Let there be light!

As of today, my committee members have my document and we've set a proposal date. Hoo-freaking-ray! I'm starting to see the small, yet intoxicating gleam of light at the end of the still dark and very scary tunnel....now if only there's a job waiting for me at the other end, all will be right with the world.

Sausage Fest

While I should be finishing up the last edits on my proposal, I thought this would be a grand time to write a little note about my love of Prison Break.


It's like crack. I caught two episodes of the first season one Saturday afternoon and was quickly hooked. Unfortunately, I was never around on the night that the second season aired and this was pre-DVR days so I had to wait until it came out on DVD. For those of you who don't know, I'm not a big fan of watching movies more than once so my movie collection is very light (e.g., UCLA band highlight videos, "All the right moves"-[I know random, but Tom Cruise is a hot football player who seduces the flute player in her band uniform....I live vicariously], and a few dance/workout videos). Well I splurged and bought the second season and holed up and basically watched it over a weekend....like crack I say!

It's a show with a lot of twists and turns and I must say is better when you can watch them all in a row. I thought it would totally be one of those shows that the guys would also enjoy, (guns, intricate escape plans, hand to hand combat, explosions) but when I tried to regale a man-friend with tales of it's glory he let me know that he wasn't into watching a sausage fest. I protested, but upon a greater inspection I realized he was right. It has many the classic male archetypes. I'd go so far as to say just about any lady can find her ideal man in its line up of characters.






Here's my breakdown:

Michael Scoffield-genius ringleader with a strong moral/caring side (a little too mama's boy for me)




Fernando Succre-got himself in trouble for love (too pretty for me)



Tweener-young thug who got busted stealing a baseball card that was worth so much money he got hard time....coincidentally got himself locked up in real life for vehicular homicide (The ones most likely to hit on me? Can they just smell that I'm the girl who will try to "love them straight?")



Lincoln Burrows- yet another bad boy with a heart of gold who wanted to go straight, but got himself caught up with "The Company." (Ah, just right. Look at that jaw, very Neanderthal-ish)




I guess that's enough objectification for one night, just thought I should share the love....ok, back to the edits.

I almost peed myself....

We have weekly staff meetings at work and they are bit uncomfortable. Everyone gets along well, but there's that weird boundary between how serious and how relaxed we can be. I of course lean to the less serious side.

One of my friends is pregnant at work and she let us know a few weeks ago that her baby was now considered a fetus. I then decided that her child would be known from then on as "Cletus the Fetus". I then proceeded to laugh hysterically and couldn't stop. One of those laughs where you almost cry. My cheeks hurt and I could hardly see because I was laughing so hard. Then I couldn't stop because I was so embarassed. I could see my boss (through my squint) giving me an odd look and this made it that much harder to stop. It had been quite some time since I'd had such a laughing fit and it although awkward it was a nice change.

Enter this week's staff meeting on Valentine's Day. We had some goodies and the presentation that week was on therapist self care. She had a few different hand outs for us and one of them was on positive self speak and dealt with making a valentine to yourself. She busted out the glitter glue and at first I was a skeptic. Too messy for me, but then I came up with a brilliant idea. A valentine to myself that embraced my love of all things White Trash. When I explained my little anagram to my colleagues I again started laughing hysterically and couldn't stop. At least this time I heard a few chuckles out of my boss as well. Well played Haygood, well played.

Mad laser skills

So, I babysat for my friend's son last weekend. Well actually, I was a "pre-teen companion" because goodness knows that 11 year olds do not need babysitters. That was basically the theme of the weekend.....constant reminders of the things that he could do for himself. Of course, one of the things he couldn't do for himself was drive to the "Main Event Entertainment Complex" and pay for laser tag and video games. So, I happily stepped into the role of credit card on legs with a set of wheels.

It was the second time in as many weeks that I'd gotten to play laser tag. The first time was with some other friends and I didn't realize how much fun it was. I got into it the first time and was running all over shooting people and attacking the other side's base. I did alright the first time around, but brought it home my second round. Top scorer on my team and No. 2 overall. There was a kid in line scoping everyone out and I heard him make a comment that he was probably the most athletic person there. Haha sucker. You got chumped by an old lady! I tried not to rub it in to the 11 year old too much 'cuz I didn't want to make him cry, but I was pretty proud of myself. I'm now looking for others to step up and give me a run for my money. We'll see if that was just a fluke or if I have another skill set I need to be tapping into. How could I work "laser tag prodigy" into my vita?

A Void

Things that I miss:

~Being mooned as he left the room.
~Being woken up to a bouncing puppy on my bed egged on with him chanting "Get her Buster, get her!"
~Hearing, "She's alive!" after finally emerging early afternoon from my bedroom.
~Listening to him count slug bugs with my little brother on the rides to and from campus during my first year.
~Coming home from a late night out to find him asleep on the couch trying to wait up for me.
~Cringing at his rendition of "Sweet Potato Pie" sung in my honor.
~His puppy dog face when trying to persuade me to do a chore for him.
~Being chided for not checking the oil in my car.
~Being rescued from car problems and ear infections while at college.
~His performance of the "Buster the Wonderdog" song.
~His love of getting "comfy cozy" which consisted of all of us in our pajamas watching tv together.
~His laugh

Welcomed with love....

I am proud to announce the arrival of.............Chapter 2!

My little bundle of pride and joy (yeah, the joy parts a lie) arrived this morning at 4:05 am and came in at a whopping length of 28 pages.

The classic finger and toe check is currently in progress, but it appears to be pretty healthy with just a slight defect....or two.

Mother and Father (my laptop?) are resting comfortably in the knowledge that they were able to be part of such a miraculous event, which in an unusual turn of events actually took 12 months to arrive! :]

This man is a genius. I've been perusing his site (www.phdcomics.com) and see that some themes are universal across grad student experiences, regardless of program. Hilarious!