. Took a picture to share the epicness with me, even if long distance.
2. Played “Turtles in Time” with a young boy and his sister, showing them all of the tricks that were so hard won for us when we were their age.
3. Completely and utterly defeated “The Simpsons”. But not as his favorite character! Instead, he played as mine so “it could still be like we were playing together, even if you weren’t there.”
Conclusion: Sometimes @catsonroombasalsosharks is the literal sweetest (and I’m really glad he’s home).
If I remember correctly you are a graduate student in psychology. I applied for graduate programs in anthropology for the fall of 2015 and just got my first rejection letter. I was wondering if you had any advice for the waiting and anything I should plan in case I don't get accepted anywhere. I'm starting to get VERY nervous.
Hi Nonnie!
First of all...
I remember those feels very well. Waiting is horrible.
First of all, try not to let one rejection get you down. Graduate school is very competitive, and sometimes it can take a while to find your place.
If this makes you feel any better, I actually had to go through 3 application cycles before I got into my program.
If that just makes you feel more anxious, take a deep breath. Because, you can still do something that's going to be related to your future career in the meantime.
When I didn't get into PhD programs straight out of undergrad, I did a Master's degree program instead. Those are a little less competitive, and they can be great ways to really define you research interests and help you plan out your future goals and career plans. Plus, the experience you get looks great on applications for PhD programs.
Actually, having some time can work out for the best. I didn't get into the Clinical psych programs I wanted the first time. But, my Master's program helped me realize I actually wanted to do Developmental psych. And now I'm in a Developmental program and so happy with it.
Bottom line: If you're passionate about anthropology, don't give up. The road you might end up taking could be a lot more winding than you were planning or hoping. But that doesn't mean you won't get there.
I have every confidence in you!
(Since you are an anthropology girl, I'm also going to refer you to mandatorymanda. She has actually studied anthropology at the graduate level. And she's awesome. So I'm sure she wouldn't mind offering you some insight.)
Hi! First time prompter. Could you write a Rushbelle star crossed lover fic? I would appreciate it. Thank you very much for offering to write these. Take care!
Star-crossed
"The only good thing about these ridiculous inter-faculty quiz tournaments," Charlie grunted, "is the view."
As Professor Charles Aaronovitch had been part of the team at Perkin-Elmer to design the Hubble space telescope, he was generally acknowledged to be something of an expert on worthwhile views. To a man, the Hard Scientists (sadly better at their respective fields of study than in thinking up clever team names) turned to look in the direction he was facing and nodded quietly in appreciation.
"Groupthink." Anders squinted to read their team name across the busy hall. "Psychologists."
"Soft sciences," Aditya mumbled with a dainty shudder.
Sighing, the men returned their attention back to their drinks.
"I’ve changed my mind," Charlie muttered. "The only good thing about making us interact with other departments is that we’re not having to interact with the students."
This was generally considered to be a very sage-like by the rest of his team, and there was a murmuring of agreement and quiet clinking of glasses in a display that would have fascinated the pretty psychologists – not to mention the anthropologists with whom they were chatting – had they not been having far too fun and interesting a time to pay attention to the opinion of fusty science lecturers.
"Why aren’t there any women on our team?" Mikhail pondered.
"Because we’ve never dared ask any," Anders replied, gloomily. "We’re too scared that they might say yes."
"Nick doesn’t seem to be having that problem," Charlie noted, nodding towards the busy bar, where Professor Nicholas Rush was engaged in conversation with a pretty brunette.
"Explains why he’s been so long getting the next round in," Mikhail supplied gloomily. "I thought he’d wondered back to his office to spend more quality time with his equations."
Anders twisted in his chair for a better look. If Nick was occasionally hard to spot in a crowd, being somewhat small in stature, his pixie-like companion should have been near invisible, but somehow there was no missing the animated woman in the blue dress who was laughing at something their colleague had said. Nick was scowling, which should have come as something of a reassurance, but Anders noted that the usual flinty impatience was missing from his eyes.
"Oh" he said. Then, as everyone’s attention had returned to their fast-dwindling drinks, "Oh!”
This raised a few eyebrows. As both Charlie and Aditya were happily cultivating the bushy, expressive brows that older men are known for, it was rather like being scrutinised by an assembly of owls.
"That’s Dean Mill’s latest acquisition, Doctor French."
The owls blinked. Owlishly.
"The new head of Library and Information Sciences.”
There was a collective intake of breath.
"Rush can’t know who she is," Charlie asserted loyally. "He knows the rules."
Still, this didn’t prevent him from shaking his head sadly as Dr Rush returned to their midst.
"You were seen," he announced gravely, accepting his drink. "Consorting with the enemy."
"Just checking out the competition," Rush shrugged, not bothering to deny it, and taking charge of the answer sheet and pens. "They’re likely to be exceptionally well read," he added when Charley snorted derisively. "They might be the wildcard of the evening."
"Hahaha," Aditya laughed, then stopped. "Wait, that was you making a joke, yes? Because it’s been so long since you last made one that I can’t tell anymore."
Rush fixed him with a look that could send Freshmen students fleeing. Aditya was made of sterner stuff, and merely flinched.
"It’s no laughing matter," Charley cautioned. "Library sciences,” he scoffed, taking a long pull at his pint. “Some lines you do not cross.”
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Belle’s friends were less delicate.
"You cannot be friendly with the Physicists, astro-, experimental- or otherwise," Nigel informed her as she carefully placed the precariously full glasses on the table. "We’ll forgive this first transgression on that grounds that you’re new and because that particular gentleman is oddly attractive – don’t look at me like that, Angela! – in an irascible sort of way, however, we do not socialise with their type.”
Belle took her place among her new colleagues and looked round the table, taking in their varying expressions of indignation, disgruntlement and disbelief.
"Ne’er the twain," Susan added for emphasis, and Belle sat back. The librarians usually used quotations joshingly, scattering them into their conversation with knowing, self-deprecating smiles. If they were employing Kipling, however, they were probably in earnest.
She took a fortifying sip of wine, making a mental note to make the glass last as long as possible. These events could get a little raucous at the best of times, more so if there were old grievances to air.
"Alright," she soothed. "But why?"
To her surprise, rather than clamouring to tell her just what their collective gripe was, everyone suddenly seemed usually interested in their drinks.
"They’ve had a bone to pick with us ever since we stopped being Library Studies."
"Is that all it is?" Belle frowned. "A name?"
"Oh, it’s far more than a name," Angela said darkly. The others nodded in agreement, but none seemed forthcoming about what had caused the original enmity between them.
Belle opened her mouth to query further, but paused when Nigel gave the slightest shake of his head.
The neat, older man had proved invaluable since joining the small, close-knit team, and Belle decided to heed his warning, and took a sip of her drink instead. She would extract the full story from him on Monday morning, but for now, the inter-departmental quiz – and the small glory it offered her team – called.
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"You bloody jinxed us, old boy!" Charlie complained as the evening progressed.
"Well-read, my arse," Ander’s griped, secretly pleased for the chance to emulate Charlie’s Briticisms despite originally hailing from Boise. "They’ve got inside information!"
"Final round," the MC announced. "And while the Hard Scientists and Melvil’s Marvels are currently neck and neck, the top spot is still to play for. To make things interesting, you are allowed to vote off one player from the team nearest yours in points."
"We select Miss French," Charlie announced, as de facto leader in all things pub-related. Or at least he was while Nick’s attention had wandered elsewhere, as it was currently doing
“Doctor French,” Helena countered loyally. “We should vote off the grumpy looking one.”
"Which one is that?"
"The one with the longer hair who knows his Keats," Nigel clarified. "Belle’s friend from the bar."
"Rush?"
"Rush!" hollered Angelia. "We claim Rush!"
"You don’t mind sitting this one out, do you, Belle?" Helen asked, already taking charge of the stationary.
"No, it’s fine," Belle reassured her, reaching for her purse. She swayed slightly as she righted herself, her one careful glass of wine having mysterious multiplied as the evening progressed. "I take it as a compliment. I’m going to get some coffee and cheer you on from the sidelines."
She was crossing to the busy bar when Dr Rush brushed past her. Belle bit her lip, hesitating for just a moment before following him through the crowd and out of the double doors.
He was lighting a cigarette as she approached, his harsh features thrown into sharp relief by the orange glow of his lighter. Belle stood quietly, waiting for him to inhale his first lungful of smoke before she interrupted.
"Doctor French," he acknowledged at last. "How are you enjoying your first staff social?"
"It’s interesting," she decided.
"It can’t be very fascinating if you’ve snuck out here to speak with me."
Belle wrapped her arms about herself. It was cooler than she had expected for a Californian evening, but then so little about her move west had been as she expected. “Apparently we there’s an unwritten code of Librarianship that says we can’t speak to one another,” she informed his with a smile, keeping her words light. “Sneaking was my only option.”
"Forced to hide our true feelings from a world that can never understand them, eh?"
He was mocking her, but the gibe held no sting. Even without the helpful notes from Stargate’s International Oversight Advisory, it would not have taken Belle long get a handle on the man she had been sent to help. Driven to the point of obsession, short-tempered, impatient. Lonely. Lost.
"Something like that," she agreed. "But then, we’ve being doing a fair job of that already."
He looked up at that, a frown creasing his forehead. “Doctor French—” he began.
“Belle,” she countered softly.
“Doctor French,” he insisted with something close to grief. “It’s …It’s for the best. My work is too important for me to lose focus right now.”
"I know." And she did. She’d been selected for her skills as a researcher and her unusual gift for language. She hadn’t spent long in his company before she had realised that Rush’s brilliance was matched only by his dedication. The fall term had put an end to their almost-daily collaborations and much as Belle enjoyed the challenge of her new role, she sometimes wished herself back in that messy office with its surly occupant. "It’s my work, too."
"That’s not all," he added quietly.
Although he had never spoken of his wife, Gloria Rush had been mentioned in his file and a photograph of the elegant, blonde woman had sat serenely amid the clutter of his desk
"I know," Belle repeated. "It’s too soon. I can wait."
"There’s more. Icarus is looking like a real possibility. There’s every chance I could be called off world with little notice."
Off-world. It sounded implausible, and for Belle it was. An archivist and researcher, no matter how talented, would be of little use on the ground. If the impossible happened – and with Nick working towards it, there was every chance of the impossible coming true – and the mystery of the ninth chevron was cracked, Dr Rush would be there to see it happen. Belle’s role would come later, cataloguing and codifying whatever wonders they uncovered.
mandatorymanda replied to your post “Finished the first book of the Earthsea Cycle and the last in Harry Potter.”
I read the Earthsea Cycle before I ever read Harry Potter. I credit the Earthsea Cycle for developing my love of reading and for preparing me to understand and appreciate more adult writing. I'm glad you enjoyed it!
mandatorymanda,
Yes! I notice how much LeGuin's style of writing is very reminiscent of Lord Dunsany's, and as it turns out, she's one of many writers who took inspiration from him (and apparently, it was vogue for fantasy writers in the 60s and 70s to write like Lord Dunsany did). I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series, as well as picking up her Hainish Cycle. ^_^
mandatorymanda replied to your post: “Hah! I win! You’re my bitch no...
Is SPSS that difficult? I’m planning to take a course in how to use it next semester.
No, not really. I think it's a lot easier than other packages, like SAS. I was just having trouble importing a data set from Excel, more because the data was messed up and I had to relabel everything than anything actually to do with SPSS. I'm sure you'll be fine. :)
Rule 1: always post the rules Rule 2: always answer the questions the person who tagged you asked and write your questions Rule 3: tag 11 people Rule 4: actually tell them you tagged them —————- I was tagged by lokiafterdark to answer some questions! QUESTIONS: 1. Not counting sunscreen what would be the health or beauty item you would pick if you were stuck on a desert island? Oh man, toothpaste. I hate having gnar-mouth. 2. Dogs or cats? Dogs! I actually have 6. Luckily, that's the only parallel my life shares with Will Graham. 3. Prefer salty or sweet food? Salty. I cannot envision a time where I could ever function without pretzels. 4. Most disgusting habit you will admit to having? I will drink out of the same mug for days on end without washing it. I have worse habits, but a lady needs to maintain an air of mystery. 5. Any tattoos? Several! My favorite being the two little kids from Shel Silverstein's poem Hug O' War on the inside of my right wrist. My sister has a matching one on her wrist because we are huge dorks. 6. Favorite book or author? Favorite book is John Dies At The End by David Wong, but I would say my favorite author overall is Clive Barker. Or Douglas Adams. Or maybe Ian Fleming. This is an unfair question! 7. What decade do you think had the best music? Or at least your favorite? Yeah, the 90s. Give me grunge or shitty college radio rock all day long. 8. First celebrity crush? Joey McIntyre from New Kids On The Block. Oh, hey, I'm old. You might not have known that about me. 9. Guilty pleasure film or tv show? TV...Vampire Diaries (don't judge me). Movie...Overboard (no really, stop judging me). 10. Best childhood memory? Christmas when I was 6. I got a Good News Caboose playset and Legos, my dad let me have a sip of beer and my mom got 'mad' at him, and they ended up dancing to music on the radio. They looked so happy, and I got SWEET toys. Many years later, my mom told me about how we were really really poor that Christmas and that, for them, that was their worst holiday because they had to borrow money from family to get us gifts. Which just proves how great my parents were, because I never knew. I have so many great memories. Ok, enough. I'm about to cry. 11. Place you would love to visit? The Smithsonian is my dream. I just want to spend a solid month in DC seeing every part of that museum. Alrighty... 1. Favorite Bond villain? 2. Favorite comfort food? 3. What was your first car? 4. Have you ever peed yourself laughing, and what was so funny? 5. Last song you listened to on repeat for days because you loved it so much? 6. What was the first concert you went to? 7. What fictional universe would you most like to live in? 8. What really pisses you off? 9. What are you allergic to? 10. The Beatles or The Rolling Stones? 11. What makes you happy?
There are a large number of grad students in our department, some of whom I’ve never seen before. They just come out of the woodwork sometimes and we accept it.
I think that's great. I'd love to see more of your bunch; sometimes, I feel like the undergrads are the only ones there, spotting the elusive and rare graduate student.
Hey! Any progress on the "Queen's Own" trilogy by Mercedes Lackey I asked about a couple months ago? I realize the covers might be hard to work with, but I thought I'd ask.
Did you request the whole trilogy? I have Queen’s Arrows here, it went up earlier this week, it’s the only one I had on my list, but I might have made a mistake.
