Contrary to the evidence presented by this blog, my first year of graduate school did NOT kill me.
Ph.Dead went on hiatus for a lot of reasons. Not only did finals week creep up on me, but Mr. Dead and I (for some unknown, insane reason) scheduled our new lease to start on the last day of finals. Brilliant, I know. Though we're still surrounded by unpacked boxes and random trinkets we could swear we got rid of, we're at least away from the mold and enjoying our new house. Perhaps the most exciting reason for the break was the designing and construction of phdead.net, which I've already ranted about but can't stop admiring. Unfortunately, there was a negative side to the hiatus as well; I've been honestly too angry about my current school circumstances to write about the whole situation. The recent developments will have their own post fairly soon, as I think I've finally gained enough perspective to give an intelligent, semi-calm rant.
This summer has shaped up to be a lot busier than I had originally anticipated. I began the summer as I usually do by creating a list of all the books I wanted to catch up on and video games I wanted to play. I figured that I would have plenty of time outside my 10-20 hour/week work-from-home job to do what I do best: nerd out and consume cheesy sci-fi novels. Suddenly, that time evaporated. This was in part due to the aforementioned school issues. Mainly, it's because I was suddenly notified that the artist's residency that I applied for back in February had someone cancel, and I was number one on the wait list.
So, here I am. I couldn't very well pass up the best artistic opportunity of my life, could I? I'm now writing from my parents' house in Florida, waiting for the welcoming dinner on Monday night that officially kicks off the residency. I was lucky enough to receive a scholarship from the residency that completely covered my fees, and my parents covered my plane ticket as a birthday present, so this has been an all-around Good Thing(tm). I'm both excited and terrified about the chance I've been given. But more on that later. For now, I've been summoned to go to the mall with my mom, who wants to spend at least as many dollars on me as there are miles that normally separate us. As a dirt-poor, twenty-something graduate student and wife of an artist, who am I to argue?
x-posted from phdead.net, please post all comments there.
