And truth be told…

May 17th, 2009

Hi everyone!

   This spring has gone by so quickly! I’ve been busy with school, of course, but I did get to do something fun a few weeks ago. Brittany and I surprised our family by coming to SD for Mya’s first communion! It was a great weekend: we played drinking games, ate Hot Stuff Pizza, watched Mya receive her first communion, and played with baby kittens! Unfortunately I still have school right now so I could only stay for a few days, but I’ll be back in SD soon enough for Sara’s wedding this June.

   Also, Derek and Jen J. are coming to New York City next weekend to celebrate my birthday with me! It is going to be awesome. We’re going to see Phantom of the Opera, go dancing, hang out in Central Park… I can’t wait! Maybe I’ll even figure out how to put pictures on here to show you all what we did!

   On the downside, I’ve recently discovered that I have allergies for the first time ever and I have to say, I never fully appreciated being able to breathe while sleeping. But that has changed. I guess if allergies are the biggest problem in my life right now, I’m doing pretty good.

   Anyway… just wondering if anything still reads this.

love from delaware,

megan

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Come on sweet catastrophe.

March 3rd, 2009

Hi everyone,

   So instead of working hard this afternoon, I thought writing would be a better idea. The semester is moving along rather quickly. I am lucky not to be taking any classes, but I still have plenty of work to do. A few weekends ago I visited Brittany in New York and we had a lot of fun going to a club, wandering around Union Square (don’t be fooled, it’s actually an oval), etc. This was pretty much my last scheduled fun weekend until my birthday.

    Now I am back in DE trying to get ready for a conference, working on my quals., and editing some papers to submit to some fancy journals. All of this should be fine, except that I find myself to be constantly exhausted. It really is quite frustrating. Until last fall I’ve never been reliant on caffeine to keep me awake and functioning through daily tasks, but for some reason lately, no matter how much I sleep the night before, I am dead tired by 2pm. It is extra frustrating because I am poor and don’t want to be spending money on coffee every day. If you have any solutions that are not completely ridiculous (eg. exercising) let me know.

   Since not many people want to play my game, I’ll just give you the answers. The non-truths in my last post were: 6- I don’t sing karaoke. No one wants to hear that., 7- I read Pride and Prejudice, but I’m just not a big fan of that style of writing, 13- I’m clumsy, and although this wouldn’t be super surprising, it hasn’t happened…. yet., 16- I’m perfectly happy to ditch the school work and go to bed, 19- I can barely handle eating the same thing for 2 meals in a row. For some reason it is extremely unpleasant for me.

Also, here are a few things I enjoy, maybe you will too:

love from delaware,
megan

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Who would have guessed that it’s as simple as it seems.

February 1st, 2009

Random things about me, inspired by the note that is going around Facebook. I thought I’d make it more interesting, though. How well do you know me? Can you pick out the 5 lies?

1. I’ve been considering getting a tattoo.
2. I only use real old-fashioned pencils, not mechanical ones.
3. If I could afford to live in NYC, I would.
4. My caffeinated beverage of choice is Red Bull.
5. I work better when I’m around other people than when I’m alone.
6. I enjoy singing karaoke with my friends.
7. I’ve really been getting into Jane Austen lately.
8. One of my pet peeves is when people start saying something and then don’t finish it.
9. I am on Team Jacob.
10. I once lost a shoe in a NYC subway.
11. I don’t believe that there is just one person in the world that you are meant to be with.
12. I am embarrassingly ignorant about politics.
13. I once tripped and fell down an entire flight of stairs on campus.
14. I don’t like wine.
15. I still hate driving.
16. I can’t sleep at night until I’ve organized all of my books and papers so they are ready to go the next day.
17. Watching America’s Next Top Model is a guilty pleasure of mine.
18. I’ve always been really impressed by tap dancing.
19. I could eat the same thing every day for a week and be content.
20. One of my favorite memories is of playing Rock Band with my family.

Good luck!

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Blackbird singing in the dead of night.

January 4th, 2009

Hi everyone,

   Happy Holidays to everyone! I’ve never really been a fan of making New Year’s resolutions myself but I am curious about everyone else’s opinions. Anyone make a resolution this year? Any interesting holiday stories to report?

   Now that I’ve survived the semester, I figured I should take a few minutes to update everyone on my current situation. I’m just finishing up a much needed vacation to South Dakota where I was able to meet up with some friends and spend time with my family. I’ve also gotten a good start on my scrap-booking project, so I’m pretty proud of that.

   Next on the agenda is a trip to San Francisco later this week where I’ll be presenting at a linguistics conference. I’m not sure how relevant most of the talks will be if they are primarily focused on linguistics and not psychology, but I am hoping there will be some good ones that I can understand. Also, I’ve heard many people speak highly of San Francisco and I really hope to get the chance to go out an experience the city a bit. Please send any recommendations of places to go/eat/shop my way!

   After that I’ll be going back to Delaware to finish writing up some papers to submit for publication before classes start in February. Next semester hopefully will not be as stressful as last semester. I will only be taking 1 class, but I will also be working on presentations (I will also present at a conference in Denver in April), papers (if I don’t get them done before school starts again), and my qualifying exam. Maybe it won’t be as relaxed as I hoped for, I guess I’ll find out.

   Overall, thing are good and I’m looking forward to having a little free time in Delaware before school starts again. Maybe I can read a book or two and see some friends that turn invisible during the semester. I’m almost ready for the new semester, too. As stressful as the presentations are, I know that they are doing me a lot of good. Getting out there, meeting people, practicing my public speaking… it will all be worth the anxiety in the end, right? Right.

love from delaware,

megan

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I’m on fire and now I think I’m ready.

October 13th, 2008

Hey everyone,
   So right now my life consists of going to classes, doing homework, reading journal articles, making presentations, making charts and occasionally sleeping or drinking tea. I’ve decided this is unacceptable. I’ve also decided that I might not be currently living up to my full potential as an awesome human being. So, I’ve compiled a list of things that I’ve always meant to do but have never actually gotten around to doing or things that I’ve tried before and wasn’t immediately good at so I gave up. In no particular order:

  1. Learn sign language
  2. Learn to play guitar or piano so that I can do more than the bits and pieces I remember from middle and high school
  3. Become better at actually speaking Spanish
  4. Become at least semi-knowledgeable about cars so I don’t have to rely so heavily on others
  5. Read the “classic novels” that everyone is supposed to have read but I somehow missed out on
  6. Take voice lessons
  7. Decorate my bedroom so it is like a real grown-up place
  8. Scrapbook the events of my past year on the east coast so I don’t lose all of the pictures and forget everything that happened
  9. Learn how to dance: ballroom, salsa, anything
  10. Learn how to do origami

   I’m also considering becoming an expert on some really random subject so that when a future conversation casually turns to the differences and similarities of American and European landscaping, I can wow whoever I’m talking to with my thorough but unassuming knowledge of the matter. Subject ideas?

   That’s all I can think of right now that doesn’t involve ridiculous amounts of money. Of course this is just to help me plan for the future because I will not have enough free time to do much of anything for the next few months. Any suggestions for additions or comments on the existing list are welcome. Which items do you think would benefit me the most?

love from delaware,

megan

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I am going to make it through this year if it kills me.

September 4th, 2008

Hello,

   So my friend Mac commented on the last post, which got me thinking about memory zapping and the impermanence of everything. Am I really supposed to believe that everything is impermanent? That there is no chance of finding love that lasts? That is a terribly depressing thought, and although I don’t have a lot of evidence against it I don’t think I can agree. Things haven’t worked out for me so far but that doesn’t mean things won’t ever work out.

   Even though I sometimes think it would be easier if I could forget my last relationship, I don’t think this is a sign of an unhealthy attachment as much as a desire to be rid of an attachment. I got attached, it didn’t work out. I want to focus on other things in my life, which for the most part I am doing but sometimes it is more difficult than other times.  I want to be able to move on and not be plagued with memories of a relationship that I really wanted to work out, but didn’t. What’s wrong with that?

   Anyways, school has now officially started and I don’t really think I’ll have much free time to think about things in the past… or to plan too far into the future, for that matter. On the upside, I just had an amazing Labor Day weekend with Derek and Dave. Brittany has moved to NY and will be coming to visit me soon, as will the lovely Julanne. On the downside, I have 4 classes, research, a presentation to prepare, a paper to submit for publication, and quals to plan for. What a depressing sentence that was. Send me some encouraging messages and amusing anecdotes… please?

   Also, check out this website: http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/ It has some hilarious things as well as links to some other really funny sites.

love from delaware,

megan

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Taken with thought, still prone to care.

August 18th, 2008

Hello everyone,

   So, things in my life aren’t really going as well as I had hoped. School will be starting soon and then I will have absolutely no time for a social life. I will be taking a few linguistics classes, at the request/on the order of my advisor. Hopefully these won’t be too tough, although I haven’t heard encouraging things about them. Since I will be taking classes other than psychology I will be meeting new people, which could be good. In graduate school the classes are pretty small usually and often have the same people every time. I no longer get to take classes with my friends, though, because they are in different areas of psychology and now that we have gotten the generals out of the way they are taking much more specific classes that I won’t be taking.

   I have a ton of work to do for school and research but my motivation is low. Any suggestions on how to fix this problem would be much appreciated. I am also wondering what the general opinion is on Eternal Sunshine style memory zapping. Would anyone do it? I think I can understand why people would. It might not be so bad to be free of some memories.

   Some positive things happening: I just painted a wall in my room purple. It is awesome and makes me happier. Also, my roommate and I are planning to host a murder mystery dinner party in September, which will be really fun if we can pull it off. In addition, my sister might be moving to the area to spend some time being a nanny and hopefully hanging out with me a bit too.

Today’s story in 6 words: Painting, painful conversation, procrastinating school work.

love from delaware,

megan

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Ideas like wheels and like fists and like stars.

August 15th, 2008

Things I enjoy that others might too:

In Ink Please
The acapella group Green Envy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0SfzTmdgz4&feature=related
A Softer World Comics: ex: http://www.asofterworld.com/index.php?id=4
XKCD comics: ex: http://www.xkcd.com/231/
This video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHXBL6bzAR4
pandora.com
Six-word memoirs: http://www.smithmag.net/sixwords/

I like the idea of trying to fit your life story into 6 words, but it seems like a lot of pressure. Maybe it would be better to have lots of little, six-word stories. What is your story in six words?

Followed the plan, didn’t plan this.

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I’ve filled my hands with supplements.

August 5th, 2008

Hi everyone,

   So the big move was this weekend and everything went well. The place is still covered in boxes, but I will hopefully get that taken care of before Thursday night, which is when we’re having a going away party for Taraneh, the lab coordinator in my lab. I am sad she is leaving because the lab will be much less cool without her. I don’t think she is too sad to be leaving Delaware, however, because she is moving to California for graduate school, where it is apparently always the perfect temperature and no one ever needs heat or air conditioning.

   I find I don’t really have that much to say, but for some reason writing, putting my thoughts down, seems to help me de-stress. Maybe it’s the removing them from my head and attempting to articulate exactly what is floating around that makes me feel better. I’ve been trying to keep busy until school starts again, and for the most part I’ve been successful. I’ve been reading, watching movies, trying to decorate my apartment, working on research, and hanging out with people. However, I find that often when I’m hanging out with people here, I feel awkward and uncomfortable. Like I have to try really hard to keep involved in the conversation because I just feel myself retreating inside. The people here are cool, but I just miss my friends from SD. I don’t really remember ever feeling like that around them. But who knows, maybe the same thing would happen with them, too.

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The tick tock of the clock is painful, all sane and logical.

August 2nd, 2008

Hello everyone,

    I know it has been a ridiculous amount of time since I last wrote, but I’m back on track now and should have a few things to talk about since I’ve been MIA for the past 8 months. I successfully completed my first year of graduate school. May was a stressful month, but June was fantastic. My beautiful sister got married on our farm and it was the best wedding I’ve ever been to. It was really great seeing my family and I miss them all already.  Also, I had been seeing someone over the past few months but that ended a few weeks ago. It is unfortunate because he made me really happy, something that is pretty difficult to achieve.

    So that was the past 8 months in a nutshell. I now have about a month of summer left before classes begin. Although I have done several fun things this summer (carnival rides, trip to Atlantic City, trip to SD, painting parties), I can’t really say that I’m loving summer. I am actually almost looking forward to classes starting again. Then I will have goals and things to occupy my time. For example, I just found out that I have been selected to give an oral presentation at an important Linguistics conference in Boston in the fall. This is terrifying news, but it will look really good on my vita. However, I will be stressed to an epic extent during October because of this conference.

    On the plus side, I have several things to look forward to: My fantastic friends Derek and Dave will be traveling to Delaware at the end of August. I’ve been working very hard on the itinerary for their east coast adventure and it is looking good. It even involves a trip to D.C. to visit another fantastic friend, Julanne! Also, my little sister may be moving to the east coast, which is very exciting, as long as she doesn’t try to steal all of my clothes like she used to. Also, I am moving into a new apartment in a few days with my friend Gillian and her cat Demetri. Demetri and Bagheera are already good friends, so I think the transition will go smoothly.

    Well, that’s all that I can think of right now. I’m off to do more packing.

 love from delaware,

megan 

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